First copperhead of the year...

[skfullgun]

Not the first snake, that would have been about a 4' coachwhip that scared the she-ite out of me about a month ago down by the creek. Dang thing was moving like lightning trying to get away from me and I was happy to let him!

This afternoon I was shredding some overgrown trails that had 3-4' brush and saplings. Easy work. Out of the corner of my eye I see a copperhead vectoring off to my right. The vibration of the tractor and shredder had him seeking "elsewhere". I stopped, drew my .38 snubby with CCI shot, and fired. He was about 6' from the muzzle. I had time to aim right at his head. Bang! No effect, other than a noticeable ACCELERATION on his part. No way I missed with that CCI shot, but I did miss him four MORE times with .38 special HP ammo.

I normailly load my own .38 special shot, and .32 H&R mag shotshells and have great luck with them. Maybe it was a fluke, I was using the CCI's because I found an old box of them and have not had time to reload any of my own home-brew lately. I'll load some rat shot in my Ruger .22 tomorrow.

Forgot to mention he was a biggun', pushing 30", which ain't no baby when it come to copperheads.

 

[TxStetson]

Not the first snake, that would have been about a 4' coachwhip that scared the she-ite out of me about a month ago down by the creek. Dang thing was moving like lightning trying to get away from me and I was happy to let him!

This afternoon I was shredding some overgrown trails that had 3-4' brush and saplings. Easy work. Out of the corner of my eye I see a copperhead vectoring off to my right. The vibration of the tractor and shredder had him seeking "elsewhere". I stopped, drew my .38 snubby with CCI shot, and fired. He was about 6' from the muzzle. I had time to aim right at his head. Bang! No effect, other than a noticeable ACCELERATION on his part. No way I missed with that CCI shot, but I did miss him four MORE times with .38 special HP ammo.

I normailly load my own .38 special shot, and .32 H&R mag shotshells and have great luck with them. Maybe it was a fluke, I was using the CCI's because I found an old box of them and have not had time to reload any of my own home-brew lately. I'll load some rat shot in my Ruger .22 tomorrow.

Forgot to mention he was a biggun', pushing 30", which ain't no baby when it come to copperheads.

Kill it with fire

 

[busykngt]

Last July 4th I was grilling out on the back patio and about half way through, looked down to see a copperhead about two or three feet away in the grass. My backyard slopes down to a wooded creek area. I missed him with a shovel and he darted back under the patio apparently from where he had come. He wasn’t full grown, maybe a couple feet long. I knew they were in the area; the previous Fall, I had killed a juvenile about 6 or 8 inches long - still had the yellow flash on its tail.

This stuff is incredibly sticky (until it cures) and I needed to fill the erosion gap under the patio, so I decided to entomb him. Assuming he came into contact with this stuff when I sprayed it, I’m sure it permanently ensnared him.

 

[BRD@66]

I saw a big grass snake the other day.

 

[Charlie]

Not the first snake, that would have been about a 4' coachwhip that scared the she-ite out of me about a month ago down by the creek. Dang thing was moving like lightning trying to get away from me and I was happy to let him!

This afternoon I was shredding some overgrown trails that had 3-4' brush and saplings. Easy work. Out of the corner of my eye I see a copperhead vectoring off to my right. The vibration of the tractor and shredder had him seeking "elsewhere". I stopped, drew my .38 snubby with CCI shot, and fired. He was about 6' from the muzzle. I had time to aim right at his head. Bang! No effect, other than a noticeable ACCELERATION on his part. No way I missed with that CCI shot, but I did miss him four MORE times with .38 special HP ammo.

I normailly load my own .38 special shot, and .32 H&R mag shotshells and have great luck with them. Maybe it was a fluke, I was using the CCI's because I found an old box of them and have not had time to reload any of my own home-brew lately. I'll load some rat shot in my Ruger .22 tomorrow.

Forgot to mention he was a biggun', pushing 30", which ain't no baby when it come to copperheads.

No pics?

 

[Southpaw]

I saw a big grass snake the other day.

 

[deemus]

I hate copperheads. And BTW, 2 ft is definitely full grown.

 

[jordanmills]

i found this exhibitionist couple in my back yard a couple of days ago. got the rat shot and the phone but decided to just use the phone. Wasn't sure if they were copperheads until i got up close. But i am pretty sure they are rat snakes, so i let them get away to keep feasting.

 

[BRD@66]

If you change your mind about their fate, do a head shot & throw the unwounded body in a ziplock in your freezer & I'll come get it. I need a hatband.

 

[lonestardiver]

i found this exhibitionist couple in my back yard a couple of days ago. got the rat shot and the phone but decided to just use the phone. Wasn't sure if they were copperheads until i got up close. But i am pretty sure they are rat snakes, so i let them get away to keep feasting.

View attachment 142132

They were making baby rat snakes.

 

[busykngt]

I hate copperheads. And BTW, 2 ft is definitely full grown.

Well...so, maybe I did get the “mama” - in any case, I haven’t seen anymore around. (thank goodness... I’m like Indiana Jones when it comes to snakes!). Thanks to my older brother chasing me around the yard with dead water moccasins draped over sticks, he had killed down at the creek when I was about five years old!

 

[skfullgun]

No pics, sorry! The coachwhip didn't exactly stick around for a photo op. Besides, it's hard to snap a photo when you are doing the high-step and screaming like a third-grade girl.

 

[lonestardiver]

Coach Whips can grow to 8’ long. While they have short teeth, they have a nasty bite as they tend to hang on. That is how they suffocate mice and such.

 

[kenboyles72]

Only seen two snakes this year, a cottonmouth down at the pond and another unknown that slithered off the path leading to the pond. Usually by this time, I have seen many snakes down in the pasture and around the pond. Maybe fireants have something to do with it?

Take that back, I have killed two rat snakes over at my mom's, they been eating her baby chicks and eggs. I know there is about two or more there, as too many eggs and chicks are coming up a miss.

Rat snake(?) I caught at the house two years ago

Seems this was just a common water snake, thought it was something else. I'm 6'2" btw

Rat snake I shot at mom's house, I had cut it open to get her fake egg back, if you look, you can see a pair of chicken feet that came out

Grass snake I caught down at the pond, daughter was playing with it

Oh yeah, garter snake I caught couple months ago

 

[lonestardiver]

That was possibly a diamond back water snake...fairly aggressive in nature. I couldn’t see well enough in the picture.

 

[busykngt]

I’ve run across a couple of good sized Texas Rat Snakes... they can have a darn ‘bad attitude’!

 

[rman]

i found this exhibitionist couple in my back yard a couple of days ago. got the rat shot and the phone but decided to just use the phone. Wasn't sure if they were copperheads until i got up close. But i am pretty sure they are rat snakes, so i let them get away to keep feasting.

View attachment 142132

western rat snake... I been learnin

Sent from my SIG Sauer

 

[busykngt]

western rat snake...

Soon to be western rat snakeS....
jest sayin’
—
Word of the day: oviparous (o-vip-a-rous)
= birth by egg laying (rat snakes)

———————
Copperheads, on the other hand are: ovoviviparous (born live). Yellow flash on their tails.

 

[motorcarman]

I got 2 twenty inchers in the past few weeks. One got my Blue Heeler pup on the face. The other came out of hiding when my wife watered some shrubs along the fence.

Ruger Security Six with blue shotshell capsules loaded with #9 shot.

bob

 

[karlac]

I’ve run across a couple of good sized Texas Rat Snakes... they can have a darn ‘bad attitude’!

Last year I killed 13 small copperheads in the lake house yard, cleaned out the overgrown flower beds and rocked them, this year nada ...

This water snake (Northern?) came back for a week to the same spot, despite being thrown back in the water with a boat gaff each morning I went fishing. Not aggressive, but damned stubborn/persistent.