A MAN is lucky to be alive after he was bitten by a deadly brown snake — more than 2m long — while mustering cattle in Central Queensland.

The man was riding a motorbike on a property about 50km southwest of Clermont, west of Mackay, when he rode over the top of the reptile at about 8am.

The highly-venomous snake reared up and bit the man on his lower right leg, penetrating the skin through his pants.

A Mackay-based rescue helicopter responded to the incident.

A RACQ CQ Rescue spokeswoman said the Charters Towers man told crewman when he fell off the motorbike, the snake was still attached to his calf.

The man grabbed the snake behind the back of the head to pull it off his leg and threw it away from him.

The snake was so big, it took his entire hand span to grab its head to pull it off his leg, he told crewman.

The man managed to alert nearby workers who assisted and called 000.

Given the severity of the incident, paramedics at the scene decided the patient should be transferred to nearby town Clermont to meet the helicopter.

When it landed just before 10am, the man was suffering severe chest pain and was very unwell, a spokeswoman said.

The man was taken to Mackay Base Hospital in a stable condition.

It’s the third time the rescue helicopter service had responded to a snake bite this year.