What about in NC?

I found these five snakes A COUPLE OF WEEKS AGO whilst painting a house. I carefully grabbed them by their tails and threw them into a five gallon bucket. I then TOOK THEM DOWN to a very remote place in the woods and turned them loose. They were brown with large mottled patterning. They had lighter-shaded heads and pits underneath their eyes.
Some might argue I shoulda left them where I found them, but the homeowners had small dogs, and between the five of them, I'm sure they could've eaten every dog on the block.

of the potential dog-eaters.

I carefully grabbed them by their tails and threw them into a five gallon bucket.

Your braver than I am. I would have at least used a hook or tongs. You have been watching to much Crocodile Hunter

And yes, I agree with you. There is no reason that any snake should be killed. Good job. There is a place close to here were we go "herping" and most of what we find are copperheads, all over the roads. We get out, take pictures of them, and then move them off the road (with hooks and tongs) so they don't get hit by any "snake haters" in cars and trucks.

Brian Miller
BC Reptiles

Otherwise I'd NEVER grab a copperhead bare-handed. In retrospect, I'm not sure I'd do it again without an instrument of some kind (A stand-up bass would be nice ). I recently (like, three days after catching these) saw a neighbor who had been bitten on the hand. It was worse than I'd have expected, four days in the 'spital, lots of tissue damage. I'll exercise much more caution in the future.

Seriously, I wasn't posting that to be a Croc-hunter wannabe or make myself look better than Micheal L. That thread just seemed to have people in a "hissy-fit" and I thought a little satire might liven things up a bit.

And heck, I might as well open myself up to a little fire. His (or his dad's) killing that snake had the exact effect on the ecosytem as him catching it, keeping it for a pet, and never breeding it. Not that the snake would've seen it that way...

There's copperheads up hear but are extremely rare. The Timber rattlers are extremely rare too. I would only touch those things if i had a couple bottles of anti-venom nearby!

<<<I would only touch those things if i had a couple bottles of anti-venom nearby!>>>

You would most likely kill yourself with serum. On the other hand, a copperhead bite is almost never fatal. Painful, destructive to tissue...yes but fatal almost never. Antivenin should only be administered under direct supervision of a qualified physician where proper measures can be taken to counteract serum sensitivity. But in most cases a contotrix bite would never reach a grade to which serum would be indicated. Glad to see you relocated the animals, but please take it from me.....don't test fate again...you will pay eventually