Run-in with rattler almost proves fatal
When it comes to bad luck, some might say that Dwight Hiatt is snakebit.
And they'd be right.
On the evening of Aug. 31, the 50-year-old Fort Pierre man was sitting in his Chevy Nova on a boat ramp at Antelope Creek, 10 miles south of Fort Pierre, eyeballing his fishing pole set up near shore, when the end of the pole started twitching.
Hiatt threw open the door, got out and immediately stepped on a prairie rattlesnake.
"He got me three times, twice on my right ankle and once on the leather strap on my sandal," Hiatt recalled.
Had the third strike connected, he added, "I don't see how I would have made it."
Within 60 seconds, he said he could feel the venom taking effect. His lips felt numb. His ears were buzzing.
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