Snakes are out in East Texas!

I'm sure that they have been out for a while, but I saw my first Moccasin yesterday while "makin' the rounds".

Coach,
Perfect opportunity to introduce it to your new 1911.
Or did you and this is a before picture???

Billy,

I was unarmed. But I might miss with the 1911.

I will will be carrying my Bond Arms Texan from now on, and it will be loaded with .410 3" magnums.

It must be a strange experience to be looking at dangerous snake, while walking. We don't have dangerous wildlife here in the Netherlands, except our liberal politicians

I've only seen three copperheads in my life. One on a Boy Scout camp out back when I carried a stamped blade with a fake stag grip knife. Hey, I was 10.

One in the wood pile at the old hunting camp. And one that had just laid two eggs on my outside cook bench at the cabin about five years ago.

This weekend we uncovered a juvenile copperhead while trimming back monkey grass in our back garden. That's too close. Worse thing is by the time I found my kaiser blade, some folks call it a sling blade, it was gone.

When I was growing up in Virginia, up until age 16, I came across many copperhead. I would use a stick to hold them down, put my boot over their head and then use my knife to cut their head off. Most dangerous in the fall leaves, hard to spot.

Pap

I'd rather deal with the snakes

I had to use my Bond Arms Texan on a Moccasin this weekend (.410 3"). It would not be politically correct to post a picture of the result on here.

LOL

Always keep an eye out... we had a baby copperhead on the back porch last week, so young he still had a green tail. Opted for a quick head pop with the sledge hammer I had on the porch (very effective). Not a good critter to have around with 2 dogs and a 3 year old on the move. I've declared war on the English ivy in the backyard to help deter future visitors. Have a good week fellas, Jay

Welp, killed another copperhead in the driveway last night around 7:00PM. Hopefully this trend slows down. 11 days until Blade! Have a good week fellas, Jay

How often do you encounter these creatures?
I would walk all day long with something like this:

Yep, if I was walking in snake country, this would be my 1st choice. Where I live, I have never seen a poisonous snake. Might be a rattlesnake around, but in 17 years, I've never seen one here. Bears, cougers and wolves, need a different tact, my Glock 20 in 10mm is the choice. Not bad for 2 legged either.

Pap

10mm would indeed do the trick!

This is what I use.

I see a moccasin just about every day when I make the rounds on my 4-wheeler.

I saw 15 on the morning of April 29, 2017.

That was the day that the tornado hit Canton, Texas. Canton is about 30 miles south of me.

Great gun, love the text on it!

When we lived in North Louisiana, we went to First Monday nearly all summer. You had to pick an area to shop because there was no way you could see it all in one day.

Pap

Pappy: Its even bigger now!!!

I have one of these squirreled away somewhere. I used to keep it in the old Jeep but quit that. I'm concerned about dropping it on the hammer.

Hey Pappy:
My very first College Track Meet was at Ruston back in the early 70s.
I remember going into that gym/fieldhouse and seeing Terry Bradshaw's football jersey hanging up in the trophy case RETIRED. I though that was the COOLEST thing Id ever seen!

He musta been sumthin' at La Tech!

Yes it was something to have Phil Robertson and Terry Bradshaw both at the same time. Terry's brother Gary was friends with a lot of my Kappa Sigma brothers and came by our frat house often. Terry came to Boise a few years ago and my son, AJ, got his autograph on my 1968 Tech annual. Between his sophomore and junior summer, the Tech QB coach took Terry to his cattle ranch and made him pass on his knees at a swinging tire at different distances. Terry went from a skinny 190 to 220 and a very accurate passer. If you ever notice, Terry doesn't take that last step in passing, all because Mickey Slaughter and training.

Pap

I'm sorry that I haven't kept up on the tally, but if I posted every time I kilt a moccasin, it would overload the forum.

Here is 2 pictures taken yesterday of #26 for 2018. The first is a kill shot from about 5 yds with my Bond Arms Texan (.410).

The second shows his head blown all to heck from about a yard.

I'm gettin' about ready for some cold weather!

Is that snake what I think it is???

It's just a black snake, but he was pretty sporty, definitely six feet long, I'm 5'11".

Did you turn him loose.

Pap

Yeah, I just kept him about 5 minutes, showed him to the property owner and let him go right where I found him. This one was on the same property, (where I fish sometimes) but he was only about three feet.

HA! Great Pic Wally!

Assume it was a black racer. They are very fast and hard to catch. They eat about everything. A black rat snake is more muscular and not as fast, plus are constrictors, as black racers are not.

Pap

Yeah Pap, I'm no expert. I just don't pick up rattlers or copperheads!

Wally--

Most people classify all snakes together...and don't realize how deadly the black snakes are for the poisonous snakes.

Good to have them around for that reason, although they also eat other things, including the eggs of ground-nesting game birds like quail, grouse, and pheasants, as well as raiding the nests of songbirds.

We have them around the outside of the house where they are mostly looking for lizards.

Larry

I don’t kill ANY snakes except Moccasins & Copperheads that are within 100 yds of my house.

Speckled King Snakes, Racers, Garter Snakes and even Chicken Snakes are welcome here.

Lots of copperheads in Tennessee and I don't like them much..

That's the only way I'll handle a copperhead... dead.

Dwight:

That’s a pretty good sized specimen of a copperhead !!!

You don’t see ‘em get that big very often.

Coach

He was Coach, 45" nose to tail. We were coming out the woods from hunting and someone ahead of us had run him over but he was big enough to stop for a photo op. I think the state record here is something like 52 or 53"and I usually see them more in the 24" range. Still don't like them regardless of size but he might make a nice knife sheath panel one day.

I have seen a few a good bit fatter....not one longer. I have no positive feelings re: copperheads....a goodly amount of negative ones, though.

Mama always said, "If you can't say something nice, then don't say anything at all."

That Copperhead sure makes a nice hat band.

yup, copperheads make for a challenge to hit the head and not the body.

I had to kill 2 moccasins yesterday.

My Bond Arms Texan with 3" .410 #4 shot is the ticket!

Yep, the best Snake gun ever. Easy to carry, and the weight makes pleasant to shoot.

Pap

You got that right!

Seems that at least once a year one of these fellas' refuses to not hang out around & under my mom's (now my sister's) thornless blackberry vines. Will not tolerate the close proximity. 44", 6 rattles & a button ; and fat.

Wow Duke, impressive size. Glad you got him before he messed up somebody's day.

Pap

That is a well-fed snake. Now that he's gone, might want to set up some rodent traps and see what you get.

Or catch a big black rat snake and let it take over. Not as much of a threat.

Pap

Pap--

The black snake will keep down the population of venomous snakes--double the benefit. But you don't want them around either if you have a chicken coop.

Larry

Speckled King Snakes are the BEST!!!

Actually this big fella must have been done in by one of the big Hawks we see hanging around, from the only marks on it. Or an eagle?? We see both around. I've seen Hawks carrying big black snakes but really have no idea re: the poison ones. Anybody else??

Birds of prey do kill and eat poisonous snakes. I saw a video of a hawk eating a rattlesnake recently--clamped onto it and starting ripping out pieces while the snake was still alive.

Larry

Sometimes you're the bug:



Sometimes you're the windshield:

Ever see a pack of hens find a mouse or a snake? Good lord they tear that poor thing up.

Coach,
MY choice too is the Bond but mine in the Texas Defender in 410/3inch. With the 3.5 in bbl,the Bond is fairly light and you know something had "occurred"when you touch it off!!!

Wayne

Wayne:

A 3” .410 is about as good a snake load as there is!

Coach

Not just snakes. Other slithery critters legs or not.

Coach,
Practice a single right hand draw (as my left hand is holding the SxS) and cock and fire the Bond.

You may ask why not just use the SxS for the snake but there is the possibility of a dog near by and I don't want to risk any injury.

I use the Bond driving holster.

Wayne

Wayne:

Please forgive me but what is the SxS?

Coach

Side-by-side.
Of course I'm answering for Wayne so may be (probably) wrong.

Well,

I could hold my Texan like the “GANGSTAS” hold theirs and it would be a side by side!

Coach,
Duke is correct,it is a side by side. In this case a Darne 12 ga. Only weighs 6 pounds loaded.

For quail I use light trap loads with #8 shot.

The Darne is a sliding breech shotgun,does not "break" like the traditional side by sides.

Wayne

The Darne is an interesting weapon.

I don’t think that I have ever seen one in person.

Coach,
I have not looked,but I do not know if they make Darne shotguns anymore.

I purchased mine close to 50 years ago for a very low price. Now the value has gone way up.

Wayne

Hated to whack this cottonmouth but he got down in the pool and could't get out. CB caps did the trick nicely

whacked

He looks healthy!

That is a big snake. We don't have cottonmouths here yet but if the temp rises some more we may get them they are in Va. just father south of us. We have plenty of snakes here but most are harmless.

Except for the copper heads and the timber rattlers Sidney. I do still think of them as dangerous, but right around where I live those vinomy ones all seem to take sick and die anyway.

I would kill the Copperheads but let the rattlers go as the Timber rattler is protected anyway. I once caught a Timber rattler with my bare hands and kept it in a cage in my living room for a while before releasing it back into the wild. I have caught and kept snakes for years in my younger years, now I only catch black snakes around my house and I have plenty. My house was built in the 1800's and the snakes seem to like it here.

The first picture is of the last moccasin of 2020.

Halloween night up by the gate, just before dark.

The other 2 pictures are of a very rare Green Tree Snake that, as you can tell, is very hard to see!

Coach, glad you sent the Halloween snake packing.
Walker

That is (was) one big dangerous snake.

Well, along with Redbuds and other blooms coming out, so do the Moccasins!

The first Moccasin of 2021 was out while I was making the rounds today.

Do you use your Bond 410?

Pap

Pap:

Yes Sir!

3” Magnum #4 shot.

Coach

Dang!
Do you mean you didn’t use a “Let it Live” trap and just try to capture it safely and release it somewhere in the national forest??
I’m really shocked!

If I catch ‘em within 100 yards of the house, they get executed.

Further out, I leave them alone. I also don’t shoot anything but moccasins.

All of the rest help control the rats, mice, gophers, & moles.

Off to a roaring start it seems! That thing looks like it is still fairly "stocky" in the body.
Or was!
Walker

Hoping my sarcasms obvious Coach. Always a risk with texts and email. What a difference in the seasons from here to there. I know they come out to warm on these unusually warm, sunny days here but not too regularly yet. Soon enough. At least the buggers are easier to spot now.

Duke:

I knew what you meant.

At the same time, I don’t subscribe to the “the only good snake is a dead snake” thinking. They have their place.

We just have an over abundance of moccasins where I live. My dogs leave them alone IF they see or smell them. But every now & then, they will stumble right into them.

We have been lucky so far, but you never know.

Coach

I haven't seen that many copperheads in my lifetime but when I did they were too damn close!

We don’t see many Copperheads out here any more. They used to be plentiful. We saw 2 monsters (4 ft.) several years ago, but I reckon that the Moccasins ate them all.

We don’t see as many Chicken Snakes (Texas Rat Snakes) or Spread Adders (Hognose Snakes) either. Maybe 1 or 2 a year. I hate that since they are hell on mice, rats, moles and gophers.

We do have some Garter Snakes and some Speckled King Snakes. I see one King Snake regularly up by the gate. At 6 ft. long, he is hard to miss. King Snakes eat Moccasins, so I leave him alone.

So far we aren't bothered by Moccasins here, but we do have copperheads, not around my house, but not far away, I hate copperheads, and came close to killing myself and my wife trying to kill a copper he was laying across the road on a narrow curving road in the NF., I tried to run over him and missed, so I backed up to try again and almost backed over a 300 foot steep and rocky drop off. We were in a rag top Jeep, so no protection. I think God saved us that day. They are the only snakes that I kill. Coach, those king snakes are some of the best looking snakes there are. They come in several different colors, with one looking like a Coral Snake except for the difference in the color stage, I have always heard red on yellow kill a fellow, that is found on Corals and not Kings. Corn snakes are also very beautiful. When I was in Military School about 20 miles from the SC. border I caught snakes almost everyday I could get away from school, a friend of mine would help me, we had two hansom snakes one a King and one a Corn, they came up missing one day and we couldn't figure out what happened. Several days later US Marshals came and arrested my friend. He was from the eastern shore and had tried to mail these two snakes home, postal workers heard rustling coming from the box and called agents. The boy never came back to school, and I never got my snakes back. I also caught snakes at night when the moon was bright, we had no flashlights, so I worked with the light of the moon, I would see snakes laying across the roads, mostly sand, and I didn't know what kind they were until I had them in hand, it was very exciting for a youngster of 13.

Moccasin #5 of 2021.

One shot at 20 feet from Bond Arms Texan.

Remington Express Extra Long Range 3" Magnum #4 Shot.

Coach! you have way to many of those laying around, but that was a great shot. Those little guns are impressive, I'm guessing there is quite a bit of recoil.

Sidney
Because of their heft, the recoil isn't bad. I shoot the regular 2 3/4" bird shot, but the 3" magnum loads could be interesting.

Pap

Sidney:

Pap is right. The TEXAN has a 6 inch barrel and plenty of heft. That makes the recoil “manageable”.

I use 3” magnums so that they won’t crawl off into the thick weeds. I have tried 2 1/2”, but they usually take 2 shots. 3” magnums get the job done in one shot.

Coach

Here is #9 (Copperhead)

and #10 (Moccasin)

Bond Arms Texan .410, 3" Magnum Remington Express Extra Long Range, #4 Shot

If they would stay 100 yds from the house, I'd let 'em alone.

When I used to stay with my Grandmother in the Summers and I'd kill a snake, she would tell me to make sure its belly was up so's it would rain.

Well, I regret leaving these'uns with their bellys up 'cause it has rained 10" since and flooded all of East Texas!

I'd wear knee high snake boots anytime I left the house if lived there! I spray snake repellent around my pool because they find their way in if I don't. Could you maybe try to spray a ring of snake repellent around your house?

Walker: I’m afraid that all of them inside the perimeter would not be able to get out.

You just need to put “reverse direction” shock collars like on my yeller lab’s underground fences Coach…...keep ‘em all out but always lets (snakes) ‘em go the other way.
Keep those pics coming, Coach. Nothing better than pics. Of dead copperheads!
Felt recoil is always an individual thing. I shoot the 3” loads in my Bond Texas Defender, 2&1/2” barrel and really isn’t bad, especially when shooting to kill.
I don’t go out and punch paper all day with it. Nor with my 45-70, .270, 30-06, 309JDJ, etc., etc. But I never feel the shot launched to kill.

Well, I sure regret leaving them two belly up like I did.

Now, it’s rained 19 inches altogether since then and ALL of East Texas is under FLASH FLOOD WARNING until Saturday night.

The Sabine River near here has Flood Stage of 26 feet. They say it will crest at 39 feet.


https://www.dallasnews.com/news/2018/02/...s-weather-lore/

Coach, that is some more rain for sure. Batten down the hatches for sure.
Walker