I have killed a couple of copperheads that our dogs might have bumped into if I let them live.
I believe some Rattlers are protected, and I am not great at snake identification so I thought it best to leave him alone. I hope I don't regret it. We have owned the farm for over 11 years, and this being the first I figured it should be OK?
In Missouri I think all snakes, even copperheads and rattlers, are protected. You cannot hunt them. If you find one in your yard you can kill them if you want, but you cannot hunt them.
Thanks MT. The two I killed were too close to the cabin, and my one lab at that time liked to play with anything moving. It was just a chance encounter.
Where I hunt in Oregon there are two different clots of diamondbacks. In the lower elevation there is a lot of black shale on the ground. The snakes are grey. You travel up a few hundred feet in elevation and they are brown.
If you hit a rattlesnake with the boat paddle it will wrap around the paddle and be pissed-off when he lets go and falls into the boat. Don't ask me how I know this.....:eek:
A buddy got bit by a little tiny copperhead last year at our hunting camp. He spent the night in the local hospital under observation because he has had some heart issues in the past. The bite was on the hand and his hand and forearm swelled up pretty big. Took about a month for the pain and swelling to completely disappear.
Around the same time I had a 2 foot rattler crawl out from under my hunting cabin. He was flattened out like they do to look bigger. I was maybe 2 feet away from him when I saw him. Didn't get bit...
The guy who got bit by the copperhead found out that there was no anti-venom nearby. If anyone needed it they would be air lifted to St. Louis. Costs were around $30K just for the anti-venom. They generally don't use anti-venom for copperhead bites, but timber rattlers are another story...The rattlers are much more dangerous if you are bitten, but they are lot less aggressive than the copperheads. I have actually been chased by copperheads after uncovering them in a wood pile I was moving...8^)
I am generally a "live and let live" guy when it comes to snakes. But if one surprises me from really close by, much less nibbles on me, he is going to suffer what I like to call "reptile dysfunction..."
