I saw it, but I've seen several of them in the woods before. I even stepped on one once, but didn't get bitten somehow.
Living in the Northeast doesn't afford me with a lot of reptile exposure. However, I've been to the Amazon rainforest and I've seen my share of snakes. I remember the first time I saw an anaconda. The horse I was riding sensed it long before I saw it. The horse started to retreat and almost bucked me. The snake was huge. Usually, you can't spot them unless they're digesting something, in which case you can see the figure inside them. Not for the faint-hearted...
A copperhead will usually retreat or just lay still. Cottonmouths (water moccasins) are curious and will chase you around a lake.
actually, copperheads are less likely to give any kind of warning before striking. Rattlers have, well, rattles, and moccasins, while more aggressive and will make multiple strikes, is less likely to strike unprovoked
I'll tell you one thing a live Rattler is STRONG! Far far stronger than you would imagine, or I imagined anyway. They sure as heck don't need garlic either. Unless you don't like a wonderfully mild tasting cross between Chicken and Halibut. Having said that they are an important part of the landscape and, around here at least, will give an adequate warning and can be avoided.
i found it across the street, i dont see it again wait, i see it now but not its head. although there is a face looking at me on the left mid side under the stick that looks like a Y on top of the stick under that. a little head. anyone else?
Yeah, I saw it too... Funny sneaky snake story.... I'm out 4-wheeling in Western Virginia, a bit west of Winchester, but not so far as WVa. I have to take a mean dump, so I stop, grab my roll and find a nice tree to lean against. Drop my drawers, squat against the tree, look down between my legs and there's a baby Copperhead looking right up at me! I think he slithered away from me as fast as I ran in the opposite direction. It was cool looking, too - it had a bright green tail, just the tip (where rattles would be if it were a rattlesnake, they are cousins...). Good thing I looked, he almost got pooped on! Just thought I'd share
I remember fishing with my father as a young boy at a Lake called Toledo Bend which borders Louisiana and Texas. I'm sure several member from this area are aware of it. Well, 35-40 years ago the lake was still fairly new and was filled with live cypress trees. You would work your way into those cypress forests in your john boat and catch hundreds of bluegill and crappie. One day we went out to a particularly hot hole and came across a huge cottonmouth in a hole in the tree right where we were wanting to fish. Dad made me hold off the snake with the sculling paddle while he fished. Can't pass up a nice fish bed. Another time we were inching our way through the trees when we heard a thump in the boat. A four foot cottonmouth had dropped out of the trees right into the middle of the boat. Dad grabbed the paddle and pretty much decapitated it with one hit. Another time I was golfing with a friend at a small course just outside of Waskom, Texas (Cypress Valley Gold Course) and when we walked up to the 9th tee box a big cottonmouth was curled up right between the tee markers. I grabbed my 2 iron and picked it up and moved it off the tee box and we simply played on through. Ah, yes. You gotta love this area. :happy088
oh, man...my side hurts! happy097:happy097 yup had one do that to us once, fortunately it was just a water snake, non-venomous, and it left as soon as it realized we didn't have beer... lucky snake, I thought you were gonna say you teed its head off...
One more, one more... Ok, when I was around 14 or 15, a buddy of mine and I hopped on the bus and went out to this small fishing pond that was part of a county recreation park, fishing rods, tackle box, and all. We get out there and walk around to the right to the back side of the pond. After a while, I decide to walk farther around and came to a "creek" of rocks, man-made, where the drainage collected drained into the pond. I start walking over the rocks, and notice a large dark brown or black snake, sunning itself on the rocks. Not knowing anything about snakes back then, I walk all the way back to my buddy Dave and describe the snake to him (he knew all about those sorts of things...so I thought). He says it's just a water snake, and not to worry. So I walk all the way back to the rocks, bend down and start checking out the snake, just looking. Once my curiosity is gone, I walk past it to the other side where I was originally heading. After a little bit, Dave decides to come over to where I'm fishing. He comes up to the rocks, looks down at the snake, then walks clear around the pond in the opposite direction. When he gets to me, "Dude, that was a blah-blah-blah (can't remember what it was). They're very dangerous, very venomous." Thanks Dave!!!
If it was in North America then it had to be a cottonmouth if it wasn't a variety of rattlesnake. Besides these two families the copperhead and coral are the only venomous snakes on the continent.
