Snake has the makings of a rural legend
Snake, rattle and roar! The Trenton paper's snake picture has caused a furor!
Pardon my attempt at poetry, but I had to come up with a way to tell you about the uproar caused by "Snakes Alive!," the picture of a gigantic snake which appeared in the Thursday, July 19 issue of the Hitchcock County News.
Even though Publisher Jason Frederick tried to play the picture down -- placing it on the back page of the News -- it generated a firestorm of interest, with dozens -- if not hundreds -- of people snapping up copies of the paper and making copies to send to friends and family members from near and far.
Now, as Paul Harvey is always saying, it's time for the rest of the story.
The picture isn't for real, or, at least, there are different versions of the snake tale.
Bruce Crosby, the Gazette's editor, discovered this when he did an Internet search. He found the same picture, shown in the photo which accompanies this column, but with different information.
In the Hitchcock County News photo caption, it was reported that the "snake was recently found at the old stripping plant located south of Highway 160 near Medicine Lodge, KS. The diamondback rattlesnake measured 9 feet, 1 inch - and weighed in at 97 lbs."
The account Bruce found on the Internet listed the same length, 9 feet, 1 inch, and weight, 97 pounds, but from there on the the story was completely different. Here's the internet account: "WE GROW 'EM BIG IN TEXAS!!! This snake was recently found at the old Turkey Creek gas plant located just south of the Alibates Turnoff on Highway 136 south of Fritch, Texas."
In other words, folks, what we have here is the making of a "Rural Legend."
For those of you who keep up with the latest trends, that's a takeoff on the "Urban Legend" phenomena which is sweeping the nation. The snake stories show we rural folks have our legends, too, by golly.
But, out here in the middle of America, we have some honest to goodness, true stories, too.
For proof, all you have to do is go to the Northwest Arms & Service store at 720 South 2nd Street in Atwood. There you will see a massive snake skin on the wall. It was stripped from a 6 foot, 4 inch prairie rattler killed five years ago by Keith Reunitz of Ludell. Keith shot it at Art Dunker's cattle pen, located four miles north of Ludell. He used a load of birdshot in his .45 to down the snake, then chopped the rattler's head off. The snake had 12 rattles and a button.
Oh, and one more thing about the long snake. Keith estimates it only weighed 12 to 14 pounds, not 91 pounds as was claimed for the Internet snake.
During his life, Keith has killed many rattlesnakes. "In my best year I got 13 of them," he said. A former Californian, Keith began hunting rattlesnakes as a teenager, selling the venom to a veterinarian for the production of anti-venom and the carcass to mink farmers for feed. Keith, who drives the Rawlins County Square Deal newspaper to the Gazette for printing, also hunts skunks, coyotes and porcupines.
Keith Reunitz of Ludell is a real life rattlesnake hunter. So is Charles Schluckebier of Palisade. If you want to know the truth about rattlers, ask them. As for pictures of giant rattlesnakes on the Internet, be very skeptical, especially when you hear of snakes weighing 97 pounds.
It's highly likely that the Internet pictures are simulations, and that most of the fat rattler's weight comes from hot air.