Careful where you step

[tennsopher]

I carry a snake slayer made by Bond arms.It shoots 410. shotgun shells and 45. long colt.It is a derringer made in Texas.Like the man said,here in Florida,we have some interesting critters.There have been two bad gator attacks this year,one I know of causing a fatality.They can get nasty during mating season and several are larger than the boat I fish from.Like has been said,be aware of your environment and learn some about the critters that inhabit it.

[Sam]

I got close to the bank on the Pamunkey River in my bass boat this past Saturday and heard something falling from a tree branch into the bushes in the water.  I did not hang around to figure out what it was.

All wild animals will do their best to avoid humans, including fish.  This situation changes when the animal 1) has young to protect; 2) feels threatned; or 3) is "attacked" (stepped on) by humans.

This is true for snakes as they are not sociable animals and do not want to have anything to do with humans.

However, it is true that every once in a while a human will encounter a snake and the animal will do what its instinct tells it to do:  flee or fight.

I think I remember hearing that more people are struck by lightning in the USA then are bitten by snakes.

All I can add is those famous words my uncle told me when I was growing up in Louisiana, "Son, a snake and a leaky rubber have one thing in common.  You don't f--- with either."

Good advice!

[Hale]

tennsopher:

The gators are getting out of hand arent they? Im glad they just expanded the season and doubled the tag limit on them. There has been 3 fatalities in the last 6 months.

[Koikus]

I learned from a very painful experience to be careful where you put your hands as well! About twenty years ago, my son and I were fishing my private lake. It was dusk and we were getting ready to leave the lake. I reached down to the water to pick up our stringer of catfish and crappie when all of a sudden-WHAM!  There was a Copperhead at water level checking out our fish obviously. I didn't know for sure what type of viper had hit me, so I chased after it after he hit me and could see the patterns/markings. I drove my son and I to the hospital about 25 miles away. I got there right before I started getting violently ill. It's a myth that certain pit vipers like Rattlesnakes and Copperheads don't swim in the water. Far as I know, almost ALL snakes like a dip now and then.

[Poor Richard]

 Snakes alive!  In response to Matt Fly and Toddn 76:  

Other snakeless places:  there aren't supposed to be any poisonous snakes in Washington State WEST OF THE CASCADES.  However, EAST of the mountains are some of the meanest rattlers you'll ever see.

As for Michigan:  we absolutely have only one poisonous snake, the little woods rattler called a massasauga.  It is rare and very shy.  I once saw a fellow on television who had been bitten over a hundred times.  They filmed him trying to get one to bite him--it took him quite a while before succeeding, then afterwards he said he just felt a little sick.  Well, some people stick their fingers in the mouths of toothy fishes, too.

Now here is the big message:  folks up here think we have moccasins.  We do not!  The farthest north they get is Cairo Illinois.  When someone yells moccasin in Michigan, it is invariably just our little natrix, the common northern water snake.  Sometimes it is the Kirtland water snake, which is endangered.  I have been assured by a friend that he has seen a copperhead; if so, it was somebody's pet.

I lived a long time in Pensacola, where very serious snakes live even on the university campus and in neighborhood holding ponds.  Now here is the big trouble:  You just NEVER KNOW.  In one neighborhood, a man called the sheriff and said, "You'll probably think I am crazy, but I just saw a cobra."  He was not crazy.  This seven footer had gotten away from a collector, who was given a stern warning by the judge.  Two weeks later a man called in and said, "My dog is out in the cul-de-sac hassling with a boa constrictor."  By now, of course, everyone was clued in.  This was an eight-footer and put an end to the collector's hobby once and for all.  Then, of course, there is South Florida . . . .

I admit I would shoot a cottonmouth first and chat with him later.  But the rest of the snakes should be left alone:  they are useful, fascinating, and important in the big sense that the more wildlife we kill off, the weaker we become as a species.  :'(

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"Life is hell, nature is a meatgrinder, we are a mean and pitiful species, and God is dead.  I couldn't be happier; this is my kind of place," says Poor Richard's grumpy alter ego.  Poor guy needs to go bass fishing, and soon!

:

[Keithscatch]

Man that would suck bad if a Mocassin got in the boat. What would you do if it hid down under the cockpit? Wow, what a fiasco that would be. Guns don't work when you are in a boat with a snake in the boat haha.

Never had that experience and I hope I never do. But I have seen mocassins and they are dangerous and arrogant little snakes. To me they are better off dead then alive.

[anglerintraining]

Your idea of snakes not being on the mind would change real quick when you trample anywhere around the water down here in Florida. Cottnmouths (mocassins) are everywhere and they dont play; aggresive, and territorial! I was bit when I was 8 and it was not fun. I watched my friend (on the same lake) get bit six times from one of these. It tagged his calf a couple times in seconds and he fell down, it then took a couple bites into his hand and arm. My friend passed out from shock and the snake was going nowhere (coiled up poised by his head). All I could do was stand there and cry/shake uncontrollably (I was 12). He ended up loosing his leg from the whole thing.

Ask any of the florida boys here what happens when a cottonmouth gets in or near the boat. You would get less of a reaction out of a fisherman if you threw a bucket of AIDS riddled blood on them.

Between that and the alligators, I have definitely scratched FLORIDA off my lists of places to ever live!

[Matt Fly]

I see more spider bites at my hospital.   So if the snakes, scorpions, bees, don't get ya, the spider is next in line.

Then comes the fire ants, they may not kill you, but can make you sick enough if bitten enough times.

We see lots of toddlers who get swarmed by fire ants.    No excuse for having an toddler playing in areas without supervision and fire ants.

[tennsopher]

Hale,

   Have you ever been to lake Jessup? You couldnt pay me to night fish that lake.If you cross the 417 bridge when the waters calm its easy to spot a dozen on a hot day.

[Poor Richard]

  Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the REALLY dangerous animals we all will meet no matter where we go.  Besides bees and wasps, mentioned above (and if you are allergic, hope you've got your antidote with you), I would remind us of these three:  least of the three, but way ahead of most snakes, is the Brown Recluse Spider.  I've seen a few people crippled up by one of these nasty ladies, and have heard about many more.  Its bite kills a big wad of flesh, and if that wad is in a main muscle, you are in trouble.  You don't want one down your pants.  Second is the mosquito, of which we have at least nineteen species in Michigan, one for each two weeks spanning early spring, summer, and late fall.   A few subtropical diseases are showing up here, and we all know about bird flu.  

But third and most obvious:  "We have met the enemy and he is us," as Pogo so famously said.  So watch your backcast and keep your head down.  Knew a fellow once got a 4-ounce cobia jig up his nose on the caster's upswing.  There, now you all get to keep that image for the rest of your life, too.

But these, of course, are the least of our dangerous ways.  Tread lightly, sisters and brothers; worship your Mother Earth.

Oh, yes:  watch out for the ever-present vampire bass.  You thought they said "vampire bats," but you misheard.  It is "vampire bass."  The infection rate among competition bass fishermen is a closely guarded secret.  But next time you are out there, be sure to watch to see who does and does not throw a reflection in the water.  

[basskickinsooner]

here in oklahoma we got some pretty bad moccasins i always see em but usually u drop a jig by there head and they leave ya alone but once i went with my brother in law doing a little bobber fishin in a little farm pond there a bunch of trees at this place so there were a lotta snakes specially moccasins in the water but we were just fishing on the bank an here comes a moccasin after his bobber it just kinda curled around it it wasnt a real big moccasin all ov a sudden i here a loud crack and his bobber aint there any more and neither is that snake i had yet to be informed that he brought his colt

[stern]

In Mass. the only poisonous snakes i know of are copperheads

[Hale]

tennspoher. Your right theres not enough money to go out there at night on the water. We used to sit on that bridge and hit em with the spotlight just to see all the red glowing eyes. Its definitely erie.

Enough with the spiders  :'(

[Kana]

this thread brings back lots of not so fond memories of fishing last summer.  when i lived in Osaka japan (now in tokyo) the river i went to often had a few snakes, and not so little.  average size was about 6 feet, not posionous i was told but thats still keeps you on your toes.  another member that lives here in japan warned me of the poisionous snakes and sent me some pics, i appreciatted that!  i dont like snakes but being from louisiana ive seen a few different nasty snakes and gators are far worse!