*Rattle Snake*
Dogs were outside barking.. no big deal, I figured it was the bunny out there tormenting them...
But it was time to feed them anyway (In the pouring rain) so I put on my swim trunks and go bee-bopping out there in my deck shoes to feed them..
As I got about 4 steps off the back porch, they REALLY start raising hell!!! I mean going Ballistic!
THAT is what they do when something "Serious" is going on, and they are penned up and can't protect me... I immediately went back inside and put on my vest, got the shotgun, and clipped my camera to the front of the vest (You never know if you may need evidence).
OK, I can't see what the dogs are barking at toward the wood-line, so I go tactical (With my snow white legs) and start edging up on the wood-line keeping as much cover between me and the unseen threat as possible.. I know where the dogs' attention is pointed so I know where the threat is... I made a MISTAKE.. I was fully expecting to find either the local Bear, or a Mexican hiding from the law (Or Me).... I went toward an unseen threat with a preconceived notion, WRONG WRONG WRONG
The dogs start literally chewing at the kennel and trying to climb over it.. about that time, I heard a slight "Buzzing sound".... Bees? In the pouring rain?
I looked down at my feet, and there is a 3.5+ foot long RATTLE SNAKE, bowed up about to put a world of hurt on my naked leg...
I can't even back away at this point and I'm too close to shoot the snake without hitting my own feet... I can't believe it hadn't already bit me.
Scout literally climbed the fence and came over the top of the kennel and "bayed" the snake from the side.. the INSTANT the snake's attention turned from me, I started hitting the remote control to the camera and shouldering the 870 and backing away... Scout FINALLY backed off far enough to get out of my line of fire, and I pumped one into the snake... 00 buck makes a nasty MESS out of a rattle snake.
Sorry the pics are so shaky, but as I said, the camera was strapped to the front of my vest, and I had a bit of adrenaline going. I don't know if it had 3 rattles or more, when you shoot a coiled up snake with 00 buck, it tends to make a complete mess out of it, But I counted 3 at the (very) damaged tail.
DO NOT go LOOKING for a threat with a preconceived notion of WHAT and WHERE the threat may ACTUALLY be... I was looking for something large, further out, when the danger was smaller and MUCH closer in.
Now I gotta clean my shotgun.
Warlord
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