My shotgun saved my life.

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NoobCannon

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Dec 15, 2010
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Wharton, Texas
Forgive me if this is hard to understand, I'm still shaken over this entire ordeal.

I had just gotten off of work, got home, did some housework, when I realized I left my cigarettes out in the truck(I know, bad habit). I went out to go get them, my dad coming with me. It was dark, and I saw what at first I thought was a braided dog leash laying on the ground. I was about to step down on it when it moved. It was a copperhead.

first and last words out of my mouth were "GUN, GET A GUN!!!"

I ran inside, grabbed a flashlight, my dad's .32, and my 12-Gauge. I handed the .32 off to my dad right as My brother came up the road on his ATV, trying to figure out what the fuss was about. The situation was explained quickly to him as I scanned the area, flashlight held to the pump of my shotgun. It took a minute to relocate the snake, but when I did, I pulled the trigger. Boom.

Blew the snake in half. the head portion slithered under the house to die, and My brother inspected the part that was left behind. It was indeed a copperhead. a relatively fat one, too.

If it weren't for quick thinking, I wouldn't be here to tell you guys this...it scared me half to death...I'm still shaking.

Next time anyone tells you guns don't save lives. Point them my direction. If it weren't for my 12-Gauge, I'd be in the hospital getting antivenom injections right now.
 
I can see where you would kill it and be shaken up. A venomous bite is nothing I want to have happen to anyone.

Glad you triumphed.
 
Good story, but I'd have to say the shotgun didn't "save your life", your awareness, reflexes and recognition of the snake did. The shotgun merely solved the problem efficiently.
 
Bad luck for the snake. We always used a shovel when I was a kid, not sure the neighbors would have taken kindly to my dad shooting in the middle of suburbia, lol.
 
That's one of the tradeoffs of living in the country. Sure, I can shoot whenever, whereever, but sometimes it's to put down a snake that can otherwise put YOU down.

I've settled down a bit since I posted this, but it still happened, and it still scares me to think what might have happened. Sometimes things happen that really make you appreciate being alive.
 
I am very happy that you are safe.

After killing off a large population of snakes on my property, then very soon after dealing with the rodent and varmint infestation, I am now a friend to snakes. My dogs, wife, and visiting family are a different matter, though, when it comes to venomous snakes that I see. I still get a copperhead every few years, and the occasional timber rattler. Now my friendly hognose, pine or king snakes? They are free to eat all that they can and often. I would rather have friendly snakes than rats, mice, moles and voles.

And I agree with au01st, I usually use whatever I have at hand, shovel, rake, hoe, lawn mower, weed eater. I have a gun on my hip, but don't need to drop my gardening or lawn tool to dispatch a snake. If you had the chance to flee, you were safe. After that, it was simply dispatching a nuisance.
 
If you want some snake killin experience, come on over, I have more than enough copperheads to go around. I your in the market for a good copperhead gun I just bought a naa mini revolver and it work real well with snakeshot. It's also small enough to carry with u and it's not uncomfortable.
 
Haha! That is funny!

Yeah, we never killed rat snakes or other non-venomous. Boy Scouts made sure my brother and I could tell the difference.
 
That copperhead wouldn't have killed you, just made you violently ill unless you are already in poor health. I still kill them in my yard because I have a very young daughter who they would kill, but a full grown man can actually have a very good chance of survival.
 
Unless you are wayyy out in the backcountry very few North American envonomations are going to kill you. Copperheads are pretty docile vipers too.

Still though, if it is around your house you are better off dispatching it than most anything else.
 
I'm missing something, obviously. Just how did a snake, minding it's own business and that you were about to step on become something you needed to defend yourself against?

That's like saying, "There was a car going down the road just where I was about to cross, thank gawd I saw it in time and stayed on the curb. That homicidal maniac coulda killed me!"
 
Copperhead venom is almost never deadly, especially to an adult. A snake also, even if toxic is easy to pick up (1 hand holds the body gently, other holds directly behind head. You overreacted, but its ok, as people are naturally afraid of snakes.
 
My rational self: Snakes are good. Most poisonous snakes will get away from people unless surprised. That snake didn't attack you since you had time to retreat, go get the gun and return.

My emotional self: Shoot the damn thing!
 
Chalk it up as a good learning experience, and learn from it.

As has been said already, it was just a snake, albeit a poisonous one. It isn't a flying dragon, its range of motion is limited by its physiology. It is mortal and can be killed- even though apparently you failed to achieve a one-shot stop, even with a shotgun (another lesson to draw from this experience, BTW). Keep in mind - the head at the end of that still-functioning piece of snake could still deliver and envenom a bite, even though at a shorter striking range. Disintegrated head, no bite - that's how it works with poisonous snakes and shotguns.

In other words, learn to center yourself better and be calmer and more collected in an apparent crisis. And remember you have to make fully effective shots, even with a shotgun. You gotta pick an effective spot on your target and hit it, and if you fail in either of those you have to be ready instantly to shoot again. If you ever take a shotgun class with a pumpgun, the instructor should not have to remind you to run the bolt, ever.

Earlier this spring the Brittany was barking funny in the back yard and my wife went to investigate. She yelled back at me and said to come tell her what kind of snake the dog had found. Expecting one of the usual rat snakes, hognoses or whatever, I went out with just the usual .38 Spl I carry daily.

Turned out it was a copperhead. I like snakes but I DON'T like copperheads, any more than I like brown recluses or black widows. I have to work around the places those things haunt and I don't want to get bitten in a moment of inattention. Since I didn't want to expend CorBon DPXs on the snake I asked DW to fetch the little 20 gauge single shot from behind the front door, along with a round of birdshot from the box on the counter just above the gun. I stayed and kept the snake occupied watching me, its viperine stare promising all manner of mischief if I got close enough for it to reach. I didn't.

DW brought buckshot instead. Oh well. I blew the snake's head off, and blew a substantial hole in the ground as well. Oh well.

DW says "It's not dead, it's not dead." I told her it had no head, it might be moving still but it was most assuredly dead. She looked a little closer and had to agree. I tossed the still moving body over the fence so the dog wouldn't get it, and returned the 20 gauge to its place behind the door.

Did I say I don't like copperheads?

lpl
 
Yeppers...don't like copper heads, 'cotton mouths' and water mocasins.

at least with most rattlers, you get a warning before things get ooogly
 
I'm sorry but claiming a shotgun saved your life in this situation is ridiculous. I understand people not wanting a venemous snake near their home but it is alway better to relocate them if at all possible. Unforutanetly, rattle snakes are evolving to no longer give warnings bc ranchers and others have been on irrational missions to destroy them at any given chance even when far from populated areas. Those who rattle get killed so those who don't tend to survive and pass on those genes so now people are starting to step on them unknowingly and get bitten.
 
JustinJ said:
Unforutanetly, rattle snakes are evolving to no longer give warnings bc ranchers and others have been on irrational missions to destroy them at any given chance even when far from populated areas. Those who rattle get killed so those who don't tend to survive and pass on those genes so now people are starting to step on them unknowingly and get bitten.
Click to expand...

I don't want to seem rude, but I don't really believe that. That suggests that an entire breed of creature has changed their nature in the past few hundred years or less, probably a lot less considering you're suggesting an "irrational mission" like it's a recent thing. I don't think an entire population of animal is going to change it's survival traits, especially those tied to their evolutionary built and physical traits, because of a recent mentality of people. It almost implies they're communicating and telling eachother, "hey, don't rattle at people, because they'll shoot you."
 
Yes, but what most posters want to know, did you have a Mossberg with a pistol grip and rails, side saddle, ghost ring site, lights and a bayonet? If you didn't then you were not properly defended as there might have been zombies with the snake.
 
Well, after a night's rest, and a much clearer mind, perhaps I can add a few tidbits.

This was the first time I've ever faced anything dangerous, And I did so after downing a can of energy drink, because I knew my kitchen wasn't going to clean itself, and after a long day at work, I needed the boost. I finished the can when I remembered that I left my cigarettes out in the truck. I was more than a bit hyper already from the caffeine. When you mix caffeine with venomous snake, and never having to deal with one before....you tend to freak out.

I don't really mind snakes, but last winter, my Alaskan Malamute, Tala, got bitten by a copperhead on the muzzle. Her cheek was swollen pretty bad and she was very sick, almost to the point where we rushed her to the Vet. But, thankfully, she recovered fully and all she has left to remind us is a pair of fang-shaped scars on her cheek. After that, I have a bit of a grudge against snakes.

Thank you for the advice, though. It wasn't easy trying to locate the ground-litter colored snake in amongst the ground litter, though. That's why my shot wasn't one for the recordbooks. Especially during the dead of night.

and, for the record, my shotgun is a Harrington & Richardson Pardner pump, with an extended mag, sidesaddle shell holder, over-receiver rail(ONE rail is enough for me) with a cheap Tasco red dot sight. It's a little project I'm working on, just to make the shotgun a bit more fun than the cheap chinese knockoff of a Remington 870 that it is. But, it did its job.

I tried to relocate the tail portion later last night, in the hopes to skin it and tack it up(I went from being shocked and freaked out, to proud that I killed a Copperhead), but, the wildlife seemed to have ran off with it. That's how things work out in the sticks, I suppose. Circle of life and all that mess.

as for the payload, it was a Federal Field & Target shell loaded with #8 Birdshot, the kind of stuff you get in the 100-shell case at Wal-Mart for $20. Did a decent enough job. Would have been better if I would've gotten the head, as you guys have pointed out, but, it was a miracle I found the thing in the first place.
 
Had a lady drive up to a pistol match one time and yell "DOES ANYONE HERE HAVE A GUN?!?" Five minutes later I'm on her back porch and find her hubby has pinned a large rattler in the middle with a shovel. They're both freaking out. I'm from the suburbs but you don't move out to this particular area and be surprised at a rattler in your yard.

Anyways, first 9mm round grazes it and it turns into a blur. Nearly emptied the mag before I nailed it in the head.

And for goodness sakes, stop smoking. You're a lot more likely to die of lung cancer than a snake bite.
 
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