Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What do YOU do with snakes?

Boy, am i glad i live and hunt in ontario, the only snake i got to worry about here is a grass, milk and hognose snake, all non-poisoness. The only poisoness snake we have is the Missasaugas rattler, and he don't live where i dwell. I sure am glad we have frost and lot's of snow when it come's hunt'n time, except turkey hunt'n, i usually try to get them early, before the slither's from HELL are out in full force. Rick.

Snakes in trees I'am told are not poisonous. I've never seen a poisonuos snake up in a tree so quess it's true.
Here in Oklahoma we have Banded water snakes. We call them yellow bellies. Alot of folks think they are a Cotton mouth. We call them city folks. Anyway these yellow bellies love to climb trees, willows along the bank. The dang things are every where.I've seen trees full of them, some of them 7 foot long. Usually when you approach they drop out of the trees and scatter. But one night two of my buddies were fishing on the Red River. We were setting bank lines for cats , in a 14 ft aluminum jon boat. We pulled into a small feeder creek, that had a large willow hanging over the water. Thud thud thud we had three very lively yellow bellies in the boat with us. My buddy Larry that was driving is deathly afraid of snakes. He freaks out hits the throttle runs the boat right up on the bank. then procedes to run over the two of us in the front of the boat on his way to what he thought was safety, out in to the thick brush along the creek. M y other buddy were getting a pretty good laugh at Larry's exspence. He was crashing thruogh the brush screeching colorful metaphors, as we evicted the snakes from the boat. When Larry suddenly went quiet we got a little worried. He starts yelling for help Rattle snakes Help!!! so we gather up a lantern and a 20 ga and go looking for him. When we found him he was frozen with fear. We could here the rattler buzzing, but could not see it. So we grab Larry and half draged him back to the boat ,where he all but made us turn the boat upsidedown to make sure we had,nt missed any snakes. Before he would get back in it . It was several days before Larry was able to see the humor in it.
Larry died 6 yrs ago the day he died I was sitting at his bed side a series of strokes had left him unable to speak or move. I told this story to his kids as I sat there and we seen Larry smile. It's still funny Buddy. I told you I talk about you for 100 yrs if I live that long.
Pat

A good " SNAKE!" story for outdoor campfires...

During the depression many farmers in central Florida
ate "wild meat" and hunted some areas to depletion. They
arranged with an owner of a large Island permission to harvest
a bountiful crop of resident bunnies in a night hunt. Their plan
was to set up on a field before full dark, then later light up half-shaded
lanterns in a circle perimeter to project light outward, and
harvest rabbits with .22 shots between their gleaming running lights.

It worked like a charm, the first volley saw eyes blink
out all around, but when they inspected the take they were
just rattlers -- huge ones. They hasd to shoot a path through
them to their boats. The Island got a bad rep as the "Devil's
Playground" among night poachers for decades.

Not many sleep well on the ground or leasve the fire unarmed to go off
into the woods after that one.

1B

LMAO. Could see it coming, too.

Birdwatcher- it is true we don't find many bears UNDER the porch. Mostly, the folks around here (the dumb ones, anyway) keep their garbage and dog food ON the porch. If the Law catches them at it more than once or so, they get a citation (the people, not the bear).

Can't speak from personal experience in either case, but I suspect being bit by a snake is nowhere near as bad as a bear bite. Probably why they don't make bear-bite kits. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

One of my coworkers last week had one (brown bear) in her door-less arctic entry- apparently it was after a leetle bit of ripe tofu in the grocery bag of garbage she set out. We laaaaauughed at her!

So, anyone know what a snake's home range is? If you find one in the yard, is he passing thru, or has he been living there all along. If the latter, how come you haven't seen him before? If the former, how long has he been there this time, how long would he stay, how many times before has he passed thru unseen, how frequently, what are your chances of ever seeing him again? Course, it IS nice and cool under those porches on a hot day, and may become a favored place to lay up.

I was discing my father-in-law's field near Hathaway Mt a couple decades back (that long???) when a Rattler went off right under the tractor. Sounded like he was in the cab with me - and I thought for a moment he was. I came down off the underside of the roof again in time to look back and see about 4 foot of snake go under the disc. Bet he'd killed a lot of vermin in his time.

Birdwatcher , There is no shame in being an eco-weenie . The older I get the more an eco-weenie I become .

Been bitten once by a copper head . Wasn't serious but had to spend a day in the hostpital for observation . Still have a scar on my leg from the doc cutting a plug of meat from the snake bite . Was told the flesh would turn black and rot if he didn't cut it out .

I've made peace with the snakes . That was not the case in my youth . Killed every one that crossed my path back then . It's nice to see them still around . Southeast Texas would not be the same without them .

I've always been an eco-weenie. Meat-eating, but I only shot prairie dogs once - it bothered me. Nor do I hunt brown bears (not very good eating), and black bears only every 4 or 5 years, when we run out of sausage (we're out).



Some of my best friends are bird watchers.

Real, dyed-in-the-wool ecologists. Hell, every once in a while, they even hit one. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Back around 50+ years ago my parents and I lived in a little house way out in the boonies close to the western Ky/Tn. border. For toilet facilities during the daytime we had the infamous "one-hole" out house located about 30 yds. down a well worn path out back and a chamber pot (thunder mug) for late night nature calls.

Moms morning routine would be to empty said thunder mug in the "one-hole" and sneak a cigarette while she was in there. (Dad didn't want her smoking) One morning I was playing in the yard when all of a sudden I hear this ear splitting shriek come from the outhouse, the door flew open, and out scooted Mom, bloomers still down around her ankles, kicking up a cloud of yellow Ky. dust, all the while screaming my Dads name over and over.

Dad came flying out the back door, half awake, in his underwear and barefooted(shift worker) runs up the path to Mom and now all she can do is point at the outhouse and stammer sn- sna- snak- snake. Dad snatches up a garden hoe pulls the snake outside on the ground and promptly puts an end to it and all the excitement.

When Moms nerves calmed down some, she told us that just as she was starting to sit down, she looked over her shoulder to take "aim", low and behold there was a snake curled around the seat on the "one-hole" and that is when all the excitement started. Later on Dad said it was a Copperhead. Mom could not have cared less what type of snake it was, they were all Copperheads to her. After that, when she tended to her morning task she would carry a long stick to open the door and bang around the walls and floor before she would go in the outhouse. <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/blush.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/mad.gif" alt="" /> ..... <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" /> <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif" alt="" />.......joken2

Sounds like you folks are related to Pat McManus- the outdoor humor writer. Claims that after his sister found a garden-type snake in her underwear drawer, she richochetted off the walls 4 times before getting a clean shot at the door. She also claimed he was responsible, but "Who believes someone who goes through life poking her underwear with a stick?" <img src="/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Encourage their presence, especially in the places I like to camp, hunt, and fish. They keep a lot of the casual tourists away. 1Minute