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Hunting For Snakes

5K views 24 replies 18 participants last post by  obiwankanobi 
#1 ·
Does anyone know where to find out what the regulations are (If there are any) for hunting snakes in Washington.:confused: The labyrinth of a website the WDFW has is no help at all.
 
#15 ·
Good times. Used to hunt copperheads when I was a kid. The weapon of choice was a 22/410 savage over under or a .22 long pump with the last shell or two loaded with shot. The shot or the 410 was in case you miss and they come after you. Snakebites suck! Always have a backup plan. Rattler is good cooked over an open fire. A little wet mesquite in the fire even better.
 
#4 ·
You don't need a license for that.

If you find snakes early in the season they'll probably be sunning themselves on rocks.
I would be very careful using a firearm due to the potential for ricochet.
Besides, if you really want to save enough meat to eat, shotshells will turn most of the meat to burger.

Wear some knee high boots and get a long stick with a forked tip. Pin their heads down and use your knife to decapitate them.

I've never et one but I hear they tast like chicken.
 
#6 ·
I used to hunt cotton mouths and water snakes (looked like cotton mouths) down in texas when I was a kid. I used a bbgun, homemade spear, 22 and shotgun. You shouldn't have to worry here with our little rattlers, but down there, having 5 foot water moccassin bearing down on you out of the blue and each bb or 22 misses by an inch or so as it slithers along toward you (they can be aggressive) can get a little un-nerving. Having a backup stick or spear - or just using it to begin with can be more effective... I never ate the snakes, but did eat bullfrogs. I'd walk along the reservoir at night with a flashlight looking for the 2 bumbs for eyes sticking up, put a shot right between them, then wade out and get them (hoping not to encounter the moccassin that was about to eat the frog... when that happened, it was time to empty the clip on the 22 and walk on water back to shore).

Sorry - that had nothing to do with your question :)
 
#7 ·
In the summers as a kid I would go to my grandparents ranch in southern New Mexico. This was pre-drivers license age so younger than 16. They would let me take out the pick up and cruise around. During the day we would shoot rabbits and at night we would cruise the remote highways with shovels and look for rattlers baking on the asphalt. I don’t know if my grandparents ever knew this but we would take turns bonking rattlers on the head with a shovel and see how many we could collect. Never shot them this way we saved our bullets and shells for cans, rabbits etc.

Nick please don’t try this :D
 
#8 ·
Well for starters you have to be over in the eastern part of the state. Unless you happen to wander down to First Ave in the middle of the night. Try the hottest parts of the state like over by Moses Lake. Also it has to be in the summer as winter time nothing is out over there.

And the snakes over there aren't little.

Jim
 
#9 ·
Well for starters you have to be over in the eastern part of the state... Also it has to be in the summer as winter time nothing is out over there.

And the snakes over there aren't little.

Jim
Exactly my plan, I take an annual trip with my dad over to the Potholes area and I was just planning ahead. Thanks for all the help!:beer2:
 
#10 ·
In all my trips to eastern washington in the last 10 years or so, i have seen exactly 2 rattlesnakes and both of them were extremely dead. 1 small dead one minus rattle on the trail that runs along rocky ford creek(with an empty .22 shell laying in the grass nearby) and 1 squished dead on the road down on the tucannon. now i can't say that i've been outlooking for them, actually hopefully i've been doing my best to avoid them, but i was wondering if you are actually out looking for them, are there really that many around to actually go hunting for them?? i do have a buddy who hunts them in other places, not washington though.
 
#11 ·
I've only gone looking for them once, but I did actually see one. It was right by the road to the seep lakes. I figure if I go out in the morning/mid-day, I'd see more though, sunning themselves on the rocks and whatnot.
 
#14 ·
A friend of mine used to tape a treble hook to the end of and old fishing rod and stick it down in the cracks of the rocks to pull the snakes out. If them snakes hear you or feel you coming they will get away in the rocks.
As for tasting like chicken, I don't think so!!!! He would boil'em for a long while before frying. I wouldn't eat'em, I'll eat the chicken.
 
#16 ·
I've seen several in my area of the state sunning themselves on rocks or on trials. They really seem to like trails that don't get a ton of foot trafic as it is a clear place to sun themselves without being interupted.

Found her on the selway...way up the trail, saw 4 that day!
 
#17 ·
Head shots w/ a shotshell is the $$$.

Gut 'em, peel the skin off (like a banana), roll the flesh into a coil, and put a bamboo skewer through to keep it together on the grill. A little olive oil helps to keep them from sticking to the grill.

If it's cooked properly, the meat will fall off the (numerous) rib bones, like a trout, but you'll still be spitting some toothpicks.

It doesn't taste like chicken at all, unless your chickens eat mice in the middle of the night, using infrared tongue sensors to locate warm-blooded prey. It tastes like sage and juniper, and the desert, and the river.

Fresh-grilled rattlers are an awesome meal!

Be careful, though. Even a dead buzzworm will strike, out of hard-wired instinct. A sturdy pair of leather gloves is a good precaution.
 
#18 ·
Nothing against anyone eating what they want but just the thought of eating snake meat, disgusts the heck out of me. I am originally from Idaho and the largest and most rattlesnakes we saw were deep along the Selway River trail. One day I counted 17 rattlesnakes with the largest one being about 4'. They are dark with black and white stripes near the tail. Actually somewhat passive, but with a firm poke, they would get into position and get ready to strike.

In Wa, the most snakes I've seen are at Crab Creek. I went one warm summer afternoon, thinking that the rattlesnake rumors where embelished to ward the fly fisherman away. Well, it was true!! After seeing 4 rattlesnakes after about a 5 min walk from the car, a day on the CDA River, seemed a better idea.
 
#20 ·
oh yeah now you're talking Nick!

Use to hunt me some rattle snakes up Wenatchee way with my 357 snubnose and snake charmer shot shells. My little bro and I grilled up a big old bull snake out on douglas creek one fine summer day. It was a tasty snack with some bbq sauce and lots of pepper.

Killed one with Worldangler out at "rattle snake creek". Shot it with my Glock .40 just below the head from about three yards. We saw at lease five that day. Had to kill the one before my dog got too interested.

I know it's probably illegal but I've got a pet rattler in my cabin at the moment. haha he's just a little guy but he kills everything we throw in the fish tank with him. haha

MAC
 
#21 ·
The only one I've seen in my 38 years in WA was in the Colockum about two years ago while grouse hunting. It was sunning itself to get rid of cold from the frosty night. I almost stepped on it but it was slow moving due to the coolness. It was about 3 1/2 feet long and I shot it's head off with 20 ga #6s. I didn't want it to bite the dog.
 
#22 ·
Rattlesnake isn't bad -- it tastes like chicken as much as frog or alligator tastes like chicken. The only rattler I've had is the AZ western diamondback variety (same species as eastern WA, but a little bigger due to nearly year-round growth), and lightly breaded with corn meal and deep-fried in chunks -- quite good (and the same way I've had both alligator and croc). It seems ridiculous to kill a snake with a firearm though -- I mean come on, a gun for a snake?... Many generations of Sonoran-dwelling AZ cowboys have killed many the rattlesnake with a stick while their peacemakers stayed securely on their hips... The one thing that really needs to be said, and this isn't just a wives' tale, is to make sure the snake doesn't bit itself. An injured or extremely aggressive rattlesnake will sometimes turn and bite itself, and inject venom into its own body. Make sure when you do kill the snake it doesn't do this... Also, at a rattler fry last fall in Sasabe, AZ, while the local cowboys watched us fry up rattlesnake, one of them turned and asked me why I would ever eat snake -- "snakes are for hungry people" was all he had to say...
 
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