Various comments:
a. The closest I've come to being snake bit was while mowing a field of Christmas trees with my DR Field and Brush mower [a righteous piece of machinery]. The snake was up in a tree about shoulder high and I saw him just as he drew bac
b. Most people who are bit by snakes are bitten after they identify the snake -- i.e. people decide to fool around with it and then get bit. If you leave them alone, they will leave you alone.
c. I have had a venomous spider bite a couple years ago [probably a brown recluse but could have been a black widow, no way to tell]. Bit me right at the top of my sock while driving to work. The next day I thought I had bubonic plague -- what else turns you calf black as coal with a hole that weeps bright yellow fluid. It took two trips to doctors/hospital and various antibiotics before I felt ok -- probably 10 days total. I still have a brown patch on my calf where the new skin grew over the dead skin. Please don't mess around with this should it happen to you.
d. Have bought lots of stuff from Sportsman's Guide over the years. Most was OK -- just OK. There always seemed to be a little something wrong with it -- not fatally wrong, just not what you might expect or want. I bought rubber camo hunting boots and the girth of the calf area was way too tight [and I don't have fat calfs]. Bought sneakers and they had a seem at the back that wore through the skin on my heel. Bought skiffs to slip on when I need to run out for firewood and found the catalog photo obscured the lip on the back making them non-slip-on. Bought a metal detector and it works fine but it was really short. Bought leather gantlet riding gloves and they were sort of dry and scaly. In short, I think they tend to have this stuff at such good prices because real stores [Cabalas, Gander Mountain, et al] would reject it. Won't condemn them unconditionally but buyer beware.
Hi Dr Rod,
A) My DR Brush and Field Mower has been awesome- we had to replace the B&S engine on it after ethanol came out in regular gas, but the HF Predator replacement had been very reliable and the mower itself is bulletproof and a beast.
B) Too right, at least based on all the cases I have read about in medical journals, seen on reality TV, and seen on youtube videos.
C) Based on your description, that was clearly a Brown Recluse bite- their venom is noted for killing the surrounding and underlying tissue and leaving a black weeping ulcer.
D) Not only did they send me a mismatched pair of leg guards by having one each of adult and youth sizes, they also sent two of the same leg-either right or left, I couldn't tell.
On the other hand, I buy a lot of name brand (not grey market either) items from them and they have had very good prices on them- usually becaude they are the prior year's models.
Their house brand "Guide Gear" is pretty spotty for quality, and even for the name brands, you have to be careful, because they do get and sell a lot of factory seconds, and they can range from great deals (Irontown Carpenter Pants, which are relabeled E Schmitt or Walls brand, which are otherwise indistinguishable from nonseconds- no visible flaws) to horrible- (many of which I have returned over decades of buying (and then apparently blocked from memory, as I can't think of a specific one now)).
I am a little skeptical.
