# Big Snake



## Kimber300

This six footer is the biggest water moccasin I've ever seen. He actually struck me just above the ankle as I stepped over a log. Luckily I was wearing my new Lacrosse snakeproof boots for the 1st time. My buddy and I were scouting on a deer lease in Troup County near a swampy area.


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## Bucky T

Have any better pics of the head?  Doesn't look quite dead in the picture.


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## Jeff Raines

That is a big snake,but the position of the eyes looks more like a water snake.
A moccasin's eyes are more on the side of it's face.Water snake's eyes are closer to the top.

IMHO


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## Cmp1

Wow,,,, that is one big snake,,,, nice looking pic's,,,,


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## lagrangedave

Did it stink?


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## Nicodemus

I`m reasonable sure that`s a banded watersnake.


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## Cmp1

Nicodemus said:


> I`m reasonable sure that`s a banded watersnake.



Hey Nic,,,, is a watersnakes bite as bad as a moccasins?


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## Nicodemus

Cmp1 said:


> Hey Nic,,,, is a watersnakes bite as bad as a moccasins?





It`s non venomous, but all those teeth designed to hold fish and other prey can leave a nasty bite that is prone to infection if not properly cared for. 

A moccasin bite can be serious.


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## Cmp1

Nicodemus said:


> It`s non venomous, but all those teeth designed to hold fish and other prey can leave a nasty bite that is prone to infection if not properly cared for.
> 
> A moccasin bite can be serious.



Moccasins in southern mi,,,, not up here,,,,


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## Bucky T

Nicodemus said:


> I`m reasonable sure that`s a banded watersnake.



My suspicion as well.


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## watermedic

Bucky T said:


> My suspicion as well.



Me Too


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## southernman13

I would say banded water as well and would be the biggest one I've ever seen. I've caught a good many of them back in Fl. I was on mossy dell rd today and had a beautiful coach whip in the road. I swerved to go around and the dude behind me ran him over. Really ticked me off. What a beautiful snake it was. That's the second one I've seen in that area. Not very often you see coach whips


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## NCHillbilly

Looks like a water snake to me also.


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## lagrangedave

Can you guys smell a cotton mouth?


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## Nicodemus

lagrangedave said:


> Can you guys smell a cotton mouth?





Sometimes, but a rattlesnake smells stronger to me. Especially when they`ve been riled up.


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## southernman13

They can all musk and some of them are really strong. It's hard to wash off


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## Bucky T

Water Snakes have a nasty bite...  had a 5fter latch on to me when I was 15. It was my fault, I grabbed him a little too far back behind his head......  lol. It ripped me up pretty good.


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## deerhuntingdawg

Like the others, I think it's a huge banded water snake


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## Redbow

Banded water Snake..I have seen many down in the swamps of SC just as big as that one..Up at the head of Santee Coopers Lake Marion the Rimini area of the lake holds some huge ones..

My neighbor told me a couple days ago about a water Moccasin on his back door steps when he went out to go to work last week...I asked him what color was the Snake? He said black and kinda greenish as well. I told him it was a green rat Snake more than likely but he being from Minnesota every Snake around here is a water moccasin and with lots of other people also..


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## little rascal

*That is a Buster!*

I agree with others it does look more like a water snake.
However, I hunted Troup County for years and never thought there were cottonmouths until one morning scouting before bow season I almost stepped on what I thought was a young one while crossing a creek. I stepped back and tried to catch it and flipped it on the bank a couple times with a tree pruner but it final got away. A couple hours later I approached the same crossing on my return and stopped to scour the creek from above before I crossed. I didn't see anything in my crossing but when I stepped back, whoa, there was a large snake laying length wise that I almost stood on. I found a limb quickly and got it's head down and caught it.
No doubt, it was more drab colored than the brightly colored juveniles like I saw earlier. It opened its mouth while I held it behind it's head and the white mouth and 2 fangs told the story. I remember saying what am I gonna do with this thing now? A mile walk back to the truck holding this, no I don't think so, nobody's gonna believe it, so I chunked it in the creek. I didn't come back with out my snake boots. I crossed that creek 50 times and beaverdams in the dark and never suspected they were there.
Couple guys found something dead poisonous in the road a season before that and brought it back to camp, I remember it had pits and slitted eyes, didn't look like normal cottonmouth and it wasn't a copperhead, nor rattler, but it was venomous! So yeah, Troup has Cottonmouth. Seen a big moccasin in a tree at Franklin once that was almost as big as the one your holding, I would have swore it was a cottonmouth but I didn't catch it.


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## Horridus

That is a Cottonmouth, absolutely zero doubt. I've been collecting and breeding them for 25 years.


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## Kimber300

For a watersnake it certainly had the biggest fangs I've ever seen as my buddy could attest to. I grew up here in the south on a river. I know my snakes.


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## BornNRaised

Holy crap!!!!   He's huge!!


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## Miguel Cervantes

Nicodemus said:


> I`m reasonable sure that`s a banded watersnake.



Yeah, the head shape isn't right for a cottonmouth.


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## dixiecutter

Miguel Cervantes said:


> Yeah, the head shape isn't right for a cottonmouth.



It's a water snake.


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## Nicodemus

Kimber300 said:


> For a watersnake it certainly had the biggest fangs I've ever seen as my buddy could attest to. I grew up here in the south on a river. I know my snakes.





Did you notice its eyes? If so, what was the shape of the pupils?


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## Ridge Walker

Not the clearest photo, but based on head shape and girth I agree with the OP that it's a Cottonmouth. As far as size..there's a bit of a forced perspective there. The ol' fisherman's trick of holding the bass out towards the camera which makes a big fish look even bigger.


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## godogs57

Yep...very much forced perspective. A six foot moccasin would be pushing record size. Sure is a skinny thing to be a cottonmouth though....


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## rospaw

Horridus said:


> That is a Cottonmouth, absolutely zero doubt. I've been collecting and breeding them for 25 years.



First off i don't know if it is or isn't! 
Horr, How can you tell it is/isn't by what you see in the pic? Head, color, body ect.  Thanks


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