One mad snake is out there...

[herd]

Hey Don, tks for sharing, always like a good snake story. So copperheads are aggressive out there huh? Here in SC, our most common snake these days is the copperhead, but they tend to be timid and most of the time will play "possum" when a human gets near. I have killed so many on my place, and at least one in each and every month of the year.

I have a coupla dogs, they watch the place pretty good, and are good sentries for snake alarm. We just to have a lot of rattlers but the fire ant has reduced that population drastically. We also used to have a lot of cottonmouts ( the most aggresive around here) but the return of the gator has reduced that population drastically also.

I have changed in the past year or so, I will not kill a non-poisonous snake. If he doesn't leave, I will relocate him. If a posinous snake is far enough from the house, say over a 100 yds or so, I'll let him live too.

The majority of snake bites in these parts occurr when people actually step on the snake.

 

[txdon]

herd, the Texas copperheads hold their ground and strike. The other snakes will take off except for an occasional rat snake in a bad mood. We also relocate the nonpoisonous snakes in the yard along with the coral snake because they are so timid. I haven't seen a water moccasin on our property, but years ago when my Dad took us snaking hunting at night (head light and 12 gauge) the moccasins would chase us. We still talk about those hunts....

 

[Mike Costello]

Years ago, we were changing out a set of tires on a Toyota Landcruiser for a survey crew assigned to the railroad. I noticed a lot of broken fangs imbedded in the tread on all four tires. The crew explained they run over rattlers all day long in the course of their travels out in the desert. Just part of the job!

 

[weldingisfun]

The shovel is my weapon of choice with the B-O-R (big ol' rock) as a backup or weapon of convenience.

 

[txdon]

Ok, you shovel guys, exactly how close do you have to be to get the downward angle right? Are talking killing about a big TEXAS snake with a 4' strike range or are these baby northern snakes that kids play with?

 

[Bird]

Don, when a snake strikes at you, it seems that he can reach a long ways, but I always heard or read that they can only strike a distance of half their length. Is that not true? But, I, too, want to be sure I'm out of range when they strike.

 

[2manyrocks]

In case you missed this from the earlier posts in this thread......if you have a 16 inch barrel on a 10/22 and you stick the barrel in the snakes mouth and pull the trigger, I think that puts your hand about 20 inches from the snake.

 

[txdon]

Bird, That's what I've heard. So about a year ago there was this big copperhead in the woods and I decided to test that theory. I got a large mustang grapevine and slowly moved it to the snake. It did not shy away but kept an eye on the vine and then with it's mouth wide open so that it looked like a 3" opening it bit the vine and then took off. I remember I was amazed at the distance but since the snake took off I could not make an accurate measurement. I suspect the strike was about 2 1/2 feet.

I always like to have a little margin for error, or if the snake decides to take a step forward before lunging, and most of the time the snake is coiled so you can only guess how long it is.

If you can witness a snake's striking distance, as skypup did when it attacked the broom, you can determine a safe distance.... maybe.

 

[2manyrocks]

Snake hunting at night (without a gun or headlight) takes on a whole new dimension, not a pleasant one. We still have one missing copperhead and we will have 15 guest outside here tonight outside, I'm a bit nervous, but I'll have extra hoes and lights.

This gives an entirely new light on any invitation to a Texas "hoedown" at TXdon's place.

 

[EddieWalker]

In my experience, there are two locations to kill snakes. Around the house and in the woods. The shovel is for close in work. It's handy and effective. While there are plenty of snakes out there that I wouldn't want to come across out in the woods with only a shovel to kill it, I've never found a snake that I couldn't kill around the house with a shovel.

Saying that, the two snakes that I have killed this year have been with my 30-06 rifle. The three that my brother killed were in Lake Marabou, and he shot them with a .22

Eddie