Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire ALMOST Had A Bad Day

Was servicing a HVAC unit out in the country, about 60 miles east of Memphis. Friend of mine’s place.

It was dusk and we were getting ready to leave, I told my boss I’d drive. I walked around the front of the truck, looked down in time to see a 2’ copperhead strike at my feet. I was out of his range. There were 5 adults and 5 dogs there, so I dispatched the snake. I love snakes and if I could have, I’d have captured this one and transported him to a more isolated place, but it was getting dark and I had no container to hold him in. Broke my heart to dispatch him, but that’s the way it turned out


If my boss Had come around to drive, I doubt he would have seen the snake, and probably would have gotten bit. He is one of those who have an absolute fear of snakes. He would have died of a heart attack long before the venom had any effect on him. And that is the truth.

anyway, I’m glad I did not get bit.

It happens that one has to die every now and again. Have had to kill more than one venomous one around places of work and homes.

Glad you're all safe.

I sure don't feel bad about killing copperheads if they are in or near the yard.

Bandit got bitten about 3 1/2 years ago when he was too young to snake train. Both dogs are snake trained now. They tell me when a snake is near.

Poisonous snakes are something I've never had to deal with. They're around, especially copperheads, although I've never seen one here on my farm. I have hunted all my life and have yet to see a poisonous snake alive out in the wild. I have ran over a copperhead or two, but that's been it as far as killing one.

Story here...........when I was a rural mail carrier, there was an old house place that was a good place to stop where I could take a leak without being seen. It was all grown up and weedy, and one day as I was stopping to pee, there was a huge copperhead there in the road that had been run over. The thought occurred to me that I might have pizzed on that snake at some point in the past.

Would the snake feel regret if it had bit you?

We have a lot of them in the immediate area here.

Not sure how many I've killed around the headquarters here. 30-40... maybe more.

Neighbor about 1/2 mile from me started killing them in his yard one day, and killed 9 adult copperheads in one day, right around his house.

Spooked the hell out of his not so country gal wife..


On the upside, the whole area for several miles here has no rattlers. You have to go 25 miles or more to get into rattlers.

Not sure which is worse. I think rattlers are.

A few years ago, about this time of year, my wife was giving me a hair cut in the back yard. It was hot so all I was wearing was shorts. Our two young grand kids had played all morning bare footed in the yard. After she finished, I was folding the chair I had been sitting in and noticed a copperhead coiled about 7’ from us. He was only about 14 inches long but would have still caused a lot of discomfort if one of us had stepped on it. After a brief encounter with a garden hoe, it stepped off into eternity.

My grand dad used to go under the house a couple of times a year with a single shot .410 to clear the rattlers out.

My personal rule with venomous snakes is that if they are in an area with a good likelyhood of coming into contact with people or pets, they die without a second’s hesitation. Out in the wild, live and let live...

The problem with copperheads is that they can be aggressive- - - - -delivering multiple bites on occasion. I load my .45 Colt Ruger Blackhawk with "rat shot on steroids"- - - - -Put a pretty good charge of Bullseye or LilGun in the bottom of the case, seal it off with a thick card wad, fill the case to the top with #9 or smaller shot, and seat a .45 gas check upside down on top of the shot charge. A moderate roll crimp on the case mouth keeps everything in place in the cylinders not in line with the barrel during recoil.

I grew up in western Ks. Our rule of thumb was, if you see a rattle snake, kill it. Don’t know a person there that had a different philosophy. In the 20 years I lived there I probably killed a dozen.
Knew two people that were bit by them. Both survived but one guy nearly lost an arm.

I know a lot of people with that same philosophy and I totally get it. I just figure they were put here for a purpose just like any other critter - except for tarantulas. I hate the fuggers. Instant death sentence no matter where they are!

I send them to heaven.......

I’m not going to let them see the day they nail a dog or person......

Fudge them fang worms.....

My wife was bit by a Copperhead last 4th of July Holiday weekend when we were visiting family at their vacation house at Bull Shoals lake in Arkansas.

We were a good ways from a hospital and it was not a fun experience. Ended up being a pretty nasty, painful situation and she was off work for a good while.

The only good Copperhead is a dead one.

I didn't know that had happened. Sorry she had to go through that.

I'm with you on the copperheads.

I figure any job delegated to venomous snakes can be done just as well by bullsnakes, garter snakes, etc.
We just have rattlers in our country (as far as venomous) - they will die, if I have my way.
Bull snakes give me a "start" - but will survive.

Glad things worked out and the SOB didn't connect.

Snake Lives Matter!

Don't Tread on Me!

“She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage.”…”but their wounds however small, are decisive and fatal:—Conscious of this, she never wounds til she has generously given notice, even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the danger of stepping on her.—Was I wrong, Sir, in thinking this a strong picture of the temper and conduct of America?”
The Rattlesnake is found in no other quarter of the world besides America
The rattlesnake also has sharp eyes, and “may therefore be esteemed an emblem of vigilance.
She never begins an attack, nor, when once engaged, ever surrenders: She is therefore an emblem of magnanimity and true courage
The rattle = the number of the Colonies united in America

Benjamin Franklin to his friend Christopher Gadsden

It was a pro revolution symbol of honorable self defense against the British tyranny.
They became the emblem of freedom in several parts of colonial America. Some wanted them to be the Mascot.

I respect Rattlers. 9 out of 10 Bites are from someone trying to kill them (occasionally catch). I've found a way to keep them away from your property without going through the risk of killing them.