Snake stories

[Bigjay73]

The dog thread made me think back on shorts pooping experiences I've had with venomous snakes. Anyone have any good stories or cool snake sightings?

 

[Mallardsx2]

 

[Bigjay73]

Dayum

 

[Redmt]

We've killed 5 rattlers in the last 2 weeks. I got one that damn near got me.

 

[2ski]

I was running my dog hunting a few years ago at a spot where I drove by earlier and thought thats snake country. On my way out I passed a patch of brush and though I should hunt it just for like 5 minutes. I was watching my dog and looked down to see a snake pull its heat back from my pant leg. I jumped back. It rattled. Then I shot it and got the heck out of there. I'm not sure if it got my pant leg or what happened. I think maybe I stepped on it?

 

[BenP]

When I was a kid, my dad was planting a new ground field for someone an my job was to drive around and get logs out of the field. I went to get one large log and had to put my hand all under it to get it up on the tractor. When I went back there was a cottonmouth under it right where I put my hands. .410 took care of him.

Last year my brother caught this guy:

 

[wytex]

We relocate prairie rattlers every year, when needed.
Had a couple almost try to get me when I surprised them but no real close calls yet.
First of the year on this one up in the hills.

 

[Wildabeest]

Had just moved into a new house that backed up to woods and a gully that drained into a local reservoir. We’d moved some outdoor stuff over prior to moving in, and it was sitting at the edge of where the newly seeded yard met the woods. A few weeks after moving in, my wife wanted to start outdoor decorating, so she asked me to get the planters that were out there. I go to the edge of the yard where the stuff had been sitting and reach down to pick one up, but it’s stuck in the mud a bit. So I reposition and get a better grip, and then I hear the rattle - not a rattlesnake, but a copperhead buzzing his tail in the leaves. He was lying right next to the planter, and probably 8” from my hand. I quickly let go and stepped back. He never struck, thank goodness, because he could have easily nailed me. We had a 2 year old and new baby at the time, so I grabbed the shovel that was leaning against the tree and put a quick end to him. He was about 18” long and really fat. Didn’t have cameras in our phones back then, so no pic.

Fast forward 15 years and I’m now living more in the city. There were still lots of copperheads there though. Got home from work one night and took the dog for a quick walk. On the way back, there’s a baby copperhead laying half on the sidewalk right in front of the house. Didn’t have a shovel handy, so I did the next best thing and drove the heel of my Allen Edmonds dress shoes into its head. Problem solved. Notice the green tail - dead give-away that it’s a baby copperhead.




As a general rule, I don’t kill snakes. Unless they are close to the house and there’s kids involved. There’s a decent number of Great Basin rattlers around my current place, and I just leave them alone. Put my dog thru rattlesnake avoidance training, and he now alerts on them long before I see or hear them. This one got run over by a car in front of my house last summer. Notice the flat spot in his midsection .

 

[Wildabeest]

And this was a cool find a couple of springs ago out hiking near my place. I had no idea that any boa’s were native to the Rocky Mountains. The dog didn’t alert on this guy - walked right over top of it as it was laying on the trail. I moved him off the trail onto a rock so he wouldn’t get run over by a mountain biker. Super docile snake. I was also surprised to see a snake out that early in the spring, but apparently the rubber boas are the first to come out.

 

[Turkeygetpwnd38]

When I was in college I would regularly take my younger cousin (12ish) hunting. We went turkey hunting one afternoon, I was coming from the gym so just threw leafy pants over my gym shorts. We were walking down a leaf littered trail, me in front, and I turned around to check on him. He was ghost white and pointing at my legs. I looked down and there was a copperhead hanging off my leafy pants! He had struck me and fangs got caught in the pants so was just hanging there. I leapt about 4 feet in the air, grabbed him by the tail, yanked it off and threw it into the woods

I’ve had a ton of close calls with snakes but that was probably the closest.

Now that I think about it, he might just be bad luck. I took him bear hunting 2 years ago and we got charged by a grizzly in an area I’ve hunted for 5-6 years and never even seen a grizzly before then!

 

[Hem]

This one got in the garage and nearly tagged my wife.
I stepped on one in the tall grass one year on the same property.
Ive seen plenty but no close calls other than above.

 

[rookieforever33]

I live in rural Illinois and sometimes have seen snakes regularly, sometimes dont see one for a few years. But unless I run into a type of rattlesnake that is VERY rare and not very venomous I will not come across any that can really hurt me. It doesn't make paying high taxes any easier, but at least it is a little peace.