WEBVTT - Ep. 147: THIS COUNTRY LIFE - Snakes! 0:00:05.160 --> 0:00:09.200 Welcome to This Country Life. I'm your host, Brent Riggs 0:00:09.920 --> 0:00:13.680 from coon hunting to trot lining and just general country living. 0:00:14.080 --> 0:00:16.040 I want you to stay a while as I share 0:00:16.079 --> 0:00:18.479 my stories and the country skills that will help you 0:00:18.560 --> 0:00:22.360 beat the system. This Country Life is proudly presented as 0:00:22.400 --> 0:00:25.880 part of Meat Eater's podcast network, bringing you the best 0:00:25.920 --> 0:00:29.960 outdoor podcast the airways have to offer. All right, friends, 0:00:30.160 --> 0:00:33.080 pull you up a chair or drop that tailgate. I 0:00:33.120 --> 0:00:39.000 think I got a thing or two to teach you snakes. 0:00:41.159 --> 0:00:43.200 I can think a few words that will get your 0:00:43.280 --> 0:00:48.640 attention quicker than someone saying snake. Say it loudly and 0:00:48.680 --> 0:00:52.599 you'll get everyone's attention. Research says that we have an 0:00:52.840 --> 0:00:55.400 ingrained fear of them that is become natural over time. 0:00:55.440 --> 0:00:57.680 And I don't know if I agree one hundred percent 0:00:57.720 --> 0:01:00.360 with that, but I will bet that there's more folks 0:01:00.360 --> 0:01:03.040 that fear them than those of us that don't. And 0:01:03.120 --> 0:01:04.840 if you're in the woods a lot like I am, 0:01:05.240 --> 0:01:07.920 you're gonna see them, and you order to be informed 0:01:07.920 --> 0:01:11.720 about what you're looking at. More importantly, you need to 0:01:11.760 --> 0:01:13.560 be prepared and have a plan in the back of 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:15.440 your mind for the ones you run up on that 0:01:15.560 --> 0:01:19.120 you don't see. We're talking about snakes this week. But 0:01:19.240 --> 0:01:31.560 first I'm gonna tell you a story. I was in 0:01:31.680 --> 0:01:34.720 high school and probably about sixteen years old, and I 0:01:34.840 --> 0:01:37.480 taken my mama's car to town to knock around with 0:01:37.520 --> 0:01:40.760 my friends on a Sunday afternoon, and on the way home, 0:01:41.240 --> 0:01:43.640 I saw a pretty good rattle snake crossing the road, 0:01:44.000 --> 0:01:46.319 and I decided to catch him and take him home 0:01:46.560 --> 0:01:49.240 to show my mama. Now I don't know why I 0:01:49.320 --> 0:01:51.680 did that, but in the heat of the moment, she 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:53.520 was the only one I knew that I could show 0:01:53.560 --> 0:01:56.840 the snake to. Everybody else was gone, so I stopped 0:01:56.840 --> 0:01:59.480 her car and I caught him. It wasn't my first 0:01:59.520 --> 0:02:03.480 time ca the venom of snake, not even close. There 0:02:03.520 --> 0:02:05.640 wasn't any kind of snake that was off limits to 0:02:05.680 --> 0:02:08.760 my rounding up skills growing up. I'd catch them all 0:02:09.520 --> 0:02:12.240 and I never had an issue except cotton mouse had 0:02:12.240 --> 0:02:15.000 a bad musky odor that would stink up the world, 0:02:15.080 --> 0:02:16.840 and they did everything they could do to try to 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:21.119 bite you. But rattlesnakes and copperheads they were easy pickings. 0:02:21.840 --> 0:02:23.560 I got out of the car, I caught him in 0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:25.880 pretty short order. Then I got back in the car 0:02:25.960 --> 0:02:29.000 with a four foot rattlesnake. I got to thinking that 0:02:29.040 --> 0:02:30.480 if he got loose in there, it's going to be 0:02:30.520 --> 0:02:32.440 a chore to get him out, and my mama would 0:02:32.520 --> 0:02:36.400 kill me. So driving down the road, I swapped hands 0:02:36.440 --> 0:02:39.640 from right to left, dragging that snake across my lap, 0:02:39.639 --> 0:02:41.320 and I hung him out the window for the mile 0:02:41.440 --> 0:02:44.760 ride to the house. I pulled up and went and 0:02:44.840 --> 0:02:46.560 knocked on the door, and I hollered for Mama to 0:02:46.560 --> 0:02:49.880 come see what I'd got. She opened the door, and 0:02:49.919 --> 0:02:52.120 I was holding that snake with both hands, one on 0:02:52.160 --> 0:02:54.440 his head and the other on his tail, so she 0:02:54.480 --> 0:02:57.680 couldn't see him wiggling. And when she said, oh Lord, 0:02:57.720 --> 0:03:00.720 where did you kill that thing? I dropped him on 0:03:00.760 --> 0:03:02.680 the car port and he bawled up and went to 0:03:02.720 --> 0:03:06.320 buzzing like somebody had kicked over a beehive. I said, 0:03:06.360 --> 0:03:09.600 he ain't dead. She squealed and came on glued and 0:03:09.600 --> 0:03:12.760 started swinging the room at me. I kept the snake 0:03:12.880 --> 0:03:15.640 in between me and her in case she charged, but 0:03:15.800 --> 0:03:18.040 she was on the steps going into the house. It 0:03:18.080 --> 0:03:20.080 wasn't about to come down to the level where me 0:03:20.160 --> 0:03:22.720 and the snake were. She made it clear that I 0:03:22.840 --> 0:03:26.520 was to terminate that snake with extreme prejudice, and that 0:03:26.600 --> 0:03:29.359 if she ever caught me messing with poisonous snakes again, 0:03:30.280 --> 0:03:33.120 that she'd save the snake the trouble and killed me herself. 0:03:33.919 --> 0:03:37.280 Three years later, and an untold number of snakes caught 0:03:37.320 --> 0:03:41.400 and released, most that she didn't know about. Wayne Parnell 0:03:41.440 --> 0:03:43.800 and I were driving home from my brother Tim's house 0:03:44.080 --> 0:03:47.160 when we saw the largest copperhead in the history of 0:03:47.240 --> 0:03:51.640 mankind crossing the road in front of us. We're setting 0:03:51.680 --> 0:03:56.280 the stage for buffoonery, y'all pay attention. Sliding to a stop, 0:03:56.360 --> 0:03:57.760 I got out of the truck to catch him. I 0:03:57.760 --> 0:03:59.720 didn't even have to tell Wayne to stop. He knew 0:03:59.760 --> 0:04:02.160 what was fixing to happen. And Wayne was a good 0:04:02.240 --> 0:04:05.960 coach and a cheerleader as he stood safely behind his truck, 0:04:06.400 --> 0:04:08.960 urging me on in the capture of that serpent. Not 0:04:09.200 --> 0:04:14.360 unlike Marlon Perkins to gym on Wild Kingdom. The snake 0:04:14.400 --> 0:04:17.120 called into his defensive position and I was moving in 0:04:17.160 --> 0:04:20.839 to catch him. I remember exactly what I was wearing. Anybody, 0:04:20.839 --> 0:04:25.440 I won't take a guess, bingo overalls and red high 0:04:25.480 --> 0:04:28.240 top converse tennis shoes. You probably didn't guess that, but 0:04:28.279 --> 0:04:31.359 that's what I was wearing anyway. I eased my foot 0:04:31.440 --> 0:04:34.520 up to a spot right behind that joker's head and 0:04:34.760 --> 0:04:38.520 slightly applied pressure. I could feel his body pin into 0:04:38.560 --> 0:04:41.479 the gravel road, and I reached down to grab him 0:04:41.680 --> 0:04:45.760 behind his head, and the most amazing thing happened. As 0:04:45.760 --> 0:04:48.720 it turned out, I was standing on a small rock 0:04:48.880 --> 0:04:51.799 and not the snake. The snake opened up his mouth, 0:04:51.960 --> 0:04:54.479 wrapped his little lips around my favorite thumb on my 0:04:54.560 --> 0:04:56.760 left hand, and stuck one of his fangs into the 0:04:56.800 --> 0:05:00.440 knuckle joint of the previously mentioned thumb, and to what 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:02.719 must have been six and a half gallons of venom 0:05:03.040 --> 0:05:06.599 into my now astonished, yet a recently more educated person. 0:05:07.720 --> 0:05:09.479 I pulled my hand back and jumped away from that 0:05:09.480 --> 0:05:11.960 snake in disbelief, and I said, Wayne, he bit me. 0:05:12.960 --> 0:05:17.080 No he didn't, Yes, he did. Look it's bleeding. You're 0:05:17.120 --> 0:05:20.599 gonna die. No I'm not, but that snake is Forget 0:05:20.640 --> 0:05:22.880 the snake. We gotta get to the doctor. Get in 0:05:22.960 --> 0:05:27.120 the truck. You're gonna die. There's nothing like encouragement in 0:05:27.160 --> 0:05:30.840 the face of adversity. Wayne is driving like a wild man, 0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:33.520 and my thumb is starting to swell. I could see 0:05:33.560 --> 0:05:36.560 it swelling, but I was calm during the whole ordeal. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:40.159 I was holding my left thumb with my right hand 0:05:40.200 --> 0:05:43.080 and squeezing it as hard as I could to help 0:05:43.120 --> 0:05:46.600 stop the flow of venom. I wasn't afraid of snakes, 0:05:46.600 --> 0:05:49.480 and my doctor told me that not getting upset was 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:53.760 probably more beneficial to me as anything. The ride to 0:05:53.760 --> 0:05:55.719 town didn't take very long, but I had to take 0:05:55.760 --> 0:05:58.359 off my watch after a few minutes because of the swelling. 0:05:58.800 --> 0:06:00.920 Wayne and I had pulled up to a red light. 0:06:01.240 --> 0:06:03.839 Sitting in the lame beside us was a deputy sheriff 0:06:03.880 --> 0:06:06.920 that both of us knew. I rolled down my window 0:06:07.200 --> 0:06:09.760 and I asked him to contact the hospital and tell 0:06:09.800 --> 0:06:12.279 them that we were on the way and what had happened. 0:06:12.960 --> 0:06:15.080 He got on the radio and told us to follow him, 0:06:15.080 --> 0:06:17.280 and he gave us a police escort all the way 0:06:17.320 --> 0:06:21.000 across town. They were waiting for me when we arrived 0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.640 at the emergency room a few minutes later. The snake 0:06:24.680 --> 0:06:28.240 had bit me probably fifteen minutes ago, and my hand 0:06:28.360 --> 0:06:32.680 was now almost twice the normal size. They stuck my 0:06:32.720 --> 0:06:35.240 hand down in a big garbage bag of ice and 0:06:35.279 --> 0:06:38.440 asked how I had gotten bit. And that's when I 0:06:38.480 --> 0:06:41.640 realized somebody was going to write this down and my 0:06:41.800 --> 0:06:45.160 mama was going to read it. I may have been 0:06:45.200 --> 0:06:47.640 dang near grown, but if she decided to give me 0:06:47.680 --> 0:06:50.560 a whooping for playing with venomous snakes, I was just 0:06:50.600 --> 0:06:53.480 gonna have to take it. I didn't want a whooping 0:06:54.240 --> 0:06:58.479 they hurt. A plan starts to materialize in my criminally 0:06:58.520 --> 0:07:02.640 clever mind, a story so unbelievable that they would have 0:07:02.839 --> 0:07:06.680 no choice to believe it. At that time, I was 0:07:06.720 --> 0:07:09.760 a bona fide member of the School Brothers Union and 0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:13.200 I chewed tobacco. I have it associated with having to 0:07:13.240 --> 0:07:17.480 spit tobacco juice into some type of receptacle, and I 0:07:17.600 --> 0:07:20.000 referred to those as a spit cup. And this is 0:07:20.040 --> 0:07:23.000 common knowledge where I come from. So I swing my 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:27.760 plan into action. Doctor Chambers, Wayne and I were going 0:07:27.800 --> 0:07:31.360 down the road and I needed a spit cup. He 0:07:31.400 --> 0:07:32.960 pulled over on the side of the road and I 0:07:33.000 --> 0:07:35.880 got out. I reached down for the cup lying there, 0:07:36.280 --> 0:07:39.360 and the snake bit me. I never saw him until 0:07:39.360 --> 0:07:42.840 he bit me. The r had been one of chaos, 0:07:42.840 --> 0:07:45.160 with folks calling out procedures and this and that, and 0:07:45.200 --> 0:07:48.520 it was like a scene out of a movie, everyone dodging, 0:07:48.640 --> 0:07:52.320 dashing around in medically orchestration. And as soon as I 0:07:52.400 --> 0:07:57.000 said that, a hush fell over the crowd. Everyone stopped 0:07:57.000 --> 0:07:59.360 and looked at me like I just walked into a 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:04.440 saloon where my wonted poster was hanging. Doctor David Chambers 0:08:04.520 --> 0:08:06.960 was my doctor and just happened to be there making 0:08:07.040 --> 0:08:10.120 rounds when the call came in from the deputy sheriff. 0:08:11.640 --> 0:08:15.400 I'm from a small town, like y'all know. He knew me, well, 0:08:15.520 --> 0:08:18.960 he knew my mama. He stopped what he was doing 0:08:19.200 --> 0:08:22.280 and he looked at me and said, you're kidding me. 0:08:23.520 --> 0:08:27.080 I said, no, sir, that's what happened. Now. I'm sure 0:08:27.080 --> 0:08:29.480 you're probably saying to yourself, why is this idiot lying 0:08:29.520 --> 0:08:33.040 about how you got bit? This excuse is worse than 0:08:33.080 --> 0:08:38.240 the truth. Well, you don't know my mama. The incident 0:08:38.240 --> 0:08:41.000 involved in the rattlesnake was the last time she chewed 0:08:41.040 --> 0:08:44.720 me out for playing with snakes. There had been countless others. 0:08:45.160 --> 0:08:48.679 I don't think anyone was buying the spits cup excuse, 0:08:48.760 --> 0:08:51.440 but it didn't matter. I just needed my mama to 0:08:51.480 --> 0:08:54.760 buy it. Now she had to be told him. Since 0:08:54.800 --> 0:08:57.800 I was busy getting tended to. I told Wayne to 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:01.720 do it. Wayne didn't want it do it. He had 0:09:01.760 --> 0:09:04.160 been a good friend for the majority of my life 0:09:04.200 --> 0:09:07.760 and still is growing up. He was figuratively a member 0:09:07.800 --> 0:09:11.560 of my family. That meant that also that he had 0:09:11.600 --> 0:09:14.440 no immunity when it came time for Mama to dish 0:09:14.440 --> 0:09:17.120 out the whoopings of fact, he was well aware of. 0:09:18.559 --> 0:09:20.600 I don't want to call her. She'll kill me too. 0:09:21.240 --> 0:09:24.040 Come on, Wayne, somebody's got to call her and get 0:09:24.040 --> 0:09:27.760 her up here. Mama later told me that the phone 0:09:27.840 --> 0:09:35.280 call went like this. Mama said, hello, miss Betty, Yes, 0:09:36.120 --> 0:09:40.839 this is Wayne. Hi Wayne, We're at the hospital. Oh 0:09:40.880 --> 0:09:44.079 my god, what happened? Where's Brent? He's right here, he's 0:09:44.120 --> 0:09:47.320 all right. Well, why are you at the hospital? Well 0:09:47.480 --> 0:09:52.720 he uh uh, Brent kind of got snake bid. Brent 0:09:52.840 --> 0:09:57.640 kind of got what snake bid. He's all right. They're 0:09:57.679 --> 0:10:03.720 giving him some Hello. Hello, Mama was on her way. 0:10:04.600 --> 0:10:06.320 Wayne stuck his head in the room and told me 0:10:06.360 --> 0:10:08.559 he thought she was on her way and that she 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:12.720 seemed a little bit upset. Wayne disappeared, only to resurface 0:10:12.760 --> 0:10:15.959 about the time Mama would walk in the door. Doctor 0:10:16.040 --> 0:10:18.280 Chambers told me that it was a possibility that I 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.000 could lose my thumb. I asked him if i'd still 0:10:21.000 --> 0:10:23.520 be able to shoot a shotgun. He said, well yes, 0:10:23.600 --> 0:10:25.320 and I said, well cut it off. I don't care. 0:10:25.920 --> 0:10:28.960 He laughed and said there would be no amputations that day, 0:10:29.400 --> 0:10:31.000 and he didn't think it would come to that, but 0:10:31.200 --> 0:10:34.800 it was just a possibility. You're not real smart when 0:10:34.800 --> 0:10:38.160 you're nineteen. I would have really missed that thumb during 0:10:38.200 --> 0:10:42.319 all these years. I remember one of the nurses taking 0:10:42.320 --> 0:10:44.640 my blood pressure three times in a row. She told 0:10:44.679 --> 0:10:46.840 the doctor that something was wrong with the blood pressure 0:10:46.880 --> 0:10:50.320 cuff and they got another one. She said, there's something 0:10:50.320 --> 0:10:52.840 wrong with this one too, because my blood pressure was 0:10:52.840 --> 0:10:56.400 reading normal well. Doctor Chambers asked me if I was scared, 0:10:56.440 --> 0:10:58.760 and I told him no, sir, and that was the truth. 0:10:59.640 --> 0:11:02.320 I never got the least bit scared or nervous. I 0:11:02.320 --> 0:11:05.840 didn't have enough sense to Doctor Chambers told her that 0:11:05.880 --> 0:11:07.840 there was nothing wrong with the blood pressure cuff. I 0:11:07.920 --> 0:11:09.720 was calm and that was the reason for the normal 0:11:09.760 --> 0:11:14.440 reading that was all about to change. In Walkwayne eating 0:11:14.440 --> 0:11:16.640 a snicker bar and drinking a coke. He was grinning, 0:11:16.800 --> 0:11:20.319 just checking out everything that was going on. Then Mama 0:11:20.400 --> 0:11:22.199 rounded the corner of the door like she was running 0:11:22.200 --> 0:11:25.640 a search. One on the er. Wayne more Or lesstood 0:11:25.640 --> 0:11:28.560 an attention and said, high, miss Betty, I'll deal with 0:11:28.600 --> 0:11:31.680 you in a minute, was what she said back. This 0:11:31.760 --> 0:11:35.280 has not started out well, Mama. I wasn't trying to 0:11:35.320 --> 0:11:37.640 catch it, I promise. I was leaning down to get 0:11:37.640 --> 0:11:39.880 a spit cup off the side of the road, and 0:11:39.920 --> 0:11:42.000 the snake bit me all right out here on the thumb. 0:11:43.360 --> 0:11:45.600 It sounded even dumber the second time I said it, 0:11:45.600 --> 0:11:48.560 and she just looked at me. I could feel every 0:11:48.640 --> 0:11:51.800 eyeball in there going back and forth from her to me, 0:11:52.240 --> 0:11:54.320 like that scene in The Good and the Bad and 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.120 the Ugly when Clint Eastwood leave, Van Cleef and Eli 0:11:57.240 --> 0:11:59.880 Wallach were giving each other the stink eye waiting for 0:11:59.880 --> 0:12:02.280 so I wanted to make the first move, draw their 0:12:02.320 --> 0:12:06.240 pistols and commenced to shooting. Watch that movie and you'll 0:12:06.240 --> 0:12:08.720 get a sense of what the tension was in that 0:12:08.840 --> 0:12:11.920 room is Everyone waited to see what she was going 0:12:12.000 --> 0:12:14.680 to use to kill me with. After she made sure 0:12:14.720 --> 0:12:17.600 I was going to live, she walked over to the 0:12:17.720 --> 0:12:20.760 exam table and said, I told you that stuff was 0:12:20.760 --> 0:12:23.800 going to kill you. I should have just went with 0:12:23.840 --> 0:12:26.080 the truth. I was going to be wrong either way. 0:12:26.960 --> 0:12:29.720 Doctor Chambers and the rest got a pretty good laugh 0:12:29.800 --> 0:12:33.480 out of that, but I wasn't about to laugh. I 0:12:33.559 --> 0:12:36.120 knew I was in for it. Eventually, the new would 0:12:36.160 --> 0:12:39.800 rub off that story, The exposed holes would be exploited 0:12:39.840 --> 0:12:42.160 by my brothers to my mother, and they would sit 0:12:42.240 --> 0:12:46.440 back and gleefully watch as she tortured me. It all 0:12:46.440 --> 0:12:49.400 eventually came to pass, and I was none the worse 0:12:49.400 --> 0:12:51.800 for wear. I spent three days in the hospital. I 0:12:51.840 --> 0:12:54.800 never got sick, and I still sport a scar on 0:12:54.880 --> 0:12:58.800 the favorite thumb of my left hand. There was talk 0:12:58.880 --> 0:13:01.320 of having to do surgery to keep my skin from 0:13:01.360 --> 0:13:03.920 tearing because it had gotten so big. But at the 0:13:04.000 --> 0:13:07.200 last minute, and right before they started getting the operating 0:13:07.320 --> 0:13:12.280 room ready, the swelling started going down. That snake was 0:13:12.360 --> 0:13:15.600 one of a jillion that I had caught in my youth, 0:13:16.120 --> 0:13:19.920 and the last live venom of snake I have ever touched. 0:13:22.040 --> 0:13:24.400 If I had listened to my mama, I wouldn't have 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:27.800 gotten bit that day. If I had listened to my mama, 0:13:27.840 --> 0:13:29.360 I wouldn't have done a lot of things that I 0:13:29.480 --> 0:13:33.280 later got in trouble, for if I had listened to 0:13:33.280 --> 0:13:37.760 my mama, I wouldn't be talking to you now. She 0:13:37.920 --> 0:13:41.160 told me that hunting, fishing and running my mouth about 0:13:41.160 --> 0:13:46.559 it wouldn't get me anywhere. Hey mama, what's the name 0:13:46.600 --> 0:13:51.040 of your podcast? Is she going to kill me for 0:13:51.080 --> 0:14:02.439 that one? And that's just how that happened. September is 0:14:02.480 --> 0:14:05.160 a busy time in Arkansas and in other parts of 0:14:05.200 --> 0:14:07.839 the country as well. Leaves are starting to turn loose, 0:14:08.440 --> 0:14:11.160 elk or bugling bears are fattening it up prepping for 0:14:11.200 --> 0:14:14.720 the winter. White tails have lost the velvet off their antlers, 0:14:14.880 --> 0:14:18.199 and the creepy crawleys are at the peak of their activity. 0:14:18.960 --> 0:14:22.720 And of all those majestic creatures and activities I just mentioned, 0:14:23.240 --> 0:14:27.560 we're going to talk about snakes. First of all, we 0:14:27.680 --> 0:14:31.880 have six venomous snakes in Arkansas. The Eastern Copperhead, that 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.880 that one that we just talked about, Then there's the 0:14:34.920 --> 0:14:38.400 Northern cotton Mouth. It's been my experience as these jokers 0:14:38.440 --> 0:14:41.880 have the worst disposition of any of them. Allow me 0:14:41.920 --> 0:14:46.000 to elaborate. Back in the eighties, it was in April 0:14:46.040 --> 0:14:48.760 and the opening morning and turkey season, and I was 0:14:48.800 --> 0:14:50.960 so fired up to go that when I stepped out 0:14:51.000 --> 0:14:53.440 of my truck to walk down into the bottoms where 0:14:53.440 --> 0:14:56.160 I was going to listen, I was about two hours early. 0:14:57.400 --> 0:15:00.040 It was way before daylight, and the only life I 0:15:00.040 --> 0:15:02.720 had with me was a little pen light that was 0:15:02.760 --> 0:15:05.160 so dim he dang there. Had to strike a match 0:15:05.200 --> 0:15:08.000 beside it to see if it was on. I stuck 0:15:08.080 --> 0:15:10.440 it back in my pocket, but I couldn't set it 0:15:10.480 --> 0:15:13.400 the truck. I had to go, so, taking my time 0:15:13.480 --> 0:15:16.120 because I had plenty of it, I made my way 0:15:16.240 --> 0:15:19.680 slowly down through the woods in the dark, navigating by 0:15:19.720 --> 0:15:22.720 a sliver of moonlight and just using my face as 0:15:22.720 --> 0:15:26.240 a limb detector. It was a very effective but somewhat 0:15:26.280 --> 0:15:29.640 painful way to find out where the limbs were. But 0:15:29.720 --> 0:15:32.600 I'd made that trip a million times before and I 0:15:32.680 --> 0:15:35.240 knew the way, so I knew that if I could 0:15:35.320 --> 0:15:38.040 just keep from jobbing both of my eyes out or 0:15:38.320 --> 0:15:40.240 ripping the ears off the side of my head, that 0:15:40.320 --> 0:15:42.920 when I got close to steep Bank Creek and heard 0:15:42.960 --> 0:15:46.440 the water running over the shallow gravel crossing, that I'd 0:15:46.520 --> 0:15:52.680 just wait there until goblin time came in the dark. Eventually, 0:15:52.720 --> 0:15:55.200 but not without a few stumbles and abrasions. I heard 0:15:55.240 --> 0:15:58.080 water running through that show where I'd planned to listen from, 0:15:58.360 --> 0:16:00.880 and I stopped in a small opening in the trees. 0:16:01.440 --> 0:16:03.440 I dug around for that little pen light, and when 0:16:03.440 --> 0:16:06.200 I did, I found an extra battery. I loaded that 0:16:06.320 --> 0:16:08.240 rascal and fired it up, and it was like I 0:16:08.280 --> 0:16:10.960 had harnessed the power of the sun. After my eyes 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:16.520 had gotten so acclimated the darkness and tree bark, I 0:16:16.560 --> 0:16:18.760 also realized that the creek was louder than I had 0:16:18.800 --> 0:16:21.000 originally thought it would be, so I was going to 0:16:21.080 --> 0:16:23.680 have to relocate a little ways away from it when 0:16:23.720 --> 0:16:26.640 gobling time came, so I wouldn't miss a far away gobble. 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:30.080 Because of that record, I knew that I had over 0:16:30.120 --> 0:16:33.000 an hour before I needed to move, so I turned 0:16:33.000 --> 0:16:34.840 on my light and I looked toward that creek that 0:16:35.000 --> 0:16:39.600 was fifteen yards away. The creek was about ten feet wide, 0:16:39.600 --> 0:16:41.320 and laying on the opposite bank from where I was 0:16:41.320 --> 0:16:44.600 looking was a big cotton mouth. He was cooled up 0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:48.280 and striking into the riffles of the water. It was weird, 0:16:48.440 --> 0:16:50.760 and I ain't never seen that before. So I took 0:16:50.800 --> 0:16:53.000 a couple of steps closer, and I saw that there 0:16:53.040 --> 0:16:55.200 was a bunch of little brim going through that shoal, 0:16:55.320 --> 0:16:59.120 and he was trying to catch him one. I bet 0:16:59.160 --> 0:17:01.400 I washed him, striking four or five fish and didn't 0:17:01.440 --> 0:17:05.040 catch a one. I grew weary of watching him strike out. 0:17:05.119 --> 0:17:07.679 It was like watching all the out takes on National 0:17:07.720 --> 0:17:10.320 Geographic when of them palace get away from the cheetah. 0:17:10.640 --> 0:17:13.640 I want to see something get in time to change 0:17:13.640 --> 0:17:16.240 the channel. I turned my light off and went back 0:17:16.280 --> 0:17:19.359 to stating in the dark, looking at the stars, minding 0:17:19.400 --> 0:17:23.719 my own business and waiting on daylight. I never gave 0:17:23.800 --> 0:17:25.600 him another thought, for I don't know it must have 0:17:25.680 --> 0:17:29.080 been ten fifteen minutes. Fella can only do so much 0:17:29.119 --> 0:17:31.840 in the dark past the time, so I decided to 0:17:31.840 --> 0:17:33.720 turn my little light back home to see what was 0:17:33.720 --> 0:17:37.200 happening on the snake channel. I shined my light over 0:17:37.200 --> 0:17:40.159 thereby Elvis had left the building. The little fish were 0:17:40.200 --> 0:17:42.680 still shooting through the rabbits, but the cotton mouth he 0:17:42.880 --> 0:17:46.399 was nowhere to be seen. I was a little disappointed 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.200 that I hadn't kept watching him, because he'd obviously caught 0:17:49.200 --> 0:17:53.520 one and took off. That had been pretty cool to see. 0:17:53.840 --> 0:17:55.960 I shined left and right up and down the bank, 0:17:56.040 --> 0:17:58.639 looking for him, but I didn't seem And then, for 0:17:58.680 --> 0:18:02.280 some unknown reasoned that pen light at my feet. In 0:18:02.400 --> 0:18:05.240 less than a foot away from me was that cotton mouth, 0:18:05.440 --> 0:18:10.560 all cold up with his mouth wide open. He looked 0:18:10.560 --> 0:18:12.680 like he weighed ninety two pounds and his mouth was 0:18:12.720 --> 0:18:15.000 big enough to swallow us. Sit in here and her nest. 0:18:15.480 --> 0:18:17.800 I don't know how high I jumped or how high 0:18:17.800 --> 0:18:20.600 I squealed, but both of them were way up there, 0:18:21.040 --> 0:18:23.840 and when I came down, I monkey stomped that joker 0:18:23.920 --> 0:18:26.160 all over that little clear and until he didn't favor 0:18:26.200 --> 0:18:29.400 a drink of water. I don't know why he came 0:18:29.480 --> 0:18:33.400 to where I was, but he did. I've had them 0:18:33.440 --> 0:18:35.480 come to where I was before, when I was frog 0:18:35.520 --> 0:18:40.680 gigging or running the trout line at night with a spotlight. Regardless, 0:18:40.720 --> 0:18:44.359 they deserved some respect in space, and apparently I'd failed 0:18:44.359 --> 0:18:47.480 to one or both of them. Now, doing some research 0:18:47.520 --> 0:18:50.560 for this episode, I kept reading where contrary to what 0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:55.439 I just said, cotton mouths aren't overly aggressive. Well, okay, 0:18:55.480 --> 0:18:58.679 mister snake expert, maybe they're just really curious and like 0:18:58.720 --> 0:19:01.680 to show off their fans. Where's doctor Chris Jenkins when 0:19:01.720 --> 0:19:05.760 I need him? Speaking? To him. He's got a podcast 0:19:05.840 --> 0:19:09.200 called Snake Talk, and if snakes are your thing, it's 0:19:09.440 --> 0:19:13.560 very informative and you should check it out now. In 0:19:13.600 --> 0:19:17.399 all seriousness, that snake was between two and twelve feet long. 0:19:18.160 --> 0:19:20.960 Not really, he was about two and a half feet long. 0:19:21.440 --> 0:19:24.240 I don't think he was attacking me because he had 0:19:24.280 --> 0:19:26.800 every opportunity to bite me before I ever turned my 0:19:26.880 --> 0:19:30.360 light on looking for him. And there's no telling how 0:19:30.440 --> 0:19:33.560 long he'd been there. Either he was just going my 0:19:33.720 --> 0:19:36.800 way or was defending his fishing on who knows. He 0:19:36.840 --> 0:19:40.000 only did three things wrong. He scared me down near 0:19:40.040 --> 0:19:42.960 to death, violated the perimeter of my personal space, and 0:19:42.960 --> 0:19:45.680 he didn't wear a helmet, all of which were not 0:19:45.840 --> 0:19:59.359 my phone. All right, that's two of them, cotton mouse 0:19:59.359 --> 0:20:02.360 and copperheads. We still got three kinds of rattlesnakes. That's 0:20:02.440 --> 0:20:09.000 Western diamondbacks, timber rattlesnakes, and pigmy rattlesnakes. That's the little fellow. 0:20:09.080 --> 0:20:11.359 Not sure if I've ever even seen a diamondback, but 0:20:11.760 --> 0:20:14.720 I've seen a box car load of timber rattlers. They 0:20:14.760 --> 0:20:17.800 were very prevalent where I grew up. But I've never 0:20:17.920 --> 0:20:21.320 had a bad experience with rattlesnakes. I'd run up on 0:20:21.359 --> 0:20:23.640 them in the woods and could count on probably one 0:20:23.680 --> 0:20:26.560 hand how many times I've ever heard them rattle before 0:20:26.600 --> 0:20:29.600 I saw him. I don't go around looking for them, 0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:31.800 but when I'm in places where they like to be, 0:20:31.960 --> 0:20:36.800 I guess I'm subconsciously more observant. Diamondbacks are over in 0:20:36.840 --> 0:20:40.679 the western in the southwestern corner of Arkansas, and I 0:20:40.840 --> 0:20:44.520 just wasn't in my stomping grounds. Had a fellow in 0:20:44.560 --> 0:20:46.679 the neighborhood knock on my door one day. It was 0:20:46.720 --> 0:20:51.359 September in twoenty and nineteen. When I answered the door, 0:20:51.800 --> 0:20:54.119 I recognized him from seeing him drive by the house, 0:20:54.160 --> 0:20:57.400 but I'd never talked to him before, knew which house 0:20:57.440 --> 0:21:00.480 he lived in. I opened the door, and the first 0:21:00.480 --> 0:21:04.560 thing out of his mouth was do you have a gun? Well? 0:21:04.560 --> 0:21:07.240 That got my spidy senses tingling, and I took a 0:21:07.280 --> 0:21:09.520 step closer to him and quickly looked to see if 0:21:09.520 --> 0:21:12.240 he had one in his hands or on his person. 0:21:13.560 --> 0:21:16.160 Satisfied he didn't, and that I was now close enough 0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:18.480 to throw punch him off my porch if I needed to, 0:21:19.520 --> 0:21:23.000 I said, do I need one? That's when he told 0:21:23.040 --> 0:21:25.440 me about the big rattlesnake. He'd seen him a driveway. 0:21:26.200 --> 0:21:28.080 You sure it was a rattlesnake. Oh yeah, he's a 0:21:28.080 --> 0:21:31.080 big one. Well, I figured he saw a snake, but 0:21:31.119 --> 0:21:34.160 I doubted he'd seen a rattlesnake. I'd been here for 0:21:34.520 --> 0:21:37.720 nine years and ain't never seen one. So I followed 0:21:37.760 --> 0:21:39.720 him outside to look at the snake and was about 0:21:39.760 --> 0:21:42.720 to give him a lesson on snake id. I didn't 0:21:42.720 --> 0:21:46.840 bother bringing a gun when we walked him. When we 0:21:46.880 --> 0:21:49.600 walked to the mailbox, he pointed it to nearly five 0:21:49.640 --> 0:21:53.359 foot rattlesnake coled up behind it. I retreated for the 0:21:53.400 --> 0:21:56.720 twenty two You can check my Instagram and see the 0:21:56.720 --> 0:22:00.600 picture of him the snake, not the neighbor. Now, I 0:22:00.640 --> 0:22:02.960