A former Smithville man and Williamson County firefighter is recovering in the hospital after being bitten by a rattlesnake while hiking over the weekend.
According to the Tennessean, Spring Hill Fire Department Engineer Kyle Watson was off duty and with his wife and children hiking on a trail at the Creeks Bend Natural Wildlife Area in Maury County on Sunday when he came across a juvenile timber rattlesnake.
“I decided to cut the head off the snake with a kayak paddle,” Watson told Channel 4.
The snake was only a few feet long. After Watson decapitated the snake, he wanted to show his children the head. Unable to pick the snake’s head up with the paddle, Watson used his hand.
“The head turned and struck me on the finger. It latched on and I slung it off,” Watson said.
“It took about 10 seconds for the burning sensation to start shooting through my arm. Within 60 seconds, I was unconscious. I fell on the trail and hit the back of my head on a rock. I was knocked out. In a remote area, bleeding from the head and bitten by a snake,” Watson said.
Following a quick response by Maury County Fire and Emergency Medical Services, Watson was stabilized in the field.
He was flown to Vanderbilt Medical Center, where he was quickly put on an IV drip of anti-venom serum.
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