What is wrong with people?

[Pro Logcatcher]

I just went and fished a pond close to me. I was enjoying the fresh air, the feel of the rod in my hands and the sun on the back of my neck. Then, from across the pond, I hear a thumping sound. I glance over, and I can't believe my eyes. A little kid is beating a snake with a stick while another one films it on his smartphone (I don't believe kids should have phones either, but that is a whole other thread). Of course, I rush over there and the one kid proudly proclaims "It's a rat snake! They aren't poisonous." After really letting them have it, I do a once over of the snake. Its spine is shattered in a bunch of places and it will be dead soon. The kids start to realize that they have done something wrong by killing a harmless animal and began to apologize. "Don't apologize to me," I say. "Apologize to the snake." They look blankly back at me, confused. By now, the animal has expired and I have them move it to the bushes. Later, I see them again, taking pictures of it. What is wrong with people? They didn't even seem to realize they had done anything wrong. I can't believe that some people have so little respect for the world that they would club something to death just to post it on their Facebook. Sorry about the rant. I just need to vent my anger.

[TnRiver46]

I have sadly done that before when I was little but there was no recording, i guess that doesn’t make it any better. As an adult I have freed a few from landscape netting, hopefully helped my karma a little. Kids are dumb and if their mother is anything like mine, she told them to kill every snake they saw. Mom doesn’t care what kind of snake it is, she doesn’t want to be in the same Zip code as any snake.

[BrianinMD]

Is not just kids, a lot of adults will kill the snake just because they saw it. Makes no sense for an harmless animal to die for no reason other than someone's irrational fear. 

[ratherbfishin1]

What do you guys think of cottenmouths because when I go to Missouri to a lake house the owner of the lake says if I see one kill it.  I am pretty sure they are pretty dangerous if you get bit so would it be different do you think?

[Way2slow]

People, those are the creatures I generally don't like.  Good people, those are a dying breed and becoming extinct.  They are already on the endangered species list.  

[senile1]

30 minutes ago, ratherbfishin1 said:

What do you guys think of cottenmouths because when I go to Missouri to a lake house the owner of the lake says if I see one kill it.  I am pretty sure they are pretty dangerous if you get bit so would it be different do you think?

Cottonmouths are poisonous but I would only kill one if I was in danger of being bitten - the old "Its either the snake or me" scenario.

[Way2slow]

Cotton mouths, probably one of the meanest, most territorial snakes you will ever run across.  If you are night fishing, they will come to the light and if in a boat, they will try to get in it.  When we go frog gigging, you always go with two people and two lights.  One to look for the frogs, and one to watch for the cotton mouths.  But still, if he leaves me alone, I leave him alone. 

[flyfisher]

I don't intentionally kill anything if at all possible with the exception of black widows around my house, having a toddler i just feel better about getting rid of them.  

 

as far as the kids go, it is what it is and they weren't taught to respect nature and the animals in it but i am guessing this won't happen again.

[OCdockskipper]

Nearly all serial killers have a history of animal abuse when they were young.  No remorse is a sign of a lack of empathy, a trait of sociopaths.

[Bluebasser86]

Your dumb people are my job security. 

[N Florida Mike]

I killed all kinds of things when I was young and turned out ok.

I have learned since then that God's creatures have a purpose.That purpose may be for me to eat them.

Certain bugs ( like roaches ) will all die.Rats will die. Cottonmouths will die if they come on my property. I have lightened up a lot, especially with non poisonous snakes. They keep the rat population down !

I personally wouldnt berate a kid that wasn't my own for killing a snake , but to each his own.

[OCdockskipper]

4 hours ago, N Florida Mike said:

I killed all kinds of things when I was young and turned out ok...

Mike, I wasn't suggesting that you or all children who kill things will grow up to be serial killers, rather that that action is one trait that seems to be common among them.  Kind of like saying that not all tall people are good basketball players, but nearly all good basketball players are tall.

 

If you have or are close to a child who kills animals and seems unfazed by it, pay attention. Most likely, he is just a curious boy, however if that behavior manifests itself into additional sociopath tendencies, you have got a problem.

[Fishing_FF]

14 hours ago, Bluebasser86 said:

Your dumb people are my job security. 

I too have a job because of dumb people. They pay for my house, my vehicles, my kids' school, food on the table, and for all my fishing tackles, so.......  

[LCG]

My guess is there might be a lack of parenting. 

 

The thing that drives me crazy is when people feel the need to toss there garbage all over the place and spoil a beautiful fishing spot. Bring a garbage bag, it is not that hard. Coffee cups, beer cans, worm containers, food wrappers... I am not a tree hugger but seriously how about a little appreciation nature. 

[ratherbfishin1]

1 hour ago, Luke G. said:

My guess is there might be a lack of parenting. 

 

The thing that drives me crazy is when people feel the need to toss there garbage all over the place and spoil a beautiful fishing spot. Bring a garbage bag, it is not that hard. Coffee cups, beer cans, worm containers, food wrappers... I am not a tree hugger but seriously how about a little appreciation nature. 

What about the big bundles of tangled line on the ground that trip you up... it’s like seriously people

[Darren.]

23 hours ago, ratherbfishin1 said:

What do you guys think of cottenmouths because when I go to Missouri to a lake house the owner of the lake says if I see one kill it.  I am pretty sure they are pretty dangerous if you get bit so would it be different do you think?

Just to set the record straight for those who call snakes

"poisonous", they are not.

 

Poison is ingested (swallowing hemlock) or by touch

(poison arrow frogs).

 

Venom is inJECTed. A cottonmouth is venomous, not

poisonous.  

 

As for cottonmouth, they are belligerent and will stand

their ground if you are in the way. I've had dealings with

them and treat them with great respect by either moving

out of the creatures way, or moving the creature out of 

the way with the butt end of my rod, or a long stick.

 

All cottonmouths will have a muscular triangular head. 

People often mistake a common watersnake, especially

a Northern Watersnake. I just so happened to see one of

the largest cottonmouths I've ever seen in the wild today.

As thick as my forearm.

 

Here's a handy identifier:

 

http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml

 

I am not for people killing snakes whatsoever, but I would

consider human life over a venomous snake if there was 

no other way around it. No question about it.

 

As for the boys, they were just being boys. Probably never

taught to respect nature. I got after a couple knuckleheads

once who were trying to catch bass, but instead caught a 

bluegill and were running around with it, dropping it on the

rocky road, etc.... I told them to stop and release it before

it died. I think it was dead by the time they threw it back.

[soflabasser]

Sadly most people don't like snakes( most likely poorly educated about snakes) and the behavior these children displayed is more common than many think.Those kids definitely need to be better educated by their parents that killing snakes for no good reason is wrong but I wouldn't give them a false diagnosis solely based on what they did ( any real health care provider knows this). These kids probably learned thier lesson and hopefully don't do it again. With that said these kids are nowhere as bad as a grown man that drives his boat close to a land based fishermen to bother them and especially nowhere as bad a jet skier/boater who flys by a no wake zone where land based fishermen are.

On 4/28/2018 at 6:50 PM, Darren. said:

Just to set the record straight for those who call snakes

"poisonous", they are not.

 

Poison is ingested (swallowing hemlock) or by touch

(poison arrow frogs).

 

Venom is inJECTed. A cottonmouth is venomous, not

poisonous.  

 

As for cottonmouth, they are belligerent and will stand

their ground if you are in the way. I've had dealings with

them and treat them with great respect by either moving

out of the creatures way, or moving the creature out of 

the way with the butt end of my rod, or a long stick.

 

All cottonmouths will have a muscular triangular head. 

People often mistake a common watersnake, especially

a Northern Watersnake. I just so happened to see one of

the largest cottonmouths I've ever seen in the wild today.

As thick as my forearm.

 

Here's a handy identifier:

 

http://ufwildlife.ifas.ufl.edu/water_moccasin_watersnake_comparison.shtml

 

I am not for people killing snakes whatsoever, but I would

consider human life over a venomous snake if there was 

no other way around it. No question about it.

 

As for the boys, they were just being boys. Probably never

taught to respect nature. I got after a couple knuckleheads

once who were trying to catch bass, but instead caught a 

bluegill and were running around with it, dropping it on the

rocky road, etc.... I told them to stop and release it before

it died. I think it was dead by the time they threw it back.

Well said @Darren.. 

[TOXIC]

I live in the forest.  I have snakes.  Lots of snakes.  There is no such thing as a "bad" snake in my book.  While I don't like seeing Copperheads around the house, I will carefully re-locate them the the forest a good ways from the house.  My daughter (now 20) grew up in my current house and one of the first things she learned was snake identification.  She is better at it than I am.  I have a Black snake female that regularly takes up residence between my driveway and my garage and has for years.  I know it's an old wives tale that Black snakes keep Copperheads away but I can tell you that the years she decides to nest under my driveway, we NEVER see a Copperhead.  As a matter of fact, I firmly believe that I have had more than one generation of Black snake use that den since it has been happening for over 20 years.  I have a row of bushes across the front of the house that the big Blacksnake comes out and suns on.  My daughter when in middle-school actually took her in for a school project and brought her back at the end of the day.  I have found her in my garage and on my deck as well.  As a matter of fact, I saw her for the first time this year about a week ago.   This is a much smaller female than in the past.  A few years ago I had one that measured out right at 6 feet.  

[Darren.]

7 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

I live in the forest.  I have snakes.  Lots of snakes.  There is no such thing as a "bad" snake in my book.  While I don't like seeing Copperheads around the house, I will carefully re-locate them the the forest a good ways from the house.  My daughter (now 20) grew up in my current house and one of the first things she learned was snake identification.  She is better at it than I am.  I have a Black snake female that regularly takes up residence between my driveway and my garage and has for years.  I know it's an old wives tale that Black snakes keep Copperheads away but I can tell you that the years she decides to nest under my driveway, we NEVER see a Copperhead.  As a matter of fact, I firmly believe that I have had more than one generation of Black snake use that den since it has been happening for over 20 years.  I have a row of bushes across the front of the house that the big Blacksnake comes out and suns on.  My daughter when in middle-school actually took her in for a school project and brought her back at the end of the day.  I have found her in my garage and on my deck as well.  As a matter of fact, I saw her for the first time this year about a week ago.   This is a much smaller female than in the past.  A few years ago I had one that measured out right at 6 feet.  

Beautiful Black Rat snake. I've got one in my collection

that I've had for, I guess 13 or so years now. She laid 

a few clutches of eggs when I had her with a male corn

snake, so we had a clutch of hybrids that are gorgeous.

[OCdockskipper]

If I am correctly remembering BlueBasser86's comments from a previous thread about snakes, I believe he may have just quickly exited his chair and left the room... ?

[Choporoz]

I was reminded of this thread this morning while driving.  I pulled up behind an exterminator truck at a stop light.  The "motto" on the back said "We kill bugs for fun".  Rubbed me the wrong way a little.

[N Florida Mike]

On 4/30/2018 at 2:19 PM, Choporoz said:

I was reminded of this thread this morning while driving.  I pulled up behind an exterminator truck at a stop light.  The "motto" on the back said "We kill bugs for fun".  Rubbed me the wrong way a little.

We have a pest control company here that has the long - standing motto " We kill everything that crawls except babies"

Kind of makes you wonder what they were into before they did pest control ?

[greentrout]

Depends on the snake. I'm no fan of poisonous snakes. Nor invasive species such as pythons. Fla. Everglades are in a panic stage with them. That being said. My mother was raised on a farm and the King snake was the best friend in the barn and other locales on the farm.  They were treated like pets.

[Pro Logcatcher]

I can see killing invasive species like pythons. In fact, whenever I catch an invasive species that has a negative impact on the environment, it's done. I wouldn't beat it to death, though. If it isn't trying to kill me and it belongs in this environment, I don't mess with it.

[Hyrule Bass]

i hate snakes. absolutely terrified of them, no shame in admitting that. but unless i feel it poses a threat i will leave it be. i have killed a few copperheads in my day, including a couple babies. one was at my aunts lake house, right outside the front door she came across while working in the flower bed, couldnt have that, done. another at the same house, in the garage, took the splitting maul to it. i once remember my sister stabbing one to death with a #2 pencil on the front porch of my grandparents house.

 

but usually im too scared to bother with them and will leave them be. for instance, if i am walking in the woods and come across one, i wont bother it, make a wide path around or turn back the other way.