This thread is why I keep multiple shoguns handy and got a nice easy to throw on holster for the Ruger Blackhawk.
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It’s just a Ribbon Snake. He was searching for frogs. Completely harmless.harmless water snake in the center of the pile with his head up and mouth open? Looks like a snake skin covered egg just below that. Or is it something / somewhere else?
Pistol shotshells are almost useless for larger snakes unless you are really close to them. As in close enough to get bit distances, because snakes can move very fast. Their striking speed is miiliseconds.
How fast can a snake strike?
And like all snakes, their first weapon is not size or strength, but sheer speed. According to research published in March 2016, an average snake strike lasts somewhere between 44 and 70 milliseconds. To put that in perspective, it takes humans around 200ms to blink an eye.
A person would be better armed against venomous snakes with a shotgun, or a pistol like the Judge or Governor using 410 shells than a pistol with shotshells.
Younggun,
you will NEVER go fishing UNARMED again IF you get a cottonmouth as an uninvited guest IN the boat with you. == TRUST ME ON THAT.
I've had that EXCITEMENT more than a few times in NETX & in south LA, too. = I keep a S&W Model 65 loaded with shotshells for that event.
I killed one in my jonboat at OLIVER LAKE in NETX in 2010 that weighed 16 POUNDS & was 55" long. =BIG/FAT & ANGRY was he.
yours, satx
Probably better yet - a long stout stick you can either prod them to move with, or wack 'em on the head with that keeps you out of bite range.
That is entirely a personal choice. If we find venomous snakes, they are dispatched because of the dogs, us and the cows. A cow can die from a snakebite to the face or head area. And guess where a cow's head is when they are grazing grass? Right there at the ground!
They'd be more of the "wack 'em on the head" type then. My mom hates snakes. All snakes. She doesn't live in an area with dangerous snakes, but she kills every snake she sees. She keeps a hoe handy (and I'm not talking about my little sister, that's a whole 'nother train wreck!) for killing snakes.
I don't kill any non-venomous snakes anymore. Venomous snakes are dispatched for the reasons I previously mentioned. A lot of people have a fear of snakes. All snakes. Personally, I'm not a snake person, even with non-venomous types either, but those I just relocate away from me!
Same. I used to be a "kill 'em all and let God sort 'em out" type - now I'm of a 'you leave me be, I leave you be, unless you're a danger to others' mind. Venomous snakes near the house will probably meet their maker. They may or may not also wind up coated in corn meal and tossed in a pan, I kinda want to try fried snake after watching Bob Hansler's videos on it. Venomous snakes encountered away from the house will get to live unless they're aggressive, and they might be relocated if I can safely do so. So far of the dangerous sneks I've come across here, we all left the encounters alive and intact.
Of course we have dogs now - we added a third pupper to the pack last Saturday - and I'm hoping that if (more likely when) they get bit, they don't wind up dead or disabled from it. Newest pupper is only about 5 weeks old. The red neck lookin dude who sold her to us claimed 7, but there's no way in hell she's 7 weeks old. Her & her 10 siblings were all too small, especially for medium-large breed dogs. I'd hate to think of her getting bit, she probably wouldn't make it. Our other two are going on 7 months old, one's already 50 lbs, the other is 30-35ish. They could probably survive a hit at this point.
I usually see sidewinders and diamondbacks. I had seen 1 that looked like the dark patterened rattlesnakes in AZ, but couldn't confirm?Most of the water moccasins or cottonmouths I run across here at the farm, are usually in about the 24" to 30" range in size. A three footer is not common but I have seen a couple that large over the years around here. Thing is with cottonmouths, they are very large bodied snakes so their size and girth can be misleading making a person to think they are larger, and heavier than they are.
Most copperheads around here are less than 24" and a two footer is a large copperhead for this area. Longer than 24" are rare around here, and that's a very decent sized snake for our area.
When I relocate them, they are in several pieces!I don't kill any non-venomous snakes anymore. Venomous snakes are dispatched for the reasons I previously mentioned. A lot of people have a fear of snakes. All snakes. Personally, I'm not a snake person, even with non-venomous types either, but those I just relocate away from me!