The New Exchange

You are not logged in. Would you like to login or register?



8/29/2016 8:51 am  #1


Goose and the Snake

Goose and the Snake

The article about lifting designation on the Timber rattlesnake stirred an old memory.
I once killed a timber rattlesnake. No, I'm not bragging. It required no daring. I was in no danger. And I kinda feel bad about it. I don't hate snakes. I find them interesting. Don't get me wrong, I'm not going to snuggle with one any time soon. It's just that they don't freak me out. (Now spiders are a different story. If I lived somewhere where they have tarantulas, I'd walk around with a flame thrower on my back). But, I see a lot of snakes when fishing, and we generally live and let live.

Back to the story. I think that it was 1978, or 79. I grew up in the old river town, Lock Haven, on the banks of the Susquehanna. My father and I were mad fishermen, always sneaking away to the mountains. My maternal grandfather had a cabin in Cedar Run, a few miles into Tioga county. We would often stay there on our trips.

To get to Cedar Run we would drive up the Pine Creek Valley. It was pretty wild back then. The terrain was rugged and unsettled. The road one lane, or even gravel in places. It was about a fifty mile journey and you would pass thru several towns along the way. Actually "town" was a rather generous term. Usually there would be a gas station, a general store, and a few very modest houses clustered together and then back to wilderness.

At the confluence of the Little Pine Creek with Pine Creek was the village of Waterville. They had a restaurant and a fleabag hotel there. The hotel was empty most of the year, but always booked to capacity for deer season. In the Waterville Hotel you could get drunk cheap, get a tough steak and fries and play pool. Over the bar they had a "genuine" Jackalope mounted, if you are old enough, and hayseed enough to know what a jackalope was.
At the bar was Jackie, a near permanent fixture. Jackie was a chain smoking, leather faced lady who was well past her bloom. Word was, for 25 bucks you could take her upstairs for a while. I never found out if that was true.

Moving north of Waterville the collections of houses got smaller as you passed by first Jersey Mills, Cammal, and then Slate Run, the last "town" before turning off onto the dirt road for Cedar Run. The views of Pine Creek are spectacular.
At Slate Run you could fill up the gas tank and get some supplies at the general store. We always called the Slate Run General Store the "Bait and Beer", because they had two large signs out front, one saying "Bait", and the other "Beer".
We'd grab a couple sixes of Rolling Rock, and maybe a dozen eggs and be on our way.

Things change. The last time I was in Slate run was, maybe 2004, during the height of the fly fishing craze. Money changes a place. The bait sign was gone. And here, in the middle of nowhere you could buy a latte and the New York Times. Wander over to the Pro Shop, and you could pick up news on the latest hatches, and even buy a $600 Orvis Fly rod. Wow. Not the place I remember.

But, in 1978 this was truly wild country. Anyway, one morning my father and I were driving up rout 44, somewhere in the vicinity of Slate run, when suddenly a woman in a bath robe / house coat was standing in the middle of the road, holding a rifle and waving for us to stop. Now, you don't see something like that every day, and you are wondering why we would even consider stopping. Well, this was 1978, before the crazy mass killings, and we country people tended to help each other out. So, we stopped the car and asked what was wrong.

The answer was amazing. This woman had set up a play pen in the back yard for her baby boy, and now there was a rattlesnake under the pen, AND  the boy was in the pen. Her husband was at work. She got his rifle, which she was afraid to use. "Would we be kind enough to shoot the snake so that she could get her boy?" And with that, she handed a loaded rifle over to two perfect strangers.

Well, this didn't seem like such a great plan to me. Clearly it was a large caliber weapon, a 30-06 if I recall, with a scope on it. Better for hunting deer than a short range encounter with a snake. And I sure as hell wasn't going to shoot under a playpen while a baby was in it. Probably just a black snake anyway. But, we agreed to take a look.

We found junior in a playpen with the deck about 6 inches above the ground. And directly underneath him we found a very large, and rather ill-tempered timber rattlesnake. After a little deliberation Dad and I came up with a plan. Dad walked around to the far side of the playpen and approached it. This had two effects. The boy, seeing a stranger approach him moved away. The snake seeing a threat moved towards Dad to put on a aggression display. I quickly approached from the other side and gingerly leaned over the side, snatched the kid, and quickly put some distance between myself and that play pen. I imagined a searing pain in one of my ankles occurring at any time, but, he never struck.

Victorious, I handed the now screaming child back to mom, and prepared to leave.
"What about the snake", mom asked.
"Well, he'll go away", I answered.
Mom started to sob.

The snake really didn't look like he was going away. So, he did pose some danger to this little family, I also pondered what might happen if I returned this loaded gun to the woman after having refused to kill the snake. 
So, reluctantly I took aim and dispatched the reptile.
We handed mom the gun and were on our way. She demanded that we leave the snake to show her husband.
I never saw her again.

Last edited by Goose (8/29/2016 9:03 am)


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
 

8/29/2016 9:37 am  #2


Re: Goose and the Snake

What a great story!!!!  You should never feel bad about killing the snake but rather, believe you probably saved the child's life.  BTW--it is so wonderful to read a story minus all the expletives.  A rare thing these days.

 

8/30/2016 4:43 pm  #3


Re: Goose and the Snake

Thanks FG.
You never know what will stir up an old memory.


We live in a time in which decent and otherwise sensible people are surrendering too easily to the hectoring of morons or extremists. 
     Thread Starter
 

Board footera

 

Powered by Boardhost. Create a Free Forum