...you are 2 miles from your car and/or help in the middle of a national park with your 105lb g/f (she cant carry you)

what should you do?  rip your shirt and try to keep the poison localized?  

do that and sit there waiting for her to run back, find help, and come all the way back to you?

do that and walk back slowly while she runs ahead?

run your ass back (hoping you can grit the pain) to get back asap, which would really raise your heartrate and pump that sh*t all through your body.


what if the situation is reversed?  should i throw her over my shoulder and run?  or apply a bandage and walk w/ her, etc.


thanks!

remain calm for starters.

I'd say some kind of constricting bandage/tie-off (not quite a torniquet, but close) between the bite and your heart, and then a SLOW walk back, while she runs ahead to contact help.

biggest thing to do, relax. Nothing will kill you faster than going into a panic, don't cut and try and suck anything out, just relax and walk out, and do yourself a favor and learn what all of the snakes are where your going

Tie something to slow blood circulation above the bite.  Remain calm (yeah, right).  Move as fast as you can without raising heart rate (not very fast) with the help of said friend to nearest egress point, get ride to hospital.  Pray its only a dry bite.

ETA for correction.

ah.  Just sit down, torniquet it off, and start hackin.  I hear the peg-leg look is "in" right now!  



Seriously?  I agree with DK.  

Quoted: I'd say some kind of constricting bandage/tie-off (not quite a torniquet, but close) between the bite and your heart, and then a SLOW walk back, while she runs ahead to contact help.

worse thing you can do is to put a torniquet on, and you won't really stop the spread, it perforates the arterial walls, in fact the venom is designed to go perferate the blood vessel walls and kick up your hearts bpm, so just relax and go for help

Hes in Ohio right ? They have a few species of rattlesnakes and maybe some copperheads i belive.
The majority of the most deadly rattlers are further south and out west. If a full grown man was bit and made it to a hospital in a few hours your chances of living are very good. IF it was a little kid thats a different story.

Quoted: Tie something to slow blood circulation above the bite.  Remain calm (yeah, right).  Move as fast as you can with the help of said friend to nearest egress point, get ride to hospital.  Pray its only a dry bite.

NO! bad idea!  Yes, you want to get where you are going as quickly as possible, but running/fast movement will accelerate the poision flow from he bite location to bad areas.  You should walk slowly, trying to keep your leg from moving as much as possible, perhaps use your 105lb gf as a crutch to minimize movement of the leg

Quoted: Quoted: Tie something to slow blood circulation above the bite.  Remain calm (yeah, right).  Move as fast as you can with the help of said friend to nearest egress point, get ride to hospital.  Pray its only a dry bite. NO! bad idea!  Yes, you want to get where you are going as quickly as possible, but running/fast movement will accelerate the poision flow from he bite location to bad areas.  You should walk slowly, trying to keep your leg from moving as much as possible, perhaps use your 105lb gf as a crutch to minimize movement of the leg

Sorry, I meant to say as fast as you can while keeping heart rate down, which is not very fast.  

Quoted: Quoted: Tie something to slow blood circulation above the bite.  Remain calm (yeah, right).  Move as fast as you can with the help of said friend to nearest egress point, get ride to hospital.  Pray its only a dry bite. NO! bad idea!  Yes, you want to get where you are going as quickly as possible, but running/fast movement will accelerate the poision flow from he bite location to bad areas.  You should walk slowly, trying to keep your leg from moving as much as possible, perhaps use your 105lb gf as a crutch to minimize movement of the leg

real bad idea, going to get someone killed giveing advice like that

If you get bit by a poisonous snake all you would have to do is walk to your car....short of the teeth causing damage its no biggie.

Quoted: Quoted: Quoted: Tie something to slow blood circulation above the bite.  Remain calm (yeah, right).  Move as fast as you can with the help of said friend to nearest egress point, get ride to hospital.  Pray its only a dry bite. NO! bad idea!  Yes, you want to get where you are going as quickly as possible, but running/fast movement will accelerate the poision flow from he bite location to bad areas.  You should walk slowly, trying to keep your leg from moving as much as possible, perhaps use your 105lb gf as a crutch to minimize movement of the leg real bad idea, going to get someone killed giveing advice like that

Who? me or the guy I quoted?  My advice comes straight from AF field training.  Goal #1 is minimize movement of the affected area to slow the flow of venom.. in this case circulation is the enemy.  

Another thing that I learned was that when you apply a tourniquet, you are effectively dooming that appendage to ampuation because the tissue will most likely die, or be severely dammaged within a few hours or less

sounds like you mighta died in your senerio

This actually happened to me.  

Back in 1985 or so, we went camping up in the Ouachita National Forest.  I was about 2 miles from base camp, but close to a park ranger's cabin.  Got bit on the left ankle.

Biggest thing to do is keep calm.  Tell you what, I'll tell you my whole story.  I survived and you can, too.

I tied off a bandage about 2 inches above the bite location, but with enough play in it that it was not seriously restricting blood flow.  Walked slowly up to the park ranger's cabin.  Banged on the door and just got barking back.  I walked on down to where some people were camping, explained my situation, hitched a ride from them and got back to my base camp.

Once I got there, I told the rest of my party, "Now, don't anyone freak out but I just got bitten by a snake and I should probably get to a doctor."  Mostly everybody freaked out, but I just stayed calm and let them freak out and get it out of their system.

I loaded up in the back of a pick-up truck.  We packed ice on the bite location to help in slowing the blood flow as well as to lessen swelling.  We drove a couple of hours to the nearest town that had a doctor.  Got there and he was up in Hot Springs for a conference.  We asked if there was another doctor in town and the response we got was, "There is, but we don't talk to them."  We loaded back in the truck and headed on to Hot Springs.

Drove another hour or so, got a police escort at the city limits to Ouachita Hospital (had called ahead and let them know to expect us), and got into the hospital.  I puked my guts out until I could puke no more.

So, after all that, my leg swole up like something that swells a lot (hence the ice - if it had swollen any worse, it would have been even more sucktacular).  I was not administered antivenin since I was actually in pretty good shape, so I just had to metabolize the venom.  I couldn't walk for a couple of weeks after all of this due to swelling and intense pain in the leg.  I had to take some baths in epsom salts and wear a nightgown because I couldn't get my damned underwear to fit over my leg.

Anyway, that's my story.  I survived all of that, so basically, just play with the cards you're dealt and learn from the experience if it ever happens to you.

Cheers,

kk7sm

ETA:  I know the snake injected venom because I was seriously jacked up for a couple of weeks after.  Docs gave me a tetanus booster.

Stay calm and request air extraction.  No contriction bandage, as it keeps the venom concentrated in that extremity causing extensive tissue damage.  By staying calm, it gives the body time to process the toxin.

I would say try to get to the closest hospital, they should have what you need MAYBE. If possible get on the cell phone, call 911 in your area and tell them where you are and what route you will be taking trying to get there (in case you pass out and are alone).

A guy I used to work with thought it would be cool to pick up a rattlesnake he saw on the side of the road. He stepped on it's head and while he was trying to pick up it up close to the head it bit him inbetween the thumb and finger. He decided to "tough" it out for a few days and didn't die but it lead to the amputation of his thumb and finger that were closest to the bite. His thumb and finger started turning almost black and were rotting off, I don't know if that is from the venom itself or maybe the infection that followed.

Quoted: Hes in Ohio right ? They have a few species of rattlesnakes and maybe some copperheads i belive. The majority of the most deadly rattlers are further south and out west. If a full grown man was bit and made it to a hospital in a few hours your chances of living are very good. IF it was a little kid thats a different story.

i'll be in SC when this takes place:  most likely Congaree Swamp National Park

Remain calm and get out and go to the ER.  Compression bandages only work on Elapids whose venom is mostly neurotoxic.  The more calm you can remain the better.  If you are in an area with snakes wear long pants with tall snake-proof boots and possible snake gators or chaps.  Always watch where you are stepping.  Most of the time rattlesnakes will not rattle until you are standing on top of them.  

The majority of the most deadly rattlers are further south and out west. If a full grown man was bit and made it to a hospital in a few hours your chances of living are very good. IF it was a little kid thats a different story.

Wrong!  The timber rattlesnake which is the only rattlesnake in Ohio is very, very dangerous.  It is on par with the Western Diamondback.  It is a large snake, injects copious amounts of hemotoxic venom.

Any venomous snake can kill you on any given day.  The mentality of "oh it is just a copperhead" is very stupid.  People have lost feet, legs, and arms to copperhead bites.  

Quoted: Quoted: Hes in Ohio right ? They have a few species of rattlesnakes and maybe some copperheads i belive. The majority of the most deadly rattlers are further south and out west. If a full grown man was bit and made it to a hospital in a few hours your chances of living are very good. IF it was a little kid thats a different story. i'll be in SC when this takes place:  most likely Congaree Swamp National Park

Ok you are in bigtime snake country.  You are likely to find copperheads, cottonmouths (water moccasins), canebrake rattlesnakes, eastern diamondbacks.  I strongly suggest that you get a good set of tall, snake proof boots as well as snake gators or chaps.

I would tell my 105lb girlfriend that I was bit and ask her to suck out the . . .

never mind