William “Marty” Martin, a renowned snake researcher who dedicated his life’s work to the study of timber rattlesnakes, died last week after he was bitten by a snake on the property of his West Virginia home, his wife said. He was 80. He was just 13 years old when he documented the first instance of timber rattlesnakes in the Bull Run Mountains in Virginia. At the age of 17, he became a founding member of the Virginia Herpetological Society, and for 30 years he served on the International Union for Conservation of Nature’s timber rattlesnake task force, which worked to preserve the species, according to Reptiles Magazine. The article made no mention of the nature of the encounter (just walking along, or a handling accident.) Link
I grabbed this from another forum. It was taken by a member. He tolerates the occasional pilferage in exchange for mouse and copperhead control services.
Our snake count is down this year. Don't know why. Most of our wildlife ebbs and flows normally so I won't worry too much but this is actually the first year I've noticed fewer snakes.
I don't really see many snakes. On occasion, I think I've spooked them near the house (they're probably after mice & skinks), but it's not really all that often. But I'm mostly working around the cleared yard area and not the overgrown stuff.
Momma was bitten by a large rattler, dr said the fangs were spread out. She almost lost her leg. She still had the scars from that bite 45 yr.s later along with the bullet she carried in her back shoulder since 1973.Nobody knows who shot her just walked up to back door and bang! Then I got shot in the head by a drug pusher, so I hope I don't get snake bit too. ER doc said he parted my hair straight down the middle, he apologized for laughing, said he'd heard it but never saw a bullet part pair down the middle so perfectly. I picked pieces of scull out of my hair for a while. I am very lucky. My daughter was spending the night with one of her classmates in a upper income n-hood, so it wasn't minority pushing the drugs. I was told and went there to get her and argument started and bang.