Why kill snakes?

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Good post, Tar Devil, and very true.

While Cottonmouths are territorial and will inverstigate any disturbance in their vicinity, they aren't actively hoping to start trouble. They'll also enter a boat...not because they're looking for a fight...but to rest and sun themselves and maybe get a better scent of the air around them in search of prey. They don't know that it's a boat and they don't know that people are in it. Sorry. They're just not that smart and they don't want a confrontation because they know that they can be hurt or killed. Cottonmouths are active hunters and they won't hesitate to defend themselves aggressively if molested.

Copperheads take a different approach. They're ambush predators and prefer to lie in wait for a fat mouse to walk by...but some people seem to believe that their intentions are sinister...that they're waiting for a person to get close enough for them to strike. In truth, when they feel heavy vibrations, they either run or lie still, hoping that they won't be seen...and will only bite if they feel threatened. I've literally stepped on a Copperhead's tail and saw the critter haul snake in the other direction. I don't know who it scared more...me or the snake.

The best active defense against snake bite is to carry a walking stick, and sweep or prod the area where you're about to place your foot. Woodpiles and tall grass situated along building walls are good places to get hit by Copperheads.

Most people are bitten because they simply won't leave the snake alone when they find one, and they insist on trying to handle it. It outnumbers even the foot and ankle strikes that come from accidentally stepping on one.
 
My daughter's favorite pet snake was the rough green. Wild or domesticated, they will never bite when handled, and seem to bond somewhat with their caretakers. I found my daughter asleep one evening on the floor in front of the TV... her green snake curled on her neck and resting it's head on her cheek. Just so happened I didn't own a workable camera at the time. Too bad.
 
I have also eaten rattlesnake, yummy.
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Yup, not bad. I also drank some (what I was told at the time) rattlesnake wine in Thailand. After a couple bottles of plum wine, it sounded like a good idea.

If I see a snake in the yard, I'll usually leave it alone unless the kids or dogs are also in the yard. But even then, killing the snake is a last resort. The kids and dogs can always use the side door to the house. If somehow the snake makes it into the house or garage, I'll try to corral it back outside. If it starts to get aggressive, then it may lose it's head to a machete. Out in the woods, I leave em alone as long as they leave me alone.
 
Copperheads take a different approach. They're ambush predators and prefer to lie in wait for a fat mouse to walk by...but some people seem to believe that their intentions are sinister...that they're waiting for a person to get close enough for them to strike. In truth, when they feel heavy vibrations, they either run or lie still, hoping that they won't be seen...and will only bite if they feel threatened. I've literally stepped on a Copperhead's tail and saw the critter haul snake in the other direction. I don't know who it scared more...me or the snake.
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Copperheads are also one of if not the least toxic venomous snakes in the US and their bite is seldom ever fatal. And though they are skittish and prone to strike quickly, most reptilian experts also agree that they inject only a tiny portion of venom when they strike in defense.
 
I ate rattlesnake at a restaurant once. It was awesome, but it was in some jalapeno sausage, so you could have put any meat in there and it would have been good.
 
..just returned from SC on a quail hunt. ...my professional guide has 18 German Short-hair dogs. ....he says he does not let the dogs roam in summer ...too many snakes. He apparently kills them all on sight.

Dogs will pursue a snake and a snake will bite and often kill dogs.
 
Blacksnakes? They'll nail ya
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Ayep, they will... until they get to know you. I've been bitten more times than I can count by black snakes. The black rat eventually grows accustomed to being handled and becomes very docile to handle. The black racer, though, I never could get settled down and eventually released him.
 
there is not one breed of snake in the US that will pursue or attack a human unprovoked.
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I would take exception to that.

The common black water snakes here in Kansas (look almost exactly like water moccasins, but are not poisonous) will climb in your hip boots with you and gnaw your toes off given half a chance. They are very aggressive, and get provoked just by looking at you from a distance it seems.

I also had a 6' Timber Rattler do his darnedest to get in my bass boat with me & my wife once while fishing a small lake cove.

I managed to beat him off the transom with a fishing rod several times while trying to outrun him with a run-down trolling motor battery. He just wouldn't give up long enough to get the big outboard started.

A Taurus Judge, or even a .22 pistol would have been my first choice at the time!

rc
 
Some species are more territorial than others, and even some individuals are moreso than others within the same species. Encroachment into their territory is provocation...like trampin' around in bear country. Neither the bears nor the snakes actively seek to start a fight. Some of'em will, however, repel boarders aggressively. It's not the same as itchin' for a fight, even though it may seem so at the time.
 
Those that shoot snakes without thinking sometimes shoot king snakes and gopher snakes.
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Yes! Most especially the Sonora King, which looks for the world like a Coral. If you don't remember the little rhyme to tell the two apart...just remember that if the snout is black, you're looking at a Coral.

"Red on yellow kills a fellow. Red on black, venom lack."

If in doubt, leave it alone. You have to try pretty hard to get bitten by a Coral Snake.
 
I was taught to always lift boards, logs, etc top toward you, open side away, so if a snake is underneath, its escape route is away from you and not toward you.

Always wear boots and full length, loose fitting jeans.

Don't sneak through high grass, stomp boldly, unless stalking game in season.

As a last resort only (twice in fifty years for me) should you need to kill a snake. Still when outdoors I will have a pistol with first round up to fire snakeshot. Since snakes eat mice, if they let me live I let them live, "enemy of my enemy is my friend" and all that.
 
Came across this bad boy smack dab in the middle of a back road in New Mexico last summer during a solo cross-country motorcycle ride. I thought for a moment his rattle would make a dandy zipper pull on my motorcycle jacket, but he didn't appear agreeable to that idea. So in a rare moment of common sense and good judgement, I admired him from afar and we both parted company on amicable terms.

Beautiful creature, really, but I think I'd give him the kiss of death if I discovered him near my home.


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Weird. I've killed a couple of snakes in the backyard. I used a shovel however, and not once did I think to myself, "man, I sure wish I had a taurus judge right now!"
 
Snake Guns

In the early eighties gypsy moths invaded the northeast. I lived in Happy Valley Pa. State College and some small towns are situated in that valley. The Gypsy Moths denuded the trees in the mountains. The snakes moved to the lower elevation to escape the heat and follow prey. Pets were killed and children penned up. At the same time there was a test report of handgun birdshot rounds regarding their effectiveness on snakes. The results of the test indicated at least three things: Very hard to hit the snakes, the point of aim should be at the junction of the snakes body and the ground and the .22 mag was the most effective cartridge with CCI birdshot. I have lived in some high incident snake areas in Florida, I have hunted ducks in Louisianna and I have been concerned about cotton mouths. However, i would not kill any snake unless it was a threat: Except for one occassion. Florida should put a good bounty on pythons in the Everglades and allow unlimmited harvesting,.
 
Not much point in this any longer. People that hate and fear snakes hate and fear them. Those that don't, don't. It never was about "hunting" anyway
 
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