snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
|
Post by snuffy on Jul 14, 2010 21:36:36 GMT -5
I have been sawing rocks tonight. My shed is about 15 yards from my house. Something caught my eye by the door of my shed as I was walking out. Shorts and sandals on. My dog kept an eye on it and showed me where it was hiding after I went in the house to get my gun and flashlight. Kinda ruined my fun. keep an eye out,by the way,that is a copperhead. snuffy
|
|
|
Post by FrogAndBearCreations on Jul 14, 2010 21:51:39 GMT -5
man oh man are you lucky you had your dog with you! I love reptiles but thats too close a call!
|
|
|
Post by NatureNut on Jul 14, 2010 21:53:51 GMT -5
That makes chills go up my spine! Of course, Randy would probably make a pet out of it.;D LOL
|
|
|
Post by jakesrocks on Jul 14, 2010 22:09:56 GMT -5
Pitty it's too small to make a belt out of. That's a pretty hide. Maybe a collar for your dog. Don
|
|
|
Post by Condor on Jul 14, 2010 22:20:29 GMT -5
You must be an expert marksman if you shot it with a gun. The way you blew its head off and all.
Condor
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 14, 2010 22:20:29 GMT -5
Pretty snake. Prettier if you'd have left it alive and just moved it to a safe spot away from folks. When I set up the snake rescue here on the ranch folks said " Oh you rescue people from snakes. How nice." My reply was, " No I rescue snakes from people." Lots of folks find that odd, but I don't. ......Mel
|
|
|
Post by jakesrocks on Jul 14, 2010 22:27:35 GMT -5
Never met a rattle snake I didn't like, as long as I could move away safely. But when in their country, I always wear a gun loaded with snake shot. Don
|
|
snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
|
Post by snuffy on Jul 14, 2010 22:35:20 GMT -5
Mel, I ,leave all the assorted garden snakes alone,but I do too much digging around the garden plants and rockpiles,and got four grandkids running around to let a poisonous snake stay around.I aint gonna chase that snake around at night trying to catch it.
snuffy
|
|
|
Post by Toad on Jul 14, 2010 23:41:04 GMT -5
Very pretty snake.
|
|
|
Post by Bikerrandy on Jul 15, 2010 17:16:25 GMT -5
That's a pretty one. When I lived in Orlando, the biggest problem was people killing water moccasins. Anything that was a snake was a water moccasin. lol
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 15, 2010 18:03:27 GMT -5
Randy: Boy I hear that! According to numerous authorities, we don't even have Moccasins here but folks are always killing all the neat watersnakes and saying they're moccasins. I try to educate folks but Texans seem very resistant to not shooting or running over every friggin critter that crosses their path. My wife actually saw someone back up on a busy road to run over a turtle the other day! I love the folks here but that is the one issue I have a hard time wrapping my mind around. They're either the biggest bunch of pussy fraidy cats I've ever seen, the most kill crazy lot towards critters, or their mommas didn't raise them right.
Snuffy; I hear your concerns but a snake stick or tongs are not that expensive and if you can see it to shoot it you can catch and move it with no need to pick it up or expose yourself to a bite.*L*. Less yore one of them derned fraidy cats of course *L*
Condor: WTF! You don't shoot a snake from 400 yards and the snake ain't running and jumping all over the damn place dodging your bullets. They're friggin cowering in front of the horrific looking, tree tall monster and trying not to get killed. Excellent shot? Naw! Just reptilian murder.
|
|
snuffy
Cave Dweller
Member since May 2009
Posts: 4,319
|
Post by snuffy on Jul 15, 2010 18:25:36 GMT -5
400 yards? Think it was more like 500. Yeah,thats right,maybe more,yeah thats right! ;D.On the top limb of a tall tree.Yeah,thats right,I'm a purty good shot. ;D
snuffyjonlovitz
|
|
grayfingers
Cave Dweller
Member since November 2007
Posts: 4,575
|
Post by grayfingers on Jul 15, 2010 19:24:31 GMT -5
Boy, I sure see both sides of the issue of killing venomous snakes. Last summer I was agate hunting on the Yellowstone river. I was walking around bent over searching the bases of small willows a few feet from a high water cut bank. Suddenly, I was confronted with the biggest rattler I had ever seen. He instantly coiled and buzzed, he was less than two feet from my face. I let out a primal bellow and jumped back like a scalded cat. I thought about killing him, but he was so beautiful I just could not do it. Besides, he had me cold and though I was easily well within his striking range he did not launch. I figured I should show the same restraint he did.
My elderly parents are depression kids raised on small cattle and sheep ranches. To them the only good snake is a dead snake. They could not believe I had let it go "so it can bite somebody else".
I have to say if I had venomous snakes with kids around, I might not be so charitable. Mel has a good point about relocating the snake, they do a great service in rodent control. I'll bet Mel is horrified over those big rattler roundups they have in Sweetwater Texas every year.
|
|
Sabre52
Cave Dweller
Me and my gal, Rosie
Member since August 2005
Posts: 20,466
|
Post by Sabre52 on Jul 16, 2010 8:22:08 GMT -5
*LOL* 500 yards!!!! Now that's some serious shooting. Got to respect that kind of shootin even if'n you kilt some purty innocent little snake. Always seems to me there's other more deserving snakes of the two legged sort what could use a little curin of their lead deficiency problems.
Gray: Yep, not a fan of roundups. They have them in parts of Oklahoma too or at least used to when I was a kid. But then viewed from the other angle, danged if they seem to still get a lot of snakes every year too so they must have kind of a thriving population. I guess, if they are that common and not being wiped out, one could see them as a renewable food resource like deer. Rattlesnake is actually pretty tasty....Mel
|
|
|
Post by frane on Jul 16, 2010 9:43:33 GMT -5
I have to go with Snuffy on this one. When children are around, I have seen too many get bitten without warning around homes and in flower beds, generally chasing a ball or just running around their yard. A rattle snake almost killed my cat in Texas and even though she survived the bite, she died a year later and had never gotten back to her usual health. My grandmother had been bitten by a cottonmouth and almost died when she was younger so in the yard, they get no respect. Non venomous snakes, they get moved away from the house. They also move a whole lot faster than I had thought the moved when it is warm outside and I hate having to run but I sure do when they start their little rattle! ( I am one of those chicken livered fraidy cats). Fran
|
|
|
Post by jakesrocks on Jul 16, 2010 10:36:16 GMT -5
Nothing better than rattlesnake fried in beer batter.
|
|