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Author Topic: Snake in my backyard.  (Read 3175 times)

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Offline LivingElemental

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Snake in my backyard.
« on: September 14, 2012, 10:15:33 pm »
Still getting settled into our new house in Monterey, CA., I stumbled upon this guy.
Originally thought it was a rattlesnake, I could only see the head of it poking out of a ground squirrel hole in my backyard. Didn't want to risk one of the kids getting bitten, so I hacked its head off with a shovel.

Turns out it's a Pacific Gophersnake or something to that effect. I hate to waste anything, so I would like to skin it for my next bow, the only problem being all my tools are still boxed up and I have no idea where to start looking for them. Does anyone have a clue how to prevent a snake from rotting? (My father suggested the freezer, but I don't even want to begin to talk to the wife about that.)

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Alzamaal illi yadour 'ala qurnayn fakhira, yarja' idhana maqtu'a.

Offline sonny

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #1 on: September 14, 2012, 10:35:54 pm »
All you're likely to use is the skin, right ?? If that is the case then simply skin it, scrape off any flesh that's still
on the skin and tack it to something to dry (which won't take very long!)
 
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Offline H Rhodes

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #2 on: September 14, 2012, 10:41:16 pm »
snakes are a breeze to skin.  any sharp knife will probably do.  split it down the center of the belly, grab the naked neck, close to where you cut his noggin off,  in one hand and the skin in the other and pull.  nuthin to it.
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Offline LivingElemental

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #3 on: September 14, 2012, 10:55:14 pm »
Yeah I know skinning the snake isn't that hard...

I just don't have a knife to skin at the moment. How do you preserve a snake until skinning time?
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Alzamaal illi yadour 'ala qurnayn fakhira, yarja' idhana maqtu'a.

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #4 on: September 14, 2012, 11:49:06 pm »
Quote from: LivingElemental on September 14, 2012, 10:55:14 pm
Yeah I know skinning the snake isn't that hard...

I just don't have a knife to skin at the moment. How do you preserve a snake until skinning time?

YOU DON'T CARRY A POCKET KNIFE?   :o

Dude, turn in your Man Card!

Other than freezing and skinning, I can't think of any recommendations that do not involve wasting a good bottle of booze pickling the critter.
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Offline LivingElemental

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #5 on: September 14, 2012, 11:55:45 pm »
Haha okay. And I've tried flying cross country with a knife in my pocket before. Even in uniform I almost was removed from the airport. ALL my knives are packed away somewhere. I've got in shoved into a plastic bin with a heavy rock on the lid. Hopefully it won't go to waste. Thanks for the advice.
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Alzamaal illi yadour 'ala qurnayn fakhira, yarja' idhana maqtu'a.

Offline osage outlaw

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #6 on: September 15, 2012, 01:07:30 am »
unzip the belly with scissors.  That's how I skin them when I am saving the belly scales. 
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Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #7 on: September 15, 2012, 01:19:46 am »
...or find some knappable stone and make a simple utility flake?

As a general rule, the simpler the lifeform, the faster it goes bad.  In my experience, I would only skin a snake just after it quits writhing.  Any longer than that and I get a little queasy.
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Offline LivingElemental

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #8 on: September 15, 2012, 03:24:10 am »
Finally got it skinned. Thank god I'm not still in Georgia or it would've ruined. No smell. No rot. Unfortunately the knife I was using was a little dull, so I mangled a portion of the skin, then turned it inside out. Found a razor then cut the belly. Its tacked up hand drying in my garage. Thanks for the help.

Wife thinks I'm bringing the plague into the house though. Thought she was going to burn my clothes when I came back inside.
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Alzamaal illi yadour 'ala qurnayn fakhira, yarja' idhana maqtu'a.

Offline coaster500

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #9 on: September 15, 2012, 12:28:59 pm »
Quote from: LivingElemental on September 15, 2012, 03:24:10 am
Finally got it skinned. Thank god I'm not still in Georgia or it would've ruined. No smell. No rot. Unfortunately the knife I was using was a little dull, so I mangled a portion of the skin, then turned it inside out. Found a razor then cut the belly. Its tacked up hand drying in my garage. Thanks for the help.

Wife thinks I'm bringing the plague into the house though. Thought she was going to burn my clothes when I came back inside.

You recieved plenty of skinning advise but you don't need to be afraid of Gopher Snakes around your kids. I used to catch them and keep them for a pet when I was a kid. I had one that was just shy of six feet!!! They do bite once in a while if irritated but other than a couple of pin prick holes they don't cause any real damage and are not poisenous. They eat mice and rats and "they" truly can bring the plague into your house ;)
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Offline LivingElemental

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #10 on: September 15, 2012, 01:23:07 pm »
I felt bad after I found out what it was, but from the pattern, I didn't want to risk it being poisonous. I had a chance to preemptively strike, and I did. But I never waste a kill.
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Alzamaal illi yadour 'ala qurnayn fakhira, yarja' idhana maqtu'a.

Offline JW_Halverson

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2012, 03:45:52 pm »
Tell your wife that's not a snake, it's a high tech self-propelled, self-reloading, self-replicating mouse trap!  Remind her that it's there to prevent the spread of Hantavirus.
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Offline YosemiteBen

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #12 on: September 17, 2012, 01:19:01 pm »
@ Living - Welcome to California - Come on up for a visit - I got lots of obsidian - could've had you a blade toot suite!
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Offline Pappy

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Re: Snake in my backyard.
« Reply #13 on: September 17, 2012, 01:28:45 pm »
Roll it up and double bag it,she will never know the difference, ;) >:( >:( that's the only way I know to save one if I ant going to skin it and they rot/go bad fast. :)
   Pappy
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