A Mommy and Her Babies

This is a touching story about a momma and her babies, but let me warn you the only touching was done by the shell of the .410.

I was walking around the property after dinner when I checked out a hole along side the entrance to the missile base. In the hole I could clearly see the diamond pattern of a rattlesnake. I went into the house and Rick came out. He agreed that it was a rattlesnake. Rick got his insect fogger from the shop and poured smoke into the den and one by one a mommy rattlesnake and seven of her babies exited the den. There is at least one baby left in the den who apparently is the smartest of the bunch because he never vacated but did poke his head out. Rick also thinks there may be another large one in the den, but it was starting to get dark so we packed it up. Unfortunately, I broke the fogger so Rick has to fix it, but if I hadn't done that I am sure we would have cleared the whole den. Oh well tomorrow is another day and today was a super-duper day in regards to the rattlesnake count. Below is the requisite picture of the day's kill. Oh yeah, I even shot one of the babies when Rick had gone down to the shop! That's my second kill.