Those two idiots in the picture a couple of weeks ago, as the email writer from Dallas referred to them, were my son, Tristan, and our friend, fishing guide Tony Parker.

It is a good thing I was behind the camera or it might have been those idiots and that fool.

But that is the way of the Interweb. We are so kind to one another when speaking with anonymity from behind a computer monitor.

Those two were labeled idiots because they were fishing and weren’t wearing life preservers, nor were there any nearby, or at least in the picture.

Guilty.

Well sort of guilty. You see both of them are over the age of 13, legal enough to be in a boat without having a life preserver on.

Now for what it is worth, the first time Tristan and I fished with Parker my son wore a life jacket the entire day. One of those horribly awkward orange ones. It was more than 20 years ago and he was like 7 or 8. I not only remember that, but I also remember he was wearing his Orioles Little League baseball cap.

He has since, Mr. Emailer, become of age, learned how to swim, gotten married, gotten a job and is old enough to make his own decisions.

What he is not, by the way, is an idiot. And if he was, that name calling is reserved for me and his wife Mary.

As most know, I have a love-hate relationship with the web, especially when it comes to the outdoors. It is great when it really is the information highway. Unfortunately too often it has become someone’s playground.

Take the latest example, the 11-foot rattlesnake said to be killed near George West that has been making the rounds on Facebook again. I say again because just about every new joke on the Interweb is an old joke. This particular one is about two years old.

Years ago someone told me if I start to write something and those hairs on the back of my neck start to stand up, maybe I should reconsider what I am writing. The same can be said about the validity of what is posted on the web.

The biggest rattlesnake I have seen alive was just over 5-feet long. I say just over because minus its head it is right at 5 feet hanging on the wall at my house. It died a fortunate death after coiling when a friend got too close.

The longest dead rattlesnake I ever heard about was a 7-plus-footer taken on the King Ranch maybe a hundred years ago.

Just for education sake, western diamondback rattlesnakes are going to average 3 ﾽ- to 4 ﾽ-feet long in Texas. An eastern diamondback is probably not going to be that long.

Trust me, if there is ever a real one that is longer than 7 foot caught or killed the word will get out. And the person who captures it won’t have to be holding it on a stick as far away from their body as they can.

As a comparison, if you are ever in Athens at the Texas Freshwater Fisheries Center look at the pictures of Mark Stevenson, Barry St.Clair and others holding ShareLunkers and state record fish. None of them have their arms extended if for no other reason than only a body builder could hold that weight like that for an extended period of time.

An 11-foot rattlesnake would weigh about 40 pounds, were it not like a unicorn and fake.

Photos aren’t the only form of misinformation out there. Be careful with that surefire information that doesn’t come documented.

Latest case in point is the wildfire of information coming from the discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease in a 2-year-old buck in Medina County. The wealth of misinformation is coming from deer breeders themselves apparently on some type of forum. I keep hearing about five-year quarantines, when both Texas Parks and Wildlife Department and Texas Animal Health Commission has announced and clearly states on their websites that everything is temporary right now until they figure out what is going on.

For hunters and fishermen the Interweb can be fun and informative. I have found great sites on things from knot tying to ballistics.

But you have to be careful. As an old friend once said, don’t believe none of what you hear and only half of what you see. That is especially true for pictures of deer, fish and snakes.

 

Have a comment or opinion on this story? Contact outdoor writer Steve Knight by email at outdoor@tylerpaper.com. Follow Steve Knight on Facebook at TylerPaper Outdoors and on Twitter @tyleroutdoor.