Now you all know I take some pretty "crappy" pictures but this one just takes the cake....

[Dakota8338 115]

On 5/7/2019 at 6:30 PM, ebinmaine said:

Definitely agree with what you say about the poisonous snakes and that's the thing that bugs me about them the most. I've never ever had to live with them so I have no idea about how to do so.

 

I try to always be watchful & vigilant for snakes when in the woods.  Even then I have had a few close calls, but thankfully I have never been bite by a single snake, and I truly hope to never have that experience.  (We had a young lady in her late teens from church a few years back, who drove down to a friends home, just a few houses distance down the street after dark.  When she exited the auto, she stepped on a Copperhead which bit her on the back of her ankle.  She spent a couple nights in the hospital, but survived the incident easily.)  Not all bites from a venomous snake result in venom being injected into the victim, but I would rather never experience a bite at all.  Just being cautious where one places their hands, stepping on a down log then stepping far away in case a snake is laying beside or under the log also helps prevent being bitten.  A boy who lived fairly close to where I grew up & went to school with stepped over a log squirrel hunting and was bitten on the calf of his leg by a Rattlesnake in the early 1960's.  He also survived the bite.  Those two individuals are the only victims of snake bite which I know personally, and they were almost polar extremes.  One was in the woods hunting, the other was in town, where concrete & neatly trimmed grass was the order of the day, but it just illustrates the fact snakes can turn up at the least expected times or places, here in the Deep South.  

 

I always scan the ground ahead of my planned walking path, but some of our snakes are so well camouflaged they can be overlooked by the inexperienced, and occasionally by even the experienced.  I would estimate most victims of snakebites were bitten by carelessness or extenuating circumstances more than anything else.  The young lady I mentioned first, probably never saw the snake because of it being night time, and a snake being in the driveway was the last thing she expected, so there was extenuating circumstances at play in her bite.  My school mate was just plain careless, in the way he stepped over the fallen tree. 

 

Growing up with the presence of snakes, probably makes one more keenly aware of proper snake etiquette than one who is transplanted into snake country, but a little reading and obtaining an experienced woodsman as a mentor should easily transform a novice into one with a well developed sense of behavior for snake country.          

[ebinmaine 67,274]

@Dakota8338

Well stated response there. Thank you for taking the time to reply.

 

I find it very intriguing  that different environments and climates and regions have customs that can vary a little bit or even be completely opposite from one another.

You write about how you would never step OVER a log. You would always step ON the log. Inspect the far side and then step down. Here in the Northeast I have woods experience in Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.

 I was taught right from a very young age in the Cub scouts and then even recently in the last few years by woods people and mountain hikers that we never ever ever step ON a log. The reasoning that we are given is that the log could be slippery, broken or rotted inside, ready to break, possibly throwing us off of it in any number of different directions. We are told to either step OVER the log which you all would never do, or go out around it somehow. 

 

 

 

[WVHillbilly520H 10,373]

15 hours ago, Dakota8338 said:

I try to always be watchful & vigilant for snakes when in the woods.

 

Growing up with the presence of snakes, probably makes one more keenly aware of proper snake etiquette than one who is transplanted into snake country, but a little reading and obtaining an experienced woodsman as a mentor should easily transform a novice into one with a well developed sense of behavior for snake country.          

Proper clothing/boots also play a big role in this as well, I grew up deep in the woods and hollers of West Virginia, dirt roads to my home well into my 20s. Snakes for the most part in my area prefer rocks to den and warm themselves in on around and creeks, usually a rattler will warn you, but a copperhead will have the odor of cucumbers where no garden is near... I do have a distant friend that was bitten by a copperhead helping his father with junk car removal when scrap prices were there highest years ago, he survived also.

[Dakota8338 115]

14 hours ago, ebinmaine said:

We are told to either step OVER the log which you all would never do, or go out around it somehow. 

 

 

Going around, would probably be the smarter, but I have personally seen many snakes both under & beside a downed tree just laying in wait for a meal.  Surprising such a snake would most likely get its attention very swiftly, and stepping on one would very likely result in a strike.  Allowing adequate space when circumventing obstacles is also prudent, in case a resting or hunting snake is encountered.   

[Dakota8338 115]

5 hours ago, WVHillbilly520H said:

Proper clothing/boots also play a big role in this as well, I grew up deep in the woods and hollers of West Virginia, dirt roads to my home well into my 20s. Snakes for the most part in my area prefer rocks to den and warm themselves in on around and creeks, usually a rattler will warn you, but a copperhead will have the odor of cucumbers where no garden is near... I do have a distant friend that was bitten by a copperhead helping his father with junk car removal when scrap prices were there highest years ago, he survived also.

You are most correct about foot wear & clothing both.  I routinely wear boots in the woods and I have an excellent set of snake proof (at least snake resistant) leggings which I wore religiously when younger, but I rarely ever wear them these days.  I do like the added protection they provide, but they are hot, heavy & make extra noise, all of which I do not care for.  I also, almost always, wear gloves when working and hunting both.  The gloves chosen for each activity are selected to afford the greatest security to my hands during each pursuit.  Hunting I am most concerned with warmth yet having a fine touch or feel for manipulating safeties, triggers, etc.  When working, I strictly want thick gloves which provide the greatest defense against briars, thorns, cuts, scrapes, stings and bites from any & all things.  Just picking up something off the ground which disturbs a fire ant nest not previously seen, with gloves on, will often prevent a lot of stings to the bear hands, from the little spit fire monsters straight from the pits of hell! 

 

And as Paul Harvey used to say, "The other side of the story, is...."  I suffered a massive heart-attack in 2012, and I have been on a blood thinner, and take a single 325 mg Aspirin daily.  I don't bleed like a stuck pig as the old saying goes, but gloves prevent a lot of cuts and scrapes especially from briars, thorns & vines, when mowing and doing other activities about the place.  I also wear long sleeves when doing any activities where I may come into contact with briars, thorns and other items which could scrape, scratch, cut or tear bare skin.  Admittedly a  with the gloves, but worn for protection from any & all things, does include snakes too!

 

I encounter Copperheads & Water (Cottonmouth) Moccasin's more than Rattlesnakes, but Rattlesnakes are definitely encountered.  I can not recall ever encountering a Rattlesnake, which rattled before I killed it.  Some didn't rattle even when action was taken to remove them from all thing living, and others told the whole world they were ticked-off, when their own demise was at hand.  Early in my career as a compliance officer, I encountered a Copperhead in the milk room at a dairy barn one morning.  Later asked if I cited the dairy for the snake, I said no, I just killed the Copperhead and went on about my inspection.  I am like the missionary who said one time, I hate all five kinds of snakes.  He said he had been told there wasn't five kinds, but he said he knew differently, that there were venomous snakes, non-venomous snakes, live snakes, dead snakes & rubber snakes, and he still hated them all.  I don't molest the rubber, dead & non-venomous ones, unless they startle me so suddenly, I have killed them before I have time to realize they were not venomous.  So occasionally there is some collateral damage where snakes are involved.   

 

I have been told by others various snakes emit an odor, but I have never detected an odor about a live one, nor any I, or others, have killed.  Unless it is a very potent perfume, or aftershave I rarely ever smell, either unless I am extremely close to the wearer, like in a crowded elevator.  I do not go about smelling people, nor do I try and smell a live or dead snake.  I guess my olfactory receptors are not as developed as some peoples, so I prefer to visually observe for snakes, over trying to smell for them.  For those of you that can smell snakes, you have an added advantage when in snake country, I wish, I shared with you.    

 

I did have a Copperhead, I was searching for, which had just bitten my German Shepherd, try to imitate a rattler.  The Shepherd was still a young dog and had probably never encountered a snake before.  I knew in my own mind it was a snake by the way she acted and then when she went to crying after being bit, I knew it was a snake.  The Copperhead was in some leaves, but I had his location targeted.  I had a long handle brush clearing hook, and had stabbed it into the leaves a few times in an effort to injure, kill, or run the snake into the open.  It went to vibrating its tail in the leaves which did imitate a Rattlesnake, but it did not sound like a Rattlesnake.  It did finally run under a six foot length of tin on the ground.  I took the Shepherd and placed her in the back of the Jeep and told the wife to take her to the Vet just up the road, and to tell them she was bitten probably twice on her nose, by a Copperhead, which I saw.  Then I proceeded to go back, find & kill the Copperhead.  His only chance would have been to simply vacate the property, because that was one snake, I intended to hunt down & kill.  

 

Once I could provide my undivided attention to the Copperhead, I cautiously moved the tin with the brush hook.  There was a small hole in the ground under the tin, so I set the water hose next to the hole and turned the water to a steady flow then waited.  It probably wasn't as long as it seemed. but it seemed like forever waiting.  Then slowly a little flickering tongue appeared at the opening in the ground.  I also had a flat very sharp edged shovel handy, and as the little beedie eyed monster had his head one to two inches above the opening, I slammed the sharp flat shovel at a shallow angle right through the hole, and I ended the career of one more Copperhead.  Once the Copperhead was out of the hole, I continued to watch the hole as it completely filled with water, should there be any others there, but none exited, even when the hole was no longer taking in any water.  I broke the Copperheads backbone in a dozen places then threw it over the fence and watched a buzzard swoop down and carry his carcass away.  Mia Belle stayed at the Vets office until closing time, when they discharged her.  She was so full of pain medicine and antibiotics, she was feeling no pain and swayed like a drunk as she walked.  She slept in the utility room that night.  I let her out for a few minutes, just before going to bed myself and she walked a little better, but still swayed a little as she walked.  By morning she was running around/about normal, and it was hard to find where the Copperhead had bit her.