Goodbye Mr. Copperhead

[Old saw fixer]

A couple of days ago I was sitting in the living room reading when the wife called me to the kitchen.  She used a soft voice so I knew something was up.  When I got to the kitchen exterior door where she was standing looking out and down, she asked " Is that a copperhead on the bottom step?"
It sure looked like a copperhead to me, so I slipped out the door onto the porch and looked for something to smite it's head off.  There was nothing to be  found but a grass whip.
I picked it up and proceeded the attack the evil reptile that dared lay on my back steps.  Finally dispatched it. On next trip to town I'll get a garden hoe and sharpen the blade.  The hoe will remain on the back porch ready to do battle.

[Magicman]

I dislike Copperheads.

[Jeff]

Because of @YellowHammer and his "problem" with copperNOSE bluegills, I have been unfairly coerced into opening a snake topic! 

[Old Greenhorn]

Back in the previous century when I still cared how my lawn looked after I mowed it, I used to drag a lawn sweeper behind the yard tractor to pick up the bigger grass clumps. Being lazy, even back then, I would overfill it and it was too heavy to lift the basket off to dump it. So I would just pull up next to my dumpsite and grab big clumps of grass with both hands and unload it fairly quickly. I did that for years, until one day.....
 I was unloading by hand as usual and got about halfway emptied when I saw 'something' flit across the bottom of the basket as I lifted a load out. It moved fast and caught my eye pretty well. I got a stick and stirred up what was left and sure enough, I had swept up a copperhead totally unharmed. I went and got a spade, flipped it out, and dispatched it with calm haste.
 I too, do not like copperheads. Rattlers don't come around the house, at least not yet. Those are protected in our state, but not so much in my yard.  The others we get are black snake, black races, water, and garter snakes. They don't bother me much. I did take out one 4.5' Black 30 years ago when I was prepping the yard for a 120 person, 3 day party and the silly thing kept showing up everyday in the same place. After a week I finally had to shoot him. He did feed some other critter and was gone the next day.
 Did I mention, I do not like copperheads? Because I really don't.

[WhitePineJunky]

I had no idea New England had copper heads OGH
seems the more south you go the more natural threats you need to worry about 

[Old Greenhorn]

Yeah, we got 'em. They are shy, don't get too big, and rarely seen. They keep to themselves. When I was about ten we were at a state park visitors center about 30 minutes from where I live now. I saw a little snake about 14" long slithering across and field stone patio and I followed it trying to catch it. All of a sudden I felt a big frim grip on my shoulder. It was a park ranger and he patiently explained (after scaring the dickens out of me) that I should never try to pick up a snake I could not positively identify. That one was a baby copperhead.
 Thus began my training in the natural world and I began working on my education in species identification.  I know what they look like now.
 Yes, we do have a few nuisance critters around here that can hurt you, but not many. Mostly it's the lawyers and politicians I worry about more than copperheads, we have a LOT of those. At least you know what a copperhead will do.

[doc henderson]

well, in western Ks we have prairie rattlers.  here in the south central, eastern part we have Massasauga rattlers.  do not get too big and can fool you.  I was dethatching when we first moved here and blissfully unaware of this species.  I dethatched one so it came on the sidewalk and my Dog at the time "Norman Rockwell" (all the chocolate lab names were taken in my family, Hershy, cocoa) was barking a steady alert alert, woof woof.  the snake was sunning itself to recover from a few punctures.  about 18 inches long the rattle moved but made no sound, so of course I picked it up by the tail and slid it into a bucket to take to my cousin Mikes house for proper ID.  On arrival the snake was gone, and hopefully not in the cab somehow.  

So old saw fixer, how did it taste...  

[WV Sawmiller]

  I have killed enough snakes to last me a lifetime. Started when I was about 6 and got my first BB gun. Most were harmless water snakes and rat snakes and such that would have been better left alive and even most of the cottonmouths weren't really doing any harm. I could outfit a bait and tackle shop with the poles and boat paddles I've broken killing snakes on the river and lakes.

    In my old age I have become more tolerant and will leave them alone when I find them in the woods, lake and fields away from people and pets. Yes, I will still kill a rattler or cottonmouth around homes where there are kids and pets.

    In Ethiopia on December 28, 2010 on the way to the Omo valley we found a 5' snake crossing the road and stopped to take pictures. I stopped the snake with a leafy branch while my wife took pictures. The local guide asked if I wanted to kill it. I told him there were no villages around so let it go. He and our daughter prudently ran and got back int he car. When we got to a place with internet we looked it up and found it was a Black Mamba. At 5' long it was a basically a juvenile. It never threatened us but it was not a smart thing to do.

  Anyway I suggest if it does not represent a threat to consider leaving them alone.

[Southside]

Historical average is one Copperhead chooses poorly on my farm each year.  Black snakes get a pass, Kings are given the Royal treatment since they kill Copperheads, actually saw one last week.  Copperheads get the Boot, Scoot, and Boogie treatment however, presuming there isn't a preferred stand off weapon available.  Largest one I got was 42" long and as big around as my forearm at the elbow.  That was an impressive snake, but the trophy story isn't quite as impressive.  Ran it over with the bush hog and found it on the next pass.  I did skin it and made it into a hat band however.  

[WV Sawmiller]

    We had a copperhead bite a State Politician who was picking up his political signs after our primary election. a few weeks ago. I hope the snake didn't get sick.

[Southside]

Yea that was just a political stunt, they are on the same team actually. 

[Old saw fixer]

That was the second copperhead this season in proximity to the house.  The previous snake one was dispatched by my older grandson with hedge shears.
I haven't seen our usual black snakes recently.  Maybe killed by copperheads?

[Southside]

The black snakes are only now showing up and over the past week I found a few skin sheds so they will probably become more active shortly. 

[WV Sawmiller]

Yea that was just a political stunt, they are on the same team actually.

Actually the guy that got bit was one of the losing candidates.

[Southside]

See it was his party leadership giving him the whatfor. 

[YellowHammer]

I'm not much of a snake guy, I don't mind the rat snakes and kings, but any poisonous ones in my living bubble get evicted.  We have too many kids, dogs, activity, etc and copperheads and moccasin snakes know they are poisonous and can get real mean and even aggressive.  Here's one I dug up in a scrap pile the fall, about 100 feet from my kid's house, and this monster sized one came up on my excavator bucket, mouth open, lots of "cotton" and he was really upset, I guess I can't blame him.  I still can't figure out how he wasn't mushed up, did he actually climb into my bucket while it was in the pile?  I don't know.  Compared to the size of the excavator bucket he is dripping off, that's a big snake!  Very well camouflaged.  Look how much is hanging out of frame out off the bottom of the picture.     

Water moccasins are probably the most aggressive I've ever seen, I had one cross a 20 foot creek and come directly at me.  I could hardly believe it, he literally swam directly at me, crossed the creek, climbed the bank and I finally I shot him at my feet!  What was worse was that I was with a friend who spotted him first on the far bank, and said "Keep an eye on him, he may come at us" and I said "No way" but yes, he did.

  I had another that swam toward us across a lake, head up like the Loch Ness monster, while I was fishing from a hundred foot away.  He just kept coming and despite being whipped very enthusiastically with fishing rods when he got within range, he successfully climbed into the boat with me and my buddy, where it was dispatched with a boat paddle and landing net.  The snake and landing net did not survive the experience.

All I ever heard for years while I was growing up was  "Snakes aren't aggressive, don't bother them and they won't bother you", but I have personal experience otherwise.  It's kind of like back in the time when all we heard about sharks was "they won't bother you, they only attack out of mistaken identity, blah blah blah."  Both are wrong.      

    

 

[Southside]

After the first story I was expecting to hear that your boat was in need of new plug when the second snake showed up. 

[YellowHammer]

One of the absolute, funniest, one liners I've ever heard in real life was my big, bad, country fishing buddy, in the back of the boat, climbing up on the boat seat like the proverbial elephant trying to get away from a mouse yelling in a high pitched little girly voice: "There ain't room in this boat for all of us!" as he was about to abandon ship as the Loch Ness Monster slithered aboard!  It was quite a chaotic scene as I told him, while I was busy whipping the snake with my fishing rod, if he bailed out and the snake got me, I wasn't coming back to get him! I was going straight to the hospital and he would have to swim to shore!  He could tell I was serious.

He then manned up real quick then started whacking the inside of the boat and the snake with our landing net with such violence that the people on the fishing dock, a fair way off, started watching us and wondered if a murder was going on.  By the way, we never killed the snake despite our best efforts.  It made its escape with a few bruises, but we recovered.

We were at a missile test range, a place called the "Snake Pit" and we were driving down the range road going back to the office, and my buddy in the truck ahead swerved and ran smack over a huge moccasin, both tires.  He did not like snakes.  I will never forget, as the tires ran over the snake, it turned up and struck the truck tire!  Its bit the truck tire!  We both stopped and jumped out, and the snake had already slithered into the swamp.  We didn't kill it.  
  



     

[Southside]

Had a 7' black snake show up today, wife found it perched on the egg washer.  Good thing it was on the machine and not in it as I would probably still be removing parts and pieces of it from the chain conveyor and spinning brush systems.  Definitely the biggest one I have ever seen and talk about strong.  Took two snake poles to get the thing out of there and carried it out into a field and let it go.  I got bitten by one a few years back working on my disc mower, not a horrible experience but not something I plan on doing again.  

[newoodguy78]

Yellowhammer that's a great story, I could just picture that going on and what the people watching were probably saying to one another 

There's not much for poisonous snakes around here and for the most part snakes don't bother me much and typically get a pass. I'm not a fan of aggressive ones or when they come out of nowhere and surprise me however.

Couple years back I had to move some 40' lengths of 2" irrigation pipe from one farm to another. Hotter than anything and bone dry that day. For anyone that doesn't know it's just thin wall aluminum tubing essentially. Took a kid with me and had to chainsaw my way into the stuff it had been sitting there so long made all sorts of ruckus getting a path cut. Two of us then loaded it onto the ladder rack of my pickup. Drove the couple miles to the final destination real slow as the ends were flopping pretty good.

Get about halfway through and my word did I get a surprise. I'm on one end the kids on the other both of us are on tiptoes , hands over our heads fully extended trying get this particular piece off. Floppy thing was hanging up and wouldn't come out. Worked my way towards the end, pulled down on the end while pushing up with the other trying to get the middle to go up. That's when it happened. 

Saw something out of the corner of my eye, felt it brush my arm as it went over my shoulder and hit my calf before landing on the ground behind me. As this is going on I didn't know what it actually was but the kid started yelling " LOOKOUT!!!, What the heck is that thing?!!! Adding to the chaos of the moment my boss comes running out of the greenhouse wanting to know if we're alright trying to figure out if I'm hurt or what's going on. The pipe comes free and I turn around to see what in the world just came out of the pipe. It was a dang snake and a big one with a genuine bad attitude. Keep in mind this all happened within a matter of seconds.

The stupid thing is coming at me fast with its mouth open, I take off running not knowing what kind of snake it was . My boss sees it who is deathly afraid of ALL snakes no matter the size. Immediately she spins 180 degrees and takes off yelling even faster in the opposite direction . Had no idea she could move that fast. Dust is flying everywhere.
I see a short piece of pipe laying in the direction I'm headed with this very pithed off slithering creature in hot pursuit. Fortunately I beat him to it as at this point was starting to think it was possessed by the devil.I was absolutely not polite introducing it to the pipe repeatedly. I won but man was that sucker tough.

A coworker looked up and found out it was some sort of non venomous water snake that's known for being aggressive. The name slips me now but I can attest to the aggressive part. It was just shy of 42" long and big enough around it just barely fit in that 2" pipe. The skin in particular the belly was quite pretty after the dust settled. In those few seconds it all took place I was momentarily wondering if it was going to be my demise.

The three of us had a good laugh about the whole ordeal that's for sure. 

[Southside]

A couple who are customers and friends pulled in one day and they were both completely frazzled.  He wanted a water hose NOW and she just wanted out of the car.  He always has some fancy Audi or BMW or whatever and this was one of those, all white, inside and out, convertible, and the wife was wearing white.  They were about a mile from the farm when "KER-SPLAT" a 4' or so long snake fell out of the sky, hit the windshield, and flipped over the top into the wifes lap.  A hawk had dropped it but not before getting a few talon wounds into it so snake blood and guts were on the hood, windshield, seat, wife.  I helped with the hose and my wife helped with what she could on the white blouse but danG it was hard not to laugh!! 

[SwampDonkey]

Oh, boy what a scene. Don't pay to leave the drive way some days. 

My gramp loved going to the Presque Isle fair. This one time was a tent show with a snake charmer and a live snake. Well, she was dancing and crouching with that thing. She was kind of close to the edge of the ring one time, which had a boarded panel, like a hockey rink. Well, she crouched down out of sight, then as she stood up she flung a snake into the air, which struck my gramp in the chest. Holy cow, it was almost a cardiac arrest right then and there. Turned out it had been a fake rubber snake she threw. Gramp was deathly afraid of snakes, even our harmless garder snakes. If there was a snake in the path to a fish camp, he wasn't going near the place. That snake charmer probably adrenalized his phobia. Well, the story was always good for a laugh. He was a great story teller, and thing was they're 'mostly' truthful. You know a good story teller has to spice it up a little. Miss him terribly, so did many of his clients who came to his camps to fish and hunt in NB. They came almost as much for the stories and granmother's good cook'n as they did to bag a deer.

[Old Greenhorn]

OK, since we are into the 'totally true and unadorned' stories now, I'll share one. 
 When we bought this house 35 or so year ago the pine beetles had just finished cruising our road and left some hulking standing carcasses in their path. I had two topped on my front lawn out by the road by a climbing friend and I took car of the rest. My neighbor across the road (may he rest in Peace) asked his good buddy and former neighbor who was a logger to come drop two of his that were right on the road edge next to the power and phone lines. Pretty big trees but fairly easy for a very experienced cutter. Now I know the neighbor is deathly afraid on ANY snakes and dispatched all he came across. Turns out, the logger fella was even worse.
 So on the morning of the job, the logger is out there and the neighbor is there to monitor traffic and safety. He is standing 25' from the stump and watching to make sue there are no signs on lean toward the high lines. So the logger begins cutting and puts in his face notch then swigs around to do the back cut. As he get a couple of inches in and is bent over as we all do, this huge black snake decides to bail out of the tree and land right across his neck but because he is bent over, the snake drapes down on both sides of his neck and when he stands up, half the snake is hanging down over each shoulder. Well the saw is now idling still in the back cut, the logger is jumping around and spinning like a ballerina trying to swing this snake off, the neighbor has abandoned his traffic safety responsibilities completely and is backing up and laughing at the girly sounds coming out of this rough burly loggers mouth along with some salty word, all in a high soprano voice. Finally the loggers stumbles on a rock and grabs a small tree to keep his feet, this move throws off the delicate snake balancing setup and the snake flies off his right shoulder, into the duff and gone in the blink of an eye. The neighbor needed several minutes to regain his wits, the logger was ticked off that no 'help' was offered as he did his 'anti-snake dance' and really didn't want to finish the tree off. but you can't leave a tree like that, so after a VERY careful inspection with binoculars, he dropped that one and the next one and was done.
 Now as I got to know my neighbor over the years he loved to retell that story with vivid descriptions of the vocal sounds and 'the dance'. He never related how much he feared snakes, I found that out years later.

[Don P]

For several years there was one large, ornery rat snake down at the mill with a pair of scars where "someone" lit up all 4 posi tires of that old Dodge pickup crossing on top of him, hoping to kill the monster. It just made mongo mad.

We were on one jobsite and there was a commotion outside the camper. My wife stepped around the corner just as our black and tan was shaking and slinging a snake in half. There was a line of stinky snake guts right across Michelle's shirt  . I don't care for snakes but don't go looking for trouble, as my wife reminds me, she pointed out a ring neck I sat on when we were climbing around at the cliff. That dog absolutely hated snakes and would kill any he saw.

[SwampDonkey]

 My belly hurts now. You guys south of the border can tell a few when you have to. And that's a fact. Love it.