Watch where you step

[Mobasser]

Spending summers at my grandparents farm as a kid, I never developed a fear of snakes that some folks have. Blacksnakes were pretty common on the farm, and some reached a length of 4 to 5 ft. We were told to leave them alone. My grandpa said they were helpful to keep mice out of the feedsacks which were stacked in the barn. I've only seen 1 rattlesnake in my life. While bailing hay, my brother turned over a bail, and a smaller 12" rattlesnake was coiled up there. We stood back and he slithered across the pasture.That was over 50yrs ago. Cottonmouth moccasins are scarce in my area also. I havnt seen one in at least 20yrs. Last year, at a quarry lake we fished I saw more copperheads than I've seen in several years. In September we saw probably 20 or so, and I've since learned these breed in the fall of the year. Like most wild creatures, they can have some years when they're more plentiful. This is the only venomous snake close by us. I've walked around countless ponds, lakes, creeks, and some rivers while fishing. I've never been bitten by a snake. I'm not afraid of them, but won't go as far as to say I like them either. What snakes are in your area? Have you had any bad experience with them? I've heard and read some things over the years, especially with rattlesnakes and cottonmouths.It seems like with most snakes, just leave them alone, and they'll leave you alone too. Any snake problems for you guys?

[Bankbeater]

A couple of public ponds that I fish have northern water moccasins in them.  I love those things.  Nothing clears out the weekenders faster than a snake swimming around.

[MN Fisher]

No problems - but a couple 'incidents'.

 

1) Stationed at Offutt AFB, Omaha, Ne. Friend and I head out to one of the fishing holes west of town. Walking in from parking, there's a snake across the path. He's afraid of even garden snakes, so I hand him my pole and box, go up and quick grab it, sliding one hand up behind the head. Now that I have control, he approaches while I double check my memory for identity. "So what is it?" he asked. I look up at him and say, "Copperhead." He's instantly six feet further away. I look at the snake with a 'why'd you scare him like that?', walk a ways off into the brush and gently drop it to the ground. Then go back, get my stuff and we proceed to go fishing.

 

I lucked out that I was able to get the head controlled before it turned and bit me...but maybe it was surprised by my 'boldness' (read idiocy).

 

2) Walking to a shore spot on Minnetonka - big old common watersnake in the path. He rose up and hissed at me - they try to imitate timber rattlers, which do exist in MN, but their coloration is darker. I just nudged it with the toe of my boot until he moved off into the undergrowth. He was probably close to 3' long.

[Mobasser]

7 minutes ago, Bankbeater said:

A couple of public ponds that I fish have northern water moccasins in them.  I love those things.  Nothing clears out the weekenders faster than a snake swimming around.

Yea, that's probably a good way to get rid of the party crowd!

[scaleface]

I like snakes .

[Hammer 4]

When I was about 9 or 10 yrs old, I use to catch snakes, mainly gofer snakes, black and blue racers and king snakes. I had about 10 snakes, mostly very young snakes..We had pastures, that had hay bails on them, and I would catch small/baby mice for food for the snakes. I usually let them go after about 3 to 4 weeks.

 

About 10 years ago, I was up in the mountains here in so. cali..had to take a nature break really bad, so I parked, went to a secluded spot, that  had a very small clearing with bushes around it. I took a couple of steps, looked down, and there was a Huge Western Diamondback rattler, looked to be a big female, the girth on it was easily 2 1/2" in diameter..Came so close to stepping on it, lucky  for me it was asleep, cuz it never moved. I moved away to let it sun it self to get ready for the day.

 

I haven't seen a snake since that day, shame, but I do have lots of lizards in my yard..

[walleyecrazy]

We don't have much in the way of dangerous snakes in my area. Some of the mountains that I hike about an hour north of me have a pretty large population of Timber Rattlers however. I am always careful where I step when hiking those mountains. They like to come out onto the rocks in the middle of the trail during the cooler weather to warm up. they scare the crap out of a lot of people that hike those mountains, and have no idea that they have rattle snakes until they run into one.

[soflabasser]

I live in South Florida where there are several species of snakes. I mostly see water snakes when fishing but occasionally see cottonmouths. I always make sure to watch where I step and constantly look at the ground since snakes can crawl close to you, especially after a heavy rain. Most snakes will leave you alone if you leave them alone.

[CountryboyinDC]

Here in the DC area, the most common snake in the grass is the politician.

[haggard]

The things freak me out a bit so I'm glad to be living in the northeast, where the worst snake that comes along is the garter snake, which still freaks me out a bit, because I still haven't forgiven the last one for biting me. When I tried to grab it and toss it. Which is probably why it bit me. But still....

 

[Sam]

We have water moccasins in the greater Central Virginia area up to the Appomattox River and where it joins the Historic James River and copperheads all over the place.

 

The water moccasins are not supposed to go farther north and west than the Appomattox but since they don't read they have been seen as far up the Historic James River as Osborne Landing, just east of the City of Richmond.

 

I have lots of black snakes at my house which is good. One has to be over six feet long and the lady across the street gave him a name which I just can't' remember. Black snakes will keep the copperheads and mice away which is great since I live in an area with lots of undeveloped land and forests.

 

You leave them alone and they will leave you alone. You just have to be careful where you walk in the leaves and by the rocks and make sure the water moccasins don't try to get into the boat via the motor or trolling motor when on the local rivers.

 

 

25 minutes ago, CountryboyinDC said:

Here in the DC area, the most common snake in the grass is the politician.

And they are sneaky, too.

[Log Catcher]

I have never run in to any really dangerous snakes in the places I've been. I did find a water snake wrapped around the tilt and trim on my motor one time after I got the boat on the trailer. I took my motor support bracket and knocked it off. I have taken time out from fishing many times to give a snake a hollow point headache.

[Bluebasser86]

I'm too far north for cottonmouths, and only ever seen 2 copperheads in the wild in my life. I'm much more cautious of the much more dangerous 2 legged snakes.

[Fishes in trees]

Late 70's through mid 80's, when I was a meat fishing bush hippie and bank fished alot, I ran across snakes from time to time.  Not a fan of rattle snakes or copper heads, but on the rare occasions that I ran across one, I didn't bother them and they didn't bother me.    One pond, ( which was within a mile of the Missouri River ) I ran across a 3 foot long dark colored snake, kinda fat as snakes go and it came after me.  It hissed a couple of times and raised up and its mouth was kinda whitish looking.  I figured it was a water moccasin.  A couple of my buds were with me and we pounded on that snake with a stout branch til it was dead.  On a lake that I fish now, I occasionally run across snakes that are full bodied and have that diamond shaped head, but I don't bother them and they don't bother me.   They seem to stay away from the ramp area .

 

Rattle snakes & copperheads are the reason I don't go mushroom hunting anymore - basically because mushroom hunting nearly always turns into rattle snake or copperhead finding.

 

As I've gotten older and not as nimble as I once was, it has occurred to me to get a 410 shotgun to keep in the fishing truck to deal with snakes but I haven't bought one yet.  I know Boyd Arms makes a 2 shot 410 derringer called the snake charmer, which might be in my future, should I find one on sale at a pawn shop.

[Dirtyeggroll]

Growing up fishing the rivers in Northwest Arkansas and Southwest Missouri there were several instances where a snake would jump out of a tree into our canoe. Talk about a rush.

[N Florida Mike]

We have a fair amount of banded water snakes in my lake. Have never seen a moccasin there in 40+ years. The st Johns river system has a lot of moccasins though.We used to kill them on sight. A friend made belts and hat bands out of them. They are common in most of the waterways in my region, just not the cold springs areas like the itchetucknee River.

Diamondback rattlers aren’t as common as they once were due to all the development around here. They love areas of piney woods with palmettos., because that’s where their primary food source is. I have a legit picture somewhere  of an 11 1/2 footer that Was killed in south Florida in 1923. Did not get recorded as a state record though. 4 grown men are holding it up sideways for the pic. I’ll post it later if I can find it. The last diamondback I saw in the wild was several years ago while hunting. It was lying across the road- between 2 palmetto thickets. 3-4 feet.

Ground rattlers( Pygmy rattlers ) are fairly common still in the rural areas. My adopted granma lived on a dirt road way out in the country and got bit by one when she was 13 running around barefoot and survived after .a 3 week struggle to survive.

Lastly, I saw a strange snake on our church farm road. Got pictures but it took me a while to identify it. It was a copperhead, and they obviously haven’t read the book either, which limits them to northwest Florida and further north.

There are MANY other snakes here, it’s part of Florida.

[scaleface]

I must have really bad eyesight . I spend a lot of time in the woods and have never seen a venomous snake there . Seen lots of copperheads on roads warming themselves in the sun . Never a rattlesnake and cottonmouths are not suppose to be this far north .

[Bass Ninja]

Not many snakes where I live now, but my most memorable encounter was as a kid growing up on the Gulf Coast in Mississippi. We had a pond on the back end of the property that was shared with our neighbors, and its where I first learned to fish. Nobody in my family knew how to fish, but all my friends fished somewhat regularly, had BB guns, etc. I begged my dad for all that stuff, and he said no to the BB gun because he said I would shoot everything in sight, but he said he'll get me a fishing pole and I can teach myself how to fish. After he got me the walmart special with the small kit of lures, I spent almost every afternoon down there casting away. One day I'm down there and I notice some movement out of the corner of my eye. I look down and there is a 4ft long cottonmouth not even 2 inches from my foot. It was like my second time seeing a snake, so I watched it for like a minute, not moving, and then I tried to back away really slowly. As soon as I moved, it noticed me and moved a little. I froze again. My mom started yelling from the house on the other side of the property that dinner was ready and it was time for all of us to come in. I didn't want to scare the snake, so I didn't yell back or even move. After like 10 minutes, the cottonmouth slowly slithered over my shoe, paused for few seconds, and then calmly slithered down the bank. When I got inside the house, my parents were upset wondering why I was late. I used that situation to convince my dad to let me get a BB gun. He was right....I shot just about everything that moved. ?‍♂️

[Mobasser]

7 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I must have really bad eyesight . I spend a lot of time in the woods and have never seen a venomous snake there . Seen lots of copperheads on roads warming themselves in the sun . Never a rattlesnake and cottonmouths are not suppose to be this far north .

My dad told me about seeing cottonmouths in Missouri as a kid. The one I saw was sunning himself near the bank on a large rock. I'm pretty sure it was a cottonmouth because of the thick body. The rattlesnake had to be a timber rattler. That was in Chillacothe Mo in the late 1960s. I've heard other guys talk about seeing them, but not sure when? Lots of these things get driven out of areas with building, new development, etc. I'd bet there's not many around anymore

[Hook2Jaw]

Had a baby cotton give a rubber boot absolute hell one day at work about ten years ago.  Thankfully I have chicken legs and he didn't manage to get any flesh.

 

Agreed, be careful.  I don't kill snakes and the poisonous ones I have found at work I've moved to a safer location with rakes and sticks, those have been mostly rattlesnakes.  Cotton have an affinity for standing their ground, so be super mindful of where you're going.

 

If you really need to get deeper into grass or thick brush to make a cast, beat the area with a stick.  You'll find them if they're there sometimes.  Boat guys, be mindful of overhanging limbs and trees.

[WVU-SCPA]

Set the scene, January 2020 in Pennsylvania on a sunny 40ish degree day.  Had about an hour of time to fish so hopped on some rip rap.  Usually very cautious where I step, but its January so no worries other then don't fall in.

 

Had to be close to setting a high jump world record while carrying 3 rods and backpack after firmly planting my foot on something that started moving.  The water snake probably had it worse then me.

 

Sidenote***  90% of people misidentify snakes as venomous around here.  Every water snake is called a copperhead.

 

 

[Mobasser]

42 minutes ago, N Florida Mike said:

We have a fair amount of banded water snakes in my lake. Have never seen a moccasin there in 40+ years. The st Johns river system has a lot of moccasins though.We used to kill them on sight. A friend made belts and hat bands out of them. They are common in most of the waterways in my region, just not the cold springs areas like the itchetucknee River.

Diamondback rattlers aren’t as common as they once were due to all the development around here. They love areas of piney woods with palmettos., because that’s where their primary food source is. I have a legit picture somewhere  of an 11 1/2 footer that Was killed in south Florida in 1923. Did not get recorded as a state record though. 4 grown men are holding it up sideways for the pic. I’ll post it later if I can find it. The last diamondback I saw in the wild was several years ago while hunting. It was lying across the road- between 2 palmetto thickets. 3-4 feet.

Ground rattlers( Pygmy rattlers ) are fairly common still in the rural areas. My adopted granma lived on a dirt road way out in the country and got bit by one when she was 13 running around barefoot and survived after .a 3 week struggle to survive.

Lastly, I saw a strange snake on our church farm road. Got pictures but it took me a while to identify it. It was a copperhead, and they obviously haven’t read the book either, which limits them to northwest Florida.

There are MANY other snakes here, it’s part of Florida.

Mike, an 11 ft rattler is one heck of a snake. My wife's sister lives in Arizona. They've seen rattlesnakes while driving on the roads out there, but most are no bigger than 3ft.

[Hook2Jaw]

11 minutes ago, WVU-SCPA said:

Set the scene, January 2020 in Pennsylvania on a sunny 40ish degree day.  Had about an hour of time to fish so hopped on some rip rap.  Usually very cautious where I step, but its January so no worries other then don't fall in.

 

Had to be close to setting a high jump world record while carrying 3 rods and backpack after firmly planting my foot on something that started moving.  The water snake probably had it worse then me.

 

Sidenote***  90% of people misidentify snakes as venomous around here.  Every water snake is called a copperhead.

 

 

I stepped on a 3' alligator in a Savannah Georgia marsh, again, at work.  It whirled away and hissed louder than any cat and I set two records that day -- the backwards leap and whatever octave my voice hit as I shrieked like a little girl.

[fin]

54 minutes ago, scaleface said:

I must have really bad eyesight . I spend a lot of time in the woods and have never seen a venomous snake there . Seen lots of copperheads on roads warming themselves in the sun . Never a rattlesnake and cottonmouths are not suppose to be this far north .

Yeah, just because you don’t see them… Copperheads can be almost invisible in the Fall sitting in leaves. I once fished right next to one for several minutes until I just happened to look down and see it sitting inches from my foot. Most snakes will move to avoid humans, but Copperheads will freeze, making it easy to accidentally step on them. I fear them much more than Rattlesnakes.

 

I played with snakes as a kid too, so I don’t have the fear and hatred for snakes that a lot of people do. I recently came upon a Black Racer, which I’ve never seen before, so I got closer to check it out. I was super surprised when it came at me like 90 mph like it was chasing me. It didn’t bite me, but I learned later they have a rep for attacking, even though they are harmless. I had a good laugh afterward, but I learned a little respect.

[N Florida Mike]

13 minutes ago, Mobasser said:

Mike, an 11 ft rattler is one heck of a snake. My wife's sister lives in Arizona. They've seen rattlesnakes while driving on the roads out there, but most are no bigger than 3ft.

We have people here that often take pictures of snakes that are done in a way to make them look much bigger than they really are.

The picture I have is somewhere in a Florida wildlife magazine I have. Since it was done so long ago, no tricks were used. I’ll be looking for it and post it.