AZ: if it is a snake, just shoot it

6 Responses to AZ: if it is a snake, just shoot it

1. TheChairman says:

   February 1, 2017 at 4:18 am

   Of course, being in Arizona I am compelled to reply to this post, but where to begin?

   Let’s start with the origins of “Shannon’s Law”, passed in the year 2000 to stop ‘celebratory gunfire’. It was named after a girl who was killed by a rogue bullet.

   Race Card Trigger Alert: the law was, in fact, the result of certain ethnic groups who have a tendency to fire guns into the AIR on New Years, May 5th, futbol victories, parties, etc. Of course, common sense dictates that what goes up must come down, and someone finally paid the ultimate price when a ‘celebratory ballistic’ returned to earth at ‘terminal’ speed. Bullets fired in this manner can end up a over a mile from the origin, so there’s no way to find the culprit without precise audio triangulation and a lot of finger pointing when/if police do arrive. Quite unlikely in most situations.

   Next, attempting to kill a rattler with any firearm other than a shotgun is asking for trouble unless you’re a marksman. A wounded snake is definitely more dangerous.

   I’ve killed a few rattlers, but not because I wanted to… they tend to stay within a few hundred feet of their ‘home’, which happened to be under my doorway. I was living in a very rural area on the side of mountain. My weapon: a shovel, with a -long- handle. You must hit it just right and lop off the head, and it can still bite via latent reflex… i.e. don’t pick it up right away, it’s best to leave a dead rattlesnake alone for several hours.

   Personally, I never saw a snake in urban Phoenix. Scorpions and spiders are a bigger problem. Tucson tends to be less urbanized, and I’ve seen a few more snakes in recent years. For example: Kingsnakes (non-poisonous) actually hunt rattlesnakes -and- eat rodents, so they are very desirable. We had one come into our yard last March. At the time, I could not identify the snake, so I kept it at bay with a garden hose (water jet) and a shovel in hand, while the wife did a quick internet search. After verifying the markings, I put down the hose and shovel, and let the kingsnake get on with it’s day.

   I don’t like the law for two reasons: some might use it as an ‘excuse’ to discharge their firearms; and it could cause more bites due to lack of fire-power or prudence. I have to wonder if the sponsor of the new law has ever tried to kill a rattler with a Red Rider BB gun, which he says is more powerful than the ammunition his law is proposing. ??

   On that note: a rattlesnake ‘rattle’ sounds like BB’s swirling around in a frying pan.

   Also, rattlesnakes do -not- lay eggs. Baby rattlers are born live and are actually more poisonous than adults, as their venom is neurotoxic instead of hemotoxic.

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   • Fred Stiening says:

     February 1, 2017 at 6:01 am

     You recognized the bait very well 😉

     Who would have ever guessed all of the things mentioning a spork would cause?

     I had a friend in California who invited me to visit her home. She was constantly warning me about rattler snakes, hawks who might eat her cats, deer who were not afraid of humans and mountain lions who might eat us for lunch.

     I realized I was not the man for her, and went back to Connecticut. Snakes are very unimportant in North Carolina. I think there is one poisonus variety and it is very unaggressive unless backed into a corner.

     The most dangerous thing around here are giant cockroches. I’ll post a picture if one of my pets skitters across the floor. Because we don’t usually get extended hard freezes, critters can survive the winter here. The main positive effect of my pet was it scared my brother away, which is a good thing.

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     • countess robini says:

       February 2, 2017 at 12:12 am

       dear fred: boric acid. but not in the bottom of the shower stall. this could make life somewhat difficult over the next few days.

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       • Fred Stiening says:

         February 2, 2017 at 5:13 am

         Dearest Countess…

         I do have a large bottle of boric acid, but have difficulty applying it in the places where it would be effective. I’ll keep an eye out so we can get a picture and study its etymology.

         When my parents moved to North Carolina, the first night in our rented house we discovered one of the joys of living in the South. They bought some roach powder at Winn Dixie’s and the next morning, the kitchen sink was full of dead roaches. We either killed them all, or the smart ones learned to not eat the free government cheese and stay in hiding.

         So which is more scary – Camden New Jersey at 2 AM or a roach livimg in the dishwasher?

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         • countess robini says:

           February 4, 2017 at 10:47 pm

           in camden, even at 2 am, there are cops on the street. it is their sworn duty to protect people like me.

           in the second scenario, it’s just me, alone, pitted against the roach — a creature of astounding speed and great ingenuity which has survived millenia of orkin guys. the roach would win — and i’d be eating off paper plates for weeks.

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   • Fred Stiening says:

     February 23, 2017 at 1:47 pm

     Raymond W Smith and his friends formed a Red Ryder club in Dormont in the 1950s. He has a home in Scottsdale

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