HAVE YOU EVER HAD THIS HAPPEN?

SPOOKY!!!

COPPER HEAD ROAD!

I've been there before.. came close several times to getting bit and I thank the Lord I didn't get bit. That would have been a $100k button there.

YEP!

He was camoed in there real good and less than 2 feet away, all coiled up. I had to stop frame the vid, and it was still hard to spot him. Could have been a baaad Christmas present from ole copperhead. Good thing he wasn't in the giving spirit.

Scarey!
Out in the desert we wear snake gaurds around our lower legs but I tell everyone to watch where they put thier hands. I got bit on the hand by a diamondback. Few days in ICU will make a guy pay attention to what's around. Glad you didn't get hit.

Dean

Dang! Be careful Ole' Cal.

Copper Head got me when I was 6yo---from knee down was bigger than thigh--looked like Popeye in reverse.

I had a moment this summer too. Went to take the dog out, pushed the screen door and it wouldnt open. Pushed harder and the top moved but not the bottom. Finally kicked the bottom and it came open........ what i saw was a Copper Head i kicked out in the drive way heading for the bushes. His last trip i might add. Everything in Fl..... pokes, sticks or bites you lol. Had a friend who also got bite out West while gold hunting. Dummy reached down and went to throw a small snake out of his way...... also ICU.

Woah! That was a little too close!

scary stuff =) really hard to see.

Copperheads hate shovels

Luckily out west we mainly have rattlers to deal with, and they (usually) warn you when you're close. Still, I'm not crazy about tromping through areas with high grass, or other overgrowth that prohibits ground visibility during the hot summer months when their out and about, had too many close encounters with them for comfort

No sir. I have never encountered a Copper Snake. Man that sucker was "camping out" right next to you. Glad the snake decided to go in the opposite direction. Keep up the great videos and Merry Christmas to you and your family.

calabash digger Wrote:
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> SPOOKY!!!


I hope not but I couldn't even see the snake till it moved that's a little to close for comfort.

I stopped hunting in the late spring and summer not worth it to get bitten for me

LowBoy

TAKE A LITTLE TIME KICKBACK AND WATCH SOME OF MY DETECTING VIDEO'S BELOW ON YouTube

[www.youtube.com]

If you don’t dig it, then how are you going to know what you’re missing!
How can you have your pudding if you don’t eat your meat!

What happens when you get excited and start digging a signal. Without doing a search of immediate area. Snakes when motionless are hard to see at a glance. I have had some very close calls with copperheads and rattlers. Just a couple feet away they can be setting idle and not be seen or heard. The copperhead imo although it’s bite to a human unless maybe if a person is bit on head or neck area is not fatal normally. They can make you go to hospital though.

Had a cousin hunting ginseng with his (and my aunt) one day. He crossed a bluff and felt a sting. He thought he was bee stung or yellow jacket stung. He didn’t see either. Nor did he see any snake. Couple days went by. His urinating became uncontrollable and his leg started swelling and fever set in. He goes to doctor and low and behold he had been copperhead bitten and never realized.

So take the extra time and make say a 5 ft radius sweep of area before digging.. Paying closer attention to any obstacles where snakes may hide like logs, sticks, rocks, And after you recover target. One might be walking and looking at their find and not looking st the ground. And this could be bad. Venomous Snakes like to actually lay idle in cleaner areas with fewer bushes and weeds. At least my experiences. 46 years of being in the woods a LOT packing rifle. Why do they like cleaner places? Remember they have to strike to catch quarry and kill with their venom. So obstructions such as weeds, loads of sticks p, etc makes this striking nearly impossible. Need a clearer range to target.

Funny thing is, the cleaner the ground, this is where we as humans pay less attention and before you know it whoops. You’re real close to or even bitten before you know it.

My experiences are copperheads are nocturnal in summer. In spring and sometimes late summer and early fall be seen more in daytime. No absolutes though.

[www.tennsnakes.org]

Since this thread is about snakes. A little story.
When I was a kid and started squirrel hunting. I always wondered and even asked what would happen if a person shot a squirrel out of a tree and it landed on a venous snake and the hunter picks up not not knowing and gets bit. Or gets the you know what scared out of them when they discover snake. So one morning about 12 years ago I shot a squirrel out of tree. Upon approaching the dead squirrel I see something twisting on the ground. It was an actual copperhead. It was upside down squirming. A young smaller one. His fangs were hung over top of small forked stick laying next to dead squirrel. The only thing I could figure is the squirrel fell on him or very near, hence the young snake struck and got his fangs over the small stick and could not get their curved fangs back over the stick. I eliminated him.



Edited 5 time(s). Last edit at 12/21/2018 03:30AM by tnsharpshooter.

Good snake story Tnss.

calabash --

I can't believe you didn't get nailed by that thing. I guess it was just cool enough out that he was inactive? Though he didn't look very inactive when he finally decided to quickly slither away!

WOW.

Steve

Nope, Too close for me. Out West we don't have the copperheads and cottonmouths. Just rattlesnakes and they usually give you a back off shake of the tail.

Last year at one of Monte's Nevada gatherings we came across a few rattlesnakes. I watched a very thick 6-7' rattler duck through the sage brush and building rubble near the foundations of an old school and head down a large hole. Lots of ground squirrels in the area made for big snakes.

Glad you didn't get bit.


Rich

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Just one more good target before I go.

I remember that video. That was tight. What stuck with me was your response, "Greaat Day". If I were your relic hunting buddy your nickname from that point on would be Greaat Day. LOL

Yes sir Cal, I walked up on a canebrake rattlesnake about 5 feet long that was perfectly blended in with the leaves. Did not know he was there until the coil touched him.

That's why when hunting the woods I keep the coil extended well in front even though it causes it to be off balance and nose heavy. Also extend the sweeps well around on both sides.