Cottonmouth snakes in January....what the heck

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:28 am

Its been a hot winter here in Louisiana and it completely sucks. This past weekend I was on the hunting club property near my house when I ran into this bad boy waiting with his mouth open. When I went closer to take a pic he started across a large mud hole made by a skidder.

No one wants to have to dodge these things while trying to hunt or scout. They dont give off a rattle warning like people who hunt Texas get from their snake friends.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:31 am

Gives me the willys

Dave · Post by **Dave** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:41 am

I hate those stinking bastages!

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 11:45 am

You and me both.

RustyJr · Post by **RustyJr** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:51 pm

Yeah we have em down in here in Florida too. Nasty critters they are. Last one I ran into was at work (middle of town). Smashed his head with a fence post. Just bought into a hunting lease. While the guy was showing us around the lease I noticed about 6 or 7 BIG rattles hanging from his rear view mirror. Needless to say clearing shooting lanes and food plots we will probably run into a few of the rattler variety of pit vipers.

RustyJr

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:52 pm

RustyJr wrote:Yeah we have em down in here in Florida too. Nasty critters they are. Last one I ran into was at work (middle of town). Smashed his head with a fence post. Just bought into a hunting lease. While the guy was showing us around the lease I noticed about 6 or 7 BIG rattles hanging from his rear view mirror. Needless to say clearing shooting lanes and food plots we will probably run into a few of the rattler variety of pit vipers.

RustyJr

Yeah, I am sure you will. On our property in Alabama we run into some of those along with the cottonmouth snakes also. Be careful when doing your food plots for sure.

pwl44m · Post by **pwl44m** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 12:56 pm

A Rattle does no good if You are Deaf. I was walking with a Friend on My property when He stopped and said "there He is" then pointed down to a big crevice in the rocks. Sure enough a big ol Rattler. I didn't hear it but hopefully would have seen it.
Perry
Rube !!!! My foreend measures 9-5/8 oa and 9-3/8 exposed wood. I will try to get a pic if that is what You need. It was supposed to be for Octogon but looks round, will have to check it further. Perry

FWiedner · Post by **FWiedner** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:15 pm

Believe it or not there's water and wetlands in Texas too.

We've got our share of snakes, both wet and dry.

Killed that fella's brother who was about 5' long out behind my house last summer.

shooter · Post by **shooter** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:21 pm

I'm definitely investing in a good, comfortable pair of snake gaiters this year. I have some chaps, but they are cumbersome and I don't like them very much. I have only seen a handful of poisonous snakes while hunting here in TX, and it was mostly while hunting near Sweetwater. However, in New Mexico we usually run across a couple a day while out hunting. I'm scared to death of snakes, but only the ones I don't see. If I can see one I'm fine, but it's the fear of not seeing one when I step over the fallen log or am walking through waist high grass that really gets me.

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:24 pm

FWiedner wrote:Believe it or not there's water and wetlands in Texas too.

We've got our share of snakes, both wet and dry.

Killed that fella's brother who was about 5' long out behind my house last summer.

Oh yeah, def didnt mean to imply that ya'll were all desert over that way. I have been to Texas many times.

I just hate how this year has been so hot and I feel like im being jipped out of my winter. We barely get one here as it is. You know how that is maybe.

bdhold · Post by **bdhold** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:26 pm

cottonmouths are one of the few snakes that will actually chase you

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:33 pm

I'd run into copperheads in the midwest....you could let them go right by you...close...they would never bother you, if fact they would try to avoid you....I never would bother them. Them dang cotton mouth are frickken mean

I heard that rattlers are learning NOT to rattle because it gets them killed

Wonderful..that's like a mother in law coming over without calling first

Griff · Post by **Griff** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:37 pm

Think... donkeys.

I keep a watch for them around my stock tank... cleared out a big nest a few years back... haven't had a repeat... but been busy this last year and didn't get as much checkin' done as I shoulda. Have to get after that chore soon.

Yep, Rube, been right warmish up here also. For January.

FLINT · Post by **FLINT** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:47 pm

No offense, but I more than half expected to see a watersnake in your picture. Around here WAY more often than not, non-venomous snakes are mistaken for venomous snakes and are very unnecessarily killed. We don't have cottonmouths up here in western Virginia, but pretty much every watersnake that people see is a 'moccasin' and they start blasting at them with shotguns or trying to beat them to death with sticks. I've caught and relocated many copperheads and rattlesnakes for people and Blaine is right, copperheads are pretty mellow dudes. I have heard though that their close cousin the cottonmouth, can be pretty ornery though!!

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 1:59 pm

FLINT wrote:No offense, but I more than half expected to see a watersnake in your picture. Around here WAY more often than not, non-venomous snakes are mistaken for venomous snakes and are very unnecessarily killed. We don't have cottonmouths up here in western Virginia, but pretty much every watersnake that people see is a 'moccasin' and they start blasting at them with shotguns or trying to beat them to death with sticks. I've caught and relocated many copperheads and rattlesnakes for people and Blaine is right, copperheads are pretty mellow dudes. I have heard though that their close cousin the cottonmouth, can be pretty ornery though!!

Yeah, I know many people dont know the difference between venomous and non venomous snakes. This bad boy im well aquainted with though. They are usually very mean and love to hang around for the fight. This one though, took out across the water pretty quickly. When we first came up on him he was sitting in a "ready to strike" position with his mouth open......just waiting.

Good read

http://nationalzoo.si.edu/Animals/Repti ... nmouth.cfm

gak · Post by **gak** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 2:14 pm

No use for any of the fanged ones! We have enough of their desert cousins without having to put up with the rattlerless ones. No thanks! Why God made snakeshot and shotguns! For those that ballyhoo about the "good" they do, if you need rat control, get some bull or king snakes (good medicine against the fanged ones as well). At least won't have to worry about your kids playing around in the yard or woods near your house then. Once had a pair of half-bobcats that took care of them as well! Too bad about the watersnakes though, I agree

2571 · Post by **2571** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 2:32 pm

Saw dog walk across a piece of corrugated iron laying on ground last Spring, obvioulsy had blown off nearby barn. Figured there'd be a snake under it. Yep, 2. One of 'em the kind of rattler we have in MI.

Shot it as it was within 25' of the house & dumbell dog isn't used to / afraid of snakes.

RIHMFIRE · Post by **RIHMFIRE** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 4:19 pm

we have a ton of them here in Florida.....but I did not see one this past hunting season

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 5:58 pm

Nothing a double-barreled 12 gauge won't cure

We had one wet year where I found a few cottonmouths in the bar ditch, but usually its copperheads. Haven't seen any of those since I got these two black dogs. Only thing that pays rent for their otherwise useless hides is the snake and rodent body count.

Old Ranger · Post by **Old Ranger** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 9:03 pm

Guys,

I know that there are "good snakes" like the king snake and such, but I am not a snake person. Ever since I was a child I have killed snakes. Just like coyotes and hogs. A varmit is a varmit. When I take three steps out my door and find a copperhead in my path, Blamo! He's a dead one. I live in the deep woods of East Texas and we are covered up with them! With the mild winter we've had, I'm afraid that the snake population on my property will be huge. I never walk anywhere on my place without a pistol on my hip. Period. Last year I killed well over a dozen snakes so close to my house that I was wondering if they all went to the post office and put in for a change of address listing my house as their new home! That's not including the ones I shot on the path to my range, the woods behind the house, the front pasture leading to the gate....yeah, I'm infested with them! And scorpions too! No big freeze will no doubt bring them in by the droves too!

Nope, if I see a snake. I SHOOT a snake!

Wade

Streetstar · Post by **Streetstar** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 12:29 am

Running trot lines as a 12 year old boy in Wister OK with my uncle Sam, -- the Cottonmouths were charging the boat at one point ---- he just told me it was "mating season and they act crazy around that time "

as he kept whacking them with a paddle

Made quite an impression on me and i have never seen a snake truly go on the offensive since

jdad · Post by **jdad** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:56 am

When we lived in the Sierras I never had a problem, with snakes, but I was real careful around the wood pile.......black widows. I'll never forget seeing a 2" lizard getting "worked over" by one of those evil spiders. Widows creep me out.

Rube Burrows · Post by **Rube Burrows** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:12 am

jdad wrote:When we lived in the Sierras I never had a problem, with snakes, but I was real careful around the wood pile.......black widows. I'll never forget seeing a 2" lizard getting "worked over" by one of those evil spiders. Widows creep me out.

Yes ....black widows and brown recluse spiders really freak me out.

gak · Post by **gak** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 10:28 am

Streetstar wrote:Running trot lines as a 12 year old boy in Wister OK with my uncle Sam, -- the Cottonmouths were charging the boat at one point ---- he just told me it was "mating season and they act crazy around that time " as he kept whacking them with a paddle

Made quite an impression on me and i have never seen a snake truly go on the offensive since

Brrr!

FLINT · Post by **FLINT** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:42 am

Rube Burrows wrote:
jdad wrote:When we lived in the Sierras I never had a problem, with snakes, but I was real careful around the wood pile.......black widows. I'll never forget seeing a 2" lizard getting "worked over" by one of those evil spiders. Widows creep me out.

Yes ....black widows and brown recluse spiders really freak me out.

yeah, I would never kill a venomous snake (but understand and don't fault those who do), HOWEVER, I did kill about a dozen black widow spiders 2 years ago who had decided that the rock pile next to my house would be an awesome place to live

KirkD · Post by **KirkD** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 2:15 pm

BlaineG wrote:..that's like a mother in law coming over without calling first

I'll bet they could make a horror movie with that idea.

Blaine · Post by **Blaine** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 3:37 pm

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4aQ6vg3JB2U

I made a sound like a girl a couple times watching this one

horsesoldier03 · Post by **horsesoldier03** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:39 pm

Rube Burrows wrote:
FLINT wrote:No offense, but I more than half expected to see a watersnake in your picture. Around here WAY more often than not, non-venomous snakes are mistaken for venomous snakes and are very unnecessarily killed. We don't have cottonmouths up here in western Virginia, but pretty much every watersnake that people see is a 'moccasin' and they start blasting at them with shotguns or trying to beat them to death with sticks. I've caught and relocated many copperheads and rattlesnakes for people and Blaine is right, copperheads are pretty mellow dudes. I have heard though that their close cousin the cottonmouth, can be pretty ornery though!!

There is definately a big difference between a FISH MOCASIN or WATER MOCASIN and a COTTON MOUTH. Once you meet the real mccoy up close once, you have no further need to get a better explanation! I have also found Copperheads swimming in the water frequently.

JerryB · Post by **JerryB** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:19 pm

My crude old fashioned ways may be offensive to some on here. I was taught that a poisonous snake was to be shot and the head cut off and buried. Rattler, cottonmouth, or highland moccasin,another name for the copperhead,all the same. I do know the difference in a water moccasin and a cottonmouth.
I have had cottonmouths come staight at me in the water hog hunting in south Florida., .45 Colt always seemed to win out in the duel.

Batman1939 · Post by **Batman1939** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:28 pm

BlaineG wrote:I'd run into copperheads in the midwest....you could let them go right by you...close...they would never bother you, if fact they would try to avoid you....I never would bother them. Them dang cotton mouth are frickken mean I heard that rattlers are learning NOT to rattle because it gets them killed Wonderful..that's like a mother in law coming over without calling first

Blaine, Not sure that would really work out that way. Learning is something acquired by experience. If the snake is killed, how does it learn? Maybe those individual snakes which are predisposed (for some reason) not to rattle are becoming more abundant (if this is true), because they don't rattle. If the tendency not-to-rattle is genetic, then the trait could become more widespread in the population over several generations.

Just a thought-

kimwcook · Post by **kimwcook** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 8:41 pm

I heard a theory on the rattleless rattlers in Texas a while back. It seems due to all the rattlesnake hunts the ones that rattle get killed leaving the ones that don't to live on. The rattlesnake hunters are doing evolutions work themselves.

stickfred · Post by **stickfred** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:30 pm

Many snakes will instinctively move their tails rapidly back and forth when they feel threatened. In dried leaf cover this may also resemble a rattlesnake.

shooter · Post by **shooter** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:53 pm

kimwcook wrote:I heard a theory on the rattleless rattlers in Texas a while back. It seems due to all the rattlesnake hunts the ones that rattle get killed leaving the ones that don't to live on. The rattlesnake hunters are doing evolutions work themselves.

I've heard the same thing, but it had to do with the wild hog population being so abundant here. The hogs are eating the ones that make noise, so the ones that have the propensity to sit quiet are being skipped over and breeding. Don't know if it's true or not since I thought hogs went more on smell than sight or sound, but who knows?

Neither theory really makes that much sense since the rattlesnake hunters don't really go on sound either. They just hunt in the correct habitat and look for them. I've ran across several rattlers in my time, and less than half rattled. All of those were in New Mexico where the hog population is not very dense. The one rattler I have seen in TX rattled quite a bit.

Canuck Bob · Post by **Canuck Bob** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:20 pm

Its threads like these that make our winter seem much friendlier. We do have a few rattlers way down south in Alberta but actually quite rare. The cold drives away snakes, big bugs, and sanity.

piller · Post by **piller** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:24 pm

I tent to kill any snake that comes at me. If it tries to get away, it lives. I am a little afraid of poisonous snakes, but not to the point of killing every snake I see. We had a copperhead hanging around the house a couple of years ago. We had been having a problem with mice, and the snake stayed in the front yard away from the dogs so it stayed for a while. It finally left, but not because of anything I did. I have had Cottonmouths come at me before, and a .22 revolver loaded with CB caps tends to stop them quite well with out a lot of noise.

BAGTIC · Post by **BAGTIC** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:55 pm

bulldog1935 wrote:cottonmouths are one of the few snakes that will actually chase you

YOU AREN'T KIDDING. YEARS AGO OUR FAMILY WAS VISITING IN THE TEXAS PANHANDLE AND WE PLAIN GOT RUN OFF OF A STOCK TANK.

No matter where we tried to fish a pair of them would come after us. Even sfter we all thoroughly flogged them with long cane poles they came back twice more before we packed up and moved on.

BAGTIC · Post by **BAGTIC** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 11:59 pm

Cottonmouth and Water Moccasin are the same snake.

vancelw · Post by **vancelw** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 12:32 am

BAGTIC wrote:Cottonmouth and Water Moccasin are the same snake.

YOU tell my Granny that

I don't want to get switched.

shooter · Post by **shooter** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 5:26 pm

BAGTIC wrote:Cottonmouth and Water Moccasin are the same snake.

That's what I was always taught.

http://srelherp.uga.edu/snakes/agkpis.htm

Nobody · Post by **Nobody** » Thu Jan 26, 2012 10:04 pm

.....

jlchucker · Post by **jlchucker** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 10:34 am

This whole snake thread reminds me of my stint in the Army at Ft Knox, KY. I was XO of a 300 man company commanded by a Major. Most of the troops, but not all, were recently-returned Vietnam veterans. We were a deployable unit, and now and then participated in field maneuvers of varying duration. Once, in preparation for one of these excursions, our CO decided that we needed snake training. There was at that time, stationed at the post hospital doing some sort of reptilian research, a specialist. This soldier had been drafted, but the Army saw that he had a degree in reptology, so they made their best use of him. Our CO invited him over one day to give us snake training. We deployed our 300 soldiers out on the sidewalk, in front of the steps of our Barracks/office building, and this snake guy gave his presentation on the cement entry upper landing. Just outside my office window, in fact.

The specialist showed up with a big stick with a hook on it, and 3 covered wicker baskets. Everyone's eyes opened wide when the specialist opened one basket, took out a copperhead, and placed it on the stoop. 300 soldiers took one step to the rear, in unison. The specialist truly knew what he was doing, and was in full control of this snake, while he talked about its features, habits, etc. Everyone hoped so, for sure.

The specialist put the copperhead back into his basket, and opened the middle basket. Out came a rattlesnake a bit bigger than 3 feet long, and again--every eye in the audience was paying full attention. This snake though, must have recently been milked for venom or something, because it was quite docile, and the specialist was unable to make it rattle for his presentation. After talking about the rattler for a while, the specialist put him back in the basket and uncovered the 3d basket.

Out came a black, evil looking snake like those in the photos submitted in this thread. The story went that this variety didn't move around a lot and you had to watch out for them so as not to disturb them. He said it was a water moccasin and they lived not only near water, but around rotted stumps, etc. Not move? You could have fooled all 300 and more of the audience. This specialist had this snake in both hands and the snake was squirming all over the place! Then, the specialist, snakehead in hand, took a pen and tried to expose the snake's fangs-and he didn't have to try very hard. 300 soldiers, at once, as if by command, took three steps backwards as they watched! Their XO, watching the show from his open office window, closed the window down. This reptile was dangerous, and we were all convinced! No doubt.

I grew up in Vermont, and have lived here most of my life. Dangerous snakes are limited to timber rattlers, found in a remote part of the state. They're pretty scarce. I've never seen one, and don't want to. I'll never forget that specialist's presentation, nor the big, black, wiggly snake with the big teeth that was supposed to be the tamest one of the three that were shown that day. If I lived in snake country I'd NEVER go in the woods unarmed!

gak · Post by **gak** » Fri Jan 27, 2012 11:13 am

A friend says he sees both the mocassins and rattlers "all the time" tromping around in central Florida, including around his suburban property--like many, near waterways and lakes. He says one of the (many) shames of it is that even with all the great water spots in Florida, there are virtually no safe swimming holes (of course including the four legged scaled critters). No thanks. I'll take the Arizona desert, I've seen and dispatched my share of the rattlered critters, we've certainly got 'em, but it's not nearly as much a done deal you'll see one unless messing around in specific "likely" habitat (low brush, wood piles, riparian areas, etc) and/or particular times of day in these areas. Not suggesting it (by any means!), but if forced between the two, I'd take my chances randomly venturing out in the Az desert in a pair of shorts and Tevas much sooner than I would Florida and such southerly environs! I think the odds of running into a fanged critter are that much greater given the supportive habitat.

a desert boy I'll remain! (But don't get me wrong, I still pack the .357 or .44 with CCI wherever I trek! Only truly believe half of what I just said!)