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From: ke4zv!gary@gatech.edu (Gary Coffman)
Newsgroups: rec.guns
Subject: Re: Pack Gun
Message-ID: <35977@mimsy.umd.edu>
Date: 25 Jun 91 22:39:29 GMT
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In article <35746@mimsy.umd.edu> macklin@garnet.berkeley.edu (Macklin Burnham) writes:
#Maybe Gary can answer a question that I've had for 20 years or so. A guy
#once told me that it was easy to hunt rattlesnakes with a .22 rifle: all
#you had to do was point the rifle with one hand in the snake's face, and
#it would move its head to zero in on the muzzle. I've never been a position
#to try this. Was the guy putting me on?

The rattler is a pit viper. His eyesight is poor but he has a good thermal
tracking system like his namesake the Sidewinder missile. So if you had
fired the .22 lately and the barrel was still hot, yes the rattler would
zero in on it. 

My favorite snake hunting tool is a forked stick. Simply walk up to the
snake, pin his head with the stick, pick him up and put him in the sack.
After the barbecue is hot, shake him out of the sack, pin him, and cut
off his head with your trusty knife. Fine eating.

Gary


[MODERATOR:  Gosh, folks, have we pretty much covered the rattlesnake
scene by now ...?  (At least let's work in to some two steppers or something...)]