Snakes

[Blr243]

I keep thinking must get epirb but never seem to get around to doing it. Posts like that reminds me I gotta do it

[JohnV]

Yeah an Epirb is a good insurance if you hunt alone . I used one for ages but only came close one time to setting it off . I took a bad fall and really twisted up my ankle and knee and I could not walk at all . Had to use my snake bite bandages to support the leg . Laid by a log for two days and nights in agony with a poncho over me .
Eventually I got up and staggered using a stick to a track and then dumped the gun and pack covered with the poncho and hobbled back to the truck . Took me all day to get back and the swelling was bad . Took some pain killers and anti-inflammatories and the next morning it was a bit better , Drove back with my left foot only to retrieve the gun and pack . The drive home was even more dangerous but I made it .

[Blr243]

Sprained ankle twice at primary school but after that it seems my ankles decided to become faultless .... I’m very lucky my ankles are the toughest part of me I can twist and fall at any angle no matter what terrain or weight I’m carrying my ankles are always fast and strong enough to flip and reposition to correctly re support. The suckers just never flip fold and fail. If only the rest of me was the same .... two days pain under a poncho. John that must have been bloody tough physically and mentally .... I’m going to buy an epirb tomorrow. If I don’t have one by 48 hours from now I must give all Enough gun site members 500 bucks each

[JohnV]

It was bad the knee was the most painful though but not much worse than Vietnam at times .

[bladeracer]

It was bad the knee was the most painful though but not much worse than Vietnam at times .

Awesome photos!

[bladeracer]

Sprained ankle twice at primary school but after that it seems my ankles decided to become faultless .... I’m very lucky my ankles are the toughest part of me I can twist and fall at any angle no matter what terrain or weight I’m carrying my ankles are always fast and strong enough to flip and reposition to correctly re support. The suckers just never flip fold and fail. If only the rest of me was the same .... two days pain under a poncho. John that must have been bloody tough physically and mentally .... I’m going to buy an epirb tomorrow. If I don’t have one by 48 hours from now I must give all Enough gun site members 500 bucks each

I've had three significant injuries to my lower limbs, sprained my left ankle very badly twice, and crushed my right lower leg between my bike and a car (luckily without breaking anything). I've broken some toes and fractured my kneecap but none of those were debilitating, just painful. The second sprain in 2017 kept me in pain for three years, strapped up every day. I eventually stopped strapping it and very slowly started working it harder and it's mostly good now. I don't think I've strapped it up at all this year. But if I go out in the paddocks without proper laced-up boots I'm feeling it very quickly and the ache can last a few days. Leg injuries are debilitating so I try to avoid them - good boots are a must. I forgot to wear my leg protection on Friday as we were only going up to check on the cows and one of the bigger calves managed to kick me in the side of the leg, no damage, just some bruising, but a good reminder

[JohnV]

Sprained ankle twice at primary school but after that it seems my ankles decided to become faultless .... I’m very lucky my ankles are the toughest part of me I can twist and fall at any angle no matter what terrain or weight I’m carrying my ankles are always fast and strong enough to flip and reposition to correctly re support. The suckers just never flip fold and fail. If only the rest of me was the same .... two days pain under a poncho. John that must have been bloody tough physically and mentally .... I’m going to buy an epirb tomorrow. If I don’t have one by 48 hours from now I must give all Enough gun site members 500 bucks each

I've had three significant injuries to my lower limbs, sprained my left ankle very badly twice, and crushed my right lower leg between my bike and a car (luckily without breaking anything). I've broken some toes and fractured my kneecap but none of those were debilitating, just painful. The second sprain in 2017 kept me in pain for three years, strapped up every day. I eventually stopped strapping it and very slowly started working it harder and it's mostly good now. I don't think I've strapped it up at all this year. But if I go out in the paddocks without proper laced-up boots I'm feeling it very quickly and the ache can last a few days. Leg injuries are debilitating so I try to avoid them - good boots are a must. I forgot to wear my leg protection on Friday as we were only going up to check on the cows and one of the bigger calves managed to kick me in the side of the leg, no damage, just some bruising, but a good reminder

I will tell you a good treatment for sprained ankles it's called contrast baths . Get two buckets one full of ice and the other hot water not hot enough to scold you but hot enough so you can't keep your foot in it for very long . Start with the hot and when you can't stand it anymore plunge it in the ice until you can't stand it and so on . You can also exercise a bit after the hot bath and then go cold bath . An SAS guy taught me that . It's worked great for me .
When I walk through a mob of cattle while hunting I cut a dense leafy branch of a tree shake it well and then hold it up to cover my face . You can walk right through them and they don't spook . An Aboriginal stockman taught me that and a few other interesting things about animals and it works good .

[bladeracer]

I will tell you a good treatment for sprained ankles it's called contrast baths . Get two buckets one full of ice and the other hot water not hot enough to scold you but hot enough so you can't keep your foot in it for very long . Start with the hot and when you can't stand it anymore plunge it in the ice until you can't stand it and so on . You can also exercise a bit after the hot bath and then go cold bath . An SAS guy taught me that . It's worked great for me .
When I walk through a mob of cattle while hunting I cut a dense leafy branch of a tree shake it well and then hold it up to cover my face . You can walk right through them and they don't spook . An Aboriginal stockman taught me that and a few other interesting things about animals and it works good .

Can't recall if we tried the hot and cold baths. We were soaking it early on but I think we only used ice water. It helped with the pain at the time. I did do hot and cold baths with my right wrist injury thirty-years-ago.

Will have to try that with the cows some time, though I think they're more likely to come and see if the branch is tasty
Our cows are very friendly and cuddly but one three-year-old has grown into a real nasty prick. She'll stick her horns into some of the others when we're not looking. Some of them have become a bit skittish so if we come up to one unseen and touch it they'll sometimes react thinking she's coming at them. She's off to the cow factory after she drops her current calf.

[JohnV]

I will tell you a good treatment for sprained ankles it's called contrast baths . Get two buckets one full of ice and the other hot water not hot enough to scold you but hot enough so you can't keep your foot in it for very long . Start with the hot and when you can't stand it anymore plunge it in the ice until you can't stand it and so on . You can also exercise a bit after the hot bath and then go cold bath . An SAS guy taught me that . It's worked great for me .
When I walk through a mob of cattle while hunting I cut a dense leafy branch of a tree shake it well and then hold it up to cover my face . You can walk right through them and they don't spook . An Aboriginal stockman taught me that and a few other interesting things about animals and it works good .

Can't recall if we tried the hot and cold baths. We were soaking it early on but I think we only used ice water. It helped with the pain at the time. I did do hot and cold baths with my right wrist injury thirty-years-ago.

Will have to try that with the cows some time, though I think they're more likely to come and see if the branch is tasty
Our cows are very friendly and cuddly but one three-year-old has grown into a real nasty prick. She'll stick her horns into some of the others when we're not looking. Some of them have become a bit skittish so if we come up to one unseen and touch it they'll sometimes react thinking she's coming at them. She's off to the cow factory after she drops her current calf.

Ice helps get swelling down but it don't stimulate healing . Your cows are used to you so they would not spook much but a stranger in the paddock and most do run off and make a racket . I once shot a fallow deer in amongst a mob using that branch technique to get inside the mob to get a safe shot .
That Aboriginal stockman also taught me how to attract emus and that turned into a riot one time at Toronga Park zoo , in the emu enclosure and involving 30 odd Japanese tourists but that's another story .

[bladeracer]

So, who is good with snakes
Found a fresh shed this morning in the same paddock as the cows. We generally have red-belly-blacks around that area (close to a dam), but this doesn't look like a black snake to me. The skin is complete but the front half of it is all scrunched up like a sock and I don't know how to go about opening it up to see the head details without destroying it, any tips on that would be handy.

It does have seventeen scales across the back, so it _could_ be a blackie, but it could also be an eastern brown, and that concerns me as it is a big one. The scales are too diamond-shaped for my liking to be a black snake.

Can anybody reassure me that it is just one of our friendly black snakes perhaps

[Fionn]

Looks like a Red belly, hard to tell from what you have but the tail subcaudal scales don't appear divided which would make it most likely a red belly as browns have divided anal subcaudal scales and red belly's only at the tip of the tail.

But hard to tell from the photo and you don't have the complete tail.

[Oldbloke]

Don't know what the concern is? Just leave them alone to eat the mice etc. Only 2 or 3 people die each year in the whole country from snake bite. Don't know how sick u get though.

Bees and wasps, now they account for a few.

[bladeracer]

Looks like a Red belly, hard to tell from what you have but the tail subcaudal scales don't appear divided which would make it most likely a red belly as browns have divided anal subcaudal scales and red belly's only at the tip of the tail.

But hard to tell from the photo and you don't have the complete tail.

Yes, if I could soften the skin and unroll it I'd have a better idea. The head is rolled up in the middle with the eye covers but I managed to get one side of it out. It does look more like a black than a brown. After some research last night I'm happier that it's not a threat to the calves, but it's nice to have it confirmed
Thanks for your input.

[bladeracer]

Don't know what the concern is? Just leave them alone to eat the mice etc. Only 2 or 3 people die each year in the whole country from snake bite. Don't know how sick u get though.

Bees and wasps, now they account for a few.

The concern is that we're calving and baby cows are extremely curious.
No concern for our own safety.

Our neighbour lost three dogs this year, and we lost a calf early this year, all in the same 250m-square area. I'm convinced there's a nasty snake living in there, but that's in the middle block down the road. We love our snakes but if we have a brown or a tiger I'd like to relocate it elsewhere if I can, we have plenty of bush to move it to.

[Fionn]

Snakes killing cattle, including calf's is extremely rare. They get blamed sometimes for unexplained deaths, but it could be any number of things but if people have seen a snake recently or nearby they incorrectly assume correlation implies causation.

[bladeracer]

Snakes killing cattle, including calf's is extremely rare. They get blamed sometimes for unexplained deaths, but it could be any number of things but if people have seen a snake recently or nearby they incorrectly assume correlation implies causation.

Agreed, but something seems to be in that area and I can't imagine what else it could be. We haven't seen a snake in there at all, but it's on the edge of the paddock so we've rarely been in there, it's just bush.

[Oldbloke]

@bladeracer. Yeh I missed your post.

Easy to relocate, pvc pipe and some cord to catch them along with a rubbish bin. I move them about 2k away near a creek , happy hunting grounds. Lol

[bladeracer]

@bladeracer. Yeh I missed your post.

Easy to relocate, pvc pipe and some cord to catch them along with a rubbish bin. I move them about 2k away near a creek , happy hunting grounds. Lol

About 50% or more of our blocks are untouched bush, untouched except for bushfires I mean. There are places I can move them to to keep them away from the cattle. I won't kill a snake if it can be avoided.

[JohnV]

Get up just after sunrise and quiet as you can look around the places a snake could sun it's self to warm up . If you don't have a shottie carry a small jar of petrol and chuck it on any snake .
Looks like an Eastern Tiger Snake to me .

[phill55phill]

12 gauge snake proofer is best

[JohnV]

One time on the cattle station at Gunnedah NSW I was working in the vegi garden on the weekend and a brown snake came from behind right through my legs . Man I nearly had a heart attack and just froze . It just slid right on through and kept going . After that I would go all around the garden and orchard with a hoe making a lot of noise to make sure no snakes were in the garden before doing anything .