For you southern boys

[Bobbyparks]

ORIGINAL: kygobbler

Bobby, thats some funny stories. Thats why I always have my .22 pistol on me. There are a couple of places here in the county that we do have some timber rattlers and water moccasins.

Thanks guys.....there's a few other stories to go with those at some point going back to one as a kid.......

Kentucky is a beautiful state......Daniel Boone sure liked it..lol.....Just read a great biography of him

I can see where you would have pretty much the same snakes we have.

Maybe the further south you go, the healthier some of em get.

[kygobbler]

Yes, I admit they ain't the anacodas that ya got down there but we do have a few. Also, I wouldn't have believed it if a buddy didn't take me out and showed me one day. I admit the rattler did spook me when I accidently came upon it, but they do taste pretty good fried up. [:D]

[Cut N Run]

I had an encounter with a pygmy rattlesnake one day when I was down east duck hunting near the coast in the October season. I heard him buzzing and thought it was some kind of insect. I figured out what it was and fed him some steel shot before I got hit. The same day my buddy Don & I encountered a Moccasin that started coiling up to strike as soon as it saw us. He had to go too.

I can't remember if I told this here before. If so, sorry because here it comes again. If not, here it is;
In the Spring of '74 I was on a fishing trip with a friend of mine, his father, & brother up on Knotts Island, N.C. a little ways from the Great Dismal Swamp. There are snaky-looking canals full of water on each side of the road where they borrowed the soil to build up the roadbed. We had been fishing on Currituck Sound and were on the way back when we came acroos a Volkswagen Beetle pulled off on the side of the road. We thought they had a flat tire and were getting out to help. The driver said to be careful that there was a giant Cottonmouth challenging his car. We sort of laughed to each other, until we saw the size of that thing. It was as big around as a small motorcycle tire. Mr. Coats (My friend's father) got us each paddles out of the boat and told the driver to pull forward on the snake while two of us on each side of the car would finish him with paddles if necessary. A VW has the engine in the rear, so the front is kind of light compared to a regular car. We ended beating the fool out of that snake before he could get to the canal. He was 5'2" long and had 2 inch long fangs. It was the kind of things nightmares are made of.

Jim

[ARTURKEYKILLER]

Well it aint easy.........I hunt a sunken island in east central AR, at three in the afternoon all you can hear is the low drummin of mosquitos, which will eat you ALIVE! And we've took boats in little water mocs. ride the waves and snap at you when you get out......not to mention them fallin out of trees into boats on ya.....then there's ticks, chiggers......

[dewey]

ORIGINAL: ARTURKEYKILLER

ride the waves and snap at you when you get out......not to mention them fallin out of trees into boats on ya.....then there's ticks, chiggers......

Freaking snakes falling out of the trees onto you while you are in the boat. I would surely soil myself. I promise I will never, ever complain about running into bugs or stuff like that while hunting in MN anymore after reading about freaking snakes falling out of trees.

Dewey

[Turkeybuster]

It aint that bad you get used to it after a few days it makes you aware of your sorroundings.

Jon

[mark hay]

All of my kin live in Kentucky . Half on the south side of Cumberland Lake , half on the Somerset side . Heard hairraising tales all my young life when we were downhome .
 But , I grew up and have lived all my life in Ohio, and most of it in a county that was as flat as an expesive billiards table and world famous for producing more hogs than any of the other 87 counties . Seeing a big ol' water snake or 5-6 foot blacksnake was common . All them free ranging hogs(actually fenced in large fields) ate all the snakes that were poisonous long before I entered this world .
 Then in order to be closer to some Wild Turkeys I bought a home in the hills of Highland County and began hunting the Tranquility Wildlife Area , which just happens to be in the states most notorious county for poverty , drugs and venomous vermin . Upon my early ventures into that hunting area I was always looking where each foot was going to land . Moved fast and never stand in one spot too long . Setting up on a bird was always preceeded by a good examination of the immediate surroundings . In 13 spring and fall seasons I ain't seen a snake yet . Though one morning I felt sure I would . This gobbler had me busy and then he went silent . I'm sitting there in dry leaves wondering where he is ,,,why doesn't he gobble? ,,,,,did he leave ? Not knowing whether to call or not I just sat still and quiet . Then it started ! Leaves began to rattle to my immediate right . First just one leaf . Then a few . Then into continuous , slow motion leaf rattle. I could not imagine a turkey moving his feet that slow for any reason , besides that the noise of those leaves was only about 6 feet away and I should be able to see a turkey in my periferal vision . I could see nothing . Then I began the descision battle . Sit still for the turkey or sit still and get fanged by what surely must be a copperhead or rattlesnake . It's getting closer all the time I'm thinking. Couldn't take it no longer . I jerked my head around to line up my spectacles on the pertiest little Box Turtle you ever saw . The thought of it being a tarapon never entered my walnut .  Relieved , I simply relaxed . And in doing so I moved my feet a little . The gobbler roared from about twenty yards and I nearly went airborn. He and I escaped that dreadful experience ,,,that day . Tom died the following morning ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,and I ain't seen a snake yet .
 I doubt I have been bitten by more than a dozen skeeters in that 13 years . Have gone whole seasons without carrying a tick on me . But , CHIGGERS ! Those perfectly still and dry mornings when I'm standing somewhere , usually alone , in the dark listening for coyotes and turkeys , is usually enterrupted by the stampede of chiggers racing across the woods floor ,,down the breakridge gametrail , and even climbing that dreadful ridge just to get on my hide .

[SpitnDrum]

The harassing tales of the south east part of KY can be true.I live right in the middle of the Daniel Boone National forest.Its rocky as all get out,thick as hair on a flea bags back.Early last spring I was clearing a parcel of property to claim a field and ran into a rock pile we had to move by hand.A few good sized rocks through it the snakes started pouring out.Making a long story short we killed eight copperheads in a very short period of time.I dont like killing them but I'm not going to risk anyones safety to let em live.I'll usually run into a snake or two several times a spring season,black snakes mostly and they dont harm noth'n.The Fall on the other hand is a different story.You don't walk down a gravel road or well beaten path on cool mornings or evenings without a flashlight ,a poking stick and snake boots.The snakes crawl to em to warm up.unseasonably warm weather the last few falls have left the snakes crawling later in the year.2 year back we where quil hunting and a friend of mine was bitten just below the calf on his right leg by a good sized copperhead while he waded through some brush to get a downed bird.Who would have thought in November you would have to worry about snakes in Kentucky.
Back 11 or so odd years ago when I first started turkey hunting.A good friend and I would float the Rockcastle river fish gigging and turkey hunting.We would start gigging about 1 am and stop just before dawn.I found out real fast water snakes where attracted to light and I'm 100% shure they are not afraid of drowning but they always tried to crawl in the boat,We would beat'em out with the paddles and keep moving.

[dewey]

So here is a question for you southern boys. What do you do with the snakes after you kill them? Just leave them? Eat them? Are the copperheads like other snakes in that they are still very venomous even after death if you get nicked by one of the fangs.

If I ever go turkey hunting down South I am going to wear a suit like the tin man from Wizard of Oz.[:D]

Dewey

[SpitnDrum]

I bury the heads if they are missing off the snake.The answer to your other question is yes they are still very poisonous even after death.There venom glands are in there heads so you have to be careful not to rub a tooth across a hand.A copperhead is not a very good snake to eat they taste like they smell(rotten cucumber) and smell worse cooking.Rattlesnake on the other hand is great!