Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Cottonmouths

That would be a very rude encounter. Now, he's a "good" snake.

I bet there's a bunch of doobie ninja cheeto lips and cottonmouths at slums place on Saturday night. That and leftover cold hot dog and fish sammiches the next morning.

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It should have.................nasty ass disposition M'f'ers.

I hate 'em, rattlers & copperheads too.

Kill 'em all, let god sort 'em out.

MM

I just about stepped on this one at my camp a few weeks ago.

Paul, that’s what they make pistols for.

Shot one earlier this week with a 10mm auto using HP rounds and the lucky sucker used up $5 of ammo to get killed. The other one came by when I just had my .22mag NAA pocket pistol and a CCI shotshell ruined his day. The shotshells are the ticket, in my opinion.

A lot of eastern Arkansas has Cottonmouths, Copperheads, and Timber Rattlers. I have some limited experience with all 3.

I wouldn't consider any of them aggressive, generally speaking.
Copperheads are excitable to the point that they'll strike at a foot if you step close enough, or put your hand where you haven't looked.
Wouldn't wanna corner a Cottonmouth or Timber Rattler that I didn't know was there. Or poke sticks at them if I didn't have a plan to kill them when
they get all ugly.
They'll all get away if they have the chance. I think they know their place in the food chain.

Agreed!

Several years back I was deer hunting in palmettos in Tensas Parish. The palmettos were solid thick from 4-6 feet tall except in the sloughs.

It was late December, I made a morning hunt and got down mid day to go scout. You have to walk thru the Palmettos not around them they was so thick, no trails. I was coming up on a slough and something shiny caught my eye ahead of me were the palmettos were shorter next to the water.

I thought no way, sure enough, a cottonmouth coiled up about 4 ft off the ground on a palmetto, sunning I suppose. I doubt it would have done anything if disturbed, but I said f this. Straight to the truck.

The first part of April, 1979, the 12 day patrol, swamps of Eglin AFB, Ranger School. I had a messed up leg had already passed my patrols, ranger buddy and I were switching off on point! He was fine until the moon came out and saw all the moccasins swimming about in the moonlight! I relieved my ranger buddy and cut myself a six foot branch to move snakes away! I've never seen so many snakes in my life! It was scary and way cool at the same time!

I dunno how long that one is, but Ive got an honest five footer hanging in my office from Ga. and I got a 5.5 footer in Louisiana one night.

1965 or so, my mother killed one in her hen house that was just shy of 5' with no head.

Aint' no cottonmouth the equal of a mother with a shovel...

And the value of dogs sleeping on or under the porch is that you won't be surprised when you first come out in the morning. By much of anything...

The only time I have ever seen a “ball” of snakes was on Togo (Tow’go) Island below Vicksburg MS, it was our deer camp and we had a work day. Interior road had been washed out and I leaned over to see how deep, when I had shot every shell I had we counted 37. We have several varieties of color down here, one then was a pale blue absolutely beautiful. I’ve sat on them, pulled one from a creek hand grabbing for fish both by accident of course. Wish I had a nickel for everyone I’ve killed.
The biggest one was working on tree stands back in the 70’s, Will Primos was a member of our camp and we were paired up. It was just at 6’ and thick, I swung at him with a 2x4 we had for replacing ladder steps 3 or 4 foot long. He knocked the board out of my hands as he struck when I swung, we hung him on the skinning rack so the others had to pass him coming back to camp. Caught many with a cane pole and a minnow around ponds to. They’re pretty territorial at times.
I’ve only ever seen 1 rattlesnake, he was swimming at night in the slough we were running trot lines in, we let him be and just watched.

Growing up and hunting in south Florida, I've seen my share of them. These nasty devils would often be waist or chest high on top of rotted or cut cypress stumps. We could drive our swamp buggies on mud trails and see them laying there. They wouldn't even attempt to move. In fact, they would lay right there and dare you to come close-cotton mouth wide open. We would pin them with the buggy tire, jump off and cut their head of with a machete.

Those who underestimate a water moccasin will suffer and learn the hard way. They are evil, mean, and tough! I've seen them on logs as thick and as big around as my arm! I was extremely lucky numerous times walking the deep swamps of the Everglades. God had to be watching over me.

Only time I ever remember being instant cold sweat scared was because of a cottonmouth. As a kid I was fishing in Oklahoma and got my spinner caught some weeds. Yanked on it and if flew into a bush next to me. Reached in to get it and this damn snake as big around as my arm opened up his mouth gave me a flash of white.

I jumped back and it slid in the water, head up. It then turned and glared at me. I booked out of there like a scalded cat.

Almost stepped on a rattler while wearing sandals once and it wasn't as scary as that moccasin.

I'm surrounded by cottonmouths. They cross the fields surrounding my house and often end up in my yard or around/inside my shops. I let all other snakes crawl away, but not cottonmouths or copperheads.

Had a cottonmouth come after me at three different spots as I tried to fish a pond. Last time it swam along as I walked the bank. Gave up and killed it.

Remember several times them swimming up and scattering us kids catfishing by lantern light on the river.

They're the yellow jackets of the snake world.

Nice of him to smile at the camera though

Had one about that size right between my feet when crossing a small creek on a big brush pile. I was standing in the middle of the brush pile, shifting my weight up and down to feel how dense the pile was, when all of a sudden, the moccasin exploded, flailing rapidly in a desperate attempt to get down into the brush pile. I wondered if I wasn’t pinning its head down as I bounced up and down on the pile. Couldn’t believe I wasn’t bit. Just about jumped out of my skin. I can tell you I now have snake boots and won’t be in the woods without them in the future. Then I almost stepped on one of its babies as I climbed the creek bank to get out of there.