copper heads are out!

[nekshot]

Needed to do some field work with the tractor out back and on the way out I grabbed my one daughters carry handgun(a rossi 357 bobbed) and threw 4 shot loads in it. Nekshot jr was picking up rocks and he started dancing and waving his arms indicating a snake so I cranked the throttle up and headed his way while drawing a fistfull of gun and by golly a copperhead was scurring for cover but the cover was 20 yards away. I had a disc on my tractor. I went to aim and nothing to aim with(no sights) so I left a round fly and noticed a 6 inch pattern in the fresh dirt slightly behind the slithering devil and I must throttle back or I am going to end up in the cover so I left another round fly and quickly double actioned another and we scored! All is well but so much for these buggers staying away from tractor noise!

[xacex]

I am so glad we don't have snakes like copperheads in western Oregon. The only poisonous snakes we have here call Salem home.

[jcren]

Bagged a nice 30"er with the truck, sunning on our drive last week.

[merlin101]

We have a lot of snakes here in NY, mostly they stay in Albany.

[nekshot]

forgot to add, this snake load was made with speer plastic caps and using a 45-70 cartridge minus primer(drill hole a wee bit bigger) with handle soldered on then fill with lead and using butane torch to keep lead hot and flowing let it dripple into little cup of tranny oil. nice tear shaped shot!

[FergusonTO35]

We have timber rattlers and copperheads in the Bluegrass but I can count on one hand the number I've seen in the wild. We do have lots of beneficial snakes like blacksnakes and rat snakes.

[pls1911]

ALL RIGHT, ... ONE MORE SNAKE STORY....BUT I HAVE PLENTY.

Last week I was un-crating a piece of equipment in the barn and needed a utility knife.
So I saunter iver to the tool chest and open the storage drawer...Dang it! knife isn't there.
Hmm must be in this top tray...rummage rummage rummage....
Why is that 2" rope in my toolbox? WHOA!!! YEHAAAAA!!! HOOOEEEEE!!!!

A lemon sized snake head at only a few inches staring back through my eye glasses somewhat got me levitated and considering the full depth of my vocabulary ....

Neatly resting in the top of the tool box and threaded among the wire strippers, wrenches, markers and timing light that really belong elsewhere was a 5 foot Mama Ratsnake.
Oh yes, they are harmless and do a good service to us all, but I absolutely HATE it when I don't see them first. Surprises like this, my nerves can do without.
Once I gathered my wits and released my grip from the roof timbers of the barn, I found my snake hook, gently grabbed the last 8" of tail, unthreaded Mrs. Ratsnake from her bed and returned her to the woods.
I don't mind snakes, but I hate surprises.

[dragon813gt]

Haven't seen any out here yet. It's usually around this time they start sun bathing on the banks of the reservoir. My dog still doesn't quite understand why he's supposed to stay away from them. Luckily I might come across five in a year so they aren't much of a problem.

[TCFAN]

Couple years ago I killed six copper heads just mowing my yard over a period of a few weeks.After the first two I started carrying a 45 with shot loads so I wouldn't have to run them down with the mower...........Terry

[buckwheatpaul]

In East Texas we like to play "Skin the Snake!" The rules are simple....when you see a victim you maintain your speed and just as you get to them you slam on the brakes and peel the hide off of them....then the buzzards clean up the gooy mess and the game begins again.....so far Home is 1 and the snakes are 0!

[TXGunNut]

Flooding around here has pushed snakes and toads to higher ground. I saw a couple of snakes last time I mowed but they were not poisonous so I slowed down to let them get to cover. Friend has a farm near a creek and he's lost track of the water moccasins he's killed the last few weeks.

[DR Owl Creek]

There are quite a few snakes of various kinds here in my neck of the woods. In all my tramping through the woods and fields over the years though, I've never actually seen a live copperhead or rattler. A buddy of mine lives even farther out in the sticks than I do, and copperheads are fairly common there, and he even had a momma rattler with some little ones a few years ago.

Dave

[oldblinddog]

If I go off trail in the woods I will generally walk directly to the nearest copperhead. I once came to the top of a bluff and sat down to survey the territory. Directly I realized that I had sat about 15" from a dark phase copperhead (looks like a water moccasin, but isn't one). My son (that's him on the left with the Axis buck) and I both have been bitten by baby copperheads (about 6" ones). They are harder to spot. That was in Deep East Texas. Up here in Wyoming where I work they have rattlers. Haven't seen any yet this year, but it's still snowing.

[Ramslammer]

G'Day
Down here we have Tiger Snakes which are somewhere in the top five for venom i think. I had a love bite from one 30 yrs ago and it was the sickest a bloke can get. Usually one six foot is considered a biggun but this ones the largest I've seen (the bloke is about 6'4"), he ran it over with a log skidder. The location was a area called Black Bobs in central Tasmania.

Juddy

[leeggen]

NOTE TO SELF; do not go to Austrailia! We have the same as Ky here in Tn., killed a copperhead last week. Both dogs ran within a foot of it. Long stick and a whack on the head things return to normal. My son and I have stepped on rattlers,trust me you know when you do, and you just freeze til you get composure back then break camp quickly. You get big stick and pulverize the snake, helps get nerves back to normal. First time I did it I must have stood there for 6 hrs, well seemed like that, only a minute or so. Most each time we have lucked out and stepped directly on their head, they get real confused by that evidently and they want to run from us as bad as we want to run from them. Just remember don't go same direction. I hate snake surprises makes one want to releive themselves.
CD

[nekshot]

G'Day
Down here we have Tiger Snakes which are somewhere in the top five for venom i think. I had a love bite from one 30 yrs ago and it was the sickest a bloke can get. Usually one six foot is considered a biggun but this ones the largest I've seen (the bloke is about 6'4"), he ran it over with a log skidder. The location was a area called Black Bobs in central Tasmania.

Juddy

Geeez, muskrat slide time if you run into one like that!!!!!

[hornady308]

I almost stepped on this 'ol boy the other day in my yard. The good thing about copperheads is that they are usually quite docile. If you don't step on them, you probably won't have a problem. I hate mice more than I hate snakes, so this guy went into a 5 gallon bucket and then into some nearby woods. Hope he eats lots of mice.

[AZ-JIM]

This one got cranky with my dog a month or so ago while out hiking. I sent him a dinner invitation by way of a .40 slug to the head. Yes the head is mostly intact, the side you can see anyway, the shot was just a hair low but it certainly took care of business. Skinned, soaked in salt water for an hour, cut into 6" pieces, dunked in milk, rolled in cornmeal like you would do for fish with a little cayenne pepper mixed in, and deep fried.....pretty tasty

az-jim

[Artful]

I am so glad we don't have snakes like copperheads in western Oregon. The only poisonous snakes we have here call Salem home.

Uh, dude you got Timber Rattlers - I know I lived there.

[w5pv]

I kill all snakes but a king snake,and a king snake will kill other snakes.