Life's small treasures

[1bush2hog]

I found this on a recent trip to my property. Some may have seen many of these, but tis the first rattler shed I have ever seen in the wild. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[1bush2hog]

A couple more early risers spotted recently. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/blush.gif[/img]

[getut]

I had a VERY close call with the biggest copperhead I have ever seen when brush cutting this past week. It was about 4 1/2 feet long and as big around as an average mans wrist at the biggest part.

I was brush cutting with the left tires down in a small ditch. The other side of the ditch is actually a sloped terrace. The combined effect of the tractor leaning left and the opposite wall of the ditch coming up at a steep angle put the ground within arms length on my left side. The copperhead high tailed it out of the ditch and up the slope. This movement and realization that it was a copperhead scared the bejeezus out of me, made me jump up to a standing position on the tractor, which further riled the snake. He coiled and struck in my general vicinity twice before I got my wits back and continued on down the ditch mowing.

"Treasure" my foot [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

I'm not particularly scared of snakes and will pick up and play with non-poisonous ones, but catching them that close to me out of the corner of my eye AND seeing that it is a poisonous variety can and did shake me up for a minute or two.

[1bush2hog]

I was lucky - I only found the skin to this guy, but still startled me upon first glance.

I had my eyes open this weekend as I was working in a bunch of thick overgrown areas, cutting up trees downed by Ivan last year and winching them out. It was all I could do to put that choker chain under those logs [img]/forums/images/graemlins/crazy.gif[/img]

The funny thing is, at the end of the day while I was working on cleaning up that 'one more tree' some bark fell off of a log and out rolled about a 14" king snake. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img] I had to laugh at myself seeing how I was all of a sudden five feet away from where I was just standing with no recollection of how I got there that fast.

Unfortuantely this past weekend, I found more yellow jacket nests than I did snakes [img]/forums/images/graemlins/frown.gif[/img]

[getut]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I was lucky - I only found the skin to this guy, but still startled me upon first glance. )</font>

I know exactly what you mean. I've been working two different times, one in my shed and another in a well house and had a snake skin fall on top of me.

Scream like a girl I did... yep... scream like a girl. Would do it again and ain't ashamed to admit it. [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img] [img]/forums/images/graemlins/cool.gif[/img]

[1bush2hog]

Maybe I screamed too, but I never heard anything.

More than likely because I was moving faster than the speed of sound [img]/forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif[/img]

[MossRoad]

<font color="blue"> Maybe I screamed too, but I never heard anything.
</font>
Reminds me of that age old question....

If a man screams in a forest and there is no one around to hear it, did he make a noise at all? [img]/forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif[/img]

[deereman63]

No Photos [img]/forums/images/graemlins/shocked.gif[/img]??

[DCRC]

</font><font color="blue" class="small">( I was lucky - I only found the skin to this guy, but still startled me upon first glance )</font>

Doesn't that just mean he will be bigger if you do find him?

[1bush2hog]

He is bigger. I saw him last year when I was bush hogging - a beautiful snake!

The skin I found did include the skin from the head and eyes, but the tail section was shortened. Since rattle snakes don't shed their rattles, I would estimate this snake at over 5 ft long. A pretty good sized timber rattler!