Little girl killed by rattlesnake

[s219]

We have copperheads and water moccasins here, and they both get dispatched if I see them. Too risky with children and pets around, and I don't trust that we'd be able to get medical treatment in time. The times I have seen them, they are so well camouflaged that I know it would take nothing for my wife or daughter to stumble across them unexpectedly.

A few weeks back, I shot a water moccasin that was huge, probably 6' long and as thick as my upper arm. Nasty looking too. After I shot it once (20ga with bird shot) the detached head was still moving and venom was dripping out of the fangs, so I shot it again. I could just picture that head coming for me.

 

[deserteagle71]

In 55 years plus here seen maybe 6 cottonmouths atleast four feet long . One red and yellow kill a fellow . Many big rattlers , pygmys , and two pythons . Along with many non venomous species .

Hunted other states and thank the Lord never seen a copperhead . I hear they can be some nasty customers !

I consider myself lucky...never had encounters with any venomous snakes except for rattlers - lots of them in Nevada! And most times they give fair warning if you get too close - if it weren't for the one in my picture buzzing at me, I would have stepped on it. It was after dark (that's a flash photo) and I never would have seen it. When I heard that buzz I bet my next "step" was at least 10 feet long!

 

[Hroller]

In 55 years plus here seen maybe 6 cottonmouths atleast four feet long . One red and yellow kill a fellow . Many big rattlers , pygmys , and two pythons . Along with many non venomous species .

Hunted other states and thank the Lord never seen a copperhead . I hear they can be some nasty customers !

So, when I first got my rural property and we saw our first copperhead on it, my girlfriend got interested and started looking stuff up... Rattlesnakes rattle (most of the time), cottonmouths flash that mouth at you, but copperheads... the paper she was reading for a study on "warnings and bite signals" or whatever it was called said, about copperheads, "The copperheads warning is a bite, often dry (but not always)". So, other snakes warn you, a copperhead just strikes and MIGHT not inject venom... nope, I kill those things on sight.

If you're out in copperhead country and you smell a bad BO/musk smell, STOP... look around VERY carefully, they blend in with leaf litter and sticks VERY well.

 

[fried1765]

Dont remember !

"don't remember"?
That is a layperson response.
Proper response is..... "I don't recall".

 

[Carl_NH]

Yes copperheads are nasty, I grew up in central PA we had black snakes in the barn and fields catching mice and such they were OK, but the copperheads were in the forest and treed areas.

Usually copperheads avoid people but if one was too close it would strike, so we killed them on sight with whatever tool - rock, stick or spade as I didn't carry a gun at 10 yrs old unless we were hunting deer or taking out woodchucks.

 

[bullbreaker]

"don't remember"?
That is a layperson response.
Proper response is..... "I don't recall".

Thanks for the heads up !

 

[two_bit_score]

In my opinion, if you see a rattler, you kill it if it can be done safely.

And safely errs on the side of killing the rattler, copperhead, water moc, coral, venomous snakes.

 

[BRMyers]

In 55 years plus here seen maybe 6 cottonmouths atleast four feet long . One red and yellow kill a fellow . Many big rattlers , pygmys , and two pythons . Along with many non venomous species .

Hunted other states and thank the Lord never seen a copperhead . I hear they can be some nasty customers !

Copperheads are fairly calm snakes. I have walked all around them, unless you step on them, then they get ticked. On my days in EMS, never dealt with a single copperhead bite, but did deal with the three rattlesnake bites. All three adults and all three suffered bites on their hands.

 

[TnAndy]

In 55 years plus here seen maybe 6 cottonmouths atleast four feet long . One red and yellow kill a fellow . Many big rattlers , pygmys , and two pythons . Along with many non venomous species .

Hunted other states and thank the Lord never seen a copperhead . I hear they can be some nasty customers !

We have a LOT of copperheads, but for they are usually a fairly small snake....to see one 30" is very unusual. They do tend to blend in real well with their surroundings, so it pays to be cautious around woodpiles/etc.

See it ? On the log left of the green paint dot:

 

[Thomas]

We have a LOT of copperheads, but for they are usually a fairly small snake....to see one 30" is very unusual. They do tend to blend in real well with their surroundings, so it pays to be cautious around woodpiles/etc.

See it ? On the log left of the green paint dot:

See it now...SOB I'd be gone like sh.t out of goose.