Snake stories

[jrabq]

Luckily this was just a little guy in my blind, but I must have almost stepped on him or put my hand on him when I crawled in about noon.

 

[CRJR45]

Luckily this was a little guy in my blind, but I must have almost stepped on him or put my hand on him when I crawled in about noon.

Oh hell no , hunt would be over !

 

[antlerradar]

My wife likes snakes, She has had a few as pets. When she was in high school and collage she had a nine foot boa in a big cage at her parents house, but when she moved out west she found her another home. Later we were going through some of her boxes of junk and there was a nine foot shed skin from the boa. We gave it to a friend in Ashland that was having an issue with bums hanging out behind his business after hours. He put the skin out where it was easy to see and cured his issues with the bums over night.

 

[Caseknife]

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:
View attachment 407850
View attachment 407851

Beautiful coloration on that snake.

 

[Caseknife]

Coming home from work one evening a few years ago, there was a bull snake about 5' long stretched across the driveway at the neighbors lane. My window was down so I looked out at it. That snake slowly idled off the lane giving me the stink eye the whole time. Had a little bull snake about a foot long coiled up on one of the patio chairs, little bugger just hissed at me and said that was his spot! They have attitudes.

 

[beagle001]

Summer of ‘24, my wife and I took the boys to Custer State Park again, and stayed at Game Lodge in one of the cabins.
We had just arrived from the 13 hour trek so the boys were restless and running like they’re apt to do, while my wife and I got unpacked and the cabin settled.
The guy in the campsite across the drive from us was packing up and getting his motorcycle onto the back of his trailer, so I heard his ratchet going. I was on my 3rd trip into the cabin from the car and I heard the ratchet again, but couldn’t figure out why it sounded like it was under the deck of the cabin… I peaked over and the guy was nowhere in sight, as one of my kids jumped up onto the deck and there was the buzz again… then I knew.
I ordered the munchkins into the cabin and flagged down some CSP maintenance, who called in their snake guy. It was a fun hour-plus of taking floorboards off and trying to grab that slick little fella (and one attempt where it was “grabbed” but not good enough). The CSP staff finally got it and took it for relocation.

The next day, we were hiking the trails around the new bison center, and my older boy was running off ahead and being a snot. I reminded him that while it was unlikely we’d see another rattler, he needed to be aware and I made him come back to within 10 yards of me again. About 30 seconds later, while he was sassing, this guy was laying on the trail. Took a lot less persuading to keep him close after that.

 

[beagle001]

Same year, I hunted that general direction, and found this one on the road one morning. He was feeling pretty lethargic, and barely moved. I straddled him at first thinking it was a cow pie. Pic is deceiving on size… I think he’d have been hard pressed to hit 18”

 

[hank4elk]

I got tons of stories.
Never liked rattlers.
Not many snakes here, or as many as one would think. I like most of them. Gophers, kings, garters, racers.

We have Mojave green rattlers where I live mostly. Very aggressive and deadly bites. Hemo and nuero toxins.

Was struck on my boot sole as I jumped over one that decided to coil up on the wheelbarrow track in the garden. I had just moved 10 loads of compost.
That last trip was a look see without the barrow. Mid stride I saw it and heard the buzz and jumped over it. I felt the strike and took a few more paces before I turned to look. Bright green, freshly shed.
I ran around the garden and got Rio into the house and came back with the garden rake. Looked for 10 minutes closely at every spot it could be coiled in. Standing next to a berry I finally saw it strung out on the path to my chair in the shade. 4 feet long. It turned its head and hissed and had the rattle going,stung out...struck it right in the head 1st wack. Pinned to the ground, I left it for a while then laid it over a corner post.
Ravens came within minutes and ate that sucker.

 

[Schaaf]

When I was younger I killed everyone I found. Finally stopped when I was parked on top of one and cutting his rattle off when he finally squirmed his way through my Toyo MT tires and shot out of there about 3 inches from my face. Now I just make a loop around them.

A few years ago I was with my son looking for Dino fossils about a mile from the pickup. Everything was going well until the temperature hit 80. I was playing hop scotch all the way back to the pickup with a 4 year old on my shoulders. I think we ran into 6 in the mile walk back.

 

[mtmuley]

I am scared of snakes. I admit it. And the dentist. One spring my wife was helping me put out the sprinkler pipes for the first time. I always flush them before hooking the next pipe. Got to the last one and the water wasn't coming as fast. I leaned over to look and a bunch of debris, including a four foot bull snake hit me. So embarrassing for my wife to hear me scream like a girl. As a matter of fact, I am hooking up the irrigation tomorrow. Gonna be extra careful. mtmuley

 

[MTTW]

Many years ago, a buddy and I were driving up in the mountains and saw a bear way above us on a ridge. We parked and he went up a ridge, and I went up another a couple hundred yards away. I hadn't gone a few hundred yards when I killed a 3-foot rattle snake with a rock. I returned to the truck. It was his truck and he had the keys in his pocket. It was a 70s chevy so I opened the wing window with my pocketknife and got inside. I coiled the snake (which was headless at this point) on the driver's floor mat, locked the door and was sitting on the tailgate when he got back.

I thought it was a hellofalot funnier than he did. I wasnt sure if I was going to have a ride home for a bit.

 

[CRJR45]

Another time pre-fishing a T on the James river in Virginia I was pitching around an abandoned loading dock and Kim was reading her Nook in the seat .
The dock was right at the water line and as I went past I spotted the biggest moccasin I ever seen laying back up against the seawall on the dock .
I pointed it out to Kim but she couldn’t see it so I pitched my jig at it .
I’m not sure if the snake caught it in the air or if it landed on its head and it grabbed it , it was that quick .
But I had a snake hooked through the roof of its mouth and it was headed right at Kim , trying to reach the water .
I wasn’t sure what to do , so I froze , lol , Kim was screaming bloody murder .
But the snake went under the water right at the boat , so I released the spool and cut my line .
Came back through on the tide and it was in the same spot with my Superman jig in its mouth, my hot bait and I was running low on them , but I let him keep it .

 

[brymoore]

In my youth, I was forced family labor at my grandfather’s dairy farm. A cousin and I’s job was unloading the hay wagon to the elevator to take the hay bales into the loft. Once or twice every summer we’d find a big black snake that got bailed. We’d twist the snake, live half the time, into the twine on the bales to surprise my cousin off loading the bales. They’d howl every time when they unknowingly grabbed the snake blind.

 

[duckhunt]

So I live and farm in southwest Iowa. I’ve been deathly afraid of snakes my whole life. Afraid as in, if I’m mowing grass on a riding lawnmower and see a shed skin, I pick my feet up high off the mower and leave a 5ft gap between myself and the snake skin.

One I’m in sitting in the shop on the toilet doing my business in an extreme state of focus. I look down and next to my right foot is a 4ft bull snake………I jump off the toilet, pants still around my ankles and go screaming out into the main shop like a little girl.

Another time, about a year later I’m working in the shop on our old 4020. I have my 72” snap on tool box next to me working on the tractor. I look down and coiled up under the tractor is another 3 foot bull snake! Again, the screaming like a little girl commences. I jump up on top of my tool box and begin screaming for my dad who was elsewhere in the shop. I’m continue screaming like a little girl from the top of my tool box until my dad removes the deadly bull snake from the shop. I think I was around 30 years old at the time……

A couple weeks ago I got home from work and decided to clean the windows in the living room. We have a deck on the outside of those windows and I noticed the bottom of the screen had about a 4 inch rip in the bottom of it when I put it back on the window. Since it was nice out I left the window open. Well as I'm watching TV the dog jumps up off the floor by my feet and starts barking looking at that open window with the ripped screen, and I ll be dammed there was a 6 ft bull snake that crawled up on the deck railing and was sticking his head through the screen trying to get in the house. Doesn't bother me to much but my wife about freaked out and had many choice words for me. I just took the broom handle and pushed his head back outside and shut the window. We have a sand point well in the yard so I know the snakes den up in there so for the next week every time there would be a snake in the yard my wife would have me relocate them down the road a ways.

 

[Gellar]

A guy i know picked up a roadkill rattler in good condition. He coiled it up and put it in the freezer.
Wife got a good surprise.

I brought a Dekay’s Earth snake home once. They are about as big around as a woman’s pinky finger and 12” maximum. I had it in a country crock buttter dish with holes in the top. My wife opened the butter for her toast in the morning and was a bit surprised. Im not allowed to bring snakes home anymore.

I have a timber rattler in my freezer at work in a gallon ice cream pale. I should probably mess with someone today.