Snakes and scouting

Discuss the science of figuring out our prey through good detective work.
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Tennhunter3
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Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Tennhunter3 » Wed Feb 25, 2015 5:48 am

Was just wondering if you guys have had any bad experiences with snakes while on scouting trips or hunting. I have ran into quite a few in public land Tennessee. My worst moment I was walking with my bow through a pine thicket it was warm about. 70 outside afternoon about 2pm on my way to hunt a edge line. The thicket had a slight hill and until you stepped on the crest you couldn't see over it well . I stepped right foot first and there sit a cottonmouth before I realized it had struck. I kinda freaked out jumped backwards ran 10 feet or so. Then looked at my Rocky snake boot had venom running all over it . So what's you guys story.

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Singing Bridge
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Singing Bridge » Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:04 am

no cottonmouths here and glad there isn't! we have massasauga rattlesnakes here and I see them quite a bit on swamp edges. they are tiny and a bite can make you very sick, but unless they direct inject into a vein or artery it isn't as dangerous as other venomous snakes. my problem is i think they are cool and want to play with them... but that's a bad idea! :lol: i've got some pictures of them somewhere, but again, they are a rather small snake.
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Racks&Beards » Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:30 am

5 or 6 years ago I was scouting a piece of public in August. I was walking around the backside of a pond when I took a step and watched a cotton mouth take off from under me and slither down into the pond. So as I stood there and collected myself for a couple minutes, checking my underoos I finally calmed down enough to proceed. I kid you not, I took one more step AND ANOTHER ONE shot out from some weeds about 2 feet from me down into the pond. I lost my $%^& and hightailed it back to my truck. I sat in my truck for a while just trying to calm down.....went home and hopped on the classifieds section of archery talk and bought some snake boots. I do not go to the woods without snake boots on from April till it starts getting cold.

All that said, I'm not terrified of snakes or anything. I'm just not a huge fan of them. I don't go out of my way to kill them.....I just like to know where they are. Especially those of the venomous variety.
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Southern Man
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Southern Man » Wed Feb 25, 2015 7:52 am

Years ago October scouting with a friend. We were walking a small creek that ran down into a watershed a couple hundred yards ahead. It was about 60 degrees with a north wind blowing. Nice day. We seen something on the grassy bank abut half way up. It was a snake curled up in the sun out of the wind. My friend thought it was dead, I said no, it was warmin in the sun. So, we started tossin rocks at it. Finally I threw a good sized stick and hit it. He came alive :lol: He went up the bank, hit the wind and turned around and came back down. Almost to the bottom he turned right at us. It was a cottonmouth with a head almost as big as my fist. I just about crapped. When we turned to run, he went the other way. Apparently he didn't know we were even there.

2 Years ago at LBL my son was walking out after a duck hunt and came across a timber rattler. It was the day after Thanksgiving.

I've ran into snakes a bunch in the woods, mostly chicken snakes. I'm not fond of any of them. I wear snake boots anytime in the woods in warm weather.
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Stanley
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Stanley » Wed Feb 25, 2015 8:13 am

I like snakes, they really are our allies. They eat bugs and mice and rats. I would never intentionally kill one.
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Jphunter » Wed Feb 25, 2015 9:46 am

I see a few in the areas that I hunt and scout from time to time both cotton mouths and rattle snakes. but I can remember one time when I worked for the state wildlife department. I was working on a couple food plots and I drove the tractor over 7 rattle snakes that I knew of on those two food plots. During lunch I decided to take a little walk along the creek behind the two food plots to see if there was any deer sighn, and within the first 100 yards I saw two more and almost stepped on the second one. It was a pretty long drive on the tractor to get to where I was and I was working by myself. some of these snakes were not small either. I was so freaked out I dont think I stepped off of the tractor until I finished the food plots and drove out of that bottem. :)

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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Twenty Up » Wed Feb 25, 2015 11:16 am

I wasn't hunting but fishing a local honey hole. One of my favorite spots was off of a point on the pond and you have to walk through some thick stuff to get there, so as I began walking to said spot I got a "being watched" feeling.. I looked down no more than 3ft in front of my feet and there was a 4ft cotton mouth coiled up looking straight at me. My fishing pole was already over his head so I'm assuming that he was watching both and waiting to strike had I gotten any closer. Thankfully I saw him before it was too late, I was fishing in loafers so there was no protection for me...
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Horizontal Hunter » Wed Feb 25, 2015 12:49 pm

I hate snakes. Rattle snakes are few and far between here. They are a protected species. Cottonmouths on the other hand are much more wildly distributed. I would expect that if you are beast hunting and not running into them you are doing it wrong.

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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby justdirtyfun » Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:03 pm

Image


This little fella was alongside my drivers side front tire. Closed the door and took ONE step. Glad it worked out for BOTH of us. Can't have a snake conversation without pics.
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Dewey » Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:11 pm

Almost stepped on a coiled up rattlesnake while stalking a mule deer in NW Nebraska. One more step and it may have been bad! Glad I don't have to deal with them where I hunt in WI.

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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Zona » Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:28 pm

The wife and I were scouting a piece of mountain ground one summer. As we walked through knee high ferns I noticed a skin from a 6 foot timber rattler. When I picked it up, it was still wet. I turned around to show my wife the cool skin I had found and she took off like a gazelle, leaping over logs and shrubs. Needless to say that ended our scouting trip for the day.

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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby oldrank » Wed Feb 25, 2015 1:48 pm

We dont have to worry to much abouy snakes up here...thankfully

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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby olivertractor » Wed Feb 25, 2015 4:52 pm

Only thing I have to worry about is gardener snakes and I still don't like em!

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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby Uncle Lou » Mon Mar 02, 2015 3:50 am

oldrank wrote:We dont have to worry to much abouy snakes up here...thankfully

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lots of missauga rattlers around here in Holly. I have heard some stories from freaked out individuals talking about being in a field with 10s of them rattling, but I have never had an encounter here.

Back in 1988 I spent a summer in the coal mines of WV. Had a few encounters with them fishing along the coal river.
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Re: Snakes and scouting

Unread postby exojam » Mon Mar 02, 2015 4:44 am

No good snakes where I live.

Now when I grew up we had cottonmouths, coral and rattlesnakes.

Had a friend who got bit on the finger by a coral and ended up in the hospital and never regained feeling in his finger. Those are some nasty snakes.

We also used to catch cottonmouths in the backyard and along a drainage run that ran behind the house for a few miles.

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