What is your biggest question about outdoor survival? What are you most worried about? What would you most like to learn about?

Snakebite. I live in northern California, and while we have on one venomous snake indigenous to the state (that being the Pacific rattler), we do have several immigrants, amounting to something like 7 species of rattlers.

I like to hike in rattlesnake country, and wonder if I need to take any special first-aid equipment with me.

__________________
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control;
these three alone lead one to sovereign power.
Tennyson

Great question. Here in Southern Oregon, we also have rattlesnakes.

It is a good idea if you are hiking in rattlesnake country to carry a snikebite kit (and a cell phone if possible). Snakebite kits are inexpensive and amount to not much more than a small razor, suction cup, and gauze.

Now, for the practical part, it is a good idea to wear at LEAST ankle height boots in rattlesnake country. Rattlesnakes tend to strike low, even if they are large. A myth about rattlesnakes is that they won't strike if you are motionless. They are pit vipers, and the pits operate in a similar way to infrared goggles, so they can sense heat even in total blackness. However, a rattlesnakes poisons is usually used for getting food, so they usually won't strike unless they are startled.

Here is a little fact that few people are aware of. No healthy adult has ever been killed by a rattlesnake, even without treatment. If someone is bitten, they will normally get extremely sick (and may wish they were dead), but then they recover. STILL it isn't pleasant, from the accounts I've heard.

Thanks. I suppose it doesn't hurt to make noise was you walk, letting them know you're coming, so as not to surprise them.

When I lived in Alaska and hiked in bear country (pretty much everywhere I hiked), I always travelled armed. But at the same time, I hung a string of camel bells on my hiking staff. Besides being a lovely accompaniment for walking, they did a pretty good job of alerting bears to my presence. Never had a bad encounter, but frequently saw fresh sign along the trail.

I guess the bells worked.

__________________
Self-reverence, self-knowledge, self-control;
these three alone lead one to sovereign power.
Tennyson

Hmm...well, rattlesnakes can't hear...they have no ears. But they do feel vibrations, so rather than making a lot of noise, stomping or walking heavily might work better.

With bears, on the other hand, most grizzly attacks occur because the bear was startled, so making noise in bear country is a great idea. (Even black bears are deterred by noise. I've heard, though, that this doesn't work as well with polar bears, and I have no idea about Kodiacs.)

Hi bahai-sojourner

Having once stepped on a Timber Rattler on a ridge in Southwestern Pennsylvania (it's a long story), I can speak from experience that they will try to get away from you if they can.

(By the way, they don't sound anything at all like the pebbles rattling in a bottle we have all heard in the cowboy movies, they sound a lot more like a locust buzzing - at least this one did.)

The advice about wearing good, ankle-high boots is good.

From my reading - not from recent experience, you understand - the recommended treatment is this: Along with your snakebite kit you should also carry a disposable razor, a few antiseptic wipes and a couple of lengths of dressmaker's elastic. (1) Wrap a piece of your elastic around the bitten limb above the area where the skin is coloring. Tighten it just enough so the skin turns white - and no tighter. This slows the advance of the venom towards your heart. (2) Shave the area around the bite. (3) Wipe with one of your antiseptic wipes. (3) Select the appropriate shaped suction tip and apply suction to the bite and leave it there. (4) Keep the bitten limb as low as possible. (5) Do not, under any circumstances, make XX cuts over the bite as we were told to make long ago when we were in the Scouts - or any other kind of cuts. They don't help and they can cause all kinds of damage to arteries, tendons, ligaments and all the other sorts of things we keep under the skin on our arms and legs.

Finally, Don't Panic! (that's easy for you to say!). Healthy adults don't die from snakebite if treated this way.

The bit about making lots of noise as you walk to warn them of your approach didn't seem to work in this case because there were about twelve of us walking up a fire road looking for a cave and we were anything but quiet.

I was walking in the tall grass because the dirt track was washed out and rough. When he rattled, I jumped. When we turned back to see if we could see him in the grass, he was moving quickly away from us.

It was an interesting - and instructive - experience!

Enjoy.

__________________
Yours for happy camping,
Mary Rice-Johnston

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