# How many others are worried about snakes?



## outdoorman (Sep 26, 2018)

I've enjoyed being in the woods for decades now. But over the past few years, I see myself becoming more and more concerned about snakes.
Especially now that I'm getting into hunting, I can't enjoy scouting the woods because I'm always watching the ground in front of me.
Since I've moved into southern Georgia, I've only seen snakes a few times and most of them were copperheads in my backyard or on the road near my house.
When I'm in the dense woods hunting or scouting, I have never seen a snake but I'm thinking of the big rattler's that exist out there. When I walk through ground cover I carry a stick always watching while tapping the ground to alert any snakes of my presence.
Unfortunately, it takes away from enjoying out there.  
Are you as careful when in the woods?
Also, I do have a pair of waterproof snake boots RedHead brand of BassPro I bought a few yrs ago that weren't very expensive. I always have them on.


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## Milkman (Sep 26, 2018)

I am like you ever cautious. Especially now that I have property in Putnam County which seems to be one of the hot spots for rattle snakes. 

Due to mobility problems I am on the golf cart or ATV much of the time during warmer months. I usually drive it right up to spots I am sawing, using machete, etc. I do this in hopes of running of snakes. 

I wear the snake leggings


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## blt152 (Sep 26, 2018)

Always cautious when out and wear snake boots religiously when outdoors. We just had the first rattler killed on our lease so now will be even more aware. We've always had copperheads on our lease but I personally have not encountered any. Best defense is be aware of where you place your hands and feet and when you sit.


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## Capt Quirk (Sep 26, 2018)

To be honest,  snakes don't normally worry me. Of course,  that's probably because I once had a Herpetologist room mate. Aside from a standard selection of rat snakes,  boas,  and pythons,  he also had about a dozen eastern diamondbacks, a gaboon viper, some juvenile cobras,  and a full grown monocle cobra. The last one was fairly sweet,  but that gaboon made me real nervous.


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## Milkman (Sep 26, 2018)

Capt Quirk said:


> To be honest,  snakes don't normally worry me. Of course,  that's probably because I once had a Herpetologist room mate. Aside from a standard selection of rat snakes,  boas,  and pythons,  he also had about a dozen eastern diamondbacks, a gaboon viper, some juvenile cobras,  and a full grown monocle cobra. The last one was fairly sweet,  but that gaboon made me real nervous.



That room mate must’ve been a great............oh never mind


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## Capt Quirk (Sep 26, 2018)

Milkman said:


> That room mate must’ve been a great............oh never mind


I never worried about locking the house,  not many would come in. However,  everytime I got home,  I did a visual check just to make sure everyone was in their case.


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## Mexican Squealer (Sep 26, 2018)

I wear snake boots and never worry about snakes.


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## Dirtroad Johnson (Sep 26, 2018)

They're plentiful around here, I'm cautious where I put my hands & feet. They can be difficult to detect when camouflaged in there surroundings & will lay still a lot of times. I wear snake boots when I'm in the woods or in a dove field, I've encountered several rattlesnakes in both areas.


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 26, 2018)

Snakes are at the bottom of my list of worries. I run up on rattlers and copperheads occasionally, but they're just part of the woods. They aren't out to get you. You have to make a snake bite you, especially a rattler. In 50 years of stomping around the woods and hundreds of encounters with venomous snakes, I have never been in fear of a snake, or had a problem with one. I don't wear snake boots, either. I'd rather walk through a snake-infested woods any day over walking down a city street at night. 

Snakes aren't waiting to bite you. They are much more afraid of you than you are of them. I have never really understood people's unfounded and overblown phobia of them. I am much more concerned about yellowjackets, falling trees and limbs, lightning, dogs,  or any number of things than I am about snakes. They pretty much never cross my mind, and I think the woods would be a much less interesting place without them. Most people who are bitten by snakes are either handling them or trying to kill them. If you're over a couple feet from a snake, you are in absolutely no danger from it.


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## AllTerrainAngler (Sep 26, 2018)

I carry snake tongs and a collapsible snake hook in my bag 90% of the time. I rarely see snakes and even more rare are they venomous. I do have one rainbow snake in a local creek I see almost every day/night i go fish


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## Nicodemus (Sep 26, 2018)

I don`t worry about em and enjoy seeing them. I`m wrapped up in em. Around here where I live,  and the various places I hunt and fish in Southwest Georgia there`s plenty of em, all 7 different types of the venomous ones. I just let em be and go on my way.


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## Hooked On Quack (Sep 26, 2018)

My co-worker killed 2 cotton mouths in our work area, I killed a canebreak the same night in our area.  The cotton mouths were highly aggressive.


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## Hooked On Quack (Sep 26, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> I don`t worry about em and enjoy seeing them. I`m wrapped up in em. Around here where I live,  and the various places I hunt and fish in Southwest Georgia there`s plenty of em, all 7 different types of the venomous ones. I just let em be and go on my way.




Not too much fun to walk up on at 3am . .


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## Nicodemus (Sep 26, 2018)

Hooked On Quack said:


> Not too much fun to walk up on at 3am . .




I was the one on our crew that generally went in first to run the snakes and gators  off so we could work in peace.


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## Capt Quirk (Sep 26, 2018)

Hooked On Quack said:


> My co-worker killed 2 cotton mouths in our work area, I killed a canebreak the same night in our area.  The cotton mouths were highly aggressive.


Out of all the native venomous snakes,  what you call the Canebreak is at the bottom of the list. You really have to rile them up to get anything


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## Hooked On Quack (Sep 26, 2018)

Capt Quirk said:


> Out of all the native venomous snakes,  what you call the Canebreak is at the bottom of the list. You really have to rile them up to get anything




You're right, but I don't want to work with 'em either . .


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## Capt Quirk (Sep 26, 2018)

Hooked On Quack said:


> You're right, but I don't want to work with 'em either . .


Join a Union then,  snakes can't join because they  don't pay dues


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## Blackston (Sep 26, 2018)

I hog hunted as a young man and usually wore boat shoes or thin rubber boots never gave it a thought . As my hair gets more n more salt n pepper I find myself being more cautious  God looks out for fools drunks n youngns   I think as we grow up we become a little wiser and more respectful of things that can hurt us


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## Duff (Sep 26, 2018)

I’m not a snake lover or anything. I don’t mess with em when I see them, but I also don’t worry about them. If  I see one, it will make me pay more attention for a day or two but that’s about it. 

As someone said, I worry more about yellow jackets and hornets. I’m bad allergic to them suckers and there are way more of them than snakes.


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## Dirtroad Johnson (Sep 26, 2018)

If I see one around my place, no one else has to be concerned about him. I want walk around the same snake twice if he's venomous - - I'll get him the 1st time if'n possible.


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## Hooked On Quack (Sep 26, 2018)

Capt Quirk said:


> Join a Union then,  snakes can't join because they  don't pay dues




Do WHAT ???


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 27, 2018)

Don’t try to stomp em with your tennis shoes. There’s a perfect example of a guy who got bit who wouldn’t have if he had just left the snake alone instead of trying to kill it.


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## Gaswamp (Sep 27, 2018)

I read something once and liked it so much I made it my sig line


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## Mark K (Sep 27, 2018)

Since I started wearing snake boots about 10 years ago, I don’t even think about them. Walk up on them occasionally, but they are the least of my concerns. I’m more leery of hogs than snakes.


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## Rabun (Sep 27, 2018)

I hunt in some deep woods alone most of the time.  I wear snake gaiters and stay alert especially when sitting down or walking up steep slopes.  I have not run up on that many poisonous ones...that I am aware of.  I do carry my .22 lcr loaded with snake shot religiously while tromping about.


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## Da Possum (Sep 27, 2018)

NCHillbilly said:


> Don’t try to stomp em with your tennis shoes. There’s a perfect example of a guy who got bit who wouldn’t have if he had just left the snake alone instead of trying to kill it.


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## Curvebow05 (Sep 27, 2018)

Snakes are the least of my concerns while in the woods. I wear the same pair of danners everywhere I go while hunting or scouting. I also don't walk quickly or run in the woods unless I am trying to flank an animal on a stalk. I like to walk slowly and take in every bit of nature that I can.


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## bowhunterdavid (Sep 27, 2018)

I enjoy seeing snakes and they have never caused me a problem, like said above yellow jackets im more concerned with and fighting off spider webs in the face before day light walking to stand.


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## outdoorman (Sep 27, 2018)

What if your walking and accidentally step on a rattler, copperhead or water moccasin?Wont they bite?
Also someone mentioned about walking up a slope...that especially gets me spooked because I think they can bite above the boot line more easier.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 27, 2018)

outdoorman said:


> What if your walking and accidentally step on a rattler, copperhead or water moccasin?Wont they bite?
> Also someone mentioned about walking up a slope...that especially gets me spooked because I think they can bite above the boot line more easier.




Hard to say for sure. I have purposely stepped on some and they didn`t do anything, and I have walked inches from them and the snake not make a move.


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## oops1 (Sep 27, 2018)

NCHillbilly said:


> Don’t try to stomp em with your tennis shoes. There’s a perfect example of a guy who got bit who wouldn’t have if he had just left the snake alone instead of trying to kill it.




Ol rattlesneaker.. He was a champ


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## XIronheadX (Sep 27, 2018)

I had my forearm 12 inches away from one cutting a sapling. Didn't strike. I hit a log in briars on my ATV and one was on it 12 inches or so from my hip, didn't strike. I stepped on or kicked one accidentally walking around a jack pine, I'm not sure if he attempted to strike or just coiled. All cane brake rattlers. I've had copperheads strike at headlights from 50 ft away. He's the one I don't trust.


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## Rabun (Sep 27, 2018)

bowhunterdavid said:


> I enjoy seeing snakes and they have never caused me a problem, like said above yellow jackets im more concerned with and fighting off spider webs in the face before day light walking to stand.



I have to agree...had more issues with yellow jackets than anything...hate'em. Still wear my gaiters though. It's the ones I don't see that concern me.


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## Milkman (Sep 27, 2018)

Gadestroyer74 is our past member who learned tennis shoe won’t stop a snake bite. He had a bad situation for a while.


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## godogs57 (Sep 27, 2018)

I’ve always said they’re out there punching a time clock like everyone else....ie: part of the grand scheme of things. Like Nick, I’m covered up in em too. NCHillbilly summed it up best...they don’t just lay around thinking “I’ve always wanted to bite someone and dang it, todays the day!” 99% of the encounters I’ve had here in Lee co have shown that they‘d rather just be left alone and will go to great lengths to avoid you by whatever means. And this applies to all venomous species here. The meanest snakes I’ve ever encountered? Garter snakes (yes, it appears they sometime think they are a black mamba) and coachwhips. I’ve been face to face with cobras and it’s flat amazing how much some species of cobras are a dead on match, appearance wise, to a coachwhip.


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## Blackston (Sep 28, 2018)

I read one on another thread about snakes being attracted to a therma cell      I'm hunting OTG this morning and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on my mind


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## Rabun (Sep 28, 2018)

Blackston said:


> I read one on another thread about snakes being attracted to a therma cell      I'm hunting OTG this morning and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't on my mind



I had a small copperhead make a bee line to my turkey fryer once...I happened to be standing next to it tending the bird and I just happened to see it out of the corner of my eye as it was coming through the grass.  If not, I probably would have stepped on it and wearing sandals at the time, it probably would not have ended well.  Even though it was a hot July day, I'm sure it was the additional heat being put off that attracted him.  So it would not surprise me that they might be attracted to the heat of a thermacell.


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## champ (Sep 28, 2018)

I worry more about my kids running around barefoot and swimming in the lake this year. Taken two cottonmouths out of it this summer, and seen one in the slu that got away from me. I just continue reminding them EVERY chance to make very careful observations before each step when in the bush. And trust my kids are like Huck Finn and Tom Sawyer, they ain't skeered of nothing, and that scares me. Haha


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## transfixer (Oct 16, 2018)

I used to not worry about snakes at all in my younger days,  other than a few hunts on the old Ogeechee wma  I never wore snake chaps or boots,  Ogeechee was crawling with Rattlers,   on my club we rarely see a snake, and its usually a copperhead when we do,   but as I've gotten older and move slower I now wear snake boots especially until the weather turns cold,  our lease is almost an hour from the nearest hospital,  and I'm too old to go through that mess if I get bit.


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## SemperFiDawg (Oct 16, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> I was the one on our crew that generally went in first to run the snakes and gators  off so we could work in peace.



Same here.  If I’m hunting or fishing with my cousins and I see them waiting on me I know they are wanting me to snake and gator proof the area before they wade through.  I don’t worry about either.  More worried about stepping in a hole, falling, or hitting an overhanging wasp nest.
Just watch your step and you will be fine.


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## SemperFiDawg (Oct 16, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> I was the one on our crew that generally went in first to run the snakes and gators  off so we could work in peace.



Same here.  If I’m hunting or fishing with my cousins and I see them waiting on me I know they are wanting me to snake and gator proof the area before they wade through.  I don’t worry about either.  More worried about stepping in a hole, falling, or hitting an overhanging wasp nest.
Just watch your step and you will be fine.


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## jbogg (Oct 16, 2018)

I wear snake boots in the mountains from April to November and probably walk a couple hundred miles solo each year off trail while hunting and scouting.  The boots give me some peace of mind, but honestly in the handful of encounters I have had with Timber Rattlers,  striking seems to be the last thing they want to do.  I have inadvertently stepped within a foot of one on a couple of occasions and they started buzzin, but did not strike.   One of them actually buried its head in its own coils in a very defensive posture.  With that said the snake boots are like an insurance policy. Probably won’t ever need them but nice to have just in case I step on that one that I can’t see in a blueberry patch.  Stepping in a stump hole and blowing out my ACL is far more likely.


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## MFOSTER (Oct 18, 2018)

Capt Quirk said:


> To be honest,  snakes don't normally worry me. Of course,  that's probably because I once had a Herpetologist room mate. Aside from a standard selection of rat snakes,  boas,  and pythons,  he also had about a dozen eastern diamondbacks, a gaboon viper, some juvenile cobras,  and a full grown monocle cobra. The last one was fairly sweet,  but that gaboon made me real nervous.


Pics of roommate she must have been gorgeous.


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## Capt Quirk (Oct 19, 2018)

MFOSTER said:


> Pics of roommate she must have been gorgeous.


No,  but his ex wife was a hottie.


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## b rad (Dec 10, 2018)

this use to be a big concern for me and it would take me a lot longer to get to the tree in the mornings watching every step i took very close, after so many run ins with timbers,mocassins and all the venomous snakes in coastal GA they always ran away or coil up. so now i just walk and dont even watch my step i figure if they gonna bite me then oh well. my verizon service works well if i need to call 911. i worry more about a florida panther charging me.


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## oldguy (Dec 10, 2018)

Consider how many people die or are injured in vehicles every day, and how very few folks ever get bitten by a venomous snake. The most dangerous part of your hunt is the time you spend in the vehicle. STOP worrying about snakes!


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## 4HAND (Dec 10, 2018)

I've had several close encounters with venomous snakes over the years. I wear snake boots religiously. If possible I kill them when I see them.


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## NCHillbilly (Dec 10, 2018)

4HAND said:


> I've had several close encounters with venomous snakes over the years. I wear snake boots religiously. If possible I kill them when I see them.


Trying to kill a snake is how most folks get bitten.


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## mudracing101 (Dec 10, 2018)

I think about them alot more that i used too. I've had a couple of close run- ins with some lately that has spooked me more than it used to. I know the wife does too, she was with me one afternoon, wearing flip flops, sitting on a porch style deck when a snake came out from under it and bit her. Whats the odds of that? She's definately gun shy.


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## 4HAND (Dec 10, 2018)

NCHillbilly said:


> Trying to kill a snake is how most folks get bitten.



Trust me, I'm far enough away when I shoot.


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## dirtnap (Dec 11, 2018)

I may get bit by one tomorrow but I give no thought to them


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## Nicodemus (Dec 11, 2018)

You folks up in the mountains have the least to worry about. The most docile rattlesnake and the least venomous moccasin. Just be mindful and you`ll be fine. Ya`ll ain`t got near the snake types, including venomous,  up yonder that we do down here. We have all the biggest and the baddest.


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## flyrod444 (Dec 12, 2018)

I don't really worry a how lot about snakes. I fish around 60 days a year in trout stream in Western North Carolina and wear felt sole sandles from may thru October. Most of the venimous snakes I come up on are on trails and or roads back in the sticks. I just watch where I step or place my hands. One is much more likely to be struck by a falling limb or even lightning than a snake. I was walking up an old road to a stream to fish one morning when a dead oak tree fell about 30 yards in front  of me and a guy with me. It landed across the road we were on and shook the ground we were on. I looked  at him and said timing was with us this day. Bee's are the biggest threat I deal with. I get into them every year at least once on my fishing trips. I carry chewable benadryl for when I can't run fast enough to get away from them.


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## humdandy (Dec 12, 2018)

Never worry about them.  Love seeing them!


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## NCHillbilly (Dec 12, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> You folks up in the mountains have the least to worry about. The most docile rattlesnake and the least venomous moccasin. Just be mindful and you`ll be fine. Ya`ll ain`t got near the snake types, including venomous,  up yonder that we do down here. We have all the biggest and the baddest.


I'm glad we don't have cottonmouths up here-at least you don't have to worry when you're in the water. Our timber rattlers aren't aggressive at all, and most of the copperheads aren't. Most people I know who have been copperhead bit involved pulling weeds, picking vegetables, or picking up piles of brush or other stuff off the ground. Or trying to kill a copperhead.


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## Buckman18 (Dec 12, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> You folks up in the mountains have the least to worry about. The most docile rattlesnake and the least venomous moccasin. Just be mindful and you`ll be fine. Ya`ll ain`t got near the snake types, including venomous,  up yonder that we do down here. We have all the biggest and the baddest.



Amen! I love my mountains!

I’ve never seen a diamondback in the wild, or a gator for that matter. I’d like to, just don’t get down that way enough.


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## HM (Dec 13, 2018)

Milkman said:


> Gadestroyer74 is our past member who learned tennis shoe won’t stop a snake bite. He had a bad situation for a while.



What happened to him, he used to be really active on here


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## FloridaLife (Dec 13, 2018)

Snakes don't bother me too much, spiders on the other hand...


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## Timberman (Dec 13, 2018)

NCHillbilly said:


> Most people who are bitten by snakes are either handling them or trying to kill them.



This right here. I spent the better part of 2 decades cruising timber in South Georgia, Florida and South Carolina and the only time I saw someone get bit they were messing with the snake.

If I was cruising timber I wore chaps because I was blasting thru the woods on a mission and only had one thing on my mind.

I always figured if I was to get bit it'd be when I was just stepping out of the truck for a minute or two, but I never had a close call that I recollect.

I had way more run ins with yellow jackets and wasps.


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## Nicodemus (Dec 13, 2018)

Buckman18 said:


> Amen! I love my mountains!
> 
> I’ve never seen a diamondback in the wild, or a gator for that matter. I’d like to, just don’t get down that way enough.




I`m of the barterin` type. Make a trade with you. Come on down here and I`ll put you on diamondbacks, canebrakes, cottonmouths, and gators.. No promises on coral snake, they be somewhat shy. And we`ll catch a mess of redbellies and have dinner in the swamp. In return, you put me on some of them mountain specks. Remember, I`m old, wore out, got a bad knee,  ornery, and can`t get around as good as I could 50 years ago .  

You`ll have the chance to do this.


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## Buckman18 (Dec 13, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> I`m of the barterin` type. Make a trade with you. Come on down here and I`ll put you on diamondbacks, canebrakes, cottonmouths, and gators.. No promises on coral snake, they be somewhat shy. And we`ll catch a mess of redbellies and have dinner in the swamp. In return, you put me on some of them mountain specks. Remember, I`m old, wore out, got a bad knee,  ornery, and can`t get around as good as I could 50 years ago .
> 
> You`ll have the chance to do this. View attachment 952641



That’s sounds like a good time just waiting to happen! Timing is important... would you like a chance at a mountain gobbler with your specks, or a bear on your first trip? 

There’s a few speck streams that have an easier gradient that’ll work just fine, and we’ll have close access to rainbows as well. I’ll bring the pan and taters n onions.


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## Nicodemus (Dec 13, 2018)

Buckman18 said:


> That’s sounds like a good time just waiting to happen! Timing is important... would you like a chance at a mountain gobbler with your specks, or a bear on your first trip?
> 
> There’s a few speck streams that have an easier gradient that’ll work just fine, and we’ll have close access to rainbows as well. I’ll bring the pan and taters n onions.




Joey, you have a deal. I`d much prefer a bear, with one of my single shot rifles, if I have a choice. And if you ever draw a gator tag in Zone 2, all you have to do is show up down here. On me.


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## Buckman18 (Dec 13, 2018)

September is usually the best time for bears. We will try to go on one of the early gun hunts.  It'll be fun!  Bears are very active then. Hopefully the acorns will pattern in a way where we can have easier access to the bears.  That's always the X factor, and every season is different. Obviously, we will talk a lot more between now and then, and Ill PM you my cell #.  Specks are easy. Any day, any time, as long as the creeks aren't flooded!


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