One mad snake is out there...

[txdon]

Country living, never a dull moment. Last week my wife was in the yard and deer came charging toward her and stopped about twenty feet from her. The deer look over it's shoulder and back at my wife and she saw a mountian lion walking toward the deer about 75 yards away, she went inside to grab the camera but when she came out both were gone... (OK this has nothing to do with my snake story but I thought it might lure Eddie Walker to read on)

On the front page of last weeks local newspaper, four people in this area were rushed to the hospital after being bit by copperheads (a poisonous snake with a bad disposition).

Tonight a huge copperhead crossed the walk in front of our cabin door, I quickly grabbed the flashlight by the door and grabbed the hoe on the side of the cabin. I lost the snake for a bit but found it under a bush. I could only see the body and not the head so I chopped as hard as I could with one hand.

Here's where it gets interesting. The snake was now trapped under the hoe and was trying to bite everything near. I had to hold the flashlight with one hand and hold pressure on the hoe with the other so the snake would not slip away in the soft sand and mulch. Right now what would you do?

As you can tell by the title I did not do the right thing.

 

[tugboat-2]

As Riley would say years ago(on the radio): "What a revolt'n development dis is"!!! But come on Don,...no time to wait for Eddie right now,...tell us, what the heck did you do? Right or wrong, you made a decision,...AND,..lived to tell about it. That is unless,..you still got him pinned down under the hoe while you type an SOS with the other hand in hopes one of us will have a better suggestion???

Good grief man, I hope you're ok! Over to you,.....
. . . tug

 

[wedge40]

I'd be yelling for the wife to get the gun or some gas or what ever to help out.
Not sure if starting fluid would subdue the guy or not. Get a good shot right in the face. Ya I'm sure that would really p*ss him off.

Wedge

 

[WarrenF]

Good grief Don. The last thread I remember you starting, you told us about being attacked by bee's or wasp's. That one had me laughing pretty hard.

Just one question for you.....what have you done to make Mother Nature mad at you?

 

[silverdollar6]

I would have turned off the flashlight so the snake couldn`t find me and run like ****.

 

[jimmyj]

YIKES.

I am with silverdollar6. So, drum roll, what happened?

Note: I sure am glad we don't have those snakes here!

 

[txdon]

My wife was in the cabin and I was almost going to yell for her to get another hoe from the barn but that would mean, #1 she would have to walk 100 yards in the dark with a pen light because I wasn't going to give up my flashlight and #2 you should not get yourself in a predicament where your wife has to bail you out. #3 She never wants to be a party involved in any wildlife killings, she's in the country because she likes all wildlife. I was on my own.

I tried to hold the flashlight between my legs so I could get an accurate swing with the hoe but I could not hold the light steady and it would be a blind swing and the direction the snake would take off would be unknown so I nixed that idea.

I decided to do the drag and chop. I figured if I drug the snake it might injure it more and I could chop it on the head. Well I put pressure on the hoe and and drug it toward me making a deep trench (this hoe was Grandpa's big 10"square hoe) then the snake disappeared. I located it quickly in the trench, and raised the hoe to chop it, at this time I was holding the hoe with both hands so when I raised the hoe I was shining the light in the trees and lost sight of the snake again and the chop missed. the snake (thankfully) quickly retreated in the opposite direction under the brush with apparently no damage.

I went looking for him at daylight but no luck.

I'm walking on full snake alert.... Ok I'm typing and my wife walks outside and notices a raccoon by the back door in the daylight. Around here that is unusual and could be a sign that the coon has rabies. Gotta go and see if it is acting sick......

 

[EddieWalker]

... (OK this has nothing to do with my snake story but I thought it might lure Eddie Walker to read on) ...

I hate it when I'm so easy

Good story about the Lion. I've been hoping to see one here since they are open to shoot year round. All you need is a hunting license.

I learned years ago that a hoe isn't the best choice for snake killing. The shovel works much better. More power and accuracy!!!! Of course, a shotgun is the number one tool for the job, but it's been years since I've even taken mine out of it's case. I should go clean and oil it. Anyway, I have lots of shovels here and one is usually pretty handy. When I have a snake in the yard, it's what I grab.

One time when I lived in a neighborhood near Tyler, I had a snake problem similar to Don's. I had it pinned down in some soft soil with it's head almost a foot into a hole in the ground. I knew that if I took off the pressure, it would disapear before I could get a second chance at it with my shovel, so there I stood. Eventually my nieghbor came out to aske what I was doing, and then went and got me an axe. With the shovel in one hand and the axe in the other, I was able to take care of that snake.

Good to hear that you are working on a herd reduction on your snake farm. I don't think anybody has as many snakes as you do, on your place.

Eddie

 

[txdon]

Eddie, I have never used a shovel, I like the reach of the hoe. I always try to stay back about the length of the snake so it will give me enough time to run if it comes toward me and I've seen a copperheads lunging strike and it was about it's length. This huge copperhead was about 4' long. How close do you have to get with a shovel...well that's too close......

The raccoon took off on a healthy run, I'm going to clear the area around the stone walking paths today for better visibility.

 

[bhostasa]

I'm walking on full snake alert.... Ok I'm typing and my wife walks outside and notices a raccoon by the back door in the daylight. Around here that is unusual and could be a sign that the coon has rabies. Gotta go and see if it is acting sick......

Sounds like the snake called his buddy for back up!!

Man, I hate snakes. I killed a little garter snake with a shovel on Saturday. The way I was dancing and jumping around you'd think I was dealing with a cobra...

Good luck!