Snake, rattle and roll
The rattlesnake may strike terror into some people, but not me
By Ron ScharaI ain't afraid of rattlers, I don't think.
The last time I crossed paths with a snake that looked like a rattler, I might have jumped out of my skin but I never called 911 or went totally beserk.
I've always been cool around snakes compared to Bobby Brouillet. When Bobby and I were teenagers we used to spend our Saturday afternoons hanging out at Livinggood's Springs fishing for trout. Most of our buddies stayed in town looking for girls.
Our mothers thought we were safer on the stream until the day Bobby Brouillet thought he heard the rattle of a snake.
Bobby looked down. The sound was rattlin' mere inches from his trembling feet. Until Bobby did it, I'd never seen a human being turn white.
"It's a rattlesnake," I yelled to Bobby when I was a safe distance away.
Bobby wanted to run over to where I was but he couldn't. He tried to answer me but nothing came out of his lips which by now had turned kinda blue.
The last time I saw Bobby's eyes so enlarged was when our Scout Master, Everett Cook, was telling ghost stories the night we camped alone at the ol' Stone House.
| “ | We've had a couple of bites. One of the fellas had a tough time but he's back with us. ” | |
| — Andy Stewart, snake wrangler |
Yessiree, my trout-fishing buddy had a bad case of snake fright. He'd probably still be frozen there on the stream bank, except the thing making that rattlin' noise finally flew away.
Flying grasshoppers don't sit very long.
Oh, I've got lots of snake stories. Like I said, I don't mind snakes as much as my colleague Belinda Jensen does. It's a serious dislike. Belinda doesn't mind predicting Arctic fronts and thunderstorms but if she ever saw a snake, I don't think she could tell you if the sun was shining.
Now Andy Stewart, who hails from Liberal, Kansas, never has suffered any of these snake symptoms.
"My dad took me snake hunting when I was a kid and I just became fascinated with snakes and lizards and things like that," Stewart noted the other day.
In truth, Stewart has kinda gone over the deep end in the opposite direction. He travels with about 50 western diamondback rattlers to, well, mingle with'em.
Stewart and three companions, who call themselves the "Rattlesnake Wranglers" have hauled their snakes all over the country to sport shows and the like and they play with rattlers and live to tell about it.
Imagine, a pit of 50 snakes, some rattlin, some sticking their tongues out, some crawlin' creepy-like. And it's your job to step among em.
"It gets pretty interesting sometimes," Stewart said, with a hint of Kansas drawl.
Now these are not trained snakes. Or pets. Or friends. These snakes have their needle fangs and their load of poison venom. Depending on the mood of the snakes, Stewart and company will hold coiled rattlers in their hands.
They'll walk barefoot among'em. They'll even touch tongues. They'll sit with the rattlers.
"I'll just say they are unbelievable," explained show producer, Dave Perkins. "In all my years, I've never seen anything like it."
True, it's not often anybody courts fangs for their derriere.
| “ | If you end up close to a wild rattlesnake, don't move. The snake won't bite. ” | |
| — Andy Stewart |
My Uncle Harvey was kinda that way, however. He loved to hunt rattlers in Clayton County, Iowa back in the bounty days. Uncle Harvey would handle those big timber rattlers never showing much fear.
He even got bit a time or two but always refused to see a doctor. One time he did come close to seeing an undertaker, however.
Stewart said his wrangling team have had similar close encounters.
"We've had a couple of bites. One of the fellas had a tough time but he's back with us."
The wranglers do wear cowboy boots to deflect any low blows. "The snakes will strike and miss, too," he said. Now that's comforting.
Sure, this snake wrangling stuff is more reptile show business so popular on Animal Planet and in the movies. And that's fine but Stewart says we all can learn something about our unrationale fear of rattlesnakes.
"The only reason a rattlesnake strikes is to defend itself. If it fears something, it'll strike. Otherwise, a snake is more afraid of us. That's why we move slow in the pit. We don't want to give the impression that we're a danger," Stewardt said.
"If you end up close to a wild rattlesnake, do the same thing. Don't move. The snake won't bite."
Same goes for flying grasshoppers. Hold still and you'll be alright.
