Went to check my propane level, I had a visitor.





I don't like to kill any of God's creatures, if I don't have to. I got my snake tongs out, bought them off of ebay for $55.





This is a pretty big copperhead.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! And that's a big one too!!

DEAD!!

BTW I just noticed you're in NC. We've encountered huge problems in the SC upstate as well as our mountain property East of Biltmore.

That'll wake you up!

CHOOT, 'LISABETH, CHOOT, OOOOHHHH, DAT'S A BIG ONE!!!

That's B&C for sure!

And in your boxers, no less.

That'll ruin your day. Beautiful snake.

I've never pondered that problem before. A man can't just break a shot with his pistol at the serpent on the top of his great big propane tank. That'd be a mite reckless.

I guess it is a good think you had those tongs handy. I'm also guessing you spent 55 bones on a pair of snake tongs because you have had issues with snakes previously...

DOOOOOD! That IS a big one!


Good on you for not killing it.



Gorgeous creature.

I believe in re-incarnation now. Fatty Arbuckle came back as a copperhead.

Never kill em myself if I don't have to. If I see em on my hunting land, I give em a pass. The 7 footer in my avatar was crawling around a friend's porch and he felt like there was no choice in the matter.

That one is a northern copperhead, and they usually run a tad thicker than the southern variety...but mannnnn that one is a dandy!

Damn big copperhead!

Venomous snakes get no quarter here.....

That is a monster 'Head.

Soon as I got that thing off the propane tank I would have introduced him to a nice 12 gauge loaded with #9 shot.

Venemous snakes are the only interesting ones...kinda like women.

No catch and release the ones with a triangular head here. Nope.

As many as we see now around the Carolina's now there's really no choice but to kill them. They're establishing colonies and actually chasing folks. Especially, in pine straw and juniper bushes. Several folks have been bit and pets killed. That one looks like he would eat you.

Sorry Ingwe but they don't just leave and they're not pet friendly. Be happy to send you a few along with some strychnine and a tambourine.

I was not aware of a strain of Northern and Southern Copperheads like Ingwe mentioned. Did a little googling and discovered that NC leads the US in Snakebites, largely due to Copperheads. It appears ya'll have enough for everybody.

Oh, Damn a snake.

I hadn't had a chance to get that statement in there yet.

Just remember the next time you go to turn the gas off...

The southerns, as I said are slimmer, often lighter in color and the hourglass bands will be broken about 1/2 to 2/3rds of the way down. In some areas Ive found both....

One that could have been that ones twin bit the wife's poodle on the nose. She lived about 3 hours. They don't get a second chance around here any more.

Most snakes I leave alone. Copperheads and rattlers are killed on sight.

I am from central Georgia, where we had plenty of copperheads, along with rattlesnakes, and lots and lots of water moccasins in the Oconee River swamps.
Up here in the wilderness of the NC mountains, no rattlers or water moccasins. But we do have copperheads.

Like someone said, I have had quite a few snakes on my propane tank. Have hardly ever seen a snake on my 48 acres, on the ground.
See, Mrs. Mouse likes to build a nest on top of the propane tank. The snakes climb up there to eat the mice, and then they stick around.
I have caught 2 corn snakes and 3 black snakes under that propane tank lid.
One time, there was a corn snake and a black snake up there together, I'm not sure what they were up to but I think it is illegal here in the Deep South.
Gotta be careful with the corn snake, color is almost identical to the copperhead. The tell-tale difference is, the corn snake's head is the same diameter as the body, where the copperhead has the arrow head shaped head, and is about twice as wide as the body.

Over the years I have killed 2 copperheads that I caught on the tank but it bothered me.
I just don't like to kill one of God's creatures if I can help it.
So I got my snake tongs off of ebay. Now it is "catch and release."

Funny you mention that. I'm pretty sure we have both around here. I killed one week before last that I am sure was a Southern, but the biggest I have ever encountered over in Harlan was marked up like the pictures I saw of a Northern.

The wildcard, was one I killed in a marijuana field in Knott County, (Eastern Kentucky) that was so dark that it looked to be black, all but the head which was as bright copper colored as a new penny. After I shot it to doll rags, I was able to see the hourglass markings on it's dark hide, but I've always been the shoot first type when it comes to serpents.

I don't mind snakes in the main, fondled one today as a matter of fact. There's a few I truly despise however and copperheads are near the top of the short list. Next time, back up about 50 yards and shoot the propane tank with a .30cal tracer. There ain't no exit like a blaze of glory.

To each his own, my friend. As a Kentuckian, I have to say that anyone who uses the handle of Simon Kenton is alright by me.

I was interested to learn, as a kid, that Simon Kenton was a tough son of a beech, and contemporary of Daniel Boone.

Good luck with your catch and release regimen.

How do you keep a bird dog alive down there?

Went out to address my dogs barking the other night - been a lot of skunks around lately, and the smell of the last one they killed had just about gone away. Turned out to be a huge rattler just outside the gate to their yard. We just don't see those around here, especially against my office wall. I grabbed my pellet gun because it was close, but I don't think it hurt him much. Damn thing had an industrial strength rattle, loud buzz for sure. Slithered off before I could get the .410 and kill it. We are in the city limits and not really supposed to shoot firearms, but if I see that one again I will shoot him, then call the police and turn myself in. Scary, don't want to bump into him in the dark.

I love Oregon.

I've not been a city policeman in many moons, but if I got a call of shots fired in the limits and pulled up to find that someone had bumped off a heavyweight champion Rattler, I gotta give a BYE to the shooter on that one.

Be careful in your yard.

Pretty snake. But they bite my dogs and I kill every one I see around the yard/house.

I sure find that hard to believe. We have 220 year old family owned property down the road and we find several on a monthly basis. However, I am not questioning what you do not see Unto Those Hills.

Maybe they do not cross the road!!

Nice copperhead. Have not seen one on my property just around the corner from you. Seen rattlers in East TN, Haywood county and Transylvania County. In the woods they get a bye as long as they are off the trail. At home, no.

Right on, byc; if that snake bites a human, they'll be in for a world of hurt & copperheads don't give any warnings, they just bite.

BIL got bit a couple of years ago by a rattler.........he was damned lucky he didn't lose his hand or worse.

I kill every damned poisonous snake I see.

MM

Speaking to the serpent in the Garden, God says, �And I will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your offspring and hers; he will crush your head, and you will strike his heel� (Genesis 3:15)

Killin one would be pretty OK in God's eye..

For me, venomous snakes are the Devils creatures and I shoot them on sight.

All the liberals... almost as bad

My wife ran over one about this big at the mail box a few years ago. Since then I have seen one other large one and quite a few babies/small ones. The little ones freak me out a little because I know the adults are around somewhere. The little one can be pretty darn aggressive as well. They get more active during daylight hours this time of year, so watch yourselves when out and about.

Oregon has plenty of venomous snakes as well as liberals. They just don't tend to live in the same areas.

Fireball, come over into the Great Harney Basin in south east Oregon and you'll find all the rattlesnakes you can stand at one time.

L.W.

I will always give a non venomous snake a pass if not flat encourage them taking up roots in my area. That being said, when it comes to venomous snakes within my home perimeter whether that be at home or camping, I will yield to the side of caution depending on what's going on at that time.

I used to let venomous snakes get the pass until I let one walk and either the same copperhead or his twin put two into my buddies achiles whilst scouting together in the same spot I let the one walk a couple weeks before.

I simply couldn't bear taking a kid or friend back to a spot where they might get bitten by the same snake I let walk again. Now they die and usually with a stick to the neck then skinned and fried, works to soothe the guilt .

I can think of no benefits a venomous snake possesses over a non-venomous snake. Having seen the results of venomous strikes on people and livestock - 38 shot loads are in my pistol and pocket about 8 months out of the year!
Bullsnakes are my friends, BTW.

Mark

PS I killed a rattler last week - temperature 48*
Watch yourselves!

I've never seen a Copperhead that big in TX. That's a hoss!

Like the Poobah says, the variety down here are usually much brighter in color and not near as thick. They don't get a a pass on our Ranch. Rattlers or any Venomous snake gets a 12 ga filled with # 9 shot .
I won't take any chance on my nieces or nephews, or my buddies bird dogs getting bit!

This is when they really scare me- when they congregate in numbers- usually just before or after winter hybernation-

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?...t=vb.158931732594&type=2&theater

He really blended in with the leaves.

Exactly! Do you guys fry up moccasins down your way? I've seen some fat ones that almost caused me to shoot off my foot while walking through low country waters.

EEk.. Happens to me and I'd leave a ton of bacon stripes in my shorts
That... Amen, brother..

Those - and SKUNKS... The ONE creature I'd love to see leave this earth for-evah...

They get kind off ornery this time of year also, and tend to hang out around out buildings and woodpiles. Combine that with all the inbred, mouth breathing, bubbas we have and you have a great recipe for disaster.

I was hunting a state impoundment in November about 10 years ago and was picking up a decoy bag that had floated off to the other side. In order to do so I had to brace myself on the bank with my off hand. My buddy who was with me grabbed my shoulder and jerked me back saying there was a copperhead coiled up within a couple feet of my hand. The only thing that kept him from striking was the light frost that we had that morning as he must have been a little sluggish. We were a 15 minute boat ride and 45 minute car ride to the nearest hospital so it could have been a bad situation if I or my dog had gotten bit.

Poisonous snakes get the business end of a shotgun around my house. Luckily in my area we very rarely see rattlers but copperheads are around. I've only had to take care of one in the 6 years I've lived in our home and he was in the woods not near the house.

HOW TO COOK A SNAKE

Back when I was a little kid mom got the scare of her life early one morning by a copperhead coiled up on the seat 'hole' in our outhouse. Luckily she looked over her shoulder to center up on the seat first before she committed to sitting down.

I was playing outside in the backyard at the time when all of a sudden I heard her screaming "snake! - snake! - snake!" and calling out for my dad. I look up and see her with her bloomers still down around her ankles scooting her feet as fast as she could back up the path toward the house.

Dad came running out the back door, snatched up a garden hoe and commenced to dragging the copperhead from the outhouse and chopped it's head off. Pretty traumatic for mom and no doubt dad too but to a little boy of about 3 or 4 was some exciting high adventure.

I hate snakes, litte non killers dont bother me. But how in their right phooking mind would let a deadly snake go.

I wouldn't want to be respncible for someone else or a good pet getting wacked, it should be a civic duty to kill them.

Uh, Rockchuck, this is how you cook a snake.

Or other annoying creatures...

I would've made a hatband out of it.

I've heard of folks cooking up rattle snake meat, how does the copper hear or cotton mouth taste in comparison? any special caution in cleaning a venomous snake in regards to contaminating any of the meat with the venom?

I had this discussion with Varmintguy some time back...


By that criteria it should be our civic duty to pull bad drivers over and kill them too. ( And Id really like to sometimes....) They are responsible for far more deaths than snakes....


Yes...I am the voice in the dark. Speaking for snakes who can't speak for themselves!


Point of fact is that I hunted and killed 100s of them, and learned a more innocuous creature would be very hard to find indeed.

We have prisons for people and sometimes executions ( not enough).

I've ate fried rattlesnake in Opp, Alabama. It's mighty damn tasty.

KFC should start offering it in buckets, but it might chase off 90% of their clientel.

Agreed.


My big problem is that I have some sympathy and even empathy for animals. They don't go out with mal intent on their minds.

I don't feel the same about people and wish we could summarily dispense with many of them the way some do with snakes.


Oh, well.....no good ( or at least legal.... ) solution.

I'm now in the, "Kill 'em!" camp.

During last week's hog hunt, the helper kid came to the cabin & asked us if we wanted the one he just ran over. We fetched it out of the road, & filmed the video below.

Keep in mind, the snake's head was cut off with a shovel over 15 minutes before we took the video. It gets pretty interesting around 0:46.



Dead Snake?




And yes, the snake's heart was still beating (shown from 1:00 - 1:08), & lungs still moving, even without a head or skin on it.

FC

just cut off the head and dont mess with it other than bury it....snake nervous systems are real primitive and can bite you a fair while after death not to mention if you brush against the fang and it breaks the skin you will likely get some venom in your system....not as bad as a full bite but not the best idea either....only venomous snake im aware of with venom glands extending into the body is the Malaysian coral snake(Calliophis bivirgatus) which go into 1/3 the length of the body



plus snake venom is just a protein, heat from cooking it would destroy it like any other complex protein....

Rattler, I thought that you might be interested that my Brother-in-law that I gave a couple of rattlesnakes to, has more now. Someone gave him, three I think, young half diamondback and half timber rattlers. This man crossed them and told him that most do not live or are born dead but this litter of 8 all survived. The ones that he has are about 18 inches to 24 inches long. miles

surprising number of hybrids in the hobby at the moment....some work better than others due to how close or far apart they are in relation....

not big on killing venomous snakes but given a trip to the hospital for snake bite generally runs $100,000 i dont begrudge anyone for killing them around buildings and such.....hell i aint against killing one if ive got a use for a hide off one....

Some see it as dangerous snake, appears to me to be a mighty fine hatband. GW

You're half right. There are Rattlesnakes up here, just nowhere near as many as there are Copperheads.

I can take you to a particular mountain outside Boone, NC and show you all the buzz bombs you want.

rattler

Man, that is a gorgeous snake!

Thanks for including the scientific name so science geeks like me can read up on it a bit more!

John

My scientific name for that would be Shotgunus numerous.

It's rather cheerful in color. Never seen that species before but I suspect it's real bad news if you get bit

Works for me!!

My ranch is located at 7800' elevation, so I rarely see any Rattlers. That being said, I was cutting & splitting rounds a couple of years ago, and saw a fair sized Rattler. So, not thinking, I picked up the chainsaw and was going to cut that sucker in half. Well, it didn't quite work out that way. The chainsaw did a number on him alright, but it also picked him up, and threw him right back in my face.

I didn't know I could scream like a little girl, or a man my age would dance that fast, but I darn sure did. I guess I just didn't realize, quite how much, I would hate having a snake flopping around my face & shoulders

In any case, the next time I see a Rattler in the woodpile here, I think I'll pick up a hoe, shotgun, slingshot, or squirt-gun, but I won't be using a chainsaw on a dam snake, ever again!!

Respects,
Richard

I have in North Carolina who was bit by a Copperhead. Her hospital bill ran $60,000. She then called my wife because she couldn't find .22 ammo locally.

I just shipped her a brick of .22 to help with the payback

The visual alone made me LMAO! Wished I could have seen that. And, yes I would have hauled-azzzz leaving you with snake all up in your face.

Sorry!

I don't see a problem with that.

I didn't say there were no rattlers in Boone. I have never been there, but it is hours away from my place.
I meant that there are no rattlers in southern Madison County.
I have lived here 18 years and have never seen a rattler, and local guys who lived here all their lives have never seen one.
I have been told that there are a few rattlers about 40 miles away to the north.

Some of y'all boys like to argue.

I live and work around Marshall, saw 2 Rattlers hanging around my old shop at Petersburg occasionally, one was caught by a buddy of mine and displayed at Coates' Country store in a bottle for a few days before it was kilt. That's about 4 miles from Marshall.

Additionally, some of my acquaintances who live out that way say Doe Branch (about 6 miles north by northwest of Marshall) is eat up with Rattlesnakes.

bet your LP delivery driver needs combat pay. Looks like trimming the vines and crap around the tank are in order

You are correct there are some big rattlers in those mountains. One just have to get out of town to see a few. Go south west to Spring Creek and Haywood CO. they are there.

yep, dead.

See my leetle friend? Cute little phuocer, no? Little touch of crimson on his tail is a nice contrast. I love me some green snakes! I truly do.





A few of my favs....









The Mamba is the only one I've not encountered in life. Always use enough gun....

Damn a snake. (Venomous or otherwise)

That is all.

My patio cobra...



Didn't kill him.

Sometime back a Fire member posted a zombie cooperhead story that confirmed (for me anyway) that death is best. He killed the snake but wanted the skin. He didn't have time to skin and preserve so he put the dead copperhead in his freezer. Some time later on he took the frozen dead snake out of the freezer but noticed movement in the serpent. When he cut it open several live mini copperheads dropped out that looked damned devilish in his picture.

NO WAY at NO TIME will I bring one of them sumbisches into my house.

DEAD! Sorry God.

I hope I got that story right. Could not find it using search.

Barry, is that a hognose? We have Eastern Hognose snakes in the Ozark's. I run across them often in the spring while turkey hunting. Once I've gotten over the initial jump in the air while unslinging a Benelli and actually identified the little cobra wannabe I really enjoy the show they put on. Copperheads, cottonmouths or rattlesnakes not so much. Hognose are cool little dudes though.

yep a hognose, and technically venomous but the venom is so far geared towards amphibians that its about worthless on mammals....their fangs arent set up tp bite a person either....

only run across one up here in all my years of looking.....hear all the time about people finding "puff adders" but only one ive seen is the one last year i stopped some people i was walking with from killing cause they thought it was a baby rattler

Old timers around here call them sprednatters..

I ran over one this evening with a Suburban and a tandem wheel boat trailer. Bump, bump, bump, bump. It was on a back road just across from a house with lots of children's toys in the yard.

Speaking of Cobras, read this article (cobra part is toward bottom).

http://helenair.com/news/local/hele...e60cac2-e3d0-11e3-a328-0019bb2963f4.html

first thing I'd do,is get a lawn mower,and weed whacker

Oh, Simon, you are SO BRAVE !

I remember, cuz' you told us all about how much braver you were than the poor fellow who lost his family, and had a hard time with it.

Why don't you take that fuggin' "God's creature" hang gliding,...or move it into your goddam house, azzwhole?

GTC

Gas tank snake would get a cylinder full of 12 shot, 25 gr, LR

Mike

Those hog nose are pretty cool. They have those rear 'fangs' to pop toads that swell up to keep from being eaten. They will use that 'shovel' on their nose to root around in sandy areas.

As for that copperhead, very impressive! I would have transplanted it elsewhere...a long ways away from where I live.

http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/attachment.php?attachmentid=191360&d=1408168547

Saw these suckers on about 6 outta 8 dives in the Keys a few years ago!!! Creepy like a snake to me....
NOT MY PIC by the way.


Mike

A SMALL Moray can ruin your whole day.

I did a lot of my growing up in the Carib and Gulf, the Islanders felt the way about them that we do about Rattlesnakes.

GTC

Best response on this thread! +1


DMc

crossfireoops:

There is a hostility, and an immaturity to your posts. You are an angry man.
I hope you can get some help for your problems.

God Bless You.

-simon

pot meet kettle
https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbth...is_Man_is_a_Professional_Vic#Post9214501

Here's a SC 'head,took a 5.56 in the neck...

the hide on that one was a keeper for sure....would love to get my hands on one like that

I do generally kill copperheads out here, though.

They are exceptionally hard to see among the oak leaves.

Took this picture awhile back.

would love the hide off a good colored copperhead to go with this:

You're 18. That explains a lot. I can guarantee you that there are rattlers in that area. Just because you haven't seen one doesn't mean they aren't there. There are rattlers in every county in NC.

Every time you post a picture of that Gaboon hide, I pee a little.

WTF do you call the drivel that you had up here,you holier than thou, pretentious, self aggrandizing Twit ?

GTC

Ya know, I posted to SimonK in that thread:



This "God's Creatures" BS post is nothing but a confirmation of that hunch.

GTC

and their fangs are only two inches long, as well....

With friends like you......

Now I remember why I put Simon on ignore...

http://www.examiner.com/article/man...nutes-as-son-watches?cid=taboola_inbound

ahh that ones werent....it was a captive bread animal that died for some reason when it was only half grown.....keep thinking i should do something with it but everytime i come up with something i get to thinking how hard it would be to replace it and i chicken out

It appears I am running late to get that done. I'll have to fix that.