Poisonous snake, first one seen this year

[k0ua]

I've had packs of them chase me and my boat in spring and fall around South Mills, NC years ago.
By packs I mean 3-5 snakes, not hundreds.

I believe they are about the most aggressive snake we have here in North America.. I don't like them much.

 

[ArmyPair2]

What is 'snakeshot'?

We have 17 species of snakes up here, but only one is venomous. The Eastern Massasauga Rattlesnake.

All of our snakes are protected. I have never seen a rattlesnake in the wild, other than on TV and in movies.

Occasionally in the summertime we get snakes in the dug well. I just take the lid off the well and with a big dull fishhook on some 20lb test line I fish them out. Then let them go into the ditch.

I always keep one snake shot round in the pipe at all times when out and about.

 

[Looking4new]

Today my wife was reaching down to remove the leaves from this pepper plant when . . . . she almost had a heat attack.

HMMM, those recycled cow feed tubs make a good snake (copperhead) trap also.

Kinda gives all new meaning to shooting fish/snakes in a barrel.

 

[LJH]

I believe they are about the most aggressive snake we have here in North America.. I don't like them much.

Reminds me of that scene in 'Lonesome Dove' where the Irish kid hits a swarm of them while crossing the river. I've never lived in moccasin country and wondered how realistic that bit was. Tell ya what, I'd take Blue Duck over those snakes, any day.

 

[toppop52]

Reminds me of that scene in 'Lonesome Dove' where the Irish kid hits a swarm of them while crossing the river. I've never lived in moccasin country and wondered how realistic that bit was. Tell ya what, I'd take Blue Duck over those snakes, any day.

We had a kid home for lunch from school, around 1960, he decided to dive in the Dismal Swamp Canal for a swim before going back to school. He was bitten 7 times and his body found later that afternoon. He was a good friend of my brother. I've swam many times in that same canal, he just hit a breeding cluster or ball of snakes. Snopes will tell you these are solitary animals, and 95% of the time they are, but they do indeed cluster sometimes, whether for breeding or whatever, I've seen the phenomena several times when I was a kid. They will sometimes get near the surface and look like a ball of giant worms. I'd guess 12-20 snakes in the clusters I've seen.

 

[LJH]

We had a kid home for lunch from school, around 1960, he decided to dive in the Dismal Swamp Canal for a swim before going back to school. He was bitten 7 times and his body found later that afternoon. He was a good friend of my brother. I've swam many times in that same canal, he just hit a breeding cluster or ball of snakes. Snopes will tell you these are solitary animals, and 95% of the time they are, but they do indeed cluster sometimes, whether for breeding or whatever, I've seen the phenomena several times when I was a kid. They will sometimes get near the surface and look like a ball of giant worms. I'd guess 12-20 snakes in the clusters I've seen.

Nightmare material. Thanks for the reply ... I think. :snake:

 

[Looking4new]

I saw and caught the first Garter Snake of the season yesterday. I am in the process of teaching the daughter-in-law (she is from England) about Massasauga Rattlers. She gardens and I don't want to see her bit.

 

[ustmd]

Not the first of the year, but had to do this one in this morning--caught in the Chicken Wire the wife put around the garden to keep the rabbits out--12 rattles and about 2.5-3 ft long

 

[RDrancher]

I've been working on cleaning up 175 acres lately. I've had two tractors w/ brush hogs running the open areas and me in the CTL with a brushcutter getting the bad stuff. The other day the CTL lost all hydraulic power right in the grass covered creekbed. I'd shredded quite a few large snakes down there... So while I'm standing on the cutter looking at my path to walk back out of the spot I'm in and the mile back to the truck I'm thinking, MAN I don't like walking through this stuff! Three steps later I look down to see portions of a rather large diamondback water snake in the thick, freshly cut path. It was lying in the area I just cut moments before, so I was thinking it was deceased. When I came back with the truck...it was gone.

 

[Looking4new]

Not the first of the year, but had to do this one in this morning--caught in the Chicken Wire the wife put around the garden to keep the rabbits out--12 rattles and about 2.5-3 ft long

Did it lose its' head over choosing a place to roam?