Copperhead

blt152

Senior Member
I spent this last day of spring turkey season on my lease in Haralson Co. I came across this guy enjoying the afternoon sun. I was well aware of the snake's presence plus was wearing snake boots. I did not feel threatened and was in no danger of getting bit so I did not kill it. I've reached a point in my life where I could not justify shooting this beautiful copperhead. If I was in a position where I might have been bitten maybe things would have been different. I was wondering how some of my fellow sportsmen feel about this. I know a few guys in my lease are not happy that I did not kill it.
 

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Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
You ever set up tight on a roosted bird well before daylight ? Might change your mind if you put your hand down on it, or you hear a little later on a kid got bit in the same area. Something to think about.
 

oldguy

Senior Member
GOOD FOR YOU!
I'm at the point in my life where I don't believe you can change folks' minds about anything. They have to come to that point on their own. But it doesn't hurt to lead by example. You could point out that more people die in cars than by snake bite. The most dangerous part of their hunt starts when they pull out of their driveway. BUT, you'd probably be wasting your breath...
 

blt152

Senior Member
You ever set up tight on a roosted bird well before daylight ? Might change your mind if you put your hand down on it, or you hear a little later on a kid got bit in the same area. Something to think about.
Maybe so but it would be my fault for not looking at my surroundings before I sat down. Like I said if the situation was one that I was in danger of being bitten then the outcome may have been different. As far as a kid being bitten the chance of that is slim to none on my lease. To each his own.
 

Mark K

Banned
Only kill them where told and because of the management of the property. Anywhere else, no. I’ll even stop to get them on across the road before they get hit. My wife thinks I’m looney, I’ll stop to save a snake but pop a critter in a trap in a heartbeat. I’ll block traffic for ducklings and fawns, but come Fall hunt them both. Middle age crisis, lol.
 

blood on the ground

Cross threading is better than two lock washers.
You did good by giving the snake a pass. That copperhead isn't the only copperhead on your hunting grounds, I'm sure of it! I think it's a low blow for someone to try and give you guilt trip for not killing it.
 

GeorgiaBob

Senior Member
The only times I find it "necessary" to kill a poisonous snake are when the critter is moving MY direction and I cannot quickly relocate, or when the snake has taken up residence in something on my property around where my wife might wander or my grandkids play.

Otherwise I just detour around their stationary spot (if I even see the dang thing), or back up and wait for them to go their merry way if I spot one in motion.

NOTE: I might make an exception and shoot a water moccasion - those are just mean snakes and seem to just want to bite!
 

blt152

Senior Member
I've been in this lease four years and this was my first encounter with a poisonous snake. I work on this lease plus predator trap as well. I am on this lease more than any other member and like I said this was my first encounter. The choice to not kill this copperhead was mine to make and I made it. As far as laying a guilt trip on me. nice try but didn't work.
 

Mr Bya Lungshot

BANNED LUNATIC FRINGE
It’s not the native venomous snakes that kill you anymore, it’s that $nake bill the hospital sends to your home that needs a killing. Doesn’t hurt nothing to kill a copperhead or two in your lifetime.
So have it your way. It’s ok.
Get bit and you’ll wish you didn’t.
Just don’t tell the folks around that venomous snake that you in fact let it live.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Good on you. They have as much right to be here as we do, and there is something wrong about folks who want to kill everything they see in the woods.

As for the kid thing, do you disable every car you see because a kid might walk out in front of it?
 

Hillbilly stalker

Senior Member
I've been in this lease four years and this was my first encounter with a poisonous snake. I work on this lease plus predator trap as well. I am on this lease more than any other member and like I said this was my first encounter. The choice to not kill this copperhead was mine to make and I made it. As far as laying a guilt trip on me. nice try but didn't work.
Man I hope you wasnt thinking I was trying to lay a guilt trip on you, because I wasn't. You asked how your fellow sportsman felt and I answered. I could care less if you killed it or kissed it. That's just the way I think, I try to look out for the next fellow and I value a kid alot more than a snake. I don't kill everything in the woods I see, but I have set up real tight on a roosted bird, way before daylight when you cant see or use a light, and found a chopperhead right there REAL close when it got light. Now if you don't kill it and have to come back next morning and get bit, that's a self inflicted wound. It doesn't matter if its your fault or the snakes, your going to pay the price. To each his own...you asked and I answered honestly.
 

NCHillbilly

Administrator
Staff member
Man I hope you wasnt thinking I was trying to lay a guilt trip on you, because I wasn't. You asked how your fellow sportsman felt and I answered. I could care less if you killed it or kissed it. That's just the way I think, I try to look out for the next fellow and I value a kid alot more than a snake. I don't kill everything in the woods I see, but I have set up real tight on a roosted bird, way before daylight when you cant see or use a light, and found a chopperhead right there REAL close when it got light. Now if you don't kill it and have to come back next morning and get bit, that's a self inflicted wound. It doesn't matter if its your fault or the snakes, your going to pay the price. To each his own...you asked and I answered honestly.
In the woods, I worry a lot more about a tree falling on me or a bolt of lightning or almost anything besides a snake. They’re there, and one could possibly hurt you, but so can a thousand other things. That’s the outdoors- the woods aren’t a safe, sterile indoor environment, nor would I want them to be. All the things that live and grow in the woods are what makes them interesting. A copperhead is just as much a part of it as that turkey.

So is the tree that might fall on you or a kid (much more statistically likely than a snakebite,) but I don’t want to kill every tree in the woods.
 
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