A nice blacksnake in my lumber pile

[eepete]

I had to move a pile of lumber. I had the backhoe off of my B21 TLB, so I had to take it in small chunks.

I moved a few boards onto the forks, and saw something was hiding in the cracks :shocked:. So I carefully took a few more boards off since I was in IFF mode on the target.

When, when I moved the boards he just went off to the next hiding place. He would poke his head up to see if I was still there, then go back down. At least I knew he was a nice friendly black snake :thumbsup:.

Finally, he was down to hiding under a single 4x4. With that removed, he was out in the open. What a beauty! I've seen two other big black snakes when mowing. I like then because they don't like copperheads any more than I do.

If I had my backhoe on, I would have picked up the whole pile and the snake would have been squished. Lucky day for both of us . He's under a tarp now, I'll move the tarp early tomorrow morning so he can go off into the woods.

Just wanted to post a little slice of life in North Carolina for everyone to enjoy.

Pete

 

[nolefan]

Glad to see he survived. Alot of guys here shoot first and ask questions later! We have seen several on our property and are glad they are around to help keep down the rodent population. This one we saw sunning himself a year or so ago. He was about 5' long.

 

[dave1949]

Nice pics Pete. Do blacksnakes prey upon copperheads?
Dave.

 

[Johndeere3720]

All we got around here are rubber boas and garter snakes. Almost accidentally killed a rubber boa last year with the boxblade spreading a pile of manure. Luckly, it survived and has been maintaining our rodent population.

 

[eepete]

Dave, what I've been told is that the black snakes are very territorial and will drive the copperheads out of an area. At our old place, I rarely saw a blacksnake and saw lots of copperheads. I do wish I had seen the one that bit me on the calf though . That was ugly. I also had a copperhead drop in on me when I was lying in a ditch I dug that was up against the foundation of the house. Had a shovel in my hand so it was no problem, then kept on digging.

For what it's worth, I hate wasps and hornets. If one had landed in that ditch I would have ejected from there like the passenger in the Austin-Martin in Goldfinger.

When I started working the land where we are now, I saw an even mix. I've not seen a copper head here for the last 4 years, and have seen several black snakes. Others who are far more "rural" and experienced in this area than I am have confirmed this. So I'd call this information anecdotal but all the farmers in the area agree.

I did see a cotton mouth in the pond this year, that's the 1st poisonous snake I've seen here in 4 years. Had to dispatch one of those once. They are aggressive and will actually come at you. I've been sailboarding in ponds and have one trail me when the wind was low. Good motivation to learn not to fall.

When I pulled the tarps off where this wood was stored, a small baby mouse scurried out. No other mice, but lots of droppings and signs of mice. Smart blacksnake! The hay fields are full of mice and field rats, so the snakes and hawks are everywhere.

nolefan: Nice pix. I had a neighbor who would shoot 1st and asked questions later, and treated snakes the same way :laughing:. Once he called me over to identify a snake. It looked like a corn snake (that's what I've heard it called around here). Similar in looks to a copperhead, but the head is not the same shape and the markings are different. So I'm moving in closer and closer to identify it, and am about 18" from the head of this snake. I pull back out as I announce that it's not poisonous and my neighbor had some small hand cannon what shoots shot from what looks like miniature shotgun shells about 6" from my ear :shocked:. He bragged "even if I miss the concussion will kill 'em" We had some words about that... Never identified anythings else for him again.

Johndeere3720, as a kid in Massachusetts I remember playing with garter snakes and black snakes. Garter snakes adapted to being held pretty fast. Black snakes took a while longer, perhaps because they were bigger and it took a while to get to the same temperature as your skin. Got a few little bits from them, nothing bad. Good lessons learned.

Pete

 

[dave1949]

I've never lived anywhere that has poisonous snakes. It gives me the heebie jeebies just thinking about it. Now you tell me about cottonmouths following you across a pond. Noooooo .
Dave.

 

[deepNdirt]

Great Pix! :thumbsup: if the old Boy been around long you can rest assure he's had his eye on you and most likely made his self at home on your property realizing you pose no threat to him, sometimes while working in my shed I feel eyes watching me and I'm sure its the king that I get glimpse of from time to time, he has come to know I won't bother him so he stays out of my way as well, most likely you'll see him again hanging around, if you have an old tree stump somewhere he'll probably take up home in there for now, now that you have moved his wood stack, if You have a basement or a crawl space door be sure the door is closed firmly because if ever he makes home in there you will have a permanent tenant,............... yes the Cottonmouth water moccasin is very aggressive, one time a few years ago while camping on the lake we had brought our Jet ski with us, I had brought it around from the boat ramp to beach it at our campsite and had notice a head sticking out of the water at the location where I wanted to beach the jet ski, the closer I got to it I realized it was heading straight toward me I seen it was a Cotton mouth so I turned away from it and it turn toward me again I speed up and managed to get around him although he came back at me again,.. if he hadn't been so persistent it trying to show me he was boss then I would have let him alone, But now that I see he wants to fight I accommodated him by start doing circles around him until I created a washbowl and he didn't know which way to go, I pulled back away out from the area and watch what he did.. and he decided to give me priority of the beach:thumbsup: I kept my distance and followed him on around the point where he went up into some rocks, we stayed 4 days at the camp site and never seen him again. They ain't but one thing meaner then a Cotton mouth and thats me on a jet ski

 

[eepete]

deepNdirt: Yeah, when it comes to wildlife there's a lot more of them then their are us so we have to learn to live with them if possible. This guy was a very nice looking snake. Good stories!

Dave: I've got two siblings in Maine, and they very much like that there are no poisonous snakes up there. Getting tagged by the copperhead was quite an experience with a many week long recover time. My foot swelled up enough I couldn't wear a shoe for a few days, and the bit site turned into a beet red area about 3"x5" big on the back of my calf. I thought I was stung by a bee, a few days later when thing went downhill went to the doctor. At least now I know what it feels like for the next time! I was putting in a gas line for my generator. Very careful the whole time I was working. But I went out the next morning in shorts to look at it, and (probably) stepped on the snake. With the exception of the Cottonmouth, if you leave them alone they will leave you alone so it's not too bad.

And then there was the time I was sailbording at the coast and got into a large area of stinging jelly fish. Well, fortunately the experience with the Cottonmouth had we well versed in the concept of being motivated to not fall off the board.
Like I said, more of them then us so gotta learn to live with them.

Pete

 

[dave1949]

Dave: I've got two siblings in Maine, and they very much like that there are no poisonous snakes up there. Getting tagged by the copperhead was quite an experience with a many week long recover time. My foot swelled up enough I couldn't wear a shoe for a few days, and the bit site turned into a beet red area about 3"x5" big on the back of my calf. I thought I was stung by a bee, a few days later when thing went downhill went to the doctor. At least now I know what it feels like for the next time! I was putting in a gas line for my generator. Very careful the whole time I was working. But I went out the next morning in shorts to look at it, and (probably) stepped on the snake. With the exception of the Cottonmouth, if you leave them alone they will leave you alone so it's not too bad.

And then there was the time I was sailbording at the coast and got into a large area of stinging jelly fish. Well, fortunately the experience with the Cottonmouth had we well versed in the concept of being motivated to not fall off the board.
Like I said, more of them then us so gotta learn to live with them.

Pete

Everytime I get in the ocean, I can't help but think about the things in the water that can hurt or eat a person :laughing: Isn't that the emotion/fear of the unforgettable opening scene to the original JAWS movie? Deadly things you can't see. I guess it's a matter of conditioning. Where I grew up, the worst (living) thing in the water was a leech.

What are your siblings doing in Maine?

Dave.

 

[Thomas]

Dang.I'd be doing the 3 slap shuffle on myself..snakes are good if we have distance between us.