Hello Everyone,

Yesterday I had a wonderful time letterboxing with
Butterfly and Lobstah Lady. Three boxes and a
hitchhiker found by Lobstah Lady. A great day all
around. Effusive and public thanks for including me!

I related a story to them about a too-close call with
a Timber Rattlesnake at Timberlin Park here in
Connecticut. They thought it was a good idea to share
with the LBNA group, particularly those of us who go
into areas where there might be any kind of poisonous
plant or animal. While we enjoy the hunt, we must also
be conscious of our own personal safety at the same
time. The encounter my partner and I had was a
chilling reminder of this.

The clues to the letterbox we were looking pointed us
to an downed tree whose dirt encrusted roots were
above ground. It was moving toward dusk on a dead calm
night when we observed such a tree. My friend picked
up a stick perhaps 18" in length and began probing
into the shadows of the exposed root structure. I was
standing behind him.

All of a sudden, we both saw something moving to our
right about two feet away. Since it was such a calm
night, any movement at all caught our immediate
attention. The movement came from a coiled and
ready-to-strike juvenile Timber Rattlesnake. Very
slowly, we backed away and left the area.

We learned later that juvenile rattlers do not begin
to get their rattles until after they shed their skin.
One rattle is added each time they shed we were told.
We were also told that even this 18"-24" long snake
can be aggressive and strike quickly with nearly as
much venom as an adult.If anyone knows differently,
please share with the group. Our understanding is that
Timber Rattlesnakes are endangered here in Connecticut
and rarely seen ,but, as we found out first hand, it
only takes experiencing one who might have decided to
aggressively protect its turf for us to make changes
in the way we behave on the trail.

We do not want to be alarmists here, but we learned a
good lesson about being much more observant of our
surroundings and the places we look for and place
letterboxes. Now, my partner and I carry trekking
poles (any long stick will do nicely) when we are
letterboxing. If we find a box concealed in a tree
root or other area where the box might be shared with
any wildlife species that has every right to be there,
we are now much more careful about the manner in which
we remove the box. Nor does it hurt to purchase or
assemble a simple first aid kit and carry it with you.
I guess it goes without saying, some knowledge of
first aid and "what to do if..." is a good idea as
well.

Just wanted to share this "interesting" experience.

Linda a/k/a Ms Alafair







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