36 NEBRASKAland • JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2016
works: medical attention and perhaps a
few vials of antivenin. Old, unhelpful
concepts that can actually cause more
harm are tying off the limb with a
tourniquet, using ice or cutting the skin
to suck out the venom. Says Fogell,
"A person can and likely will survive a
bite with medical care. But it will hurt
. . . a lot."
The main principle of avoiding a
bite is simple: watch where you are
going. Easy as it sounds, that doesn't
come naturally to those not used to
rattlesnake environments. A rattler-
savvy person moves differently through
rattlesnake territory and they do so
with diligence. Where the feet will
land, the eyes must always scan.
Common rattlesnake hangouts can
be avoided, but this shouldn't be
misinterpreted; they can be anywhere.
They like warm, southerly-facing
rocky hillsides, and in spring and fall
they congregate around prairie dog
towns where many pass Nebraska
winters deep below the frost line. They
hibernate in communities and any deep
hole or rock fissure will do. There
"Rattlesnakes are voracious vermin eaters that
keep mice, rats, rabbits, and other small mammals
from reproducing to unmanageable numbers."
— Dan Fogell
My son, Colton, eyes a snake we have shooed off the road. Tightly-coiled in protective
mode, the snake becomes as small as possible and covers the back of its head.
