After writing about Helicopter Logging it reminded me of the rattlesnake encounter in Lawson Creek on the Gold Beach Ranger District in the summer of 1981 or 82. Can never remember the exact year of some of these events. I was doing a utilization inspection of a harvest unit on a helicopter sale in the Lawson Creek drainage. As I made my way across a rocky outcropping over Lawson Creek I heard the buzz of a rattlesnake. The sound made me freeze in place as I slowly looked around and saw nothing. The adrenaline rushed through me as I thought about how far away I was from anybody with no hand held radio, only a first aid kit, a water bottle and my lunch all in my work vest. The big question was, could I make it out of here if I got bit without having the venom circulate through me before seeking help on the two-way radio in the Forest Service pickup two or three miles away? With all these thoughts going through my mind in a flash of a few seconds, I slowly backed out the way I came across the rocky outcrop. The buzzing had stopped. I was home free to live another day.
A collection of stories from the life of Michael Burke. He worked for the Forest Service in Alaska, California, and Oregon. He lives in Oakland, OR. His wonderful wife, Celia, passed in May of 2021
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FOUR YEAR ANNIVERSARY
It is four years today when Celia left this word, something I think about every day. It is not all sorrow as I think back on her humor, w...
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It is four years today when Celia left this word, something I think about every day. It is not all sorrow as I think back on her humor, w...
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In my early days with the Forest Service we were called upon to fight fires with little choice in the matter, especially on our days off or ...
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One of my most memorable Thanksgivings was when I lived in Eugene from 1991 to 2000. My two children were with me on Thanksgiving of 1992...
It's sort of like walking through the desert in the warmer months when a rattler could be taking shelter in a sagebrush bush. Rattlers can strike before one hears any sound. Yeeks!
ReplyDeleteI've crossed paths with several Mojave greens down in the desert. You did the right thing when you heard the buzzing. Stay alert, stop, assess and then back away. It's their habitat, and those rattlers don't want an encounter with you anymore than you want to tangle with them.
ReplyDeleteWhen I was a senior in high school, I encountered a fully coiled cottonmouth in Missouri while rock hunting in Missouri. He was huge and I remember backing out and hop running back to the creek followed, imagining he and all of his kin were following me.
ReplyDelete