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ISLAND PACKET (Hilton Head, S Carolina) 22 June 07 Crabber uses net handle to kill rattlesnake that threatened island beachgoers (David Lauderdale)
A diamondback rattlesnake almost 5 feet long was killed at Burkes Beach on Hilton Head Island last week while scores of sunbathers sat nearby, unaware of the drama.
The snake was a testament to the amazing adaptability of a species pushed out by development, said a veteran Lowcountry naturalist.
But it also was a threat to families with young children playing on the beach, said the North Carolina man who almost stepped on it before chasing it down and clubbing it to death with the handle of his crab net.
"It was right between my legs," said Lonnie Deal, 48, of Statesville, N.C. "I still get the willy jillies whenever I think about it."
Deal had been crabbing in the Folly, a tidal offshoot of the Atlantic Ocean between Burkes Beach and Singleton Beach. When he started back to the truck to get more bait, he took a path that meanders over the dunes, linking to the wide, main walkway to the popular public beach at mid-island.
Deal said his girlfriend's 14-year-old son, Ethan Blankenship, was behind him and screamed at him when he saw the rattler.
"It looked fake," Deal said. "It was stretched out pretty and straight. Our family is always playing practical jokes on each other, and I thought it was a joke."
When the snake moved, he jumped.
"It jerked back, zig-zag like and looked like it was going to strike."
The chunky snake headed into the Folly as Deal hollered into the wind for people crabbing to get away. The snake glided across the creek, looking like a balloon floating on the water, Deal said.
A long-legged white bird drifted down to take a look, Deal said. The snake froze for a second, but continued to the other side. Deal waded in after it because people were on the other side.
"I really felt bad about killing it," he said, "but the way it was going, it was headed right toward a man and wife and three kids. It was headed to where all the people were."
The Eastern diamondback -- which National Geographic says is the largest venemous snake in North America -- has been pushed out by Hilton Head's development. But rattlesnakes were once so common here that all the out-of-towners wore knee-high snake boots as they hunted on exclusive preserves.
At one time, islanders caught so many rattlesnakes, Ross Allen, who founded Ross Allen's Reptile Institute at Silver Springs, Fla., would fly in, landing in Honey Horn Plantation fields, and milk the rattlers for their venom to be used for research and the production of antivenin.
Naturalist David Jones of Ridgeland caught a lot of rattlesnakes on the island before development got so intense. He said in a way they're like today's visitors.
"They really love the salt water," Jone said. "It's because they like to eat the marsh rabbits."
Rattlesnakes are prodigious swimmers. They've been seen swimming well offshore, and between barrier islands. Four summers ago, a rattlesnake swam ashore at Coligny Beach. A crowd of 150 stood back as Beaufort County sheriff's Sgt. Mike Moberly grabbed it barehanded and escorted it away.
Jones said the northeastern portion of Hilton Head is the most likely place for diamondbacks to succeed today.
"There might be hundreds of them," he said, "but they've got to have some privacy."
Jones sees snakes as things of beauty, and harbingers of the overall health of an ecosystem.
Deal said he, too, is comfortable with snakes. He collected them as a child, with the hognose being his favorite. That's the snake that will turn over on its back and play dead, or even throw up, as a defense mechanism.
Deal carefully took his prize back to the time-share units where his mother, three siblings and two more generations of family members -- 27 in all this year -- were staying.
A worker measured it to be 58 inches long, and lots of snapshots were taken. Some zeroed in on its six rattles. Deal hugged the young man who alerted him that he was about to step on a poisonous snake. "To me, Ethan is my hero," Deal said.
The snake will be stuffed and mounted.
http://www.islandpacket.com/news/local/story/6559524p-5837881c.html
Crabber uses net handle to kill rattlesnake that threatened island beachgoers

ISLAND PACKET (Bluffton, S Carolina) 05 July 07 Editorial: People can learn to cope with snakes
A June 22 front-page article in The Island Packet detailed the story surrounding the killing of an Eastern diamondback rattlesnake on Hilton Head Island. The article explained that the snake was found on a path in the dunes, and that as the snake moved away, it was followed by a man and later beaten to death.
As a formally trained naturalist and manager of natural history programs for the Coastal Discovery Museum, I would like to provide additional information about this reptile in the hope that the next encounter (albeit rare) will not result in the death of the snake.
Most populations of Eastern diamondback have declined. Habitat destruction, road kills and direct killing by people are the major reasons for the decline. Although no study has been conducted on Hilton Head, it is likely our population of Eastern diamondbacks has decreased. The Eastern diamondback is venomous. However, the chances of being bitten by one are very low. Most bites happen when people provoke the snake or try to kill it, as in this recent case.
It is unfortunate that the general public perceives snakes as a threat, resulting in the needless killing by misinformed individuals thinking they are doing the right thing. Snakes are an important part of our wildlife and pose little, if any, threat to people. Statistics show more people are killed every year by lightning strikes, bee stings and domestic dogs, than by diamondback rattlesnakes.
Check out gophertortoisecouncil.org/usci.php for more information. Be snake smart.
Carlos Chacon, Bluffton
Editorial: People can learn to cope with snakes