My place is snakey and we have a Varmint

Sam06

In the last 3 days I have killed 5 Copperhead snakes, none were near the house or barn all were in the woods or in the grass.

2 with a lawn tractor
1 with a string trimmer
2 with a S&W Model 38 with snake shot

I also watched a Hawk grab a snake not sure what kind.

I caught a * snake in the woods and moved him to the barn, I hope he sticks around. I wish I could find a King Snake but I haven't seen one in years.

I am surprised my Dogs haven't been snake bit yet. My young dog was jumping back and forth with of the snakes before I shot it. Then he goes up to it and tries to roll on it :shock:


The guy across the road from me has a 3ac lot where he parks his stuff for his yard/landscape business. He has a Shed about 20x20 made of wood with a wood floor where he puts his lawn mowers. Well I walk over there(I have his permission) with my dogs every morning. He has some kind of varmint living under the shed. I had not seen what it was until now.

Its a big red fox family. Mama is real dark, the kits(4-5 of them) look to be about 2 months old and Dad is a big Red Fox about 25-30 pounds, he is tall.

I saw the kits running around and I got my dogs on a leash and went back home. I got my binos and set up down wind about 75 yds from the hole under the shed. About 30 min later her comes Dad and all the Kits come out to greet him, last out is Mom.

I told the guy who owns the property about them. He asked me what he should do. I told him I wouldn't bother them. I have chickens and they haven't gotten any but I know they have tried. My outside dog will keep them away(Turkish/German Shepard mix) and my 2 Golden's will warn me if they are around. I let them all go have a smell this morning. Lots of growling from both camps.

I will ask the owner if I can set up my game camera, if so I will post some pics.

babun

Spent last the last week or so hunting copperheads.
Final count is 10 confirmed, 1 probably.
Makes me an ACE !! {I want more pay}

Green gardener snakes are out too.
Haven't seen any black snakes yet, hope to have some.
My "pet" black water snake that lives along the pond edges hasn't been seen yet either.

select-fire

I cut up a copperhead yesterday on a rental. Didn't even slow down the 23HP Kohler. I carry my .22 while mowing.

ChrisStreett

Sam,

Ya think I'd know the answer to this, but I don't. Do dogs react to snake bites like people do or are they affected differently/not at all?

jimdeere

I had an Aussie that would grab a snake and shake it violently. It sounded like popping a leather belt.
My Golden Retriever would try to get the foxes to play with him.
I made a YouTube video of him playing with one of our chickens.
https://youtu.be/Iwry_aoy3sQ

hillbille

ChrisStreett wrote:

Sam,

Ya think I'd know the answer to this, but I don't. Do dogs react to snake bites like people do or are they affected differently/not at all?

not sam, but most dogs will survive, they will swell up at the bite area, so if it is on the nose , face , throat area it could restrict airway enough to choke dog to death, the venom itself doesn't effect them the same as people, most times just causes swelling for few days

Sam06

I have had a dog get bit before and the Vet told me to give him one Benydryl for every 20#'s.

He was fine in a day.


BTW Jim that looks like one of my old GR's the 2 I have now are lighter colored but are still just big babys. I think they want to play with the Kits too and the only reason they were growling is because my Shepard was in kill mode and got them wound up.

ChrisStreett

Thanks for the answers. Critters vs snake bites is something I never really gave much thought to before. The only venomous snakes we have around here are copperheads and they're few and far between. I do avoid taking my hounds to the mountains because there are so damn many porcupines up there odds are something bad would happen.

Smitty500mag

In the past 3 years neighbors on both sides of us have lost dogs to copperhead bites. Total of 3 dogs.

There's a large wooded area behind our houses with a creek that runs to a near by lake. I wouldn't go in those woods if you paid me during the summer.

remingtonoaks

I thought this thread was going to be about your wife and kids

Hessian

Sam06 wrote:

In the last 3 days I have killed 5 Copperhead snakes, none were near the house or barn all were in the woods or in the grass.

2 with a lawn tractor
1 with a string trimmer
2 with a S&W Model 38 with snake shot

I also watched a Hawk grab a snake not sure what kind.

I caught a * snake in the woods and moved him to the barn, I hope he sticks around. I wish I could find a King Snake but I haven't seen one in years.

I am surprised my Dogs haven't been snake bit yet. My young dog was jumping back and forth with of the snakes before I shot it. Then he goes up to it and tries to roll on it :shock:


The guy across the road from me has a 3ac lot where he parks his stuff for his yard/landscape business. He has a Shed about 20x20 made of wood with a wood floor where he puts his lawn mowers. Well I walk over there(I have his permission) with my dogs every morning. He has some kind of varmint living under the shed. I had not seen what it was until now.

Its a big red fox family. Mama is real dark, the kits(4-5 of them) look to be about 2 months old and Dad is a big Red Fox about 25-30 pounds, he is tall.

I saw the kits running around and I got my dogs on a leash and went back home. I got my binos and set up down wind about 75 yds from the hole under the shed. About 30 min later her comes Dad and all the Kits come out to greet him, last out is Mom.

I told the guy who owns the property about them. He asked me what he should do. I told him I wouldn't bother them. I have chickens and they haven't gotten any but I know they have tried. My outside dog will keep them away(Turkish/German Shepard mix) and my 2 Golden's will warn me if they are around. I let them all go have a smell this morning. Lots of growling from both camps.

I will ask the owner if I can set up my game camera, if so I will post some pics.

Dogs can smell snakes, most/many have a natural respect for them, those that don't have to be taught. I had a Lurcher that wasn't a pointer, but would point snakes, the only thing she would point.

As long as those Fox have a lot of rodents to eat they may leave your Chickens alone. But I wouldn't count on it. If they decide they want Chicken not much will stop them. I've hunted problem Fox for many years (10-20 a year), most/all will be a problem sooner or later. Especially when the young ones get old enough and are run off by the parents. Fox are territorial, a male Fox may tolerate a few vixens in his territory, not males after a certain age. The young males get hungry and desperate, bad things happen.
I had one Fox I hunted for three years, he killed hundreds of Ducks in those three years, pretty much wiped out a farmer who raised eating Ducks.

grdad45

While mowing yesterday, I decided to burn some limbs and brush since the wind was calm. Lit the main pile, and after it burned down some, went to add some more limbs. When I picked up the first one, a copperhead about 1 1/2' long crawled out the back of the pile. I was wearing jeans and flimsy shoes without socks. The snake got into the thick underbrush, so it got a pass----this time. They are common here in SW Arkansas, but I don't like them close to the house.

Sam06

I shot a nice Ground Hog this morning. Instead of eating him myself I took him over to the Fox den, I hope they enjoy him. I don't know if a Fox will eat road kill but there is a dead deer just about every night not far from their den.

Hessian

Sam06 wrote:

I shot a nice Ground Hog this morning. Instead of eating him myself I took him over to the Fox den, I hope they enjoy him. I don't know if a Fox will eat road kill but there is a dead deer just about every night not far from their den.

I see dead Fox alongside the highway fairly often here, they go after the road kill and become road kill.
After they harvest the first Hay here, Fox are always out in the mowed field eating chopped up rodents. We had a thing here for a couple of decades, the local game management people encouraged us to shot as many Fox as possible, most were infected with a really dangerous parasite. It took twenty years of fairly intense hunting to get the numbers down to manageable levels.

IMO you only see a small percentage of the snakes around. If you want to get a good idea of how many are about, find yourself some 3-4 foot square pieces of plywood or roofing, prop up one end with some stones maybe 3-4 inches. The type of place snakes look for after a night of hunting. Usually, the early morning sun side of thick brush is the best spot.