Snake Breaking/ South East Washington

[Davidstrietzel21]

I have been upland hunting my American Brittany in eastern Oregon for the last four years with no worry of snake bites. Mainly because where we have hunted has been primarily snake free. But I now live and will be hunting South East Washington. More specifically around Tri Cities. I need some advice from anyone that knows the area or anyone who has had run ins with rattlers. Ive been reading field and stream articles and youtube videos, etc. I mainly want to talk with people who have personal and possible area specific insights. Thanks so much in advance!!!!!!

[greg jacobs]

Welcome neighbor.
Guess they are around.
I just don't worry about them.
That may not be the best approach

[Rik]

My experience with Tri Cities Rattlers:

I hunted all around and on the Hanford reservation for six or seven years with my Setter. Saw a few snakes in September, but none in October. My dog had little interest in the snakes we saw, so I'd just call him off and we'd walk away. I didn't let him hunt rock piles which is where we seemed to have found most of them.

Pup passed on a couple of years ago. New pup is curious about everything that moves or makes noise. He chases and catches Garter Snakes in the yard, has been bit but doesn't care. Worried about what he'll do when he see's a rattler, I tried snake avoidance training. It was a complete failure. Pup fought through the stimulation and nearly got to the snake. Trainer said that about 15% of bird dogs react this way. It worked fine for most of the other dogs we saw at the training.
So, even though I have seen only a handful of rattlers in all those years, I think I'm going to skip the September hunt and go in the mornings in October when It's colder.

All of the snakes I have seen were in rock cliffs, near water, rip rap around reservoirs, and old buildings near water. Unfortunately this is also where we find Chukar and Quail.

[Davidstrietzel21]

Thanks Greg for the welcome! And honestly the reason I got a little nervous about snakes was we came upon a bull snake about two weeks ago and she was really interested in it. I was able to call her off of the snake up it gave me a little bit of a wake up call.

Rik, Great advice on where to watch out for them. And also this will be my fist fall here so i wasn't sure when it would be getting cold enough to not really worry about snakes. I usually dont like to hunt warm weather anyway but thanks for the advice on waiting into October!

I was also wondering about some good places to pheasant and quail hunt around tricites area. You also mentioned chukars. I was not aware there were chukar here. I mean I guess it is the desert so why wouldn't there be haha.

Thanks again you guys!

[Rik]

Snakes become less active when temps are below 60F. To be safe I wait til October because night temps will be consistently below 50F. September has many days and nights above 60 and many below 50. Hunt on the low days in the morning and you won't see any snakes.

I don't hunt Pheasant so I'm not a good source of locations. I have seen small numbers around cultivated fields bordering the Hanford Res while hunting Quail and Grays. Best Quail hunting is on the Yakama Reservation in riparian areas. Chukar are easy to find and very hard to hit anywhere in the Snake River Canyons. Bring water, good boots (for you and your dog) and be in good shape!
Yakama Hunting info:

http://www.ynwildlife.org/publichuntingfishing.php