Quote:
Originally Posted by WT Sharpe
Not sure if I'd trust Wellingtons to be be snake-proof. I would think that a snake might be able to bite through them. It's good to be cautious, though. Snakes that you see won't hurt you. It's the ones you don't see that pose the problem. I once saw a water moccasin beside a lake. When it saw me, it immediately slithered under a large rock. Wanting a closer look, I lifted the rock by one edge to reveal not one, but two off the little beauties. Then I realized I had created a dilemma. If I let go of the rock, I risked injuring the creatures, but if I didn't, I was at their mercy. Fortunately the snakes provided their own solution by quickly slithering into the water. What passes for conventional wisdom by folks who haven't studied cottonmouths is that they are extremely aggressive snakes who will attack without provocation. The truth is that if you don't molest them, they won't bother you. Of course, some are quicker to bite then others when they perceive a threat, and both cottonmouths and copperheads fall into that category.
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I think I've shared that I was bitten by a rattler when quite young. My Dad and his best childhood friend who became a Doctor (2 New Mexico Cowboys, one becomes a Doctor, the other a lawyer, go figure, right?) got very heavily involved with Search and Rescue which they had kind of done on and off pretty much always (yeah it's kind of genetic). anyway they were ramping it up, and Dad and I were at a western wear shop and he was getting a pair of guaranteed snake bite proof boots. I actually became quite hysterical when the salesman was explaining the guarantee to my Dad. I was about 8 or 9. Bitten when I was 5. It does that