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Looking to buy a 410 pistol.. Your thoughts?

jeeper

jeeper

I live my life 1 dumpster at a time
Location
So Jo, Ut
I keep a 410 single shot long gun in the truck that we call the 'snake gun'. It's proven to be an effective part of our camping gear. We are gearing up for some longer hikes through snake infested territory, and I think I would like a pistol version 410. The judge appears to be the most popular. I am ok with just about any single shot or revolver. For those of you in the know, is there any specific gun I should or shouldn't be looking at?

To clarify, I do believe it letting snakes and varmint be unless we feel physically threatened. We have has some bad luck with some lately though, which has my nerves up a little. I am not out mindlessly blasting snakes.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
My buddy has a Judge. It's surprisingly tame and nice to shoot, whether .410 or 45 LC. And a bonus for you, you could load it with mostly .410 and one or two .45 in case you are threatened by larger "snakes". ;)
 
DAA

DAA

Well-Known Member
Supporting Member
Location
West Bountiful, UT
That's an awful lot of weight to carry around just for an occasional snake. The last rattler I killed (buddy wanted the skin), my friend pinned it's head to the ground with an umbrella and I sawed it's head off with a piece of shale rock that was laying there. I mean, if they aren't trying to get away, they are just about the easiest thing in the world to kill with a rock or a stick - that's really about all I have ever used to dispatch one, can't recall that I have ever bothered to shoot one.

Personally, I've never HAD to kill one though. In many umpteen miles of hiking snake country. Used to anyway, just out of meanness, I suppose. But I have just been leaving them alone for many years now.

- DAA
 
DaveB

DaveB

Long Jeep Fan
Location
Holladay, Utah
I have the Judge and like it however the pattern spreads very quickly.
As far as killing snakes I found this on the wildlife.gov site:
Rattlesnakes are protected under Utah law, making it illegal to harass or kill one. The only exception to this is if you are threatened and defending yourself; otherwise, it is a class B misdemeanor to kill a rattlesnake. They are an important part of Utah's ecosystem and help keep the rodent population in check.
 
Kevin B.

Kevin B.

Not often wrong. Never quite right.
Moderator
Location
Stinkwater
Only marginally on topic, but they say you're less and less likely to hear a rattler any more. Natural selection is favoring the ones that are born without rattles.
 
D

DesertRam

Active Member
Location
Southern New Mexico
Not born without rattlers necessarily, but a herpetologist friend of mine believes that we humans, over the years, have to a small extent favored the "natural selection" of those less inclined to rattle when alarmed. In essence, we kill the noisy ones before they get to spread too many genes. Some wildlife biologists believe we are doing the same thing to noisy bugling bull elk on heavily hunted public land.
 
jeeper

jeeper

I live my life 1 dumpster at a time
Location
So Jo, Ut
Kevin B. said:
Only marginally on topic, but they say you're less and less likely to hear a rattler any more. Natural selection is favoring the ones that are born without rattles.
Click to expand...

This has been my experience. Every one of them that I have seen has been quiet as a mouse. It’s only when they are moving very close to us that we see them.
 
jeeper

jeeper

I live my life 1 dumpster at a time
Location
So Jo, Ut
DAA said:
That's an awful lot of weight to carry around just for an occasional snake. The last rattler I killed (buddy wanted the skin), my friend pinned it's head to the ground with an umbrella and I sawed it's head off with a piece of shale rock that was laying there. I mean, if they aren't trying to get away, they are just about the easiest thing in the world to kill with a rock or a stick - that's really about all I have ever used to dispatch one, can't recall that I have ever bothered to shoot one.

Personally, I've never HAD to kill one though. In many umpteen miles of hiking snake country. Used to anyway, just out of meanness, I suppose. But I have just been leaving them alone for many years now.

- DAA
Click to expand...

‘have to’ kill can be a whole discussion for sure. The last one that I deemed should die came out if a hole in a tree, just a couple feet away from a camp fire ring in an established campsite. Sure, we could have packed up and left.. but I am very confident that this particular snake would as some point bite our kids or someone else. I didn’t feel bad about ending it’s life.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
The last rattlesnake I had in a camp was right outside a camper door. It didn't rattle. I picked it up and carried it away using a hot dog roasting stick. :) It was calm as could be, even stayed coiled up until he slipped off and fell. Even after that I just picked him up and carried further---rinse and repeat until he was far enough away. No biggie.
 
jeeper

jeeper

I live my life 1 dumpster at a time
Location
So Jo, Ut
I Lean said:
The last rattlesnake I had in a camp was right outside a camper door. It didn't rattle. I picked it up and carried it away using a hot dog roasting stick. :) It was calm as could be, even stayed coiled up until he slipped off and fell. Even after that I just picked him up and carried further---rinse and repeat until he was far enough away. No biggie.
Click to expand...

Don't snakes live in a particular home? As in, if you were in the snakes home and moved it away.. doesn't it come back? I only think this because there is a particular large rattle snake that is always under the same boulder along a moto trail we ride. Even when chased away, it will return.
 
R

rholbrook

Well-Known Member
Location
Kaysville, Ut
You realize that Rattly Snakes are protected in Utah

The last one I saw I was riding my motorcycle above Pineview Res in Ogden Valley. I heard it warning me before I saw it. I had stopped and was waiting for a couple other riders when I heard it. I looked down and he was a foot way from my boot I had just put down. I nearly stepped on it. I moved ahead a little bit, waited for the group to see it and then shooed it off the trail. Scared the hell out of me. I have killed my share over the years. We used to get them on our swimming pool cover growing up. My backyard was a big gully with a river running down it and they came up from there almost weekly.
 
I Lean

I Lean

Mbryson's hairdresser
Vendor
Location
Utah
jeeper said:
Don't snakes live in a particular home? As in, if you were in the snakes home and moved it away.. doesn't it come back? I only think this because there is a particular large rattle snake that is always under the same boulder along a moto trail we ride. Even when chased away, it will return.
Click to expand...

That sounds plausible...but this was coiled up under the tongue of a trailer. Certainly not his normal "home".
 
N-Smooth

N-Smooth

Smooth Gang Founding Member
Location
UT
I once saw a comedian named Arj Barker that was saying he's nervous to hike in AUS cause of the snakes. His friends told him "they're just as scared of you as you are of them" and he said really, are the snakes up all night googling "will Arj Barker's ankles hurt my fangs?"

Pretty funny.

Also I ain't skurrred of snakes. I would relocate them.
 
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