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DALLAS MORNING NEWS (Texas) 25 October 07 Rattlesnake bites send two to Fort Worth hospital (Debbie Denmon)
Fort Worth: A hunter and a grandmother are both patients that said they feel fortunate to be alive after being admitted to the intensive care unit at Harris Methodist of Fort Worth with rattlesnake bites.
Harris Methodist treats more than a dozen victims of poisonous snake bites every year. Doctors say snakes thrive in warm weather, and the recent rains in North Texas have created thicker brush and higher weeds where rattlesnakes can hide.
Travis Tate's hand swelled after he was bitten by a rattlesnake. Over the last two months, Travis Tate and Sharon Davis have undergone therapy to regain use of their fingers after being bitten by rattlesnakes.
"It feels like it's on fire," Tate said of his bite. "It is unbelievable."
Tate spent several days in the intensive care unit. His hand swelled ten times the normal size.
"How bad it looked is really what frightened me," he said. "I was like, 'Man, am I going to lose this?'"
Tate shot the small rattlesnake in an area where he was hunting. His oldest son thought it was dead.
"He was wanting to pick it up and I said, 'Let me pick it up first,'" Tate said. "And as soon as I reached down, he grabbed a hold of my finger."
Tate shared his snake tale with a grandmother, who also had a similar story of surviving a rattlesnake's wrath.
"Once or twice, when I was in serious condition in ICU, I thought I could die," Davis said.
Davis lost feeling in her fingertip after she was bitten by a snake hidden in the grass.
"I leaned over to pick up the trash and the snake was underneath my house," she said. "Its head shot out of the litle hole and bit me and then it was gone."
But Davis said she was just glad her granddaughter wasn't the one struck by the snake, just as Tate said he feels the same about his son.
"It could've been a lot worse," Tate said. "You thank the Lord that it wasn't him."

http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/localnews/stories/102507dnmetsnakebites.1a490b1a7.html

"His hand swelled ten times the normal size."

Now that had to be something to see.

"Tate shot the small rattlesnake in an area where he was hunting. His oldest son thought it was dead.
"He was wanting to pick it up and I said, 'Let me pick it up first,'" Tate said. "And as soon as I reached down, he grabbed a hold of my finger."

Hmmm...lets see. If he had left the snake alone, he would not have been bitten. But he had to go and shoot the snake and pick it up. When will these morons learn.