# New snake for me.



## SemperFiDawg (Sep 13, 2018)

I was driving today and saw this snake dead on the side of the road.  He was a very bright copper color and about 6 feet long.  He was so bright he almost looked pinkish white in the sunlight.  I have never seen a coach whip before, and I have spent my entire life hunting and fishing in central and south Georgia, so I know they cannot be common.  Is that what this is?


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## Nicodemus (Sep 13, 2018)

It`s a coachwhip, and a fair sized one. Shame it got killed.


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## FOLES55 (Sep 13, 2018)

Nic, took the words from my mouth.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 13, 2018)

FOLES55 said:


> Nic, took the words from my mouth.




I don`t see near as many of them nowadays as i did when I was a youngun. They used to be everywhere back then.


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## SemperFiDawg (Sep 13, 2018)

It was a shame it got run over.  It was so brightly copper colored it almost had a pink rainbow sheen to it.  I've never seen a snake that shiny.  Without a doubt the prettiest color on a snake I've ever seen.  The pictures don't it justice.


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## oppthepop (Sep 14, 2018)

Wow - Haven't seen one in YEARS. Too bad he got killed. About as rare as a blue indigo.


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## southernman13 (Sep 15, 2018)

I see them crossing roads acting just saw one last week. Last year I had a big one cross behind my vehicle over off New York ave in leesburg. The dude behind me swerved just so he could run it over. Man that really angered me. Wanted to wreck him. That’s one cool snake


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## NCHillbilly (Sep 15, 2018)

I've never saw one, cool snakes.


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## Miguel Cervantes (Sep 15, 2018)

They don't mind lettin you know they're boss either. Never been intimidated by a snake. Have a healthy respect for all of them, but the first coachwhip I ever saw was a biggun and he stood his ground with little reservation of who it belonged to. Great snakes.


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## KyDawg (Sep 15, 2018)

I did not realize it until I looked it up, but according Wikepedia, the longest Coachwhip on record is 102".  That is 8 and a half foot long.


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## Nicodemus (Sep 15, 2018)

KyDawg said:


> I did not realize it until I looked it up, but according Wikepedia, the longest Coachwhip on record is 102".  That is 8 and a half foot long.



I caught one back in 1996 that was real close to that length. That rascal was a handful too. Took two of us to stretch it and one to measure.


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## Old Crusty (Sep 15, 2018)

I've seen several coachwips where we hunt over in the Columbus area. They are definitely an aggressive snake. First one I ever saw zipped across the road in front of Dad and I like a flash. We stopped and followed it into the pines to see what it was. We found it at the base of a pine tree, as soon as it saw us it came right at us and we both went airborne. Zipped under us and back across the road again. Cool snake.


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## SemperFiDawg (Sep 17, 2018)

My Grandmother used to tell me of them.  Said they would run you down, wrap you up and whip you with their tail.


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## JonathanG2013 (Sep 17, 2018)

SemperFiDawg said:


> My Grandmother used to tell me of them.  Said they would run you down, wrap you up and whip you with their tail.



LOL mine told me the same thing.


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## Eidolon (Oct 15, 2018)

When I was kid, one summer in central Alabama, I was attempting to walk through a big field of dried reeds to get to a beaver pond under a railroad trestle, to swim in. The reeds were about as tall as me, no path. About a third of the way through the field, I heard one long swoosh after another, through the reeds, something sliding through them fast, around me. I don't know if it was one snake or several, but I turned around and went back to the cabin. My uncle told me it was coachwhips...


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## Ridge Walker (Nov 10, 2018)

KyDawg said:


> I did not realize it until I looked it up, but according Wikepedia, the longest Coachwhip on record is 102".  That is 8 and a half foot long.



I've seen a couple around the 8 foot mark. I have photos somewhere, I'll try to dig them out.


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## Nicodemus (Nov 10, 2018)

southernman13 said:


> I see them crossing roads acting just saw one last week. Last year I had a big one cross behind my vehicle over off New York ave in leesburg. The dude behind me swerved just so he could run it over. Man that really angered me. Wanted to wreck him. That’s one cool snake




That`s only a couple of miles from my house. Lot of diamondbacks through that stretch too. 

I think coachwhips have better than normal vision too, with those big ol` eyes they have. Several years ago down at our Seminole cabin, I was walking down to the boat ramp. About 50 yards ahead of me a whopper of a coachwhip slid out on the road. I stopped and got my phone out. As soon as I took the first step headed towards it, it lifted its head up, turned, and looked straight at me. My next step and it turned and went back the way it came from faster`n greased lightning. Now I know they can sense vibrations but from that far off on a paved road, and i was walking light?


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## SemperFiDawg (Nov 10, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> That`s only a couple of miles from my house. Lot of diamondbacks through that stretch too.
> 
> I think coachwhips have better than normal vision too, with those big ol` eyes they have. Several years ago down at our Seminole cabin, I was walking down to the boat ramp. About 50 yards ahead of me a whopper of a coachwhip slid out on the road. I stopped and got my phone out. As soon as I took the first step headed towards it, it lifted its head up, turned, and looked straight at me. My next step and it turned and went back the way it came from faster`n greased lightning. Now I know they can sense vibrations but from that far off on a paved road, and i was walking light?



Maybe he winded you.  Just kidding.

A few years ago we have one of them country car ports that my wife parks under.  It’s metal and has braces at the eve.  Well some birds had built a nest.  I noticed it because of the droppings on her car hood.  I went out there one day just to get an idea of if the eggs had hatched out and all I see is rat snake coils.  I pull it out and let it go.  Here’s the thing.  I looked and looked and looked and still can’t figure out how that snake got up there and how he knew that nest was there to start with.  It’s a free standing, with metal poles.  It’s 5 feet before the metal roofing begins to wrap down the sides.  Even if he got there he would have had to weave himself back and forth through the gaps under the tin for another 13 to the eve brace which is about 10 foot high.  But the dangest thing was how did he know they were up there to start with, and how did he know which pole to climb.  If he had went up any other pole he couldn’t have got there, no way.  And there’s no trees around the structure to climb from.


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## Nicodemus (Nov 10, 2018)

SemperFiDawg said:


> Maybe he winded you.  Just kidding.
> 
> A few years ago we have one of them country car ports that my wife parks under.  It’s metal and has braces at the eve.  Well some birds had built a nest.  I noticed it because of the droppings on her car hood.  I went out there one day just to get an idea of if the eggs had hatched out and all I see is rat snake coils.  I pull it out and let it go.  Here’s the thing.  I looked and looked and looked and still can’t figure out how that snake got up there and how he knew that nest was there to start with.  It’s a free standing, with metal poles.  It’s 5 feet before the metal roofing begins to wrap down the sides.  Even if he got there he would have had to weave himself back and forth through the gaps under the tin for another 13 to the eve brace which is about 10 foot high.  But the dangest thing was how did he know they were up there to start with, and how did he know which pole to climb.  If he had went up any other pole he couldn’t have got there, no way.  And there’s no trees around the structure to climb from.




It probably "tasted" them. When they are flicking that tongue, that`s what they are actually doing. Tasting the scent molecules that are being carried with the air currents. They can track prey this way. Venomous snakes use it to track down prey they have bitten.

Dang, that coachwhip just might have winded me!


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## SemperFiDawg (Nov 11, 2018)

Nicodemus said:


> It probably "tasted" them. When they are flicking that tongue, that`s what they are actually doing. Tasting the scent molecules that are being carried with the air currents. They can track prey this way. Venomous snakes use it to track down prey they have bitten.
> 
> Dang, that coachwhip just might have winded me!



About 10 years ago I was bow hunting.  Walking down a logging road I heard a squirrel making that bark they make when they are spooked, the one that trails off into a long whine.  It kept on and I walked over under the tree where it was coming from.  All of a sudden a squirrel fell 30 foot out of the tree stone cold dead.  It hit the ground and never moved.  I sat for about 15 minutes waiting for a snake to come down the tree.  I'm convinced that what killed it.  Never saw a snake.  In hindsight, I should have walked over and examined it for fang bites.  I didn't, but I'm still convinced a snake bit that squirrel.


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## Bow Only (Nov 12, 2018)

I've got a couple of coachwhip stories over the years.  The first one was at the farm going down the blacktop road where I saw a snake in the road.  I slowed down and saw that it went from the white line on the edge of the road all the way to the center yellow line.  The crazy part was, his head was 2 feet off the ground so he was 2 feet longer than the width of half the road.  The other was bush hogging in pines where I saw about a 6 footer.  I stopped the tractor, jumped off and went to catch him.  Running full speed (I was faster way back then), the snake literally left me in my tracks.  It had to be doing over 20 mph.


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## oldguy (Nov 12, 2018)

I chased one that crossed a dirt road in South Carolina. It was scrub-oak country and that joker went up a tree and left me in my tracks as it zoomed overhead in the canopy!


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## Ridge Walker (Nov 12, 2018)

Having some trouble uploading photos because they're too big. Hopefully this works.


https://imgur.com/JvFCG1S




https://imgur.com/9fQ7meh




https://imgur.com/ZxCWLmk




https://imgur.com/waPcO2r




https://imgur.com/TvMGt1Q


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## Ridge Walker (Nov 12, 2018)

Can't really tell because there's not much there for scale, but the Coachwhip in the last photo was a beast.


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## Israel (Nov 12, 2018)

Walking over a hill near Lobleville Tennessee had to stop and try to figure out what I'd come up on. (After jumping back a few feet.) Who is what, what is who and what's going on? 
Took a few seconds to see it was a very dark snake (presumably a king snake after investigation) eating a rattlesnake...took a sec to see who had who.


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