Timbers Two Weeks in a Row

[SBecker]

afishinado wrote:

If you added up all the members on here, the time spent in the outdoors and fishing in PA would add up to millions of hours. I will go out on a limb and state that not one has ever been bitten by a rattlesnake while fishing....relax.

Yeah, well during Lunkerfest this year a rattler struck a guys waders two times on the Bowmansown island. Never hit skin somehow. That rattler did not survive and ended up on the guys metal stringer.

At least this is the story told to me.

Nope nope nope nope nope ::envision Godzilla giving the double middle finger while returning to the sea::

 

[Heritage-Angler]

Yeah, but Godzilla doesn't live in Bowmanstown.......

 

[Swattie87]

Becks - Not trying to be a wise guy or insinuate anything, but just asking honestly...do you know the circumstances surrounding the bites?

Was the guy was agitating or otherwise messing around with the snake? Was the snake inadvertently stepped on? Or was it unprovoked?

 

[wildtrout2]

Yea Matt, sounds like maybe that particular snake might have been stepped on or otherwise provoked. I've seen 4 timber rattlers in Potter and none of them rattled. I've read they will often "dry bite", unless they are killing prey, to maintain their supply of venom.

I've seen both yellow and black phase. These are beautiful creatures that represent wilderness for the most part. I used to be VERY paranoid about them until I encountered my first one, and saw that they really are quite docile if not messed with.

 

[SBecker]

The story told to me was that he was walking a small path on the island, he did not see the snake in the grass off the path. It struck him while walking by.

Godzilla does not live in Btown, but I do. Wife says I destroy the house sooooo...

 

[jifigz]

I was hiking one time on the Mid-State and just almost stepped directly on one right on the trail. The primitive part of my brain just caught a slight bit of coloration and before I could even register my instincts had me jump backwards. I pointed it out to my friend with me and it took him a little while to even pick it out because there cacmoflauge is so good. A very docile snake, by the way, they generally have to be harassed into striking at a person. I could have walked within inches of the snake and he would have never moved....in fact, I was within inches before I realized it was there. Had I stepped on it it probably would have bit me and then things would have been bad.

 

[pcray1231]

I was hiking one time on the Mid-State and just almost stepped directly on one right on the trail. The primitive part of my brain just caught a slight bit of coloration and before I could even register my instincts had me jump backwards. I pointed it out to my friend with me and it took him a little while to even pick it out because there cacmoflauge is so good.

And then you landed, right? Been there.

 

[jifigz]

In fact, here is a picture of that snake I referenced nearly stepping on. While the snake never made a move of any kind and they truly are a docile species, just look at its face! It just screams "Don't mess with me!"

 

[wildtrout2]

That's what disturbs me about them, they blend in sooo well! That's a pretty snake though.

 

[Swattie87]

Yeah, that's a really pretty one. I've never seen a yellow phase.

 

[troutbert]

What type of locations have you all seen rattlers the most?

I've seen most in areas open to the sun, and often on gravelly surfaces and roads.

This may be partly because they are easy to see there, and we spend a lot of time walking at such places.

But it may also be that the rattlers prefer such places.

I've seen them on paved roads, such as Route 144 in southern Sproul Forest.

I also saw one on a gravel forest road, south of Waterville.

I saw one on a gas line cut, in southern Sproul SF.

And we saw 3 different groups of snake hunters all hunting on a gravel access road on a power line cut. They said it was a real hotspot, though I've walked there 5 times and never saw one.

In eastern Oregon there was a big rattler lying on the gravel hiking trail we were walking on.

I've only seen rattlers really in the woods, near streams, twice. One laying on a log in a well shaded forest area, in the floodplain of a stream.

And one that buzzed me while walking right along a stream, in a well shaded place. It was lying on a piece of ground that had a gravel, cobble surface, with some grass growing up through the rocks.

In cool weather at least, they seem to like places where they can sun themselves, and maybe the gravelly rocky areas also warm up more than damp soil places.

I've heard people say that in the hottest part of the summer they move near the streams where it's cooler. That might be true, but I'm not sure.

 

[wildtrout2]

Dwight, I'm thinking they can show up pretty much anywhere. I saw one right at stream's edge, which I think was injured somehow. I saw one in the tall grassy weeds/ferns, one in the woods and I saw another on a hiking trail. So, when I'm up in Clinton/Potter I'm always watching where I step and the immediate path of travel I'm on. I do look forward to (in a curious way) my next encounter.

 

[Swattie87]

I've seen all of mine along streams, either in a brush pile or on a gravel bar or exposed rock. Or swimming across Penns Creek as one did. All were in late Spring or Summer. Seeing them along streams I think is simply more a function of me spending most of my time hiking along streams, rather than that being their preferred habitat.

Generally speaking, I think the best spots to find them in numbers (or to avoid depending on your outlook), are open rock outcrops and boulder fields higher up on the ridges, particularly south facing slopes.

 

[jifigz]

Swattie is right on the money by stating high rock fields on the ridges. It is well known that where there are ridges and mountains the timber rattlers are generally in the higher elevations. Mentioning that they move towards the streams to be cooler in the hottest part of the summer is not accurate. I've also heard many people say that they "come down for water" and this is also a false statement. When the snakes leave their den/home area what they are doing is looking for a mate. Water and cooler temperatures have nothing to do with why they move. They will make a journey of up to a few miles in a loop looking for a mate and then return to their den. One cool thing about females is that they can store the male's sperm for many months before using it to get pregnant....kind of weird..I believe they are live bearers as well.

 

[jifigz]

And, by the way, high up is where I have seen them. Not necessarily on rock fields, but the tops of mountains here in central PA. I have seen one down in the lowlands actually in a stream swallowing a stocked rainbow trout....pretty cool.

 

[Hook_Jaw]

been fishing Penns ck 28 years and have never seen a rattler only water snakes, copperhead, and black snakes

 

[JF_]

Here's a pic of one I saw crossing on Cherry Run Road (above Penns Creek) from back in 2000. This was just above where Cherry Run veers away from the road. After it got off the road it stopped and in a minute or two it started rattling. Very cool.

 

[Swattie87]

My Penns Rattler swimming story…

A few years ago at the Jam (2012 I think?) it was about 4 or 5 PM and we were nymphing the riffle below the campground hole at Poe Paddy waiting for the sulphurs to start. A couple of guys were fishing the campground hole, maybe 75 or 100 yards above us. They were just a couple feet in from the west bank, but were in about thigh deep water. All of a sudden we heard a lot of commotion and splashing and saw the two guys scrambling to get out of the water. We could see something swimming across the creek at a 90 degree angle from the east bank toward the west bank, but couldn’t tell what it was from that distance. Then we clearly heard one of them say “Rattler.” We thought no way…has to just be a Water Snake right? So we walked up and sure enough there was a good size Rattler stretched out across a log just in from the bank. I’ve got a picture of it, I’ll post tonight.

 

[pcray1231]

Mentioning that they move towards the streams to be cooler in the hottest part of the summer is not accurate. I've also heard many people say that they "come down for water" and this is also a false statement.

Those may be false statements. The false part is the reasoning. It's not to be "cooler" or "for water".

Nonetheless, in a DRY summer (tends to be hot as well), you will find more rattlers down in the valleys near streams.

You'll also find the pregnant females still at the den, of course. The males and non-pregnant females are the ones who wander.

When the snakes leave their den/home area what they are doing is looking for a mate.

That, and FOOD. The reason the rattlers come down to the stream valleys during dry periods isn't due to needing water or cooler temps. It's that their prey need water. They follow the prey.

 

[PAgeologist]

I have only encountered one while driving on the state forest roads in Potter County (Steam Mill Run Road for those familiar with that area). It was very agitated and aggressive despite having every opportunity to get away from us. I'm sure if I got out of the truck it would have struck me. That was on a very hot day around July 4th.

I was told that the hot weather and breeding season will make them aggressive and easily angry.