GIANT RATTLESNAKE UPDATE

OK I was wrong and I'm not afraid to admit it - turns out the serpent was only 7-foot long and the distortion is has something to do with the wide-angle lens on a cellphone camera - gentlemen bear this in mind when photographing your python - ladies bear this in mind when reviewing would-be suitors a la the Modern Age of Instantaneous Electronic Everything - S.L.


Huge rattlesnake found near St. Augustine

ST. AUGUSTINE - Brandon Booth didn't think a whole lot about the 7-foot, 3-inch rattlesnake.

A resident at Tuscany Village townhomes near Florida 16 and Interstate 95 at St. Augustine called Booth, who owns A-1 Trapper Man, on Sunday to come get the snake from near the entrance to the development.

"Actually, I've killed them bigger than that before," he said. "It's rare, [but] it's not like hitting the lottery or anything. If you look hard enough, you'll find them."

St. Johns County deputies were also called to the scene, and they photographed the snake, an eastern diamondback rattler.

Their photos were published in The Record on Wednesday and made it appear longer than what Booth measured it at.

The largest eastern diamondback recorded was 8 feet long.


OK that puts this one in the same league as the 8-footer I slayed in Mississippi - read the rest of it HERE


More from the Truth-Is-Stranger-Than-Fiction Department:

Officials question California hiker’s story about being saved from mountain lion attack by bear

Robert Biggs, 69, said he was watching a mama bear play with her cubs in the mountains above Whiskey Flats, north of Sacramento, last Monday when a mountain lion pounced on his back and began clawing at his arm.

Biggs said the mama bear quickly came to his aid by swatting the cougar off his back before it did any serious damage.

But over the weekend, state Fish and Game Commission said they suspected Biggs’ bear tale was bull.

“The evidence right now says inconclusive, but he lives in mountain lion country,” Andrew Hughan, a spokesperson for the agency, told CBS Sacramento.

“There’s never been a case we can document that one animal attacked another to save a person,” Hughan said.


Just for the record I threw out the fifteen-yard bullshit flag on this story BEFORE this follow-on story emerged; what really alerted me was his account of how on an earlier occasion the mama bear let him approach and touch her cubs. NO WAY KNOWN - every bear in North America has lost a mother, father, sister or brother to humans - bears FEAR and HATE humans more than we fear them. Read the whole thing HERE



Today's Bird HERE

GREEN BERET RECEIVES SILVER STAR

SFC Frank Miller of Virginia Beach receives the Silver Star, the third-highest U.S. award for gallantry in combat, from Adm. James G. Stavridis for scaling a mountain while under enemy fire to reach injured comrades on Dec. 17, 2010, in Afghanistan. - Richard Herman | U.S. Army

December 17, 2010: Green Berets from 1st Battalion, 10th Special Forces Group were taking small-arms fire. Captain David Fox led a half-dozen members while Sergeant First Class McKenna "Frank" Miller and others provided security. The shooting from an estimated 10 enemy fighters, "It wasn't a big deal," Miller said. "We could control the situation."

Soon rocket-propelled grenades began to fly, and the small-arms fire intensified. Miller radioed to Fox that they'd better hurry up.

"I was sensing things were deteriorating," Fox later told an Army journalist, so he moved his group to the top of a steep mountain to help return fire.

That's when an improvised bomb exploded, killing one of the French engineers and leaving one of the Afghans, a local commander, badly wounded. Fox and the others who were with him were knocked unconscious.

Far below, Miller heard the blast and saw the smoke. CPT Fox came to and transmitted via radio. Miller could make out only two words of the broken transmission: "Urgent . . . surgical."

He and teammate Staff Sergeant Matthew Gassman started up the side of the mountain. It was a near-vertical ascent done "continuously under enemy fire," according to the Army's official narrative.

Upon arrival, Miller briefly tried to treat the engineer. Realizing he'd been killed, he did the only thing he could; he lifted the 200-pound man over his shoulder and, despite his exhaustion, carried him down the mountain, stumbling and falling several times along the way. Gassman helped the wounded Afghan commander while Fox provided cover.

By then, the number of enemy fighters had grown to about 70.

When the soldiers reached the bottom of the mountain, Miller collapsed while trying to dodge the enemy rounds, which were hitting the slain man on his back. Despite two strained hamstrings, he picked the man up again and continued forward.

Describing the pain of ripped hamstrings, Miller said, "It took the breath away from me."


Read it HERE

GOLF COURSE HAZARD

St. Johns County Sheriff, St. Augustine Florida

THIS IS NOT A PYTHON!


This is a 15 foot Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake; in fact, the largest ever caught on record.

This snake was found near the St. Augustine outlet, in a new subdivision just south of Jacksonville.

A little research:

One bite from a snake of this size would contain enough venom to kill over 40 full grown men.

The head of this snake alone is larger than the hand of a normal sized man.

A bite from those fangs would be comparable to being stabbed by two curved, 1/4 inch diameter screwdrivers.

The knife being used to draw out the fangs for the bottom picture has a blade around 6 inches long.


Notice the girth of this snake as compared to the cop's leg in the first picture (and he is not a small man).

This snake is estimated to have weighed over 170 pounds (how much do you weigh?).

A snake of this size could easily swallow a 2 year-old child (and dogs, pigs, etc).

A snake this size has an approximately 5 1/2 foot accurate striking distance; the distance for an average size rattlesnake is about 2 feet (that's because the average rattlesnake is 6 feet long).

This snake has probably been alive since George Bush Sr. was President.

Now just ask yourself these questions:

What has this snake been feeding on and . . . where are it's offspring?



Todays Bird HERE

1stSSF VETERANS DIE ON SAME DAY

This past Sunday, Mark Radcliffe and Joe Glass — the State of Montana’s last surviving members of the FSSF — died just 12 hours apart.

“Mark and Joe were two of the original members of the First Special Service Force, and it’s appropriate that they were the last two survivors in the state,” said FSSF aficionado Bill Woon, whose father was also a member of the elite unit. “It’s also appropriate that they were an American and a Canadian.”

It's an incredible story - read it HERE

Honor them - STORMBRINGER SENDS

SEAL RECON MARINE POSSIBLE POSEUR BOGIE 12 o'CLOCK

This guy might be legit but I seriously doubt it; he ain't a SEAL he's a WALRUS!!! Just a cursory glance at this guy's rack I spotted a Korean War-era UN medal and the Multinational Force and Observers Medal for the Sinai - I have two tours in the MFO and I never saw a Marine the whole time I was there. Slip on over to This Ain't Hell and read the comments on this guy they're hilarious and VERY insightful - S.L.



Today's Bird HERE

Casey Sheehan

An incredible read over at Blackfive:

Casey Sheehan - A SYSK for Palm Sunday

WWOtW HERE

FIRST LADY FASHIONISTA- WHAT NOT TO WEAR

Classy . . . . NOT . . . taken at a children's festival yesterday:

Story HERE


That ginormous mooseknuckle is so SCARY I had to run screaming to the Birds of STORMBRINGER for rehab eye-relief - and yes they are updated daily - S.H.



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