Watch For Rattlesnakes Around Those Summertime Feeders

Nothing can stop a heart quite like the surprise of seeing a full-grown rattlesnake within striking range of your leg. Allen Catoe, of Valdosta, provides some picture evidence along with some past experience that should put all of us on high alert while in close proximity to our summertime deer feeders. Allen recently captured three pictures of a canebrake rattlesnake around his deer feeder, which sits on 132 acres in Lowndes County.

“The first picture (attached to this article) shows the canebrake rattler slithering past a raccoon,” said Allen. “I doubt the snake alone would have triggered my COVERT 3G camera’s motion sensor. I think the raccoon triggered the camera, and the snake just happened to be in the picture.”

The other photos were too poor to post online, but the second one actually shows the snake partially inside the hole at the bottom of the feeder.

“This is a 55-gallon, gravity-type barrel feeder with a combination mix of shelled corn and Antler Max pellet feed. The round discharge hole at the bottom measures about 2 inches in diameter,” said Allen.

The third photo shows the snake on a nearby pine tree trunk, again with the raccoon watching in amazement. You can see a bulge in the snake’s body that Allen believes to be a squirrel.  

“This feeder attracts lots of squirrels, raccoons, deer, turkeys, beavers and birds,” said Allen. “I have, on occasion, taken the top off to fill the feeder and had a squirrel run out of the discharge hole. This only happens when the feed is low enough that the squirrel can crawl through the hole to get to the remaining feed.

“Two summers ago, I was filling this feeder and nearly stepped on a small canebrake rattler that had somehow covered his coiled body under pine straw. He was completely concealed, other than the tip of his head. I figured he was waiting on a squirrel to approach this feeder.”

It certainly makes sense that a rattler would spend his summer around a feeder that attracts all sorts of critters. Be careful as you check cameras and fill feeders this summer.