elrojo
08-19-2009, 06:43 PM
I got a phone call today 'bout a neighbor with a "rock wall full of copperheads."
Before I went out, I called a well-known snake guy around here -whose name will remain anonymous until permitted, and he said he was 10 minutes away. He joined in. So anyway, we drive out and upon finding the property and seeing the rock wall, we saw a garter snake poking out -FWIW the biggest garter I've ever seen in the wild. So typical, though. You get a call and there's either no snake or not what was described. But as it backed into the wall, I saw another snake behind him and it was a copperhead, sure enough. Upon shining a light, I saw two copperheads behind that garter snake. My buddy and I pulled back the top level rock and there three of 'em sit still on an 88 degree day. As soon as I could start hooking the closest (and largest) one, he grabbed it by the tail like it was a cornsnake and barehand put his other hand underneath then placed it in the five gallon bucket; both hands on it and no tool. I just muttered that you never free handle a venomous snake, and gd sure not one you just caught in the wild! As soon as I started to scold him, he gave me a smirk that shut me up. I went for the second snake, hooked and he grabbed it's buzzing tail for transport into the bucket. The third copperhead took off while we quickly bagged these two. I tried to pin it down with my hook, but I was too gentle in retrospect. I have to admit that I might have too gentle of hands when I field collect, and certainly when removing "pest" animals that will be killed if we can't extract.
Anyway, it was neat and humbling to be around someone so much more confident with snakes than me. It's always seemed to be the other way around. All that said, I still will never free handle a hot.
Took a few pics, will post later.
Before I went out, I called a well-known snake guy around here -whose name will remain anonymous until permitted, and he said he was 10 minutes away. He joined in. So anyway, we drive out and upon finding the property and seeing the rock wall, we saw a garter snake poking out -FWIW the biggest garter I've ever seen in the wild. So typical, though. You get a call and there's either no snake or not what was described. But as it backed into the wall, I saw another snake behind him and it was a copperhead, sure enough. Upon shining a light, I saw two copperheads behind that garter snake. My buddy and I pulled back the top level rock and there three of 'em sit still on an 88 degree day. As soon as I could start hooking the closest (and largest) one, he grabbed it by the tail like it was a cornsnake and barehand put his other hand underneath then placed it in the five gallon bucket; both hands on it and no tool. I just muttered that you never free handle a venomous snake, and gd sure not one you just caught in the wild! As soon as I started to scold him, he gave me a smirk that shut me up. I went for the second snake, hooked and he grabbed it's buzzing tail for transport into the bucket. The third copperhead took off while we quickly bagged these two. I tried to pin it down with my hook, but I was too gentle in retrospect. I have to admit that I might have too gentle of hands when I field collect, and certainly when removing "pest" animals that will be killed if we can't extract.
Anyway, it was neat and humbling to be around someone so much more confident with snakes than me. It's always seemed to be the other way around. All that said, I still will never free handle a hot.
Took a few pics, will post later.