Four .32ACP rounds required to stop the threat!

[40FIVER]

Irrational fear of and knee-jerk destruction of snakes is as bad as irrational fear and knee-jerk control of guns. Both snakes and guns are beneficial and generally not dangerous. Killing all snakes because they look like one that might injure someone is as bad as banning some types of rifles because of the way they look.

Take a chill pill.

You sound like someone just killed one of your family members. Sheesh.
Kind of reminds me of the giant cockroach in "Men in Black".

There is nothing irrational about my disdain for all things snake. Also, it is never a knee-jerk reaction wihen I kill one. It is premeditated and quite fulfilling.

[dave_in_austin]

My point is that this is the kind of attitude that people use to justify gun control. It is something to think about.

[Frost]

1. The weed eater would have been more effective and discrete.

2. Its just a snake how about leaving it alone?

[RKirby]

Didn't really come to mind until now, but I bet the snakes are going to be real bad with all the floods we've been having. I recall Six Flags being shut down when I was a kid because of snakes after a bout of heavy rains. I hope I'm wrong.........

Yep...killed three in my yard already this year. That's more than I have encountered in the last thirty years of living in this house.

I didn't shoot them, however. That's frowned upon where I live and likely would result in a visit from the local SWAT team.

A garden hoe is legal, just as deadly and much quieter!

[ElGato]

This one was a 3 ft cottonmouth with a very bad attitude.

Isn't "Cottonmouth" and "Bad attitude" redundant?

That's what I was thinking!

[chewy555]

I killed on in the back yard earlier this year. First one that I have seen in the yard in the 5 years that I have lived there. I just used a shovel, since I am in the San Antonio city limits, did not feel like getting a knock on the door a few from SAPD. The only thing that I can think of as to why it was in the yard was the rain.

[pbandjelly]

what is this, PETA vs. The OphidioPhobiacs?

anyone else take Boy Scouts as a kid? turns out there's an easy way to tell if they're poisonous or not....

[DoubleJ]

rattlesnake are good eats

[flintknapper]

anyone else take Boy Scouts as a kid? turns out there's an easy way to tell if they're poisonous or not....

Yup,

But it requires that you get closer than most folks want to.

If you look at the pupil of the three pit vipers common to North America (Rattlesnakes, Moccasins, Copperheads) you will notice they are vertical (cat like) as opposed to round.

The Coral snake (not a pit viper) is easily identified by its color alone...but also has a round pupil and is the exception to the rule "Vertical pupil= poisonous, Round pupil= non-poisonous" (for snakes indigenous to North America).

Do not count on a "diamond shaped head" or the ready appearance of heat sensing pits to identify poisonous snakes. Color, markings and body shape can also be misleading (especially in juvenile snakes).

Snakes have never scared me...and I have handled hundreds of them in my lifetime, but I certainly understand how some people can develop a phobia about them.

I feel that way about spiders. Even more so....since I was bitten by a Black Widow yesterday while opening a valve on a propane tank. Should have looked first.

[carlson1]

turns out there's an easy way to tell if they're poisonous or not....

I will NOT BE ONE TAKING TIME to decide

[MrsFosforos]

anyone else take Boy Scouts as a kid? turns out there's an easy way to tell if they're poisonous or not....

If you look at the pupil

I don't have a problem with snakes in general BUT if I'm close enough to look into the pupils and I realize they are cat shaped ... I'd probably have to go change my pants.

[flintknapper]

anyone else take Boy Scouts as a kid? turns out there's an easy way to tell if they're poisonous or not....

If you look at the pupil

I don't have a problem with snakes in general BUT if I'm close enough to look into the pupils and I realize they are cat shaped ... I'd probably have to go change my pants.

Well.........like I said before, most people will not want to get this close.

An alternate method would be to turn the snake over and observe the orientation of the scales below the anal vent (last part of the tail underneath). The poisonous snakes (indigenous to the US) have a single row of scales (unbroken)...and the non-poisonous have two rows (divided side by side).

I'm guessing most folks will opt for the "pupil check" (if any checking is done).

[bwahahaha]

anyone else take Boy Scouts as a kid? turns out there's an easy way to tell if they're poisonous or not....

If you look at the pupil

I don't have a problem with snakes in general BUT if I'm close enough to look into the pupils and I realize they are cat shaped ... I'd probably have to go change my pants.

Not to get dragged into the kill or not kill debate -- but these guys tend to be pretty skittish and worst case, will simply stand their ground and make a lot of noise hoping you'll head the other way. I work out in an area where they're (western diamondback rattlers, specifically) regularly sunning and have never had a problem encouraging them to relocate with the use of a long branch. They really don't want anything to do with you and take care of annoying pests like rodents. I also hike and have come within inches of stepping on a number of rattlers without suffering a bite. Most of the snakes you'll come across are harmless and it's pointless to kill them. If you can't ID one, just stay away and/or nudge it with a long stick. It's a personal choice, but I happen to like snakes and wish people would let 'em be.

[Velocity]

Since we're on the topic - I came across THIS back March of 2004 while mowing grass in the backyard of my surburban home northwest of Houston :



My thoughts, pretty much in the following order, were :

1. I'm getting my gun (see, on topic!) - oh wait - that'd be followed by a police visit - bad idea.
2. Wow, that thing must be at least 3 feet long (what you see in the picture is about half of the snake, the other half is concealed in the grass).
3. That looks a lot like a copperhead.
4. Is that a hood?!??!

I wound up convincing it (with a long broom handle, barely visible in the picture) to relocate on the OTHER side of my backyard fence, which backs up to a field, which backs up to woods.

After talking to someone with a bit more knowledge than myself, they said it was probably an "Eastern Hognose", which as it turns out, is harmless.

I wound up finding a baby eastern hognose the next year - definitely confirmed that's what it was as it exhibited a trait specific to the eastern hognose - playing dead. I'm not kidding, it actually flips over on it's back with it's mouth hanging open. Best part is if you flip it back over (correct side UP), it'll flip itself BACK onto it's back to "prove" to you that it's really dead.

[John R. Fuller]

I am not anti snake, but I am anti varmint. I still stand behind what I did. I don't regret killing the snake and certainly do not regret the method I chose to dispatch it. If in the woods, I would leave well enough alone. I have two cats and a dog that kill the rodents around my home. I live on a little over an acre in a subdivision seven miles from city limits.

All six rounds fired dug into the ground four after going through the snake. The sherriff did not come and no one was the wiser. People readily dispatch varmints as I did pretty often in my neighborhood.

I am taking away valuable lessons from this encounter with the snake. It was great to test one of my most common self defense weapons and ammunition. I am now even more competent in its employment if called upon.

Some may say I used excessive or questionable force. I did have a lawn mower and weed eater handy and chose not to use them. I used the thing that I carry in my pocket most often even when I am carrying something larger, the P32 goes with me. I do not carry OC or mace or any other weapon except my 300 pounds, and that is steadily being melted off with the Adkins diet.