On the opening morning of Arizona’s quail hunting season in October 2004, I was quail hunting by myself in Southern Arizona.  Seeing a covey of quail in front of me, I straddled a small bush in my pursuit and I stepped on the left side of the bush with my left foot and was stepping forward with my right foot when I felt the right shoe toe box area by the laces of my Danner Hood Winter Light boot sharply struck by what I initially thought was a broken stick.  Looking down I instead saw a 5′ Diamond Back rattlesnake.  I dispatched the snake with my shotgun and stepped back a few paces and looked for a place to sit down to remove my boot. 

I calmed myself, checked my cellular phone for service and took a GPS reading while I removed my right boot.  I could by this time feel a thick wetness on the toes of my right foot and upon removing my socks saw two distinctive fang wounds.  I squeezed my foot to cleanse it of sero-sanguinous fluid while irrigating the wound with water from my hydration bag.

Covering the wound with a large adhesive bandage I switched socks from right to left foot and then felt the inside of the right boot.  Some slight sticky dampness was felt and other than two fang marks on the Danner right boot there was nothing wrong.  Upon putting my boots on I started walking back to my Jeep when I realized that other than a slight stinging sensation I had no ill effects.  Hearing the quail calling I returned to and completed my hunt. 

I used the boots to hunt quail, pheasant and deer for several years and remarkably they never leaked.  Dr. Eric Bergerson of Fort Collins, CO took this photograph of my foot about a week after the snake bite and after 3 days of pheasant hunting in ND.  I closely examined my boots after the snake bite and concluded that the Danner Boot construction, (leather, Gore Tex, Thinsulate and inner glove) had absorbed the snakes venom prior to the fangs striking my foot.  Undoubtedly quick attention to the bite, the bandage and changing socks also helped the boot in keeping me alive and well.

-Mo Reyna
Tucson, AZ