My brother got struck a couple of years ago, but didn't get any venom. It was a small snake and he never ever saw it and thought it was a yellow jacket at first until he saw blood. It struck him in the heel thru his tennis shoe (he wasn't hunting at the time) walking down a trail. Said it felt like hot metal being held against his skin. So I got a pair of snake boots from BPS for $150 and don't worry about it any more. I figure that $150 boots versus $25,000-$75,000 hospital bill and a week of pain is a good trade. Best advice I can give you is to go to a couple of sporting goods stores with hunting socks on and try out the boots. I wear a thin pair of knee high dress socks during warmer weather under the boots (from Kohl's). I tried on a bunch of brands and only found a couple pair that didn't rub me wrong. The price from cheap to expensive is only $30-40, so look at everything and get what you will wear. BTW, step up onto something in the store to see how they will feel climbing.
