Daily independent. [volume] (Elko, Nev.) 188?-1915, 1893-04-06
RATTLERS AND IS
California Snakes That Wage
Upon tho Porkers.
An Alpine County BaclSwoodsman Do
scribcs the Manner Ia Which tho Hogs
Arc Pursued aud Killed by
Their Tenomous Foes.

familiar with Them" said q ranclman
who came into Pomona to lay in his
supplies the other day, says the Pomona
Cali Progress, sis the one that the
deadly venom Of rattlcsnalles has no cf-
feet on hogs. Now, I don't know
whether the poison bags Of rattlcsnalIes
that have their habitat up in Alpine
county arc filled with venom of greater
power than the poison rattlcsnakes of
other regions, or whether the hogs Of
other localities have stronger constitu-
tons than the hogs of Alpine county
have, but I know what l am talking
about when I say that hogs are just q
picnic for Alpine county rattlcsnal:cs.
II have read many and many time
that the favoritc amusement and rccrcl-
ton that hogs have in other communities
where the rattlcsnalic abounds is hunt
ing down and destroying these dead
1y reptiles, the hogs going in among
the m with as much nonchalance as if
they were entering corn-crib, tearing
the reptiles to pieces and devouring them
oil but the heads.
81 had an old San Bernardino back
woods friend once, who often told me,
with tears in his eyes. how he had to
kill valuable brood SOW of his because
of her persistence in hunting and de-
stroying rattlesnal1cs to that extent
that the locality was in danger of being
entirely dcpopulatcd of the reptiles,
which would have seriously affected the
income of my friend, as the rattlcsnallcs
in his bailiwicll yielded him q snag sum
annually from their oil and skins. IIo
tried to educate the sow to fetch the
h0pon fbpf c1, Ii ln1 nd doll
them over to him, but she wouldn't
have it that way, and so he had to kill
her to prevent a. snake famine.
but it is different in Alpine county.
The hogs up there don't hunt rattle
snakes. Rattlcsnai.es hunt the hogs. If
you should ever be in that garden spot OF
occidental clinics, and should Sec hog
tearing over the plain like u cyclone, it's
eyes hanging out its tail curlcd up like
cork-scrcw, and it's whole bearing in
| tlicativc Of an overpoWcring wish to get
i'll out Of the wet somewhere, you need
have no apprehension. Not for yourself,
mean. Iou may have some for the
hog if you want To. for not far behind
it, and surely gaining on it, you will
see rattlcsnalic sliding along like n
streak of CREASED Lightning, his head
raised about ST.; inches from The ground
and his giittcrinG eyes on tho flying hog.
1T will be something out Of the COM
mon if that hog gets home with its life,
for even if it is in II fair way to escape
from the pursuing RATHER, the chances
arc that it will find itself ambuscaded
by others If you see the hog stop
suddenly in its wild flight and tack Off
on another course either one way or tho
other you may know that On accom-
! Plicc of the pursuing snake has risen
up in front of the hog and barred cs-
! cape in that direction. Then if the hog
! stops suddenly again in the new course
| it was forced to take, and makes u
! break in another direction, you may
| safely bet that Il third rattlcSnalic has
| as much as said to the bclcagucrcd
! porllcr that he can come on if he likes
but lie may not like it. And SO, if you
see the hog try every point of the COM
pass, and stop short ut every one, OF tho
last stand still and snort and s1ueal and
trcmblc, you may mako up your mind
that escape has been cut OF on every
side by rattlesnallcs and he will DC n
dead hog in a jiffy, for he will have tho
fungs Of one of tho snakes in his Jug
ttfar before you Gun count ten, and he.
i lies down, swclls up like n toadfish and
passes away.
II have heard Of n band of these hog
hating rattlesn~kcs OF Alpine county
rounding up whole drovcs of hogs and
driving them up to tho hills and impris-
oning them in the rocks, where the rep
tiles would amuse themselves by pick
ing them off ut their leisure, make them
run the gauntlet of long rows of snakes
and have other fiendish fun with them.
The snakes don't cat the hogs, for even
IN Alpine county rattlesnnlso has not
capacity enough to gulp down anything
larger than rabbit. They simply seem
TO have an uncomfortable and deadly
hatred for swine, md kill them just be.
cause they hate them"
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