|
There are snakes, and then there are snakes
Published September 3, 2009
“While continuing my recovery from hip replacement, I watched a TV program titled, “Animal Extractors.”
During this episode, a large rattlesnake was successfully extracted from a residence. As the reptile was released, one of the individuals involved exclaimed the four-foot-long rattlesnake was “the largest one I have ever dealt with.”
As you might expect, it “rattled” my reptillion memory synapses.
In 1963, while engaged in temporary duty as an army medic, at the Army Ranger training facility in the swamps near Eglin Air Force Base, in Florida, I had a close encounter with the great-granddaddy of the previously mentioned Viperadae.
A group of military officers from the U.S. and several foreign countries were part of a training class preparing to be released into the local swamp.
Once, we were arbitrarily dropped off by boat along the banks of the Yellow River as it snaked through the Florida Panhandle, each man would spend the next several days attempting to find his way back to the base camp.
The last rays of the evening’s setting sun glimmered through the tall and slender loblolly pines, and caressed the palmetto bushes surrounding the small clearing in which the officers were gathered.
All were listening to the sage survival advice offered by one of the last survivors of the famed World War II’s Darby’s Rangers.
At one point in his discourse, he suddenly stopped and sternly addressed a Marine captain crouched with his back to the palmetto bushes.
He said, firmly, “Captain, from this moment on, I want you to pay strict attention to me and what I tell you.”
Of course he got the attention of everybody, including me as I stood nearby.
Continuing, he told the now very attentive Marine, “When I tell you to jump, I want you to jump 10 feet.”
Following a brief pause, he said forcefully, “Jump!”
I can attest the captain jumped more than 10 feet – closer to 15.
Before anyone could react further, the old war horse moved toward the spot where the captain had been.
Using the butt of an M-14 rifle, he deftly pinned the head of the largest Canebrake/Timber rattlesnake I, or anyone else had seen, to the ground.
Fortunately for the captain, the Sarge had seen the critter in time to prevent what would have most definitely been a serious situation if the officer had been bitten.
The Crotalus (rattle) horridus (rough or prickly) atricaudatu proved to be seven-and-a-half feet long weighing nearly 40 pounds, with fangs over two inches in length. That snake’s head was as large as my fist.
Needless to say, everybody walked the area a little more circumspectly.
George Jones is a staff writer for The Sand Mountain Reporter. His e-mail address is boaz(at)sandmountainreporter.com.
Share |
Save |
Mail |
Print |
Letter
|
|
|
 |
|
Follow the Reporter on Twitter:
SMR News and
SMR Sports
|
