The snakes have un-hibernated

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Greybeard

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Today turned out to be "snake day" in scouting a promising new lease west of Archer City. Between 4 of us, we got a rattler and 3 confirmed kills on water mocs. All with handguns and solid projectiles.

The rattler was "tag teamed", so to speak. It startled city-boy huntin' buddy Ken bigtime when it began rattling and coiled up into strike mode about 12' feet away. He sprayed and prayed at it with at least 10 rounds from his Glock 22. I had my new Glock 29 out in low ready position and was putting the safety block in my left pocket when Ken paused long to let the dust settle, then looked over at me.

The 5' snake still had it's head up about 12", moving it back and forth, showing us his fangs. I looked over at Ken and said "Do you want me to shoot it now?", then popped it in the head with the second shot of 135 grain screamers from Double Tap. When Ken's adreneline finally stopped pumping and he began to reload his magazine, he looked over and said "Smart ***!"

Counted 17 "rattles" on the tail, plus another bead just started. Cut it off to hang on office wall next to pheasant tailfeathers.

3 out of 4 of us had on snake boots and/or chaps. The 4'th guy (another semi-city boy) said he's going to own some before he goes out there again. ;)
 
One maybe-water-mocassin in a pond at a lease in the panhandle, but nobody went to try to retrieve it so we don't know. No rattlers seen over 3 days, but we avoided most rocky areas so that doesn't mean much.
 
""One maybe-water-mocassin"
You sound a little dangerous.
Any non shooter reading Your post could get the idea we are all that way."

? Did he shoot the snake, or just see it in the pond? :cool:
 
We've been seeing snakes for a while, now, down here in the desert. Bruiser, a local Lab, got bitten on a paw the other evening while taking his owner for an evening hike. But the swelling's down, and duct tape keeps him from licking it all raw. :)

Art
 
Am I the only person in the world that thinks we should only kill what threatens us. I mean if you see a snake that isn't trying to bite you, and you aren't "hunting" it. Why kill it? I guess it's because I've owned reptiles and I'm not a "biotch" about something with scales. ???

Of course if it rattles then all bets are off. Doesn't everyone know that copperheads are almost harmless as far as venomous snakes go?

Edit: I guess if you are looking to kill snakes then this post is moot, huh. HAHA. kill em all huh? :neener:
 
Our local physician is a herpatologist. Keeps more reptiles in his home than should be allowed, but that is fine with me. He told us year ago that Copperhead bites are mainly dangerous only if they bite someone younger than 5 or the elderly. He said if you are halfway healthy you can easily survive a bite. Rattlesnakes, Coral Snakes and Water Mocasins on the other hand are a different story. Maybe I will move to Alaska after all.
 
Quote: "Doesn't everyone know that copperheads are almost harmless as far as venomous snakes go?"

:confused: "almost harmless" :confused:

Wanna explain that to guys in the emergency room and the parents of the Little Leaguer that just got bit on a finger by one while picking a foul ball out of the leaves?

Or comfort the owner and pay the vet bills for the high-dollar bird dog pup that got bit in the face - and has a head the size of a soccer ball?
 
I could be misinformed, but I've been told if you kill all the poisonous snakes, you will have more rats and rabbits swarming than you can ever eliminate.
 
We always hunt snattlerakes with sticks so we dont ruin the skin. Cottonmouths are different. Kill them with whatever you can. Usually shotguns for us.
 
I'm down with killing poisonus snakes at your residence.
Your property, your problem.
But the problem is going to an area like a national forest, etc and killing snakes.
The average person sees a snake and thinks 'rattler!!', when it's just not the case, most snakes shake their tails like rattlers, and in the dead leaves, etc, it WILL make the hair on the back of your neck stand up!!
If it's a rattler, they won't bite you unless you are messin' with 'em or you wind up surprising each other at way too close distances, and wind up stepping on it, and still they don't bite to kill. They control their bite, their goal isn't to kill you, it's to discourage you from doing what you're doing (Invading their personal space.).
People fear what they don't understand.
That's why kingsnakes, indigo snakes, etc that kill and eat rattlers get a bad reputation, and wind up facing the business end of a shovel most of the time.
Good grief man, leave the snakes alone, and they'll leave you alone.
But if you got kids that play on your property, and see a poisonus snake, I see no problem doing pest control, but otherwise, leave 'em alone, they're one of nature's checks and balances.
 
I grew up down here in South Louisiana so I do know my snakes. I'll let them pass unless I find a copperhead or cotton mouth on my property. Then they are quickly dispatched. Not poked and prodded or struck repeatedly with a rake.

Our king snakes are really docile. They can be relocated or redirected by hand. So you can have an appreciation for the animal itself while still protecting your family.

I do know folks that call them all "rattle-headed-copper-mocassins" and kill everything from gartersnakes to big kings. Not very wise or respectful.
 
If you're out in the boonies, there's no real reason to kill any snake. Around the house? I generally will kill rattlers, but I sure wouldn't bother any other sort of snake.

Back when I was a kid and had a bunch of laying hens for my spending money, selling eggs, I was rough on any snake I saw around the henhouse. A predator is a predator, when my billfold's involved.

In general, though, snakes don't really bother anything much...

Art
 
Super Snake Dog!

My dog Bandit and I were making our snake patrol last week, I was on the tractor and he was playing tortoise and the hare. All of a sudden his nose hit the dirt then he went up on his back legs sniffing the air and circled to the back of the tractor and went on point at this 4'10' 13 button diamond back.
If not for Bandit catching it's scent, it would still be in our front yard, as I'd already drove past it.
Ratl0533.jpg
Rattel052.jpg
Rattel053.jpg

I won't kill any non posionous snake on our property, but the poisonous ones are dead as soon as I see them.
Here's a water moc. I killed last year in our driveway about 20 yrds from the house.
wmoc01.gif

He was a little over 5' long.
 
My rule is copperheads and rattlers have the whole world to call their own as opposed to my front and back yard where the doctor and vet bills from things like snake bites come addressed to me. So they die.
Ditto for Wmocs if we had any around.

Black and King snakes are welcome, the rest of their non-poisonous band tolerated but not by much.

S-
 
Deer season rattler......it was 6' long and 9 1/2" around.
Click to expand...

Now THAT is a snake. I used to kill every rattler I saw, but now I don't bother them unless they're in the yard or fixing to bite me or mine. Rattlesnakes are kinda purty, and they've never never actually pursued anyone I know in order to strike. Water Moccasins, on the other hand... I've been chased by a couple, and a great big one chased my sister for about twenty feet before I got there. I kill those things on sight. Happily.
You do have to watch out, though, because you never know where one will pop up. When I was a kid and our house was being remodeled, a rattler hitched a ride up to the new bathroom on the second floor in one of those fiberglass shower units. The first I knew of it was when my mother walked out of the house carrying a dead rattlesnake slung over the end of a hoe. She'd gone up for something, seen the snake, went down to the porch for the hoe, then back up to kill the the snake. I love telling that story who folks move down here. Makes them watch where they step for a while.

James
 
Your mom killed the snake? What a woman!!!!!

Every snake my mom ever saw sent her into some sort of wild dance, kinda running in place with her hands shaking in the air and a sort of "woo-woo" sound is all that escaped. She turned kinda pale, too.

We kinda hung around watching her for a while before I intervened. Yea, we didn't have much entertainment growing up.
 
They are awake in Kansas too.We were watching the wife practicing with her muzzleloader and our daughter spotted a snake coming towards us.It looked like it could have been a copperhead but we gave it a "pass".I did clip a couple snakes while mowing but the mess was'nt identifiable...
 
Your mom killed the snake? What a woman!!!!!
Click to expand...

Yeah, she's pretty good at killing them. I remember one night when she walked out to throw the supper scraps over the fence for the chickens, and as she turned around to head back in she hear a rattler right beside her foot. She had a heavy saucepan in her hand and she could see the snake in the light from the kitchen window, so she bashed its head in with the pot. True story, I swear. I was standing at the sink at the time, looking out at her. She wasn't nearly as calm about that episode, I have to admit.

When my mother found out that my mother-in-law hates snakes, she told her every snake story she could remember. By the time it was over, my mother-in-law was almost afraid to get out of the truck. Still makes me laugh to think of that.

James
 
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