Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Snakes and snake boots

I wear snake boots when I'm scouting or working in the woods mostly for the protection from briars and chiggers. I usually run across rattle snakes a couple of times during the year, both diamond backs and canebrakes. Sometimes I'll cross up with a cottonmouth, and rarely a pygmy rattlesnake but almost never a copperhead.
I've owned and worn out three pairs of snake boots over the last 40 years and never seen a snake while I was wearing them. I guess those things work pretty good.

This last part made laugh out loud.

I've dealt with quite a few venomous snakes; I used to collect specimens for the biology department when I was in graduate school. I don't think snake boots are needed for protection against snakes. However, I do think ankle high leather boots are useful for a variety of reasons. As noted by others, the most important thing is to pay attention to where you step and put your hands.

Judging from the replies, I guess it matters a lot what kind of country you're walking around in. It seems all the Coastal Carolina guys are in favor of snake boots. I guess I'll go with their advice and get some before I get too far off the pavement in the Low Country.

I never give much thought at all to snakes. Texting drivers on the other hand...

I always wear snake boots hunting in Georgia and Alabama.

Hunting in South Florida most of my life snakes are a fact of life. So is walking in shallow water which puts you a little higher on the strike zone. You learn to watch where your stepping and it becomes habit. I first bought a pair of Russells but I thought they sucked as they were not that comfortable and they where hot and heavy. I been wearing Rocky lites since they came out. We walk mostly on sand down here and a flatter bottom is more comfortable. They are breathable and light weight. I also like to wear them in alabama where I hunt now. They keep your legs warm and offer a bit of protection up to your knees. They are a pain in the butt to put on and take off. I never found any zip up or slip ons I ever thought I would like.

I wear them at least till thanksgiving depending on the weather, have worn them the whole season. I don't know where in SC you are but snakes are active year round in the LC although slower they are still moving , think laying on a log in the sun in the swamp in Dec.

I always wear my Chippewa snake boots when hunting. Very comfortable once broken in. Mine are the leather lined non insulated ones. They are plenty hot enough most of the season and I have not as of yet needed waterproof. I would as soon my feet get a little wet on occasion vs sweltering all the time.....but that depends on your own situation and make up.

Most guys in your neck of the woods that I have hunted with wear some kind of snake boot. I never had any problems with poisonous snakes deer hunting in Carolina but the height of them is great for keeping ticks and briars off of your legs. You can figure that in the low country snakes are going to potentially be active all season. I saw a big old cottonmouth sunning on the side of the road one year between Christmas and New Year on the way to a hunt.

I like the plastic snake guards. They keep the dew off.

Thats a lot of bites for one person to have received.

We wear them in S Texas on a hunt because the owner requests it. Mine are Justin boots IIRC. VERY comfortable. Keeps my legs from thorns and cactus while stalking pigs etc...

I've been struck only 2 times in my life. Once on a thumbnail by a small copper head. Should have been wearing at least gloves, got lucky. Once on the achilles by a moccasin, in rubber boots. No big deal.

I have been hunting and cruising timber in eastern NC for over 55 years, except for 3 years in SC lowcountry. The very first time my father ever took me hunting with him, we walked up on a cottonmouth down in the swamp. Having said that, your odds of seeing, much less being struck by, a poisonous snake are very small. However, the consequences may be so severe that it makes little sense not to take precautions. As I see it, one has 3 options: 1. Regular boots with snake proof gaiters or chaps. Some guys I know wear jungle boots with gaiters on the theory that their feet are going to get wet, so might as well have boots designed for getting wet and which will let the water out. I have a pair of snake chaps that I sometimes wear, as much for briar busting as for snake protection. 2. Leather/cordura snake boots. First pair I ever had were a gift from a client, Chippewas, non-Gore-tex. Too wide in the heel for me, and not waterproof, but nice comfortable (except for the slipping heel) boots. Next ones I tried were the typical lace-ups, an early LaCrosse model, allegedly waterproof. They began leaking shortly after purchase, and continued to fall apart thereafter. One of my sons got a pair of the Cabela's brand and after a couple of years of very light use the soles came unglued from the tops. At least they never leaked water that I know of. 3. Snake-proof rubber boots. I have had 2 pair of these, both LaCrosse. The first pair started to develop cracks after a couple of years. LaCrosse wouldn't replace them for free, but did give me 40% off a new pair.

I have settled on option 3. Coastal NC and SC are often wet, with numerous branches and ditches to cross. There is a lot of underbrush as well, which is wet most mornings and every time it rains. I like dry feet, and wore uninsulated rubber boots with chaps a lot before I got the rubber snake boots. Chaps get hot in the spring, summer, and fall, so the boots-only option is a plus as long as the briars aren't too bad. They are a little stiff-feeling at first but easy to get used to. In addition, with rubber boots (as well as other types of snake boots) you can tuck your pants into the boots, greatly reducing the number of ticks and redbugs you will have to deal with. Finally, when I get back to the truck I can get them off easily and slip into a pair of topsiders and be comfortable on the ride home.

I still own a good pair of Gore-tex lined leather boots, but I find myself wearing them less and less.

Upon reflection, I guess there is a fourth option: just wear regular boots of whatever type you prefer, and keep an eye out for the no-shoulders. That's what my dad, also a forester, did and he only got bit once in about 60 years.

I hunted in Coleman county, close to Santa Anna. We would sometimes see a half dozen on a weekend. The SOB’s were everywhere, mostly in the fall.