Screven County Diamondback Measures 6 1/2 Feet

In late July, Conrad Greene, of Savannah, was working food plots with a couple buddies on their Screven County hunt club near Cooperville. They were checking some fruit trees when Travis Timms, of Savannah, almost stepped on this enormous eastern diamondback rattlesnake.
Conrad said the snake didn’t even rattle. It merely lifted its head up above the grass, surveyed the scene and tried to slither away. But it didn’t make it far. Conrad popped it with the .44 mag he carries for such occasions.

Nick Kearns, of Savannah, picked the snake up on a stick for this photo. Since then the photo has gone viral online and through text messages. It has been reported by different sources on the Internet rumor mill to have come from several different Georgia counties and from as far away as Missouri. Ridiculous measurements of up to 14 feet and more than 100 pounds have surfaced.

Actually, the snake is not nearly that big, but it is still enormous. Conrad said the rattler measured 6-feet, 6-inches, had 12 rattles and 2-inch fangs.

“The thing that got me about this snake is how big its head and girth were. He was easily as big around as my calf, and I’m a pretty big boy,” said Conrad. “This thing probably could have eaten baby pigs. A rabbit would have been just an appetizer for this snake.

“That snake was probably big enough that it would have broken your leg if it hit you.”
Snake expert Steve Scruggs said the snake was probably 20 years old.

“It’s an incredible specimen,” said Steve. “It’s very rare that we get one that old because what do people usually do? They kill them.”

Nick Kearns, of Savannah, displays the 6-foot, 6-inch Screven County rattlesnake.