Tis the Season ... for Copperheads

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Greybeard

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A neighbor lady dropped in this morning asking if my offer from last fall was still good: to shoot copperheads in her flower beds if she could catch me when their whereabouts were well known.

It seems the warm weather precipitated a little "territory dispute" this morning between a 30"er and her dog. She had locked the dog in the house and scurried over to my place. After I followed her home, she pointed me in the direction of the snake's last known location. I searched with Glock 36 at low-ready and found it pretty promptly in midst of hedge and leaves. One round of the CCI .45ACP shot load from around 4 to 5 feet decapitated, with whatever was left of the head buried in the leaves.

As I picked the snake up by the tail to carry it away, it was wiggling pretty vigorously. She asked "Aren't you afraid it will bite you?" :rolleyes: Figuring, she deserved a reply, I held it a little higher and answered "With what?". Yea, she was blonde. ;)
 
The Copperheads in Kentucky seem like a pretty timid bunch. However I've seen, with my own eyes, huge aggressive Rattlesnakes in the eastern part of the state. Really wide, muscular types. I stopped my car one day to look through the glass at one and he rose up and looked at ME! About three or four inches from the glass! Good thing the A/C was on and the window was up.
Down in the land between the lakes, where the weird things live, you've got to be on the lookout for BIG snakes. (And BIG ticks! <shudder>)

KR
 
Interesting

The last time I crossed a copperhead, actually the last three times, they all tried to become one with the weeds despite my stepping within 6 inches of them. Well with in striking distance.
I used a shovel instead of a noise maker to do the de-cap. My bone headed beagle from hell had a wonderful time rooing at the the left overs and tossing them in the air. Awww country life.
 
Greybeard:

I don't know if you are aware of this, but blonde hair in and of itself does not make women stupid. It is the chemicals that are put on the hair to make themselves blonde that kills the brain cells. We natural blondes are getting a bad rap. :p

Ran across a baby one last summer. It was really kinda cute the way the 3-1/2" little guy was trying to kill me. Although, I heard that even the babies have enough venom to do some damage. Is that true?
 
You certainly fared better than a friend of mine in San Antonio some years back who had to deal with a neighbor and a snake.

My friend had come into some money and just bought a house in a nice neighborhood. The houses all backed up against the San Antonio River, a breeding ground for rattlers. He came home from work one day (looking rather scruffy, as he was working in the Narcotics Bureau at the time) at the same time his neighbor pulled into her driveway. After the neighbor had pulled some grocery bags from her car, she spotted my friend exiting his car and figured she'd walk across the lawn to welcome her new neighbor. However, just as my friend was walking up his front path, he spotted a good-sized rattler sunning itself on the walkway. Unaware of the neighbor walking his way, he didn't think twice: he pulled a 6" L-frame from a shoulder rig and fired two 110gr. Magnums, killing the snake. The neighbor lady, not seeing the snake, thought my friend was some wacko: she dropped her groceries and ran, screaming, into the house to call 911! My friend, badge in hand, just waited until the patrol car arrived. He showed them the snake carcass and the responding officer explained it all to the neighbor, but I'm sure she never forgot that "introduction!"

Steve
 
Don't know about copperheads, but the diamond back rattler variety skin does make a good lookin' hat band..........


:D
 
Once the temp gets above 90' all the copperheads around here become what Steve Erwin calls "a-gresseeve".

They DO NOT run away and hide, they do come toward you if they sense you, and if you miss when you shoot at them, I swear unto this earth, they have actually charged me.

I love snakes, and I don't advocate killing them. Rattlesnakes are even tempered, most cottonmouths are only moderately grouchy, but the copperheads I have personal experience with are angry little buggars who apparently need therapy and counseling.

Good job Greybeard!
 
I do remember when running the ridges in so indiana my cousin had a snake of somesort latch on to the tip of his boot and wouldn't let go , kind of tan colored as I remembered but up here in the north parts all be have is water moc's and they only bother you if you chase them down ( non posionous) but have one heck of a bitepattern .
 
I would remind all of my THR brothers that our THR sister, Tamara, is a blonde and she seems pretty strong and sharp to me.

It has been my experience that the blonde female, either natural or bottle born, has a distinct advantage in life, as the towhead invokes a natural protective nature based upon the inherent proclivity to protect neoteny (the tendency to look young).

If she is blonde by birth, she learns to take advantage of this gift of nature. If she is blonde by choice, she shows that she really knows that it gives her an advantage. Blondes do have more fun.

That said, the brunette and redhead have no less, they just use other means to compete. However, if I were a Caucasion woman, I would go blonde.

Read "The Blonde" by Barnaby Conrad III, Chronicle Books @ 1999 ISBN 0-8118-2591-4.

By the way, are you sure that was a Copperhead?
 
Longbow - Sorry about the skin on this one. The buzzards that take their breaks on the cell phone tower got a fresh lunch. :p

Cats - That chemical thing on the brain does make sense. How about that Jennifer Eccelson that Fox has the audacity to stick out there in the western desert? Way too purty for that place! But I digress ...

BTW, I did suggest the lady and her husband get off of high center and go ahead and take a novice class, then buy a revolver to have available for use themselves.

Edited to add: Cats - I understand that bites by the little ones is not commonly fatal, but can still cause some bigtime suffering if unable to get to doctor within at least a few hours.
 
Brad - Sorry I missed your question. Yes, a copperhead, not a "good" snake. Our little biz is adjacent to the little town of Copper Canyon, one of the few remaining "country towns" north of DFW. Stiil lots of good habitat for 'em (for now). One rumor has it that the town was originally going to be named "Copperhead Canyon", but not PC. Mostly big houses on wooded lots.

Other occasional snake problem is water mocs in swimming pools ... Sorta minor tho compared to a couple of winters ago when an errant cow managed to walk out onto a swimming pool cover before her first hoof went through ... A friend who ran the volunteer fire depatment was about ready to check it in after that "rescue". :D
 
Greybeard,

Interesting.

In mid state Illinois, we rarely see a Copperhead. Many milk (or common barn and or corn) snakes are mistaken for them because of their orange color. Our native pest of a pit viper is the occasional Cottonmouth, or often called the water moccasin. Sometimes the locals mistake a hog snake for a Cottonmouth because of the diamond shaped head. Mmore common is the very aggresive black and white bull snake. And so very rare (I have only seen a few n 50 years) is the Indigo Racer.

We used to have hundreds of garter snakes in the neighborhood, but today I rarely see one, and I wonder if pesticides have done our reptile friends in.
 
Don't know what you all feed copperheads and cottonmouths in your respective states, but, here in the midlands of SC, every cottonmouth I've ever seen had a reeallly nasty disposition, and the copperheads are quite mild mannered. Get within ten feet of a cottonmouth, and it starts hissing and coiling, intent to stand its ground, but I have, on several ocassions, stepped within a foot of a copperhead, and they all tried to get away.
 
Hmmm...

My pet name for my wife is "The Evil Copperhead!" I also acknowledge her, from time to time, as "your evilness!" :)

She be from South Carolina.
 
Dev_null:

Nope, I am not sure because I don't know much about poisonous snakes since there weren't too many in Indiana. But it was very aggressive and looked like one.

Bad_dad_brad:

Yeah, I'll agree that blondes look young. I am having no trouble at all passing for a college freshman even though this will be my third tour through undergrad. I have recently been carded at an R-rated movie.

Greaybeard:

Maybe the sandstorms are exfoliating? I'd like to visit the area, but not until things settle down considerably. Maybe in ten years or so.
 
My brother tells a tale about a headless copperhead. He was about nineteen or twenty (many moons ago) and working on a crew clearing power-line right-of-ways through the woods. He came upon a large copperhead, which he quickly dispatched with a kyser blade (ditch bank blade). Wanting to skin the snake, he laid it on its back and stuck his pocket knife into its underside. As the knife point poked the headless snake, it struck him on the arm, leaving a bloody spot. My brother's head knew he hadn't been bit, but his stomach didn't get the message. He lost his lunch.
 
I would be pretty freaked out if I were attacked by a headless snake. This thread reminds me, I need to get some shotshells for my Glock 9's. I dont think my Beretta mod. 21A in .22lr loaded with shotshells would do a whole lot to a snake.
 
Yep, there are more desirable shot loads than .22. When clearing and constructing on property several years ago, I constantly carried NAA Mini-Mag loaded with 5. Unless quite close, multiple shots needed to anchor. I suspect Beretta 21A will not cycle with 'em. Surprising, my Glock 36 does cycle with 'em (and throws a much bigger payload. :) )

A pretty good "snake" link here: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/adv/kidspage/snakes/psnakes.htm#5
 
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