We had been told to watch where you are putting your feet... it's rattlesnake season and the prairie rattlesnake is fairly common in these parts.
But fortunately, we did the whole 5.3 mile (8.4 km) route without seeing a single snake. It's kind of like hiking in the Yukon. You know the bears are around, but you don't see them every day.
Denise, Scarlett the dog, and Ruth.
Looking back at the ranch.
You can see for miles.
Lots of wildflowers out.
And some interesting cactus.
We followed the fence line for a while.
There are a lot of scissor tail flycatchers around.
The cattle are curious,
We had a relaxing afternoon. I had a nap and did some reading. Ruth was working on labeling photos.
Later in the day, we were sitting on the front porch of the ranch house. It's a nice shady spot, and somewhat sheltered from the wind.
Some of the family who own this ranch had been by with some friends and said hello. We chatted for a bit, and then they drove off. It wasn't long, and we saw the truck coming back again!
"We brought you some wildlife..." and they called us over to the back of the pickup truck.
There was an almost dead rattlesnake in the back of the truck!
I say "almost dead" because it was still moving. If you touched the tail, it quivered!
They had run over it and backed up to see. The head was missing, but the rest of the body was intact, so they brought it back to show the Canadian visitors. Certainly not something you see every day, however they did say that it's not uncommon to see them on a regular basis.
Ruth, touching the skin.
It was fairly big!
They broke of the rattle and gave it to us as a souvenir. We will pass it on to our grandson. He loves that kind of thing.
The rattle!
Today, the wind has died down again, and we are taking the bikes out for a ride again.
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And in Canada...
Those big utility poles in the distance suggest a wind farm somewhere. Any windmills in sight?
ReplyDeleteWe can't see any wind turbines from here but we know that there are some in the area. There are also a lot of oil wells so not sure that they need extra power for those and the collection stations or not.
DeleteI spent three years in Texas and had lots of rattler encounters!
ReplyDeleteHopefully all the encounters were good encounters, as in you never got bit by one.
DeleteYikes! I hate snakes of any kind. One huge rattle snake lunged from tall grass on side of trail to strike my legs. Luckily I saw movement in my peripheral vision, screamed, and jumped up and forward. My hiking buddy said the snake struck the back of my leg and checked me to see. The rattle snake had struck the back heel end of my hiking boots. Two puncture marks were left. The snake died with one strike to the head after I screamed and jumped forward. My hiking buddy killed it with an old crochet mallet he found in side of trail earlier. This happened in Montana also a snake haven state.
ReplyDeleteGood thing you saw the snake just in time to get yourself out of the way and that you had hiking boots on.
DeleteRattlesnakes are known to carry salmonella, so wash your hands well and be careful about giving rattles to a child.
ReplyDeleteWe will keep that in mind, thank you.
DeleteOh, I forgot to tell...the rattle snake didn't rattle at all but had a huge rattle on it's tail. I told this to a friend we were visiting and he said certain time of year rattle snakes are blind so they are more likely to strike without warning. Don't know if this is true.
ReplyDeleteIf we are out hiking in the wind and a rattlesnake rattled it's tail, we would never hear it over the wind, so we just have to keep our eyes peeled for them.
DeleteNo reason on earth to kill a snake! Especially when you are walking around their home. Becki
ReplyDeleteWe did not kill the snake and have no intention of doing so. This snake was accidentally run over on the road with a truck that didn't see the snake in time.
DeleteFresh snake! I hope they ate the meat. Good eating.
ReplyDeleteWe'd be happy to trade places with you guys!
No, we don't think that is was going to be cooked up. If someone wanted to cook it up though we may have given it a try. We would be curious as to how it would taste, we have heard that they taste like chicken, lol.
DeleteYep, we are in a pretty good spot here, wish you could come and join us.