I have a question for the fire. What do yall carry in case of snake bite? Down here in SC we have snakes out most of the year. In the last week I have come across two timber rattlers and a cotton mouth. I can be hours or days from the truck. Is there anything available to treat a bite until you get to a hospital?

From what I've heard, the current guidelines for snakebite treatment are more 'thou shalt not' than 'thou shalts'. Don't cut, suck, ice, or constrict the wound, but do get to medical help ASAP and use the limb as little as possible while doing so.

If that's the case, then prevention measures (like snake leggings), coupled with a means for summoning help to a remote location(cell phone, long range radio, EPIRB) might be worth considering.

A call or visit to a local EMT unit or your family doctor ought to get you a reliable answer for first aid.

SCL

Hate to say it, but that is one of the risks one takes with outdoor activities. Lots can happen. You make a choice to not live in a closet and try to enjoy life.
All I can add is, be careful.

In spite of all the old wive's tales, booze is NOT a cure for snakebite. It can even make things worse.
Save the moonshine for after you bin to th' sawbones!

I don't carry anything with me for snakebite.

I've heard/read the best thing to do is:

1 = Try and remain calm as possible.

2 = Kill the snake and take it with you to the ER for ID purposes if you're able to do so.

(Any snake that bite's me is gonna have to die.)

3 = Keep the part of the body that was bitten below your heart if possible while in route to the ER.

Thought I'd show a couple of pics from some property I used to own. This property had a few small caves that I would venture into at times.

I was exploring one cave and found several small bats hanging on to the ceiling of the cave. (Photo 1) They were very small, about 3 inches in length and would not move no matter how close I got to them. I then looked down and saw this Copperhead. (Photo 2) The photo's were taken about 2 minutes apart. I decided that I'd seen enough at that point and left the critters alone in their home. I went back to that same cave several more times and saw immature timber rattlers on 2 or 3 occasions. They were just little ones about a foot long. Velvet Tails is what we call em around here.
I might add that to me, snakes are just another form of wildlife to be admired; I don't harrass or kill any of em. Just take their pictures.

quote:

I might add that to me, snakes are just another form of wildlife to be admired; I don't harrass or kill any of em. Just take their pictures.

Right. If they leave you alone, why shouldn't you leave them alone?

As a concession to my wife for when I go aroamin' alone I carry one of these. Emergency Locator

I was once many miles and several days into the Gila Wilderness when I broke my leg. No cellphone service, I was off established trails, and even though my wife knew where I was, It would be several days before I would be considered late and they would come looking for me.
Snakebite, broken bones, heart attack...lots of things can happen to you when you are far away from medical help.

For a lousy hunnert and fiddy bucks, dirt cheap to allow your loved ones to sleep easy, never mind that help could be on the way almost immediately. That thing is nearly a necessity.

Three Hawks

Three Hawks, it is only $150, but the yearly subscription service is $100.
It would be cheaper to just go ahead and buy a personal locator beacon, and save the annual costs. They run around $350-600.
What I like about this one is that you can send "I'm ok,or "I am here",or "need help, but not emergency" messages as well as the emergency calls, which is why I opted for this one.
Yup, I admit it. Even though they are in leather bags hidden deep in my possibles, I have my cellphone, my personal locator, and a modern first aid kit along. I refuse to die or be permanently crippled for the sake of authenticity.

If that happens out there try to remain calm, and don't panic. (That is easy for a doctor say, but not easy to do.) Keep it cool or cold if possible, and get into the nearest Emergency facility. Just get to a doctor asap and don't cut or suck anything. Keep hydrated as much as possible. There really isn't much else you can safely do that would make a difference in the outcome.

Deercop,
Which model did you get? The link provided is just to the subscription version. Also, does anyone monitor the signal since you don't pay a fee?

Sparks

Sawbones is right on with his advise! Also, if you have a pen, mark or circle the puncture site(s) for the Doc, for the puncture(s) site often swell over and can't be found easily. You will also be asked at what time this happened. It's best not to bother collecting up the snake just know your snakes. I say this because a dead snake can strike even after killed due to muscle reflex and contraction, which can occur for long periods after, and the second bit can be as bad as the first, even dead. AND...the hospital would prefer not to have to handle a dead snake, if they can help it, unless you live in FL, where even cobras and now existing, hummm!

I know these things from having worked in the Everglades for 10 years..and...having been bitten myself. Unless you are allergic to bee stings, spider bits or several hours from a hospital etc., you will do fine. Make sure if they want to give you anti-venom, that you are tested first. A reaction to the anti venom can be worse than the bit itself. Keep area cool not iced. Be safe, don't panic!!!

"Aim small, miss small"

Sparks, the version of Personal Locator that doesn't require a subscription just says "HELP! Here I am"!
It's only function is to broadcast a help signal, like what's provided for a downed pilot or a lifeboat. It's monitored by the military, the FAA, and probably others.
The Spot Locator like I have requires a subsciption, and is monitored by the company that makes the locator.
Here's one of the more economical non-subscription locators..Fast Find PLB

Thanks.
I was looking for the one that you could say, "Hi mom" on...like yours.

I guess said a different way, if you can send an "I'm OK" message as well as an urgent need message and you have a subscription, which model/program do you have?

Sparks

I have the Spot (link in my first post).
I like it. Gives my wife peace of mind when I'm out "doing stuff". And the ability to say "I'm ok, or that I need help without a full blown rescue is great!
I also like that I can send a "I am here" message that shows up as a map on my wife's computer. She can follow my route from home.

Depends on what you want. The rescue beacon when activated will cause a full scale rescue attempt, but there is no annual fee.
The Spot (my choice) gives you other options. For sharing my adventures with her and easing my wife's worries I budget for the annual fee.

I've had no problem with mine. Of course, I read the instructions When I read some of the criticisms of the Spot Locator, it is obvious the user hadn't.

At 65 I have seen the advice change dramatically over the years. The current advice [essentially do nothing, get to a hospital fast] presupposes that you are in an urban area or close to one. I guess because when I was a youth there was only HALF as many people in the USA as today, our old advice was to constrict, cut and suck. Then there was a freeze idea--spray can or ice. Then, loose constriction and hospital. Now nothing? I say it depends on the circumstances. I've been out doors in snake country a good part of my life, often in far away places like South America or Death Valley, Calif--many hours at best from any medical aid. The best advice is to stay alert and avoid being bit! I have come near to it several times in situations where I may not have survived, as no med aid was reachable. Most of my adventures were long before cell phones or personal locators and most often I was alone. Those are just the risks that a field geologist took in the 'old days' just as our ancestors did in the real old days. I still do not own a cell phone or locator. I no longer carry a 'snake bite kit' as I used to, with its tourniquet, razor and suction cup or pump--quit that years ago. BUT if I were in the remote places of the earth and was bitten by a nasty snake, I would constrict, cut and suck.

One bit of advice that was ran in an article in Outdoor Life magazine many years ago was to treat the bite area with high voltage electrical shock from a sparkplug wire. Supposedly, quail hunters in Texas started doing this to treat rattler bites to their bird dogs. Remove one sparkplug wire, clamp on the jumper cables, one to the sparkplug wire, one to a chassis ground. With large nails in the other ends of the cables, apply the tips directly to the bite area. In some way this proceedure would neutralize the snake venom.

My guess is that once hit with this type of shock therapy, you would forget all about the snake bite.

Okie that was some cool pics, but them is copper heads. didn't know there was anything but rattlers and cuckleburs in Okie land

quote:

Originally posted by okiesharpshooter:
One bit of advice that was ran in an article in Outdoor Life magazine many years ago was to treat the bite area with high voltage electrical shock from a sparkplug wire. In some way this proceedure would neutralize the snake venom.

My guess is that once hit with this type of shock therapy, you would forget all about the snake bite.

Okie, I remember reading either that article, or a similar one. I think the theory was that snake venom contained large quantities of copper sulfate salts, and that passing an electric current through them caused the copper to head to one electrode and the sulfates to the other, resulting in a non-toxic solution. That theory isn't held in high regard these days: the risks of the electric current include heart arrythmmia and increasing the pain level so much you go deeper into shock.

Oh well, at least in the States, our odds of survival are better with our rattlers and copperheads than with cobras and black mambas.

SCL

quote:

Originally posted by okiesharpshooter:
One bit of advice that was ran in an article in Outdoor Life magazine many years ago was to treat the bite area with high voltage electrical shock from a sparkplug wire. Supposedly, quail hunters in Texas started doing this to treat rattler bites to their bird dogs. Remove one sparkplug wire, clamp on the jumper cables, one to the sparkplug wire, one to a chassis ground. With large nails in the other ends of the cables, apply the tips directly to the bite area. In some way this proceedure would neutralize the snake venom.

My guess is that once hit with this type of shock therapy, you would forget all about the snake bite.

That is, of course, providing that you happen to have a car handy, can work the plug wire loose, and that it'll reach your bite without you having to stretch yourself across the engine!
We had to change the plugs and wires on our vehicle a few weeks ago, and it took a fair amount of muscle power to get the wires disconnected from the plugs.