Posted on 10/08/2005 1:41:08 PM PDT by NCjim
DUBLIN, N.C.
Authorities said a Bladen County man whose body was found at a racetrack here apparently died of a rattlesnake bite.
Lloyd Hood, 44, had been missing since Tuesday, when he spotted the 4-foot snake while walking with a friend through a wooded ravine next to Dublin Motor Speedway. Investigators said the friend - who hates snakes - went back to the car and waited while Hood tried to catch it.
Hood - an avid hunter and outdoorsman - never returned, and the friend tried unsuccessfully to find him before leaving and filing a missing person report Wednesday. Chief Deputy Phil Little said the track owner found the body Thursday near a concession stand at the isolated track off N.C. 87.
Little said Hood's left arm appeared swollen and gray with marks consistent with a snakebite. He also said authorities do not suspect a crime, and were waiting on the results of a weekend autopsy.
Fatal snakebites are rare. The State Center for Health Statistics said Friday that it had no records of deaths from venomous snakes in North Carolina. The North Carolina Division of Parks and Recreation reported that only about six of about 8,000 bites nationally are fatal because victims can often seek treatment within the first hour after a bite.
What are a redneck's last words? "Hey Y'all watch this!"
Maybe he wanted to take it to church meeting.
So, how long does it take to die from Rattlesnake bite?
I thought it was a matter of a day or three, not something that happens while your buddy smokes a cigarette back at the truck.
You forgot the "Hold my Beer" part.....
No expert but would assume it depends on where you got bit.
Leg or ankle would take a bit of time.
If one hit a carotid artery, in the neck, could be very very fast.
Hmm, last anyone saw of him was chasing a rattlesnack, then body found with swollen arm and bite marks.... naw, must have been the burger he ate the day before.
"Hmm, last anyone saw of him was chasing a rattlesnack, then body found with swollen arm and bite marks.... naw, must have been the burger he ate the day before."
Really bad 'skeeters.
"Sad, I cannot believe that someone would go and intentionally try to catch a rattlesnake".
Does anybody but me remember the Darwin Award honorable mention a few years back of two Good Ol' Boys who got really drunk and ended up in the hospital with multiple rattlesnake bites all over their hands, arms and faces?
If I remember right, one of them died.
See, after they got drunk, they saw a big ol' rattlesnake slither by.
So they picked him up.
And played catch.
For a long time.
I am not making this up.
Some people are allergic to snake venom (like others are allergic to bee stings) and a bite can be fatal in a matter of minutes.
Gimme a break.
Snakeskins make excellent belt leather and also snakes are great eating.
Skin em, and dress em out a lot like you would do fish.
Deep fried in a corn meal batter and you cant find better eating.
They dont call rattlesnakes the "Chicken of the Desert" without reason.
It could also be really fast if the venom got into a major vein. I just had an IV for a medical procedure and was out within seconds after they started the drip. Happened so fast I didn't even feel it happening.
It really gets me that his friend didn't even hear him yell and that he wasn't able to get back to his car.
Reminds me of traveling to FL last year. Was on the interstate in the a.m. going through South Carolina close to the GA line. Was in the far right line behind two cars going about 60-65. A car was in the middle lane just ahead of the three cars in the far right lane. All of sudden something long (at first I thought it was a tree branch but a tree branch didn't bend in a curve) flew out from beneath his car, flung into the right lane where the thing hit the grill of the first car, the second car and my SUV ran over it with a definite thump. I quickly looked in my rear view mirror and that thing was a bloody snake. It was about 10-12 feet long and quite wide in diameter. I assured my two beloved passengers that it was only a tree branch road, but the thing frightened me.
Like I said, I am not speaking as an expert, but recall James Michners book "Centennial" where the young mother got hit in the neck and was dead within minutes.
Am sure Michner researched in depth so assume he was correct.
A sensible conjecture when one is last seen chasing a rattlesnake...
I misread that headline as "Bin Laden dead from snakebite".
it's bushes fault!
I can't believe a "friend" would leave the scene completely. With friends like that...
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