Author Topic: my crazy brother in law vs. the rattlesnake (Read 186 times)

Kratzer · « **on:** May 31, 2002, 06:16:34 PM »

Got home from work, and my wife was on the phone with her brother, who is in the Hospital in Idaho.

He tends to take these crazy mountain man backpacking trips by himself all the time, and he was on one this week. So at some point on Wednesday, he's 14 miles from his car, in the backcountry, 70 miles from the nearest hospital, when he gets nailed, and nailed good, buy a timber rattler.

So he hoists his 70lb pack and starts hoofing it back towards his car. Around nightfall, he comes across some canoers, and asks if they can take him down the river. They say no, there are class 5 rapids or something that need to be portaged, they can't do the river in the dark, yadda yadda yadda. He sets up with them, and they feed him, and keep an eye on him through the night.

Next morning (yesterday), he tells them he is feeling okay, and hikes off for his car again. He's feeling pretty light headed and woozy (I said he was nuts), so he sticks his leg in the river for a while, starts to feel better, and takes off again, eventually reaching the trailhead and his car.

He gets in the car, and starts driving, drinking lots of water. He gets a few miles when he out of the blue projectile vomits all over the dash of his car. So he pulls over, and around then some Park Rangers, sent by the canoers, from what I understand, catch up with him, ask if he is the guy who got bit by the snake, and start off for the hospital - 70 miles away.

At the hospital, he is told that his body is basically just turning off - his liver is konked out, etc. He asks them if he's going to die, and they pause and say, "well... probably not." (!!) He seems to have been heavily invenomated.

Anyway, I guess he must be doing better at the moment, though they are holding onto him at the hospital for a few more days... wowser though!

This is now the 2nd person in my extended family to get hit (a prairie rattler got my dad in '87, mildly, and was told he was 'mildly' invenomated... and he was pretty screwed up for a few days). Wonder when my number is up!

Thrawn · « **Reply #1 on:** May 31, 2002, 07:23:16 PM »

He'll be okay, most of the venom was probably concentrated in his cast iron balls.

Curval · « **Reply #2 on:** June 01, 2002, 10:23:14 AM »

eeks...

His liver is knocked out? That sounds serious. I hope he is okay and that his kidneys weren't affected either.

Maverick · « **Reply #3 on:** June 01, 2002, 07:37:33 PM »

Good reason to carry a cell phone in the back country so you can call for help. This was a definately good reason for a medavac.

Hope he turns out ok, liver damage is pretty damn serious.

Kratzer · « **Reply #4 on:** June 01, 2002, 08:47:20 PM »

My information is 2nd hand, so I'm not really clear on what the liver damage was... sounds like he is probably going to be okay though.

Sandman · « **Reply #5 on:** June 01, 2002, 08:52:33 PM »

Where was he bit?

Most rattlesnake bites in this country occur on hands and arms.

Kratzer · « **Reply #6 on:** June 01, 2002, 10:24:53 PM »

Ankle, which is where my dad got bit as well... sounds like about the same scenario - stepping over a log in thick brush late in the day.

fdiron · « **Reply #7 on:** June 02, 2002, 12:20:13 AM »

Rattlesnake bites tend to make the flesh around the area where the person is bitten turn rotten. I saw on a television program where a man was bitten by a rattler and he did not recieve treatment for 5 days. The doctors had to deal with massive amounts of dead and partially decayed flesh on his arm and hand.

Gman · « **Reply #8 on:** June 02, 2002, 02:26:56 AM »

Wow, that is one TOUGH SOB!

Glad he's ok.

Here's my snake story. (I'm terrified of snakes).

I was playing in my first world cup paintball tournament near Kissime Florida in 1995. We were inspecting the fields we were playing on, and my team was working up some strategies when I spotted what I thought for CERTAIN was a corral snake. You know, the black with yellow/red bands top ten most deadly snakes in the world?

I reported this immediately to the tournament organizer, who then called in the guy who owned the paintball field, who guauranteed me that there was absolutely NO chance of any corral snakes being around, and that he did have a half dozen rattler kits in his first aid hut. They figured some Canadian who lives in the frozen tundra likely had never seen a snake before, and that I'd probably mis-identified a rattler. Fair enough I said, and off I went.

Two days later, on the same field, I dove headfirst into my position at the beginning of a game, a bunker made out of trees and the local vegitations, and guess who's there waiting for me: Mr Corral snake. Well, a sustained 100 round burst from my auto cocker decapitated it and I ran screaming for the rear area of the field (this is all on tape, with ESPN being in attendance, preparing for the years worth of NPPL they aired later that year) swearing in foreign tongues.

After the game, the field owner comes onto the field and says "yep, that there is a corral snake, if it had bit you, you'ld likely die in 15 minutes, and the closest hospital is about 25 away...have a nice day".

I'll post a pic of the snake tomorrow once I dig through some albums.

Man, reading the first posters story brought that all back, I don't think I'm going to sleep too well tonight, snakes terrify me still.