Snakes

When I was a kid I used to love snakes. I read everything I could about them. I liked looking at pictures of them and when I went to the zoo, that’s the first thing I always wanted to see. I even tried keeping a couple of snakes for pets, but I never could seem to get them to eat. I thought and still do think that snakes are pretty cool, as long as they are where they are supposed to be!

When you are a hunter or any kind of outdoorsman eventually you are gonna have encounters with snakes. Alot of people will try and kill every snake they see, but myself if I encounter one in the woods I will usually just leave him be and go along about my business. I remember a few years back I was bowhunting one afternoon. I climbed out of my stand about dusk and was slipping through the woods making my way to the field where I was gonna go pick up my buddy. It was not hot but just kinda cool and I was wearing a thin pair of camo pants and some camo hiker type shoes.

I stopped at the edge of the field and was gonna make sure no deer were on it before I stepped out because I did not wanna spook them, when I felt something hit my shin. I really did not pay any attention to it because I thought I had just stepped on a stick and it popped up and hit me until I felt it again while I was standing still! I shined my flashlight down and saw that I was standing on about a 2 ft copperhead that had struck again, and this time got his fangs hung up in my pants. Needless to say I left stuff scattered everywhere trying to get out of there! 

Finally after calming down and picking up all my stuff I scattered, I realized I had not been bitten. I guess the only thing that saved me was my pants were kind of baggy and hung him up. I will tell you though that I bought me some snake proof boots after that and if it is above 55 degrees I wear them. I do not blame the snake though because I guess if I were in his place and someone stepped on me I would bite them too! Not the snakes fault he was born a snake, he was just trying to protect himself the way that he knows how.

The other day me and my dad were up at our deer camp and encounterd the cottonmouth water moccasin in the photo above, right behind our cabin. We ended up killing him because he was almost right out the back door. I hated to kill him but with all the kids we carry up there, I cannot take a chance on having one of them get snake bit. He never really struck out at us or showed any aggression besides coiling up and throwing his mouth open as a warning to stay back. I was really surprised that a cottonmouth would be that close to our cabin when he should have been down on the creek.

I really am thinking of getting some snake tongs to keep up there so that when I see a venomous snake I can catch and relocate it away from our cabin to the woods where it belongs. Michele thinks I am crazy and should kill them but to me they get a bad rap. Snakes do not seek people out to bite, but if you surprise one by stepping or sitting on it, or reaching into places without looking where they could be, then you are very likely to get bitten. I do not blame anyone for killing a venomous snake if you find one where children play or lot’s of people frequent who could end up being bitten. But just remember that the snake is not there looking for someone to bite, he is just somewhere he should not be. They really want to be as far away from people as people want to be from them.