Primitive Archer
Main Discussion Area => Around the Campfire => Topic started by: Marks on July 31, 2013, 04:52:33 pm
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This is something I've never understood. Grown men that turn into little girls around a snake. Now don't get me wrong if I look down to see an unexpected and unidentified near my feet I'm liable to cuss and remove myself at a high rate of speed but as soon as I'm a safe distance away I'll turn around and come back to get him. I don't catch venomous snakes but I play with the nonvenomous types. I've seen grown burly manly men squeal over a garter snake. I hear often the only good snake is a dead one. I disagree. I always let nonvenomous ones go.
So tell me, why are so many men afraid of harmless non venomous snakes.
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I've got guys that work for me will squiel like a little girl. We spend most of our time drilling in the serpent "Club Med". Never could understand it. Then I have neighbors from the Northern states that will kill every Glass, Garter, or Black snake they see. They scream and beat them so bad there's not much left for the ants. :-[ ::)
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I'm not as afraid as some, but I'm one of the ones that will swear up a storm and jump a good distance if I see one. For me I think it comes from the traumatic experience of running around barefoot as a 10 year old kid and stepping on a 3 foot garter snake. Just that feeling of stepping on it is something I won't ever forget, and I have nearly stepped on a good number of them since. I have killed a few, but I mostly let them go on their way.
I'll be completely honest, that snakes are one of the only things on this planet that does scare the crap out of me.
Jon
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Snakes don't bother me , if I'm noodling I pitch those brown water snakes out of my way.
The copperheads get about two feet of clearance till I get something to take care of them , just haven't had the chance to get some copper for my bows this year but have gathered up some black, everyone with chickens around me have kep me supplied with them just need to get them out of the bait freezer and skin them ( they bring them to me in a plastic sack so I just throw them in the freezer).
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The fear of snakes is something learned, likely at a young age. Find a man or a woman who is afraid of snakes and you will find a parent who is afraid of snakes. I am sure there are exceptions, but most irrational fears are learned behaviors. By the way, if one is phobic about snakes, they have Ophidiophobia.
I even let the poisonous ones go free and on their way unless they are in my yard or around a place where children play. I see no reason to kill them just because they are a pit viper.
Just be glad we don't live where there are really scary snakes like the African continent, much of Asia and Australia.
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I hear ya...
Was on a job outside of Live Oak, Florida rebuilding a Pipline bridge over the Suwanneee River.
I was up on the pipe when I saw a nice big Black Racer go cruising by under the line.
I jumped down and scooped her up. She was at least a six footer.
A real beauty...
The Company Man that was on site watching over us, pulls up to the small group, gathered around to check out the snake, and gets out to see what's up.
The group parts as I turn around, snake wrapped up on my arm.
The man pulls up short, about two feet away, gets an eye full of snake and takes off running.
Screeching like the Devil himself is after him.
He runs about 30 yards into the woods smack into a swarm of Honey Bees.
Which OF COURSE he was allergic to.
Gets stung numerous times, goes into anaphylactic shock.
He had to be airlifted out as we were in the Boonies.
The guy did recover, eventually.
I let the Racer go on the opposite side of the clearing...
This same guy, a week earlier, had killed, chopped up, the Largest Coral Snake I have yet seen.
The part of the skin I kept is 36 inches long.
In molested the snake would have pushed four feet.
It was cut into six or seven pieces.
The nearest building was ten or twenty miles away...
Poetic Justice?
I love snakes...
Don't get me wrong I will kill a snake here or there at need.
But I also try to conserve snakes in general.
-gus
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My boss is an ex division 1 football player... Big burly guy. I've seen him nearly jump out of his shoes because of a worm on a sidewalk. I don't get it because I love snakes. I'm that way with spiders though. I had a roommate in college that had a tarantula that I was terrified of.
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We used to have a nearly 6 ft bullsnake named Joon at the Black Hills Raptor Center. She easily had been handled by 15,000 kids in her lifetime. Sweetest temper you ever saw in a wild caught snake, miss her terribly.
At the end of programs, kids always want to pet something, so we used to bring Joon along to classrooms. We don't let 'em pet the birds, it throws off our feeding schedule. >:D
I kept an informal count of those that were unwilling/unable to touch the snake. It was easily 2:1 boys over girls. More boys were unable to deal with a snake than girls. AND of the girls that were scared, most of them would circle around the other kids handling the snake until she was the last kid, then she would dart forward, touch the snake and dash off.
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I have never been scared of snakes though I have a healthy respect for them. My oldest son was bitten by a copperhead at a campout when he was 11. After we got back from the hospital, I made him pick the snake up and hold it for a pic hoping it might break him of any future fear he might have from the experience. I was wrong. We rode over one the other day in the road in my truck and he was so scared he lifted his feet. He doesn't look too happy, does he?(http://www.huntingexchange.com/hwdphotos/uploads/62/2/7aqdkyp6a4m4xj.jpg)
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I'm the guy that catches the snake and chases the scared sissy pants with it. Especially at work >:D
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Maybe using the term 'little girl' was not the best way to get a response from somebody with Ophidiophobia. I'm getting responses from all the snake people.
The fear of snakes is something learned, likely at a young age. Find a man or a woman who is afraid of snakes and you will find a parent who is afraid of snakes. I am sure there are exceptions, but most irrational fears are learned behaviors. By the way, if one is phobic about snakes, they have Ophidiophobia.
I even let the poisonous ones go free and on their way unless they are in my yard or around a place where children play. I see no reason to kill them just because they are a pit viper.
Just be glad we don't live where there are really scary snakes like the African continent, much of Asia and Australia.
I like this explanation though. My wife is this way real bad. She is scared of everything.....like water and puppies. I'm working on her slowly. We have 2 dogs that she loves now. Her and her brother have picked up every single fear that each of their parents have and multiplied it. Her brother once sat on the counter in their kitchen for 2 hours because a mouse ran across the floor. :-[
I have few fears. One is I have a fear of public speaking. I still do it from time to time at church but I hate it. It makes me sick to my stomach thinking about it but like I said, I still do it some. If I were to compare my fear of public speaking to many peoples snake fear it would be like this.....I'm so scared of public speaking that I don't even like to look at or even be in the crowd much less in front of them.
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I have never understood the unreasonable fear of snakes that many people have.
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True. 'Unreasonable fear' might be a better way to say it. I don't fault people who don't like snakes. I understand. I'm talking about the ones who don't like to hear the word or can't be within sight of one. Another analogy would be like someone who is scared of the water not being able to look at a swimming pool.
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I have Sought out my fear and Persued them with a vengeance.
I've always had a terrible fear of heights.
So I took a job working the High Iron, building Pipline Bridges and Towers.
Chasing this fear down ended up with me Skydiving.
What a Rush...
I discovered along the way that I'm an incurable adrenaline junkie...
There are worse addictions out there...
I have yet to tackle My fear of spiders...
I leave them alone, as long as they leave me alone... :)
But then I have been bitten twice by Brown Recluse.
My wife's best friend has such a Strong fear of snakes,
She will Faint dead away at the sight of one.
Even on TV...
I have to admit testing her several times to see if it was real...
By placing a photo of a snake where she can see it by Accident...
It really works...
I stay close each time to catch her before she hits the ground...
But this never gets old...
>:D
-gus
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I have Sought out my fear and Persued them with a vengeance.
I've always had a terrible fear of eighths.
So I took a job working the High Iron, building Pipline Bridges and Towers.
Chasing this fear down ended up with me Skydiving.
What a Rush...
I discovered along the way that I'm an incurable adrenaline junkie...
There are worse addictions out there...
I have yet to tackle My fear of spiders...
I leave them alone, as long as they leave me alone... :)
But then I have been bitten twice by Brown Recluse.
My wife's best friend has such a Strong fear of snakes,
She will Faint dead away at the sight of one.
Even on TV...
I have to admit testing her several times to see if it was real...
By placing a photo of a snake where she can see it by Accident...
It really works...
I stay close each time to catch her before she hits the ground...
But this never gets old...
>:D
Lol I would do the same thing
-gus
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People are afraid of snakes because they have a very poor understanding of them.
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I've always had a terrible fear of eighths.
-gus
Mine is much worse, I am afraid of all fractions. In fact, when I discovered a dial caliper (micrometer) and learned I could work the decimal system to my advantage I immediately improved my bow making. I detest having to guess if some number of 16ths is more or less than some other number of 8ths. How many hundredths or thousandths is that? No problem!
But seriously, I understand the irrational fears. All joking aside, I am a painfully shy person. Speaking to strangers at one time almost killed me. At the end of my freshman year of high school it was announced we were moving. That pattern repeated every school year until I had racked up 4 high schools in 4 years. My senior year came and I decided I would fake being outspoken, popular, confidant, handsome, and smart. And I have been faking it every since. Well, everything but the handsome and smart part, that's just second nature now.
I still have trouble in crowds, my ears ring and my heart pounds. I find it difficult to concentrate, and I can never remember people's names afterwards. If you have met me once and meet me again, please don't be offended when I can't come up with your name. Meeting you was terrifying and I will need to meet you several times to become comfortable enough to be able to stick a nametag on you. Funny what irrational fears can do to a person, huh?
I am glad I decided not to pull into a shell and hide. It's given me a lifetime of great fun and good friends. Not to mention a trickbag of bad puns and offcolor jokes.
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East texas in October means moccersons and copperheads and rattlesnakes in the river bottoms. Even bumped into a coral snake my first archery season.Not afraid just careful
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It could be that the person went into limbic mode. A limbic response occurs in our most primitive part of the brain tied to self preservation. It's also the part of the brain that is all or nothing. Black or white. The limbic brain is a primitive part of the brain and a person in a "limbic mode" is easy to spot.. For example, running, screaming and jumping away from snakes. When the limbic brain is in control it effectively and almost immediately as an innate response shuts down the parts of the brain associated with reason and logic.
An example of this is a person screaming or jumping in a startled manner during a horror movie or if you're at the zoo behind a bullet prof glass and a king cobra strikes at the glass in front of you; you jump back.. The person in each example knows that there is not ANY real danger yet the limbic mode kicks in. The limbic part of our brain is connected to our eyes and response and reacts as quickly as our eyes see the image and long before the reason and logic parts can decipher the scenario as a real or imagined hazard; hence the self preservation mechanism kicking in.. The old idiom "better to be safe than sorry" would apply here..
Cipriano
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I have a Unhealthy fear of Snakes.
Not a Run Screaming or Passing out Cold fear just a Unhealthy Fear.
Tuesday when I got home from work it was hot a very humid. Thunder rolled off in the distance from passing thunderstorms.
Went to get the mail and the garbage can. On the way back the garbage can was making that terrible noise that garbage cans make when they are rolled over a gravel driveway. About half way back to the house I hear this strange noise over the racket the garbage can is making. I stop and listen. First thought was that the rear tire on my son's car has somehow blown out and is loosing large amounts of air. That makes no since the car has been parked for the last two days. May be it is some great big funky Chicata Bug on this tree. No it coming from the ground.... There!!!! That is where it is coming from. About 8 foot away is a large Timber Rattler. Coiled up and buzzing for all he is worth. Now I don't freak out at this point. The garbage can is rolled the rest of the way up to the house and put away. I go into the house and inform the wife and our son that there is a large rattlesnake in the front yard.
I have a live and let live attitude toward snakes. And, If this snake had been anywhere else
" Except my Yard " he would have been fine. But not in my yard...... I took my 22 and popped his head almost all the way off. Removed the head and buried it with a shovel out in the woods. Here is where the "Freak Out"part comes in. Even after the snake had been dead for an hour I could not bring my self to skin it..... It just freaks me out the way they squirm around. My wife laughed at me. Called me a weenie no less. She "MY Wife" suggested that I freeze the snake, in "HER" deep freezer, then thaw it a bit, and then skin it Saturday. The freezing will remove all the squirming. I Hope. Well, tomorrow is Saturday. It is also my 48th Birthday. Guess we will see if freeking out gets better or worse with age.
David
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RidgeRunner, we aren't that far apart. If you can't bring yourself to skin any more Timbers or copperhead send me a message. O:) I'll take em. I'm kinda like you when it comes to venomous snakes. I'm a little nervous to touch them while they have a head even when they are dead. I remove the head ASAP. I had a guy I went to church with "kill" one on a job site by himself. When he reached down to pick it up to take and show his kids it bit him. He passed out driving on the way to the hospital and ran off the road into a field. Some kind lady stopped and got him and took him the rest of the way and saved his life. He got real bad off for a few days.
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I hear ya...
Was on a job outside of Live Oak, Florida rebuilding a Pipline bridge over the Suwanneee River.
I was up on the pipe when I saw a nice big Black Racer go cruising by under the line.
I jumped down and scooped her up. She was at least a six footer.
A real beauty...
The Company Man that was on site watching over us, pulls up to the small group, gathered around to check out the snake, and gets out to see what's up.
The group parts as I turn around, snake wrapped up on my arm.
The man pulls up short, about two feet away, gets an eye full of snake and takes off running.
Screeching like the Devil himself is after him.
He runs about 30 yards into the woods smack into a swarm of Honey Bees.
Which OF COURSE he was allergic to.
Gets stung numerous times, goes into anaphylactic shock.
He had to be airlifted out as we were in the Boonies.
The guy did recover, eventually.
I let the Racer go on the opposite side of the clearing...
This same guy, a week earlier, had killed, chopped up, the Largest Coral Snake I have yet seen.
The part of the skin I kept is 36 inches long.
In molested the snake would have pushed four feet.
It was cut into six or seven pieces.
The nearest building was ten or twenty miles away...
Poetic Justice?
I love snakes...
Don't get me wrong I will kill a snake here or there at need.
But I also try to conserve snakes in general.
-gus
Great story Gus! I am with you on the conserve in general but harvest here and there standpoint.
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I hain't skeered of em:)
(http://i47.photobucket.com/albums/f165/ROY-CHRIS/babyJosef036.jpg) (http://s47.photobucket.com/user/ROY-CHRIS/media/babyJosef036.jpg.html)
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I was holding that decapitated snake by his tail.
You could touch his midsection and the "neck" end would fly up like it striking.
Guuuh.... It just freaks me out.....
Found out that some on my neighbors, who own 8 - 400' chicken houses have a Copperhead Infestation. I suspect the Copperheads are eating rats. The rats are eating chicken feed.
They live about three miles away. Just got to get over being freaked out.....
David
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I was holding that decapitated snake by his tail.
You could touch his midsection and the "neck" end would fly up like it striking.
Guuuh.... It just freaks me out.....
Found out that some on my neighbors, who own 8 - 400' chicken houses have a Copperhead Infestation. I suspect the Copperheads are eating rats. The rats are eating chicken feed.
They live about three miles away. Just got to get over being freaked out.....
David
Call me up. If you've got the snakes, I'm willing to catch them and skin em. I've got snake chaps and I'm just a little crazy. lol. It can be a team effort. I can't find a copperhead around here to save my life. I've got 2 timbers rattlers and 1 corn snake (it was roadkill) but I've got my heart set on copperheads.
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Any snake of good size, is just another skin to me, i keep em in cages in my house, i go out lookin for em , and i get antsy when i promise traded for em and i cant find any, i have the fear , they will never be enough... lol
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The only snakes we have where I am are garter snakes, so I've never had an opportunity to be afraid of them. The thought of bigger snakes and venomous snakes does freak me out a little.
I don't mind handling the garter snakes around here, but I don't think I'd ever feel comfortable chasing down a rattler, or a big wild constrictor. If I ever come across one in my travels I think I'd keep my distance, watch it for a bit, then move on keeping a careful eye on it.
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Slackbunny where do you live??
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Slackbunny where do you live??
I live in New Brunswick Canada. But I guess I was wrong about garter snakes being the only species.
Apparently we also have smooth greensnakes, northern red-bellied snakes and northern ring-necked snakes. So four species total, and now that I think of it, I have seen a very tiny northern red-belled snake, but only once. Never laid eyes on the other two, and I've rooted around in the woods quite a bit.
Also, we've only got 7 species of reptiles total, with no lizards at all.
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Well, I just wanted to let everone know that " I Manned Up " and peeled the skin off the Timber Rattler. My wife helped. It was not an easy thing for us to do. We tried to convince ourselves that we, as humans, have some kind of built-in aversion to the patterns on snake skins. I dont know if that is true or not. I love snake skins - Just wish they did not grow on snakes.... The freezing and thawing removed all the wiggle out of it. Thank Goodness ;D. The snake was very fat. Scrapped large amounts of fat off the inside of the skin. Pinned it to a board and set it out in the sun to dry. Will see if I can get a photo of the skin on the board posted.
Marks:
Let me check with my neighbors. They might let us snake hunt. If they will I will send you a PM.
David
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most people dont know the difference between a deadly and harmless snake, there for, they are scared of them all.
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Why are so many men scared of snakes,i thought of so many things to say here , everyone of them would probably offend someone, lol, so........nope not gonna. >:D
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Well, As promised here is the "Skin of the Snake" that I killed in my front yard one week back.
David
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Wow. That one is pretty big.
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That's gonna look good backing a sweet bent piece of wood.