Sweetwater
Senior Member
Bout to drink a double of turkey on the rocks in honor of Germag....Georgia needs more men like him. Georgia also needs to find someone like Okefenokee Joe to travel to elementary schools across the state educating kids about snakes they will encounter. I'm 46...and have never forgotten the demonstration ole Joe came and did at Winston Elem.
We as outdoorsmen encounter more snakes than the average person because of our love of the woods and water...of places away from civilization. If one was raised or taught the proper ways of an outdoorsman...I was by a pure blooded Cherokee named Wayne Alexander...a good guy who couldn't handle the fire water....We are taught to respect the fish and game we chase...to respect their homes....to respect all forms of life in the wild. If we didn't put it there...if it is in it's habitat and home...not ours...leave it alone. Killing anything for no good reason..ignorance is not a good reason...is a sin and an affront to the fishing and hunting gods. All animals are there for a reason...to do a job as a part of nature's grand scheme.
It saddens me...and it makes me question the "country" of some folks....who come on the forum with snake killing posts. The ones involving shooting them with high powered firearms out from under a truck parked near houses makes me cringe. I understand if a venomous snake is in someone's yard. I understand if a copperhead takes up near someone's koi pond. But I do not understand folks that kill every snake they see in the woods or on the water. Snakes that would not hurt them as long as they did not step on it...or go messing with it when they shouldn't. It saddens me to know that thousands of banded water snakes will die because they resemble cottonmouths.
While I find snakes to be gorgeous animals...I know most find them repulsive....and cringe at the thought of one being within 100 feet alive. I understand that. I understand and fully back the right of folks to kill any and all on their property...even if the snakes they are killing are non venomous and in doing so are opening up territory for a venomous one to replace it.
But all outdoorsman should educate themselves on how to ID all venomous snakes..and the most beneficial non venomous ones: King snakes...banded water snakes...rat snakes..indigo snakes...corn snakes...so those snakes can get the respect they deserve. All outdoorsman should make it personal policy to leave any and all snakes alone they encounter in the wild unless it is absolutely necessary not to.
We as outdoorsmen encounter more snakes than the average person because of our love of the woods and water...of places away from civilization. If one was raised or taught the proper ways of an outdoorsman...I was by a pure blooded Cherokee named Wayne Alexander...a good guy who couldn't handle the fire water....We are taught to respect the fish and game we chase...to respect their homes....to respect all forms of life in the wild. If we didn't put it there...if it is in it's habitat and home...not ours...leave it alone. Killing anything for no good reason..ignorance is not a good reason...is a sin and an affront to the fishing and hunting gods. All animals are there for a reason...to do a job as a part of nature's grand scheme.
It saddens me...and it makes me question the "country" of some folks....who come on the forum with snake killing posts. The ones involving shooting them with high powered firearms out from under a truck parked near houses makes me cringe. I understand if a venomous snake is in someone's yard. I understand if a copperhead takes up near someone's koi pond. But I do not understand folks that kill every snake they see in the woods or on the water. Snakes that would not hurt them as long as they did not step on it...or go messing with it when they shouldn't. It saddens me to know that thousands of banded water snakes will die because they resemble cottonmouths.
While I find snakes to be gorgeous animals...I know most find them repulsive....and cringe at the thought of one being within 100 feet alive. I understand that. I understand and fully back the right of folks to kill any and all on their property...even if the snakes they are killing are non venomous and in doing so are opening up territory for a venomous one to replace it.
But all outdoorsman should educate themselves on how to ID all venomous snakes..and the most beneficial non venomous ones: King snakes...banded water snakes...rat snakes..indigo snakes...corn snakes...so those snakes can get the respect they deserve. All outdoorsman should make it personal policy to leave any and all snakes alone they encounter in the wild unless it is absolutely necessary not to.
