many people don't know that we have
rattlesnakes here in Virginia and of
those who do not many who like them I
recently went on a snake hunt with a man
who not only likes them he defends their
reputation Oh looky on there for Dave
gharst it's usually no problem to find
rattlesnakes in our area he's been
studying them for more than 25 years
but on this rainy 68 degree day he's
looked in vain in every crack every
crevice and under every rock little
being in there after four miles of
hiking and side Hill bushwhacking there
isn't a rattlesnake to be found a
surprise to gars to really knows
rattlesnakes are you on a first-name
basis with some of these snakes yeah in
fact gharst earned a master's degree
from Virginia Tech in part by predicting
the most likely places to find timber
rattlesnakes he's been tracking them on
these cliffs and other places since the
early 1990s the snakes that are here are
here to keep your body temperature
elevated and the fact that we have
something that typically will
concentrate them makes them easy to find
but the weather is making it anything
but easy until Dave peers over that rock
and this is what he sees we look at
wellesley we have just found our first
snake then an impressive display of
snakes Manship Garst
gently extracts the snake from under the
rock and places it in a bag designed
just for well the snakes a few minutes
later he pulls out a second snake while
a third out of his reach continued to
rattle under the rock
that's fine three-year-olds night
despite all the time he spends handling
one of the most venomous snakes in North
America Garst has absolutely no fear and
he's never been bitten if I've had a
snake out here strike it me it is
totally due to my actions as a person
I'm hoping that snake I'm trying to
catch the snake to mark the snake I'm
giving the snake of Reed
to want to strike at me you see my
fingers yeah - on the tube - on the
snake that's naked are you least strong
okay you got to hold on after guiding
the snake's head and part of its body
into this plastic tube the snake can
safely be handled for measurement
marking okay so we found a rattlesnake
or even teller this holy cow dave has a
message for the public rattlesnakes
dislike people as much as people just
like them when it comes to people versus
snakes who usually wins the people
without a doubt rattlesnake populations
have scattered as civilization and
development have crept into their
historic territory yet they remain
common in Virginia's mountains where
they find dens and basking areas that
allow them to thrive exposed remote
cliffs like these are perfect they're
laying out here doing what rattlesnakes
do they want to eat the mice they want
to reproduce they're just trying to eat
and survive same as any animal so that's
the rattlesnake right there it's one of
two that Dave captured on our trip here
today and one of the things he's been
telling us is that this is actually a
docile animal and has he's been handling
it it hasn't made any attempt to bite
him or me and it gives you kind of a
different impression of rattlesnakes and
a lot of it is kind of myth and
misconception people hear the stuff
they're a venomous animal they're
horrible they're they're everywhere
they're just laying in the woods waiting
on me to come by so they can eat me and
that's not really the case the Virginia
poison center says fewer than 15 people
in Virginia have died from snake bites
in the last 30 years dave says most of
those cases happen when people were
messing with the reptiles in our case
the snakes were released unharmed to
crawl back under their rock wear Garst
hopes they can avoid human interaction
best for people and the snakes when you
walk in on them if you just give them
some space they'll either move on or you
just walk on em how about that I mean
it's a good effort I see what you're
doing this pub
relations campaign ocean snakes I'm
still like oh he was like this the whole
time jumping right but you said that
there they only reach what 15 inches
their striking distance well it's based
upon how long they are but that
particular snake he said if we were more
than 15 inches away
not that we were getting that close
right you know we were reasonably safe
with that snake did not make any lunges
at us the whole time that we were him
because whatever's too in my mind and in
other people's mind at home I'm sure mm
it 15 inches but in my mind it's like 15
feet like that they're gonna lunge at
you yes yeah that's not true
that's not true and unless you really
startled one they're not going to look
at you anyway so a lot more information
about rattlesnake bites and what to do
and if you get bit and all that it's all
with this story I'm lining you have
taught me a lot in the past couple of
weeks about rattlesnakes but I'm still
not a fan well we're gonna keep working
on you yeah me and the snake :
thank you