Can You Spot the Copperhead

[del2les]

The most I have seen while cruising timber was 28 cotton mouths and 12-14 water snakes. That was in about a 3-4hour period. They were everywhere and we were a walking on egg shells for a few days. Every cricket or lizard we saw twitch had us jumping. Not too nervous with singles etc. but that day we were surrounded.

When I lived in the South, a high school friend and I used to have annual spring "snake hunts" for cotton mouths. Once the air temps were warm enough and the water temps were still rather cool, those snakes would begin crawling up on logs, stumps, low hanging tree limbs, mud banks, etc, etc. We would wear knee high boots, and with 10/22's in hand with 25 round mags filled with "Stingers", begin walking various sloughs, small swamps, old overgrown ponds, beaver ponds, etc.

During a few hours of hunting, it was not uncommon for us to kill dozens of cotton mouths and a few brown water snakes. Some of those old water holes had dozens of snakes lying around not wishing to reenter the cold waters. On some occasions while walking in knee high grass around those narrow farmland sloughs, the grass around and between our boots would start moving and the sounds of crawling snakes would send a quick burst of adrenaline up our spines.

On a few hunts, we saw and sometimes killed cotton mouths so large we referred to them as "flat tires" or "floaters". Usually females, those snakes were 4-5 feet long, extra thick like your bicep, very flat bellies, float much higher in the water and could be super aggressive. Those were the trophy snakes for belts, hat bands, etc, and if only head shot, some people would pay a premium for those. Wading into the shallow waters to retrieve one using a willow pole was a most exciting thing.

There were only a few people around who cared for these type of hunts, and I wish I would have kept the local newspaper articles and pics of the truck beds and tailgates covered with dozens of those wicked things. Especially those trophy "floaters".

 

[Mark37082]

One of the best things about cold weather is the peace of mind walking the woods. It was 85 degrees here in TN this week. My walks through the woods have now been curtailed. Snakes, ticks, chiggers, and poison ivy turn my attention to fishing. At least the Cotton Mouths are a little easier to spot.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

One of the best things about cold weather is the peace of mind walking the woods. It was 85 degrees here in TN this week. My walks through the woods have now been curtailed. Snakes, ticks, chiggers, and poison ivy turn my attention to fishing. At least the Cotton Mouths are a little easier to spot.

View attachment 441575

Thats a big one!!!!

 

[mongo4567]

I was on a land survey crew as a kid. I remember hearing the crew chief going "oh, oh, oh" while he danced around like a ballerina in work boots. There was a large copperhead with the head about a foot off the ground. He smacked it with his metal clipboard and I killed it with my shovel.

 

[del2les]

Here's the type of cotton mouth trophies we sometimes encountered in our snake hunts.

 

[Allen Kitts]

Cottonmouths are some seriously nasty critters to deal with! The copperheads seem to be a little more docile. We had one try to crawl into our backpack Full of Bud Light a few years back while hunting hogs at night over bait. My buddy literally jumped about 7-8 feet across y lap to get away from the backpack. It was quite comical!

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Cottonmouths are MEAN and aggressive. They will actually try to fight rather than run. I was scouting for some deer areas at Wilson Shoals WMA, in GA. Had our 17HMR to hunt squirrels at the time. Was walking next to a stream and turned my head--I was looking directly into the face of a Cottonmouth on a tree limb. Could have been bit in the face or neck. Put the muzzle of the 17 by the snake's head and shot. The blast from the muzzle blew the head off.
Jill and I were in our little bass boat on Hard Labor Creek Pond. Had a Cotton mouth try to get in the boat with us. It must have thought we were an island. had to keep slapping it with our fishing rods and floored our 9 HP motor to get away.

 

[Mark37082]

I agree the Cotton Mouths are very bold and don't scare easily. We will see several on a typical day float fishing on a small local river in warm weather. I've had them strike at the canoe or kayak when getting too close. They will hold their ground.

 

[Mike Matteson]

Same way with Mohave Greens. They will come after you more than our other rattle snakes. I had a little fun that day too. First I put it into another carpenters nail bag during lunch time. He didn't noticed it until he went for some nails. He jump around then.
Next I put it in the portable crapper. His son went to do his thing. he almost tore the door off. . I been gotten too with tricks.
The hardest thing is to keep a straight face.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

Same way with Mohave Greens. They will come after you more than our other rattle snakes. I had a little fun that day too. First I put it into another carpenters nail bag during lunch time. He didn't noticed it until he went for some nails. He jump around then.
Next I put it in the portable crapper. His son went to do his thing. he almost tore the door off. . I been gotten too with tricks.
The hardest thing is to keep a straight face.

We would get along!

 

[Txhillbilly]

I found the copperhead in the photo pretty easy. Been around them my whole life, and have learned to notice them. I've got a huge Bull snake that lives on my property. It's the only snake that has ever scared the crap out of me, I was mowing the fence line on my zero turn mower and it come hauling A out of the tall johnson grass right over my lap - all 6+ feet of it.

 

[Coyote Shadow Tracker]

I found the copperhead in the photo pretty easy. Been around them my whole life, and have learned to notice them. I've got a huge Bull snake that lives on my property. It's the only snake that has ever scared the crap out of me, I was mowing the fence line on my zero turn mower and it come hauling A out of the tall johnson grass right over my lap - all 6+ feet of it.

We love the Black Racers. They eat other snakes and get 6'++

 

[Mr. Magoo]

Couldn't see it until shown...but isn't it the wrong color...shouldn't it be 'bloody red'..

Once I finally saw it, I realize the pic had been been photoshopped. They modified the colors a little and took out the shadows on the snake. That's why you cant make out the outline. Look close- there's shadows from the leaves on the ground but no snake profile shadow.

I'm pretty good a spotting wildlife and especially snakes- used to hunt the rattlers when I was a teen in high school and sell the stuff I made with them. I knew of a few dens down on the river where it cut through the volcanic basalt- there would be shallow caves eroded into the rock and you could walk in several feet. Certain times of day/ time of year there were snakes everywhere you looked. Easy pickins. I had a conduit tube with a cable run through it with handle attached . Pop the neck and set em outside to pick up later.

Later in the spring the snakes would venture outside the cave and sun themselves on the dark brown rocks before heading out, so you had to really pay attention when approaching that area as they could be anywhere.

People used to think I was crazy. One time I went to the gas station with the pickup bed full of dead snakes and a guy waked by, casually looked in the bed. Never fails, one of the dead ones is still moving just at the right time for someone to see it. Needless to say, he about jumped out of his skin

Those prairie rattlers snakes aren't very aggressive and will only strike if provoked or stepped on.