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Army trainee died from cottonmouth bites
AP via N&R ^ | 9/17/08 | AP

Posted on 09/17/2008 9:41:54 AM PDT by Rebelbase

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To: pepsionice
Sorry about your friend.

I've had this bastards chase me out of the water. If a mother moccasin has a nest of babies nearby watch out! We used to go around the beaches and hack them with machetes around the lake I grew up on. They eventually retreated to the south side of the lake where there were no houses.

21 posted on 09/17/2008 10:08:45 AM PDT by poobear (“…individual salvation depends on collective salvation." Barack Hussein Obama Wesleyan University)
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To: fso301

My neighbors back in TX always advised to keep well away from creeks in our area, and that these were agressive
dangerous beasts unlike the copperheads.

Condolences on the loss of a brave man.


22 posted on 09/17/2008 10:08:48 AM PDT by rahbert
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To: rahbert; Rebelbase

I guess another question investigators might have had concerned the location of the bites. Were the bites in unusual locations for snake bites?


23 posted on 09/17/2008 10:11:12 AM PDT by fso301
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To: Rebelbase
Wish I had’t run across this.

My dear grandson, just out of a 15 monther in Afghanistan (second Vanity Fair Article in this issue (Oct) by Sebastian Junger on them - BATTLE CO., is headed for that training in Nov.

It puzzles me why they are still going through the jungle warfare training of the Vietnam era - when we are fighting in deserts and mountains?

To me, it's an unnecessary risk...not to mention training for the wrong kind of terrain...

24 posted on 09/17/2008 10:12:52 AM PDT by maine-iac7 (No trees were killed in sending this message but a lot of electrons were terribly agitated)
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To: Rebelbase

An old girlfriend was walking down a lakeside road in southern Virginia when she saw a cottonmouth slide out across the street in front of her about 20 yards away. She stopped and waited but the snake stopped when she did. After a minute or two, she slowly started walking to the farside of the road and the snake moved across to the same side. She stopped and then started walking back toward the side the snake came from. The snake reversed course and started coming toward her. She backed up and was pondering her next move when over the hill came a nice big Chevy 4x4 truck driven by a local teenager. The truck pulled up and slammed on the brakes right over top of the snake grinding it into the pavement. He then backed up again and rested his back wheels on the snake and peeled out leaving a burning rubber-encrusted carcass.

He then pulled up to my girl friend, tipped his John Deere hat and said, “There, he won’t be giving you any more problems. Have a nice day!”

True story.


25 posted on 09/17/2008 10:13:34 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: Rebelbase

Prayers indeed for this brave young man and the family he leaves behind. A tragic and horrible way to die.

Which begs the question: why would we want to keep such a species of snake alive?

I say put a bounty on each cottonmouth head, and wipe the bastards out once and for all.

Plenty of other water snakes to take their place.


26 posted on 09/17/2008 10:13:49 AM PDT by mkjessup (I'm not a Community Organizer, but I did stay in a Holiday Inn Express last night!)
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To: muawiyah

I doubt you have ever encountered one in the wild. They are quite aggressive. If you want to stick to your Penguins can tap dance utopian’s belief that these snakes aren’t aggressive then go right ahead.


27 posted on 09/17/2008 10:14:30 AM PDT by DogBarkTree (That sharp pain to the LibRat's groin is called the Palin Effect.)
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To: pepsionice
Snakebite deaths are recorded and reported worldwide. The US has about a dozen such cases per year. India has gobs of them, and Australia, for its population, kinda' leaps off the charts.

I grew up in rattlesnake/copperhead country ~ you could encounter as many as 4 kinds of rattlers, several subspecies of copperheads (differentiated only by highly educated herpitologists), and, if you got down to Posey County, you could encounter a cottonmouth every now and then.

Best way to deal with poisonous snakes is to STAY AWAY. Find out what habitat they like locally, and don't go there.

In India highly poisonous snakes inhabit and love essentially the same habitat as human beings Besides, they are bigger! This leads to a higher number of snakebite deaths than here. However, my friends from India say they are taught the same lessons I learned ~ stay out of their habitat PLUS don't let your neighborhood get overrun with rats and mice or you will attract a big snake!

28 posted on 09/17/2008 10:15:02 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: pepsionice
Snakebite deaths are recorded and reported worldwide. The US has about a dozen such cases per year. India has gobs of them, and Australia, for its population, kinda' leaps off the charts.

I grew up in rattlesnake/copperhead country ~ you could encounter as many as 4 kinds of rattlers, several subspecies of copperheads (differentiated only by highly educated herpitologists), and, if you got down to Posey County, you could encounter a cottonmouth every now and then.

Best way to deal with poisonous snakes is to STAY AWAY. Find out what habitat they like locally, and don't go there.

In India highly poisonous snakes inhabit and love essentially the same habitat as human beings Besides, they are bigger! This leads to a higher number of snakebite deaths than here. However, my friends from India say they are taught the same lessons I learned ~ stay out of their habitat PLUS don't let your neighborhood get overrun with rats and mice or you will attract a big snake!

29 posted on 09/17/2008 10:15:07 AM PDT by muawiyah
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To: Rebelbase

I remember back in the late 50’s or maybe 60’s an Army Ranger training at Eglin AFB was bitten by a coral snake. They literally had a jet fighter fly in anti-venom from New Orleans. The guy survived.


30 posted on 09/17/2008 10:16:11 AM PDT by yarddog
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To: Vision
Called my sister. She said it happened in her senior year, 1971 Florida. It was her boyfriends buddy. The guy was about 18 years old. I knew him because we all skied behind the same boat.
31 posted on 09/17/2008 10:17:36 AM PDT by poobear (“…individual salvation depends on collective salvation." Barack Hussein Obama Wesleyan University)
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To: DogBarkTree
“They are not particularly aggressive, but you can run into them in the darndest places.”

I was fishing with my brother in law and he poked one with a fishing rod. It chased him for 10 minutes until I finally shot it. It's the only time I've ever seen a snake chase someone.

32 posted on 09/17/2008 10:17:40 AM PDT by mbynack (Retired USAF SMSgt)
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To: MichaelP

I wonder if these reports of a skier getting into a “nest” are described that way because of the responders (or the victim) seeing numerous bite marks all over the victim. I did not know that cottonmouths would bite repeatedly - and would also have assumed multiple snakes.

I’m wary of rattlesnakes but not really afraid. I might need to start being afraid of cottonmouths!


33 posted on 09/17/2008 10:17:53 AM PDT by 21twelve (Don't wish for peace. Pray for Victory.)
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To: Rebelbase

I so hate cottonmouths. It’s one snake you can smell when its close. Kill everyone of them I see.


34 posted on 09/17/2008 10:18:27 AM PDT by OB1kNOb (When a Rothschild says they don't like you because you're too elitist, you know you're screwed!)
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To: DogBarkTree

I’ve encountered them a few times, but only on land and found them to be rather timid there. Was within about 18 inches of one this past summer before I realized what was going on. It stayed perfectly still as I backed up and slithered off quite fast as soon as I turned my eyes from it.


35 posted on 09/17/2008 10:19:33 AM PDT by green iguana (FREE LAZAMATAZ!)
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To: maine-iac7

SF train for ALL conflicts, not just the headline grabbing ones. Had a compatriot just complete SF Q course and is sporting the Green Beret now. He was violently ill for almost three weeks because of e-coli poisoning and still had events to complete. He managed to complete it while losing about 30 pounds.


36 posted on 09/17/2008 10:19:40 AM PDT by SFC Chromey (We are at war with Islamofascists inside and outside our borders, now ACT LIKE IT!)
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To: wardaddy

The nest you describe is most likely a bunch of males swarming over one female. Cotton Mouth Gangbang.


37 posted on 09/17/2008 10:20:11 AM PDT by DogBarkTree (That sharp pain to the LibRat's groin is called the Palin Effect.)
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To: BuffaloJack

“one morning one had come up through the septic system and was in the toilet.”

Not a pretty thought.


38 posted on 09/17/2008 10:21:47 AM PDT by Rebelbase
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To: Rebelbase
We had cottonmouths around our backyard creek area all during my childhood. Very dangerous snake, and I was always afraid of them because they are camo'd so well.

Prayers for the family of this serviceman.

39 posted on 09/17/2008 10:25:30 AM PDT by Jackknife ( "The Bureau of Alcohol,Tobacco, and Firearms should be a department store, not a gov't agency.")
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To: DogBarkTree
BTW, "aggression" is a relative value. They really aren't in the category of, for example, black mambas.

The biggest problem with that snake is when a snake dealer lets one of 'em loose in the neighborhood. First folks to move to a motel for the night while the cops, et al, hunt for the snake are the Africans and the Indians.

They know.

Compared to a copperhead dozing under leaves in late Fall in Southern Indiana, a cottonmouth is probably quite aggressive.

40 posted on 09/17/2008 10:33:41 AM PDT by muawiyah
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