re: Tennessee hiker spots timber rattler, picks it up, gets bit, and dies

Cause of death was being a dumbass. The snake was just the weapon he used. It's like picking up a random gun, looking down the barrel and pulling the trigger to see if it's loaded.

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Griffith said the hiker appeared to have died from an allergic reaction

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Unless they mean he died from an allergic reaction to some kind of medication they gave him, I'd say that pretty much everybody but a damn mongoose is allergic to snakebite.

Maybe a honeybadger.

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Savage

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You have to link Miss Elizabeth too, come on now.

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When someone dies quickly from a timber rattlesnake bite, its very likely that they just happened to be allergic to the venom. Without being allergic, an untreated bite would typically take many many hours if not days to be fatal from this species of snake.

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Sounds like something a rattlesnake would say.

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AthensRattler

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Checks out.

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Unless they mean he died from an allergic reaction to some kind of medication they gave him, I'd say that pretty much everybody but a damn mongoose is allergic to snakebite.

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No, you can actually be allergic to snake venom, and the reaction can be incredibly quick......way quicker than the time it takes most snake venom to act. You die from anaphylaxis, with the venom itself not having time to really take effect.

Here ya go, Nate Bargatze will explain to you what to do if you get bit by a venomous snake

youtube

Reminds me many years ago of a bow hunt in west Texas. Besides hunting in tripods under cedar trees we made sets in recently bulldozed and piled up cedar trees. We hung saddles in thick limbs @ the top of the cedar piles. Let me preface this with I am scared shitless of any snake I don’t see. They all can die. Weather was cool until evening before last day haven’t had any snake encounters on whole trip. Last morning I get dropped to hunt in a saddle on top of a cedar pile. My drop off is well before daylight. I have my flashlight to navigate up into the cedar pile. Flashlight is for where I am going not where I am. Best analogy I can make is imagine walking up a not very steep set of stairs and not stepping on each stair but skipping a stair. So I’m walking up these cedar limbs in pitch dark and my legs are spread pretty wide going up and a rattlesnake lights off rattling directly below me that I can’t see. Well I slung everything. Bow went one way, screamed and flashlight went other way. Guys dropping me off hadn’t left yet and just heard a scream and light from a flashlight go the other way. Didn’t hunt there that morning.

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Rattlesnek deaths are pretty rare actually which was surprising to me.

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And the majority of them aren't "in the wild" but are snake handlers or religious nuts.

You said knife, I’m thinking case trapper not a machete.

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No, you can actually be allergic to snake venom, and the reaction can be incredibly quick......way quicker than the time it takes most snake venom to act. You die from anaphylaxis, with the venom itself not having time to really take effect.

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People die from bee stings as well.it’s not a rare occurrence….