Do you feel that Rattlesnake hunting is legitimate hunting?

[rickyrick]

Yes, it's mostly done for profit. It is entirely legal in Texas and regulated.

It is coming under more frequent attacks by animal rights activists and they are trying hard to get it banned.

I feel that it's perfectly within the hunters and property owners rights to continue hunting them.

 

[BerdanSS]

I've killed a few pigmys out at my folks place...with a shovel while cutting wood....and after nearly having a stroke when they first started to rattle. Don't see the big deal....they'er a nightmare if you run into one on horseback I say if you see one on a fence line or around the barn, shoot it. Actively hunting them?...not for me, but I don't really care either way if someone else does

 

[FrankenMauser]

Sure. Why not?

I'm not a fan of arbitrarily killing any snake that comes around (I'd rather have snakes than rodents), but if you want to hunt rattlers... go for it.

 

[Gunplummer]

I think they are protected in Pa., but they still have some kind of roundup. I know people that have snake problems in their old farm houses. I think you should be able to do something about it before they get in.

 

[Art Eatman]

Just offhand, I "sorta" feel that the rattlesnake roundups probably take more than is good. Local area balance-of-nature thing.

Out in the pasture, I won't bother a rattler. Around the house? "Sayonara, rattle-worm."

 

[Rockhanger]

Don't do it in Ohio Or you will go to jail.

 

[cdmckane]

The only good snake is a dead snake. Any snake, any time. I'll set traps for rodents, thank you.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Tapatalk 2

 

[Pahoo]

Absotively

Have only had one occasion to be involved in one and it was a good time. I think I enjoyed eating them more than hunting them. ...

Be Safe !!!

 

[rickyrick]

I'm mainly concerned with western diamondbacks in Texas, where hunting them is legal.

Animal rights activists are having a field day. They are spreading false facts and half-truths and gaining significant ground. After snakes, what's the next sport to get petitioned to be banned?

 

[Brian Pfleuger]

I'm not sure exactly what you have in mind with the word "legitimate" but there's no moral difference in hunting any kind of animal over another.

The moral question is in destruction of species. So long as there's balance, any animal is huntable.

Guerilla, snow leopards, tigers, chimpanzee, rattle snakes, Dodo birds, passenger pigeons... take your pick.

The trouble is with extermination, not hunting.

 

[rickyrick]

They are hunted mostly for profit. Just like trappers of old. There are also yearly roundups attempting to control their numbers. The snakes in question are far from being endangered.

 

[buck460XVR]

Snakes, since the Garden of Eden, have had a negative image to man. Most folks either run scared like a little girl from them or kill them on sight. Regardless of species. While I can see the monetary motivation for hunting them, anytime money is involved, common sense, ethics and concern for the whole ecosystem is often replaced with greed. I have no problem with hunting them, as any other predator species, as long as it is done with the idea of safety of humans and their domestic animals in the habitat and population control. Snakes generally do more good than harm by controlling rodent and other small nuisance animals, especially when other predators like coyotes/foxes have been eliminated. Surplus populations of snakes generally means these nuisance/undesirable animals are over-abundant also. In Wisconsin, both native species of Rattlesnakes are protected by law.

 

[jmortimer]

"The only good snake is a dead snake. Any snake, any time"

I will kill any rattlesnake I find around my home, but any other snake, no way.
King snakes are so very beautiful and useful.

 

[teeroux]

They are hunted mostly for profit. Just like trappers of old. There are also yearly roundups attempting to control their numbers. The snakes in question are far from being endangered.

Exactly there is never a shortage of snakes for the roundups and the same areas are hunted every year. Snakes reproduce almost like wild hogs.

 

[fatwhiteboy]

We don't seem to be running out of them. One of my guys caught one on a glueboard. In a house. In Irvine, California.

 

[Kreyzhorse]

If the state biologists think that hunting them is fine for the over all population, and they obviously do, then I do not have any issues with people hunting them.

Not some thing I would do willingly (yes, I HATE snakes) however.

 

[Art Eatman]

Don't forget the pythons down in Florida's Everglades.

 

[Kreyzhorse]

Good point Art. I believe that Florida is offer $1,500 in bounty prizes based on kill numbers.

 

[Art Eatman]

Eat a python!

http://usnews.nbcnews.com/_news/201...in-everglades-includes-1500-grand-prizes?lite

"Grand prizes of $1,500 for harvesting the most Burmese pythons will be awarded to winners of both the general competition and the python permit holders competition, with additional $1,000 prizes for the longest Burmese python harvested in both competitions."

 

[buck460XVR]

Pythons are an invasive species and tend to prefer the taste of cats and small dogs. They also become large enough to become a threat to small children. Puttin' a bounty and makin' a competition outta the attempt to eliminate them is good sense. As I said before tho, greed will rear it's ugly head anytime money is a motivation. This greed is why all 5 species of rhinos are endangered. If the hunting of rattlesnakes is legal in an area because the population can tolerate it, I have no problem as long as someone without a monetary gain is in control of administrating it. I'd bet that those most opposed to stopping the hunting of them are those that make the most money off them....whadda you think?