SNAKES...

[ScotO]

Scotty - you would be amazed at how fast those things would have ended up dead if I were there. Ninja like reactions - "hiiiiYA!" Dead.

Jags, I dont touch those damm things, my one buddy has been hunting them since he was a kid. I am content staying back for the occasional picture. He's been bit several times, never went to the hospital either! Totally NUTS!

 

[firecracker_77]

Yeah...I can't handle them. I strongly dislike them and even thinking about them makes me nervous.

 

[Pat53]

Scotty - you would be amazed at how fast those things would have ended up dead if I were there. Ninja like reactions - "hiiiiYA!" Dead.

DITTO

 

[burleymike]

All we have is Garter snakes, a lot of them. When we moved in 6 years ago we discovered they were in the walls. When the dinkus previous owner put new larger windows in he cut too much of the stuffo. Instead of patching the stucco up he put furring strips over it and attached vinyl siding. He did not install the siding well at all so there were large gaps under it. The snakes would slither up the stem wall under the siding to the windows where teh stucco was missing and get into the walls.

In the middle of winter I was breaking up a section of basement floor to install a perimeter drain and I found the nest under the slab about 12 little garters all piled up.

We also had an infestation of mice getting in through all those gaps. After tearing that vinyl crap off I patched up all the stucco and sealed every single gap/crack I could find. We have not had a single snake or mouse in the house for the past 4 years.

I still see them on occasion in the yard which is fine, they keep the bugs/mice under control. We still have too many mice. The first time I flood irrigated this year I saw a bunch of them running for dry ground.

 

[osagebow]

Wow, Scotty - that's gotta be one of the prettiestsnakes I've ever seen. Our yellow phase are darker and often have an aberrant pattern of blotches. I usually don't kill snakes, even venomous ones. I do usually save the skin of roadkilled /neighbor killed/ @#$%&#* that bit me snakes by slitting up the belly, carefully peeling and tacking it to a board stretched a bit,then put them on my bows. Think i'll start a thread on that later, though.son has earned computer by cleaning room...

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Around here it is mostly black snakes and garter snakes, I am not a big fan but I usually let them live. I killed one strange looking snake in my pond and later found out it was a good snake. We are supposed to have some copper heads around but thankfully I have only seen a few babies. But you know what that means, the mother is around here somewhere. The rattlers are up in the mountains, and Scotty can keep them up there. I used to see them at hunting camp. I bought some property in NY and I heard there are not a lot of poisonous ones, but I will always keep my guard up.

 

[osagebow]

Around here it is mostly black snakes and garter snakes, I am not a big fan but I usually let them live. I killed
one strange looking snake in my pond and later found out it was a good snake. We are supposed to have some copper heads around but thankfully I have only seen a few babies. But you know what that means, the mother is around here somewhere. The rattlers are up in the mountains, and Scotty can keep them up there. I used to see them at hunting camp. I bought some property in NY and I heard there are not a lot of poisonous ones, but I will always keep my guard up.

Unless you are in a real remote subburb, the babies may have been Milksnakes -They look similar. Grew up in McKeesport area and flipped about every rock in 10 square miles, never found a copperhead. I know up by Butler, down by Uniontown there are still many populations left.

Now here in VA I have old golf clubs stationed all around my property - low irons work best for pinning & catching / whacking if need be. I'm getting older and slower, the snakes aren't....Take that sand wedge you keep shanking up to NY with ya! Congrats on getting the property up there - I used to hunt Tionesta and St. Mary's by the border.

 

[golfandwoodnut]

Unless you are in a real remote subburb, the babies may have been Milksnakes -They look similar. Grew up in McKeesport area and flipped about every rock in 10 square miles, never found a copperhead. I know up by Butler, down by Uniontown there are still many populations left.

Now here in VA I have old golf clubs stationed all around my property - low irons work best for pinning & catching / whacking if need be. I'm getting older and slower, the snakes aren't....Take that sand wedge you keep shanking up to NY with ya! Congrats on getting the property up there - I used to hunt Tionesta and St. Mary's by the border.

Thanks Osagebow, but I know there are some Copper Heads around here, I spoke to a landscaping owner and he said he has seen several near us. I have seen them on the golf course (In Beaver) I live in Moon. And please do not mention that shank word again.

 

[osagebow]

Oh yeah - I stand corrected - very pretty way out there! Used to hunt a game land up by Mcandless?maybe..., and there was a rifle range, too. Never golfed up there though. I worked at Butler's and Riverview GC's back in the day. (south of Pit) Riverview had all kinda snakes - pretty course, I recommend it.

 

[Angus]

I ve never seen a snake before, only on tv

 

[RWA6541]

I ve never seen a snake before, only on tv

your a damn lucky fella if thats the only place you've got snakes is on the TV, id change the channel. St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland, who ran them out of Scotland?? Ive got a Scottish surnames, when i'm hunting in a swamp on a cold wet day i think about my ancestors in the bogg

 

[tcassavaugh]

had a little....copperhead, i think, in the woodpile the other day. i was pulling from the drying stack and putting it in the shed....grabbed a stick and there he was. was only about the size of a pencil. i missed......saw it a couple of days later in the other side. couple of years ago, had a big black snake out under bark and pieces. must have been about 5 foot long and a couple of inches in diameter.

cass

 

[Angus]

your a damn lucky fella if thats the only place you've got snakes is on the TV, id change the channel. St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland, who ran them out of Scotland?? Ive got a Scottish surnames, when i'm hunting in a swamp on a cold wet day i think about my ancestors in the bogg

I would hate to live near snakes. St Patrick chased them out of Ireland, but the Irish and Scots being Celtic cousins, he probably chased them out of Scotland also!?

 

[jjs777_fzr]

After 41 years...found my first snake - eating one of my koi in my pond. I was laying a couple boards down to allow some shade from the direct sun - and at first glance thought one of them committed suicide. Closer look I realized it was a 2 foot long garter snake.

 

[firebroad]

Snakes, spiders, bats. Love them all, they do me favors. I tend to relocate poisonous critters if at all possible, to another part of the property.

 

[Jags]

tend to relocate poisonous critters if at all possible

Me too - but they are dead by then.

 

[joescho]

St. Patrick drove the snakes from Ireland

Didn't that take place in a Buick????

Sorry, I apologize....I just couldn't resist!!

 

[Flatbedford]

Found this guy in my woodpile a few years ago. He got camera shy after a few minutes and took off. I only kill mice, rats, stinkbugs and mosquitos at my house. I'd like to kill the woodchuck that ate my sunflowers, lettuce, and cabbage though.

 

[Bspring]

I wish I had more snakes here. We have an excessive number of chipmunks, rabbits, and what are probably meadow voles that eat the tubers of a lot of the flowers in the winter. A couple of Black Snakes would really help out. I enjoy seeing rattlers in the wild, but I'd rather not have poisonous snakes in the yard - we have too many kids running around this place to feel comfortable about poisonous snakes. On the other hand, snakes may seem like a major threat to people but I believe hornet and bee stings kill far more people than snakes. There is not much I can do to keep stinging insects off the property except eliminate the occasional nest that I am able to locate.

I have grown quite fond of skunks. They have been digging up all the yellowjacket nest around the property.

 

[Angus]

Completely differant wild life where I live, never seen snakes, skunks, yellowjacket (whatever that is?) grasshoppers, ants, large spiders, lizards etc.

We have plenty; deer, rabbits (about 100 million), red squirrels, fox, sheep (more sheep than people), a few eagles and ospreys, plenty buzzards, some hawks, ducks, some wild cats, seabirds and plenty small fat cattle!