Be careful when you pull over

I shot my .45 more than I did 20 minutes at a shooting range... It was a long rattler. Probably a full yard and it was thick enough to hit at distance.

Aiming at the ground felt weird in my aim and the crowd control I needed to do probably got my adrenaline a little too high. I kept missing it and the damn snake kept bouncing in the air. I finally nicked it a couple inches behind its head and it was immobilized. Our property was alongside an Indian reservation and tribal police came. Their big question was if I had any more ammunition. Hahaha.

I was regretting not having my ear plugs...

 

In the high desert we do our dog walks in the low temp morning twilight when the snakes inactive.
The locals advise being extra cautious playing around in dry creek beds where you will find rodents, where you find rodents you will find snakes.

 

Water moccasins (Cottonmouths) are somewhat slow on land and typically not very aggressive. We get them every now and then as we have a pond. Indeed there are varieties of water snakes that are similar. Oddly, water snakes are far more aggressive. Moccasins have short, somewhat blunt tails…that is a giveaway that I can observe from a distance.

 

I’ve had cottonmouths swim to the boat while fishing, didn’t give him enough time to figure or worry about him getting in the boat. Dispatched!
Walked up on one while hunting while he was in the sun on a winter day. Jumped back asap!
He never tried to strike.
I guess it depends on circumstance!

But we also have these….
I guess he just wanted a ride to the store, lol.




Oh, let’s not talk about mosquitoes or coastal knats!!!!!

 

the wife and i went to the Florida Everglades at night, I've never in my life experienced mosquitos like that. NEVER. It was so bad we left, they literally swarmed you

 

LOL the state bird in S. Louisiana IS the Mosquito. Morgan City, Houma. Used to joke that they'd pick you up from top of the A/C.

 

It's freezing at KOH. I don't think the snakes are out yet. I grew up in Palm Springs and going to the desert for races since I was born. I have only seen 1 snake (dead, ran over in the road) in the open desert in my entire life. I see around 1 snake per year in San Diego County (technically a desert, but not the same).

I did see a desert tortoise about 5 years ago out in Johnson Valley (~15 miles west of KOH lakebed). That was cool.

 

Certainly they may not be prevalent along the immediate race course but the ones (Sidewinders) that ‘crater’ themselves would move along to the next nearest outcropping…along with Greens and the more recognized Diamondbacks. They’re out there more than people realize.

 

Have you been to Johnson Valley during the winter months? It snowed on the race course 4 years ago, 3 years ago I had a 5 gallon jug of water freeze over night, this last year it snowed about a week before the events kicked off.

 

More towards the north, Soda Mountain region where it certainly has similar conditions so while I’ve not experienced snow down your way I certainly have experienced plenty of desert winters!

 

I think you're right. The head and eyes don't quite look like a venomous cotton mouth. I still wouldn't hang around it though.

 

Mmmmm.... I don't know. Never say never. A few years ago, I stopped my truck on an entrance road in to a park down here in central TX. There was a big snake lying on the road in front of me. It wasn't moving. I didn't think it was poisonous, so I got out to get a closer look. Turns out it was a big rat snake. (non-venomous) I didn't want to run over it, and I didn't want others to run over it, so I tried to shoo it away, off the road. I picked up a handful of loose gravel on the side of the road and walked up to this critter. I tossed the gravel on it in hopes to chase it off the road. It was not cornered, it had all the space in the world to retreat away from me and get off the road, but no-oooo. It came after me like a bolt of lightning. I freaked and started running. I ran the fastest I had run in years. (old man here) I pulled a muscle or something in my right leg that hurt for days. I finally dared to look back, and the snake was not in sight. Who knows how quickly it quit coming after me. But I huffed and puffed and limped my way back to my truck. Lol! Never trussssssst a snake!

 

You "tossing gravel" at it says you weren't really close enough to the snake for it to sense where you/the threat was or coming from, the snake just was high tailing it to get away, it just happened to go your direction, just an FYI Rat snakes are one of the least likely snakes to bite even when you grab them, but they get BIG so they do look very intimidating.

 

Interesting Auseeker. Thanks for your input. Much appreciated.

 

Another snake story from my days working at remote sites. The crew got up to the site and had just started their inspection, I went outside the communication room to check the tower base and propane tanks. Something caught my eye out by the propane tanks, it looked like loose cable insulation for a minute…. Nope, it was a Red Racer Snake with its ribs caught in a piece of unistrut. It couldn’t move, might have been there a few hours like that. One of the fellas gloved up and started taking the unistrut apart. At first the snake hissed and got a bit annoyed, but he talked to it in a gentle voice and freed it from the strut without hurting it. It went over in the shade and rested for a while. Then it slithered off into the desert again…. It would have died right there as temperatures got up into the high ‘90’s while we were there..the sites are only visited a few times a year…

 

Good tip, they blend right in!

 

This one time I was standing knee deep in a stream fishing and felt something bump my leg. I looked down and it was a water moccasin with a frog in it's mouth. Me thinking about using the frog for bait, I grabbed the snake and took his frog. Feeling a little sorry for robbing the snake of it's meal, I grabbed my whiskey flask and poured a generous bit down the snakes throat and threw him back. I hooked up the frog and started to cast when I felt another bump on my leg. Looking down it was that same snake with another frog in it's mouth.

 

Pretty tall tale there Gramps

 

Is that a Supra?!

 

I borrowed the subject matter from the interwebz, not my photo. So, I can't answer if that's a supra.

Sorry!

 

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...^^^... Yes, a Cottonmouth can be VERY aggressive. especially in water, I have seen several in the wild and I always stay away.

I knew this guy who lived in a nice apartment complex and they had a small lake there and a big garbage container that would compact the apartment's garbage.

Well, they late got a mouse and rat problem close to the lake and this medium sized Cottonmouth grew up to be a Conttonmouthzilla

They don't get real long, just real fat when they have a lot of food. I went to visit him and saw the snake on the edge of the lake.

Later, some people would taunt the snake and throw sticks and rocks at it and later the snake came after this lady and bit her dog when it didn't move fast enough. I think the dog died and they called an animal control guy to catch the snake and he was almost bitten.

My friend said it cost over $500.00 to get another guy to set traps and catch it.

You can play with a Cobra ... but NOT a Cottonmouth that is VERY territorial in nature.

I don't like any snake and I stay away from them ... had 2 close encounters with Copperheads in the garden and that is enough for me.

 

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...^^^... What kind of whiskey ?? Just curious ...

 

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...^^^... "Sand Shot" or some call it "Bird Shot" in a 22LR will do the trick and you don't have to get real close or be an Annie Oakley ... its like shooting sand particles.

 

Have Mossberg.. will travel!

 

Mostly either Wild Turkey Rare Breed or Crown Royal. The snakes prefer the Wild turkey but the frogs hate it.

 

My service weapon is for humans and paper targets, not in that order, hahaha. Definitely not for Teslas!

 

I was talking about shooting snakes, not Teslas

 

I’m the OP. There was a snake researcher who came over and identified it as a cottonmouth. She even pulled out a book to confirm. I guess cottonmouths have a white line beneath the lower jaw. This one had that.

 

"Fives and Twenty-Fives, every time you get out of the truck!"