That sounds familiar, OH CRAP! What the hey?!

So went my expressions this afternoon while riding big Mike, a nearly 16 hand Tennessee walker.  I was running Gunner and Tula in some big canyon / badland type country.

“Buzzzzzz” HUH? ….that sounds like…. oh crap!  The sound stopped as fast as it started on big Mike.  I reined Mike quickly to the right and circled carefully back.  There it was, dead as a doornail.  I noticed the pinkish white guts first then saw the underbelly.  Mike’s big hoof, shod with horseshoes had expertly disemboweled AND severed the head in one fatal step.  It was a prairie rattler in Montana!

This was the second prairie rattler I have encountered in less than 3 weeks.  The first one was a whopper.  Prairie rattlers don’t get as big as western diamondbacks but they have a terrible temper.  While a western will warn and stand ground, a prairie will warn and chase!

The first prairie I saw was huge by prairie rattler standards.  He was at least 2 foot long and thick bodied.  He stood up tall as he threatened me.  Funny, I have two horses and both times I was on big Mike!  I think Mike has rattler attractant built in.  LOL  (Big Mike stepped on a 3 1/2 foot western diamondback on my farm last year too!)

I was tempted today to get off of big Mike and go fetch the rattles off that little prairie rattler (he was about 12 to 15 inches long) but then thought about what I heard on a snake documentary about venomous snakes “70 percent of snake bites are on the hand”.  I counted the rattles while sitting atop big Mike (about 6 or 7) and left.  Moments later (less than a minute), Gunner stood on the side of a canyon nearly 1/4 mile away on point.  It was awesome.  Fresh on my mind was that little rattler as I dismounted and had to walk several hundred yards to get to the dog.

So, the high today was 80′ish.  If you come here and it’s warm, watch out!

Now I should say that the first snake encountered was by Jason Francis dog ‘Champ’.  Champ gets desnaking by me every year prior to coming to Montana (Champ goes every year!  Thanks Jason!).  Champ was running full tilt, skidded to a halt and jumped backwards 6 feet!  I rode big Mike over and there was the aforementioned big rattler ready to take on big Mike.

Two things made me feel good then about Champ and today about Gunner / Tula.  All are desnaked and all have had snake vax.  In my first aid kit at the truck was emergency meds to take care of an accidental bite.  On my cell phone was the emergency number of the nearest Vet.  Are you prepared?

Tell you Brittany “Good Dog!” and make sure you tell “Dave told me to say Good Dog!”.

Take care,

Dave