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SNAKES
Rickstir
Member Posts: 574 ✭
Awhile back there was a lengthy discusion about
our legless freinds.Not wanting to stir anything
up but I prefer to relocate them.Common in these
parts (Central Texas(or should I call it Serious Taxes[:(])
are:Chicken snake (Lots of these)
Plain old water snake(even more of these)
Cotton mouth(not too many)
Copperhead(seen only 2 in 48 years)
RATTLERS!!!!!(lots+lots)
The non-poisonous ones get moved to a new home down
by the river or out in the sticks where there's
nobody to scare.
RATTLERS "taste like chicken" and the skins go a
buddy that makes belts,hat bands,wallets,etc.
Copperheads(if I ever run across another one)will
get the taste test as well and my buddy will get the skin.
COTTONMOUTHS on the otherhand are just plain MEAN and they STINK!!!
Buzzards got to eat too!!!
IT'S WHAT PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THEMSELVES THAT MAKES THEM AFRAID.
our legless freinds.Not wanting to stir anything
up but I prefer to relocate them.Common in these
parts (Central Texas(or should I call it Serious Taxes[:(])
are:Chicken snake (Lots of these)
Plain old water snake(even more of these)
Cotton mouth(not too many)
Copperhead(seen only 2 in 48 years)
RATTLERS!!!!!(lots+lots)
The non-poisonous ones get moved to a new home down
by the river or out in the sticks where there's
nobody to scare.
RATTLERS "taste like chicken" and the skins go a
buddy that makes belts,hat bands,wallets,etc.
Copperheads(if I ever run across another one)will
get the taste test as well and my buddy will get the skin.
COTTONMOUTHS on the otherhand are just plain MEAN and they STINK!!!
Buzzards got to eat too!!!
IT'S WHAT PEOPLE KNOW ABOUT THEMSELVES THAT MAKES THEM AFRAID.
Comments
This has been a good year for large black snakes on my farm. Close into the house and chicken coop. It is nesting time for the quail in our fence rows and turkey in the field borders. I want many more of these. So I have taken it upon myself to eliminate the snakes. Just from around the house/yard/barnyard proper. I don't go looking for them on the rest of the 80 acres. All of the ones this weekend were hanging around the fence rows. I spot them as I cut the grass. We will have youngsters up each week for the rest of the summer also.
Please don't remind me of rodent control. I have 5 cats, that are really good at it. Have you ever seen a cat dispatch a large rat? Takes about 1.5 seconds. Quick bite in the back of the neck, and its rat sandwich time. I have a much deeper respect for our big tom after watching that. I know the cats could get a bird or to, but since they bring everything they kill to us before the eat it(why do cats do that?), we have not seen any game birds. Just robins and sparrows.
I would like to fire shot shells in my 9mm Beretta 92FS. I can hit a snake, but it may take more than one. Had a six footer get away Saturday because old dead-eye missed
The question is...is there any damage from shooting these? Thanks as always...
Like in the NFL, defense is the key.
HATE THEM. This little booger was trying to get to the birds.. came outta the bush and came after me, heck no.. headshot from back porch [:0]
I have held boa constrictors and pythons without too many problem but it is the smaller faster ones that bug me. They all scare me but the really big ones. Most of you on here are from the south and have snakes, did any of you help someone overcome their fear of snakes? How did you do it.
Tonight, I made up a couple snake hooks to help round up the friendlies that find their way to the play area. Got me a bucket with a lid, hopefully the relocating is successful and the wife learns we DO need them around. Otherwise, the rat population is out of control. The past few months, since it has been dry and the snakes are visible. The rats haven't been, I think they call that balance.
Have found several sites that are more than helpful in helping to learn the basics, no way in hell I'm gonna try to hook a venomous snake. Them guys, have bigger balls than all the males in my family tree combined. Snakes have never bothered me, I once owned a red tailed boa. Handling a friendly doesn't make me wet myself in the least, anything else is fair game.
Thinking I may go check out the next rattle snake round up, would be cool to get better educated and not have to destroy what I am not learned on. Not many rattlers around here, but the copperheads are more frequent. Anybody spare them, or just whack em'? My son is to curious at this stage, and wants to go check them out. No matter how many times he is told they are nasty little creatures, he has a hearing issue. Hopefully he doesn't have to find out the hard way, that bothers me.
What do you guys do ?? Come on with the expertise HeDog [:)]
THE AMOUNT OF KILL,S A CAT HAS WILL NOT DEMINISH THE GAME SIGNIFICANTLY,
AS FOR KILLING THE SNAKES, YOU PROBABLY CANT KILL ENOUGH OF THEM TO MAKE A BIG DIFFERENCE, AS BLACK SNAKES HAVE MANY YOUNG.
lr
Pack slow, fall stable, pull high, hit dead center.
When Clinton left office they gave him a 21 gun salute. Its a damn shame they all missed....
Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it, worry about the fragmentation grenade addressed 'To Occupant'.
Edited by - thesupermonkey on 06/17/2002 13:23:19
Edited by - thesupermonkey on 06/17/2002 14:09:42
The most important things, Are not things.
Edited by - varmit hunter on 06/17/2002 15:21:24
Any snake on my property is dead meat.
I do have to say that black snakes are beneficial although you could never get Mrs Pelican to see it that way.
Now spiders, thats another matter. I HATE THE DAMN THINGS!!!!!!!!!!!!
Getting that time of year for the banana spiders. Body about the size of a pencil about 2-3 inches long for a big'un. Hate wolkin' through a wooded area and gettin' one of them webs all over you, oooohhhh - chills thinking about it. Reckon I am arachnophobic (sp?).
The Almighty Himself Entrusted the Future of All Living Creatures to a Wooden Boat.- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -"Audemus jura nostra defendere"
In Missouri, at least, quail run a 95% mortality rate in the first year of life, and a few black snakes are unlikely to affect that much. Besides, if you kill five, you open habitat for 5 others to move into the area.
Cats actually do an extrodinary amount of predation damage. There has never been a small feline predator on the North American continent and small game has little defense. They do eat rodents in good numbers, but they are devastating to the song bird (and quail) populations. They also contract dreadful diseases like feline leukemia when allowed outdoors.
"It was like that when I got here".
I load my own snake shot for my 38 and 357, using encapsulated cases. Works great, and my loads make the CCI shot shells look tame, although it is much more fun to cut them in half with a wadcutter. I shoot any snake I get a chance to. And as for black snakes, they love eggs and all I know is that after we reduced the population of them on the farm we had more gamee birds surviving to be big enough to hunt. As for cats, well we keep some for the rodent ppopulation around the house and barns, but the cats gone wild are also target pratice. Fun to take them out of fence rows at about 150 yards with a SKS.
The second admendment GUARANTEES the other nine and the Constitution!
This spring has been a GOOD year for the Texas Rat Snake, and lots of them have wound up in houses where they were not particularly welcome. We catch them and release them in the fields to go after more vermin.
Our cats PLAY with mice and rats, and rarely eat or kill them. Cats are nearly useless for rodent control, but a constricting serpent, that is another story. The cat is playing while the snake is in it for survival.
There are a couple of black snakes. The Black Rat snake, of the genus Elaphe, eats mostly warm-blooded creatures. The Black Racer, genus Coluber, will eat other snakes, but not rodents. King snakes, genus Getulus, and there is a black one of these as well, are well known for eating other snakes. And they also eat rodents.
I am mystified by the wannabe Saint Patricks who think theirs is a moral duty to snuff out every snake they see. The only consolation is that a lot of these types get bitten for their trouble. Hopefully by a venomous species.
SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
I am with S&W, if I see a snake it better be dead, if it aint it will be. I am scared to death of those things and will shoot every single one I see, if I can't shoot it, I will have to use a shovel.
Cripes, after reading this thread I'm gonna have nightmares.
Snakes are descendents of Satan.
or pick them up and throw them in my Chessies kennel.
Snakes descended from Satan!? Hogwash! Satan can appear as whatever he likes. To deceive Eve, he appeared as a serpent. Some translators would say a dragon. How many dragons do you see around nowadays? Following that superstitious logic, where did lizards come from? And turtles?
Snakes are really pretty pathetic creatures. Fastest any of them can go is about 6 mph. Sure, they bite if molested or cornered. So do rats and dogs. Most rely on camouflage to avoid predators. They are surely nothing for those of us at the top of the food chain to fear.
SIG pistol armorer/FFL Dealer/Full time Peace Officer, Moderator of General Discussion Board on Gunbroker. Visit www.gunbroker.com, the best gun auction site on the Net! Email davidnunn@texoma.net
Edited by - 7mm nut on 06/18/2002 08:58:08
Actually, anyone who claims to believe in a literal interpretation of the Bible can see that all snakes descended from Satan. Here is Genesis 3:14:
"And the Lord God said to the serpent, Because you have done this [tempted and lied to Eve] Cursed are you more than all cattle, And more than every beast of the field; On your belly shall you go, And dust shall you eat All the days of your life.......and he [man] shall bruise you on the head, and you shall bruise him on the heel."
Looks to me like God authorizes us to kill all snakes.
L
Edited by - beantole on 06/18/2002 11:04:43
If its a black snake, king snake, rat snake, or white oak snake, it is welcome on my property.
I'm not afraid of the dark...the dark is afraid of me!
Actually Nunn, I disagree that snakes are a little pathetic. They decided not to be lizards along about the late Mezozoic, say about 115 million years ago. They are likely still diversifing and increasing species numbers. I would say that makes them pretty successful and durable, despite the actions of boobs. We really cannot judge them until we have been around about as long, and we are short by something like 113.5 million of those years!
I do appreciate you being a conservationist and friend to snakes and spiders Nunn, but really, that is about what I would expect.
beantole,
Interesting point, now were god's words directed at
A) the Snake
Don't worry about the bullet with your name on it, worry about the fragmentation grenade addressed 'To Occupant'.
If people want to have a pet cat, let them keep it at home. My dogs don't go wandering around on other peoples property.
No apolgies to anyone.
Clair: I agree. People ought to keep their dogs and cats on their own property. I've never killed a dog or cat but we lived in rural Arkansas for a year and now we are in southern Missouri and the rule both places is if a neighbor's cat or dog comes on your property causing problems you have the right to shoot it.
and might look scarey. They are harmless, are more afraid of
;you than you are of them. They are there to eat the rats that
are there to eat the grain your giving the birds. If you don't want
them, then put them in a sack and take em' down the road. Don't kill
em'. They are good snakes. I have a six foot rat snake in my yard,and
hopeit has babies. I hate mice!!!