# Anybody here hunt snakes as a hobbie?



## trapperrandall (May 30, 2011)

I have hunted snakes since i was around 12 or 13 i guess. I like going out and finding snakes and catching them. Ill keep them for a while and turn them loose. Its good exercise. I wasnt sure if i was the only one who did this or not. If you do hunt them. Where are good places to look? What time of day do you go? Always willing to learn. Thanks


----------



## ted 88 (May 30, 2011)

i try to stay away from them as much as possible! catch ALL of them and be safe.


----------



## flintdiver (May 31, 2011)

Trapper, not trying to be a party pooper, but in GA, you can't collect and keep any non venomous native snakes ( kings, ratsnakes, corns snakes , scarlet kings, pines , etc ) . It's illegal. But you can keep native venomous ( Timbers, canebrakes, Diamonbacks, pygmies, corals ,cottons and copperheads). I do snake hunt, old homeplaces and overgrown fallow fields or field edges with appropriate cover (tin, plywood, etc) are great places to start. Just remember take pictures, not the snakes. It's a fun hobby. Me and my boy go all the time. Matter of fact we will check an old homeplace today on my lunch break. If I find anything, I'll post a pic


----------



## trapperrandall (May 31, 2011)

flintdiver said:


> Trapper, not trying to be a party pooper, but in GA, you can't collect and keep any non venomous native snakes ( kings, ratsnakes, corns snakes , scarlet kings, pines , etc ) . It's illegal. But you can keep native venomous ( Timbers, canebrakes, Diamonbacks, pygmies, corals ,cottons and copperheads). I do snake hunt, old homeplaces and overgrown fallow fields or field edges with appropriate cover (tin, plywood, etc) are great places to start. Just remember take pictures, not the snakes. It's a fun hobby. Me and my boy go all the time. Matter of fact we will check an old homeplace today on my lunch break. If I find anything, I'll post a pic


You are right. But ive got a little more free range on that i guess you would say. Im an animal damage control trapper. That allows me to keep and relocate snakes or anything else as far as that goes. But your right on the non venomous snakes. I thaught i was the only one who enjoyed this all these years. Good to know im not alone.


----------



## flintdiver (Jun 1, 2011)

Hey we got a triple under one piece of tin yesterday. 2 big ratsnakes and a sweet Eastern King. The King bolted as the tin was already pretty warm, but I did get a shot of the smaller of the two ratsnakes. I'll post up a pic as soon as I can.


----------



## flintdiver (Jun 1, 2011)

Here's the smaller of the two ratsnakes.


----------



## trapperrandall (Jun 1, 2011)

Was that the old house place you were talking about? You making me want to go now. I can only go weekends. I work a full time job and adc work on the side. Wish i could go everyday. Congrats on the triple.


----------



## HALOJmpr (Jun 1, 2011)

flintdiver said:


> Hey we got a triple under one piece of tin yesterday. 2 big ratsnakes and a sweet Eastern King. The King bolted as the tin was already pretty warm, but I did get a shot of the smaller of the two ratsnakes. I'll post up a pic as soon as I can.



hey Paul ... if you get any tight pattern rattlers or moccasins please save them for me.  you can just bag em and throw em in the freezer and we'll get together   I need them for a couple of bows I'm trying to work on.


----------



## Killdee (Jun 2, 2011)

I had a triple last weekend, grey rat about like that on above, a big garder I think, it was fast and a glass lizard, not a snake but a legless lizard that looks like a snake with a lizards head. Looked like a cat or mower got em, tail missing and back bleeding but still lively. Heres a pic before I put him back.


----------



## KentuckyHeadhunter (Jun 7, 2011)

If anyone in Cumming or Forsyth Co gets a decent Copperhead please pm me.  I don't want it butchered just head removed.  Need it for some skin projects I have planned.


----------



## gordylew (Jun 9, 2011)

In all my years of bumming around in the woods, I have never seen a glass snake.  pretty cool. That was on my list of "snakes'' I hoped to catch as a kid.  A corn snake and a hog nose was another two I have never found.  Strange how you find some species of snake in one area of Georgia and a few miles away you never see them.

I do have a nice timber rattler in the freezer if someone wants to come and get it. he did lose his head though.


----------



## Killdee (Jun 9, 2011)

gordylew said:


> In all my years of bumming around in the woods, I have never seen a glass snake.  pretty cool. That was on my list of "snakes'' I hoped to catch as a kid.  A corn snake and a hog nose was another two I have never found.  Strange how you find some species of snake in one area of Georgia and a few miles away you never see them.
> 
> I do have a nice timber rattler in the freezer if someone wants to come and get it. he did lose his head though.



I dont believe I have seen over 4-5 glass lizards in my life, we caught a big one about 15 feet from this 1 about 15 years ago, the others were all when I was a boy. These are from Cobb county. I have yet to see a hog nose either.


----------



## Nicodemus (Jun 9, 2011)

Killdee said:


> I dont believe I have seen over 4-5 glass lizards in my life, we caught a big one about 15 feet from this 1 about 15 years ago, the others were all when I was a boy. These are from Cobb county. I have yet to see a hog nose either.






I`ve caught two coral snakes that had swallowed a glass lizard. I don`t see near as many "spreadin` adders" as I used too either.


----------



## emusmacker (Jun 9, 2011)

I have caught corns, kings, watresnakes, pigmy's, timbers, garters, hognose, rough greens, black rats, and a few others too. Plenty of copperheads. we put out tin and car hoods just to attract the snakes.


----------



## Killdee (Jun 9, 2011)

Nicodemus said:


> I`ve caught two coral snakes that had swallowed a glass lizard. I don`t see near as many "spreadin` adders" as I used too either.



Ive never seen a coral or an indigo either.


----------



## Nicodemus (Jun 9, 2011)

Killdee said:


> Ive never seen a coral or an indigo either.





I`ve only seen two wild indigo snakes. One of them was about as big as they grow.


----------



## flintdiver (Jun 10, 2011)

Those glass lizards are a tough find in the piedmont. But I have heard of others from Cobb Co. I have seen one killed by a lawnmower in Fayette Co. too. They seem to be pretty common in the coastal plains regions.


----------



## bfriendly (Jun 11, 2011)

*not anymore but....*



trapperrandall said:


> I have hunted snakes since i was around 12 or 13 i guess. I like going out and finding snakes and catching them. Ill keep them for a while and turn them loose. Its good exercise. I wasnt sure if i was the only one who did this or not. If you do hunt them. Where are good places to look? What time of day do you go? Always willing to learn. Thanks



When I was a kid growing up in Fl, there was a drainage ditch just up the road and we used to catch little water snakes all the time...............alot of those glass snakes/lizards found in everyones yards.................I love snakes!  Spiders? not so much


----------



## gobbleinwoods (Jun 11, 2011)

Hog nose I have seen but still never seen a coral in the wild.


----------



## Jeff Raines (Jun 11, 2011)

Killdee said:


> I had a triple last weekend, grey rat about like that on above, a big garder I think, it was fast and a glass lizard, not a snake but a legless lizard that looks like a snake with a lizards head. Looked like a cat or mower got em, tail missing and back bleeding but still lively. Heres a pic before I put him back.



The glass snake,like other lizards can "dump" it's tail as a decoy.The tail will thrash about wildly,while the lizard makes it's escape hope predator is focused on the tail.


----------



## Lukikus2 (Jun 13, 2011)

My dog has killed two coral's down here in Flor., he got bit on the lip pretty good by one and halucinated for about two hours. Funny for me, not him.
That is a huge glass snake in the pic above. Most times they are underground and people do not see them. Corals love covering up also which makes them hard to find.
Where I lived in Bama the spreadin' aders (Hog nose) were thick. Meanest little snake I've ever come across.  
Seen a bunch of Idigo's down here also. Most were around spring fed creeks.


----------



## Nicodemus (Jun 13, 2011)

Lukikus2 said:


> My dog has killed two coral's down here in Flor., he got bit on the lip pretty good by one and halucinated for about two hours. Funny for me, not him.
> That is a huge glass snake in the pic above. Most times they are underground and people do not see them. Corals love covering up also which makes them hard to find.
> Where I lived in Bama the spreadin' aders (Hog nose) were thick. Meanest little snake I've ever come across.
> Seen a bunch of Idigo's down here also. Most were around spring fed creeks.





I lost a labrador puppy to a coral snake bite.


----------



## mbhawkins123 (Jun 13, 2011)

eddie, you seen any pygmies lately>?


----------



## boneboy96 (Jun 13, 2011)

I ran across a coral snake in Mayport Fla around 1974.   I almost got too close to it not realizing it was dangerous until someone pointed it out to me that it's got a nasty bite!   Very pretty out in the wild.


----------



## Wes (Jun 14, 2011)

red next to yellow - kill a fellow
red next to black - friend of jack


----------



## zedex (Jun 22, 2011)

I loved snake hunting. I never killed any, but had a few nearly get me.

I love EDBs mostly, but have caught nearly all kinds from Ga. The number one I wanted to see is the indigo but never did.

 I have a few areas that were always great producers and I developed a special trap for them. I would set the traps and check back every few days. One trap always had at least one in it and once had seven timber/canebrakes.

One night, I went to check traps around 11pm and as I was leaving, I drove down the narrow trail and caught a timber/canebrake in the corner of my eye. I stopped and got my stick and went after the thing. All I saw was the tail at first, but a few feet in the palmetto brush, I had the snake on the hook. The truck's headlights were a little, but not much help. I fought with the snake to get it in the light area and it slipped under the truck. needless to say, I went after it. Got it on the hook and was stepping backwards and tripped over something. Falling backwards allows what's in front of you to fall on you. That was the snake.

 I knocked in front of the truck and it was then I saw how big this thing really was-- about four and half feet.

 It took awhile but I got it bagged and headed home, still shaking.

 That night, I could not sleep. Kept having bad dreams about this thing. 

 In the morning, I was going to photgraph, sex, weigh, and age it before releasing it in the same area it came from. When I opened the container, the snake was not alone.She dropped lots of babies. I guess I sent her into labor with the fight.

 I did as planned with her, but held the neonates for the winter, during which, only one died. They devoured pinkies and grew strong and healthy. When spring came, I took them to where I found their mom.

 Oh,yea, I never did go back out night hunting again.


----------



## zedex (Jun 22, 2011)

Wes said:


> red next to yellow - kill a fellow
> red next to black - friend of jack



 Another, easier to remember: face is black, step back


----------



## germag (Jun 22, 2011)

One thing to remember if you're messing around with coral snakes is that there is no longer an antivenin available.


----------



## fireretriever (Jun 22, 2011)

I have one rule. If it can kill me or one of my hounds its dead. I will not even think about killing a nonvenomous snake but if it has fangs its DEAD. Hate to break up the party but thats how it is. I have lost dogs to them suckers so the way I see it is If I see them before they get away they get to die. My dogs don't go out hunting for snakes and niether do I but if we cross paths and they Have fangs then they get to push up daisies.


----------



## Nicodemus (Jun 22, 2011)

Just a few minutes ago, I moved a black "spreadin` adder" to the back of the pasture, before my bird dog killed it. I like those little rascals.


----------



## Killdee (Jun 22, 2011)

germag said:


> One thing to remember if you're messing around with coral snakes is that there is no longer an antivenin available.



How come? Isn't their venom similar to a cobra or something, I know its different from pit vipers?


----------



## jbird1 (Jun 22, 2011)

germag said:


> One thing to remember if you're messing around with coral snakes is that there is no longer an antivenin available.



...sweeeet!


----------



## Bhrama (Jun 22, 2011)

Killdee said:


> How come? Isn't their venom similar to a cobra or something, I know its different from pit vipers?



There was only one company in the US that was making the coral snake anti venom and they quit making it because they were losing money. 

There is another company that has the anti venom but it's going to cost 3-5 million dollars to do the tests that the FDA requires to get it approved and since there is not a big enough market for the anti venom the company has so far declined to do the FDA required tests.


----------



## Dead Eye Eddy (Jun 22, 2011)

mbhawkins123 said:


> eddie, you seen any pygmies lately>?



If you're talking to me, no, not since January.  The one I killed while rabbit hunting that day is the only one I've ever seen in the wild.


----------



## BowanaLee (Jun 22, 2011)

When I was young thats about all I did. Me and the boys would walk a creek out so far we'd have to call our parents to come and get us. Them creeks and bottom land are eat up with em. Only saw one cottonmouth in the Atlanta area and that was over 40 years ago. Plenty south of Atlanta though. Saw and caught up all the usual species including several hognose of different color phases but never saw a coral snake or glass lizard. Even helped my dad catch, pet up and release a whopper Indigo when I was young, but only one. Didn't make a habit of handling the pit vipers but couldn't resist checking out a few before release. In the school library I cant remember checking out anything but reptile books. 
Then I found out about girls. Couldn't resist checking them out before release either. Them rascals bite too ! Still liked snakes but it never really was the same.


----------



## Seth carter (Jun 23, 2011)

ile catch any non dangerous snake i see caught a sothern ring neck snake the other day had to look it up to see what it was


----------



## Throwback (Jun 23, 2011)

No but i have dated women with snakes in their head. Does that count?


T


----------



## swamp hunter (Jun 24, 2011)

You Fellas should see the Snake Crawl ... Happens every Night bout Dark thirty on Turner River Road. The Road runs 13 Miles thru Big Cypress at the edge of the Glades. A Canal runs down it,s side. Seems all the Cottonmouths crawl across the Road and get in the high Grass during the Day . Keeps all them Big Pond Birds with 6 in Beaks  from eatin them up all Day. At Night they all crawl back across the Road. Sometimes you can count 50 /75 Cottonmouths per 2/3 Miles. Fun little Guys , Always Happy to see Ya.


----------



## burkehunter (Jun 24, 2011)

I had a dog when I was a kid that would hunt snakes and would corner them until I got there.  I killed a huge diamondback that way and to this day its the biggest snake I have ever seen.


----------



## olcowman (Jun 24, 2011)

bowanna said:


> Only saw one cottonmouth in the Atlanta area and that was over 40 years ago. Plenty south of Atlanta though.



Now that's an argument right there I been in a time or two... they's a heap of folks north of Atlanta (heck all the way up into Tennessee) that will swear up and down that the waters around them are full of cottonmouth water mocassins! Nearly fight you over it too! Personally I've seen them as far north a Coweta county (rare) but to hear some tell it they are as thick as black panthers up in the northern part of the state?


----------



## ylhatch (Jun 24, 2011)

killed a coral snake in my backyard last week


----------



## Migraman (Jul 3, 2011)

I found a brown snake in my garden last year.  Pretty thing - had to look it up to figure out what it was. 

Saw a racer two days ago.  I was returning to my house up my gravel driveway and he was sitting on the uphill side - I stopped to look at him and he crossed the drive like we were at a 4 way stop sign.


----------



## emusmacker (Jul 3, 2011)

I've seen cotton mouths in Elbert county. I'm going to have catch one to document it just to prove it. 

I catch snakes all the time. especially pigmy's and copperheads.


----------



## Dan Rogers (Jul 4, 2011)

*Eastern D-back right about 6ft*

This past Friday in Southwest Fla. while hog hunting.  Had about 13 buttons; not seen in pic because they fell off when we dropped him from the buggy.  His lifestyle wasn't in the best interests of the hog dogs.


----------



## 3ringer (Jul 4, 2011)

Snakes are a natural laxative for me


----------



## Ray Lilly (Jul 6, 2011)

Killed this one last night while coonhunting. He was beside the tree the dog was on and was mad! He was 5 1/2 ft long with 13 buttons and as big as my arm. I've killed diamondbacks bigger but this is one of the biggest timbers I've seen. The picture does'nt do him justice. I hate snakes!!!! Fall and winter cant get here quick enough.


----------



## Migraman (Jul 6, 2011)

That is one big canebrake..


----------



## Dan Rogers (Jul 9, 2011)

*South vs North*



Ray Lilly said:


> Killed this one last night while coonhunting. He was beside the tree the dog was on and was mad! He was 5 1/2 ft long with 13 buttons and as big as my arm. I've killed diamondbacks bigger but this is one of the biggest timbers I've seen. The picture does'nt do him justice. I hate snakes!!!! Fall and winter cant get here quick enough.



I bet my eastern (post #44) woulda kicked your timber's butt!!


----------



## gobbleinwoods (Jul 9, 2011)

That timber rattler looks like there is a big meal inside.  Rabbit maybe?


----------



## Migraman (Jul 11, 2011)

I don't think my daughter was looking for snakes but when she found this rat snake in the next boxes while getting eggs, she probably learned it was a good idea!


----------



## hikingthehills (Jul 12, 2011)

olcowman said:


> Now that's an argument right there I been in a time or two... they's a heap of folks north of Atlanta (heck all the way up into Tennessee) that will swear up and down that the waters around them are full of cottonmouth water mocassins! Nearly fight you over it too! Personally I've seen them as far north a Coweta county (rare) but to hear some tell it they are as thick as black panthers up in the northern part of the state?



I feel ya on that one! I just had that argument yesterday with a guy I work with, he kept telling me they were all over Canton GA. Well whatever makes him happy I supose!


----------



## Killdee (Jul 12, 2011)

hikingthehills said:


> I feel ya on that one! I just had that argument yesterday with a guy I work with, he kept telling me they were all over Canton GA. Well whatever makes him happy I supose!



Tell him you'll give him a hundred bucks for a Canton cottonmouth and lets see what he brings you.


----------



## Wolf'n (Jul 28, 2011)

> Originally Posted by bowanna
> Only saw one cottonmouth in the Atlanta area and that was over 40 years ago. Plenty south of Atlanta though.
> Now that's an argument right there I been in a time or two... they's a heap of folks north of Atlanta (heck all the way up into Tennessee) that will swear up and down that the waters around them are full of cottonmouth water mocassins! Nearly fight you over it too! Personally I've seen them as far north a Coweta county (rare) but to hear some tell it they are as thick as black panthers up in the northern part of the state?



I have found a grand total of 2 in South Fulton County in the past 36 years; I would say super rare because that was around 30 years ago and ain't seen one since; one was a neonate and one was a sub-adult.  What most folks north of me are seeing are green water snakes; it is very, very easy to mis-identify as just like the scarlet snake or scarlet king snake, the green water snake uses deception as a defense, looking like a venomous snake when it is harmless.   

Yes, to answer the post, I have been hunting snakes since I was a kid; the colubrids get a pass, but the vipers (when large enough) get skinned and eaten; never seen a coral snake in the wild.


----------



## pine nut (Aug 8, 2011)

I just remembered something from my grammer school days.  I thought this might be a good place to ask this question.  I grew up in Cornelia Ga, Habersham County.  My family was on the way home from our church which sits on a hill overlooking the town.  As we came down the hill towards town we saw several men on the roadside gathered around a short but big around rattler that they said somebody had killed in the basement of one of the town stores.  This would have been in the fifties. As I recall it was very thick bodied and was  as red as the red on a scarlet king snake but was a diamondback.  In other words  the diamonds were visible but with a beautifully colored red snake.  Could this have been possible?  Has anybody ever seen or heard of such?  I knew what a diamondback looked like but at the time I didn't think it was anything unusual other than it was big and right there in town.  Never gave it much thought at the time about the color.  What say you?


----------



## OneCrazyGeek (Aug 9, 2011)

Throwback said:


> No but i have dated women with snakes in their head. Does that count?
> 
> 
> T



And they were poisinous........too.


----------



## Wolf'n (Aug 9, 2011)

Hey Pine Nut, last year I bought a Ball Python that had an unusual color to it, thinking it may have been a really cool new color phase (she was orange to almost red) beautiful to say the least.  After she shed she was regular color (brown and tan).  I was a little pizzed, but she has turned out to be a great little girl and really taken with my male Ball Python (babies in another year or two). Anyway I researched it and what turned her orange/red was a substrate that her egg, when laid in, seeped into the amniotic fluid (osmosis); had she been kept in the same substrate the color would most likely have remained.  Perhaps the good old Georgia red clay/sand was where your rattler was born and raised. Or like my avatar he could have been a really cool mutation.


----------



## golffreak (Aug 10, 2011)

I spend my time trying to avoid them.


----------



## mudracing101 (Aug 10, 2011)

trapperrandall said:


> I have hunted snakes since i was around 12 or 13 i guess. I like going out and finding snakes and catching them. Ill keep them for a while and turn them loose. Its good exercise. I wasnt sure if i was the only one who did this or not. If you do hunt them. Where are good places to look? What time of day do you go? Always willing to learn. Thanks



Uh , how bout NO


----------



## pine nut (Aug 10, 2011)

Wolf'n said:


> Hey Pine Nut, last year I bought a Ball Python that had an unusual color to it, thinking it may have been a really cool new color phase (she was orange to almost red) beautiful to say the least.  After she shed she was regular color (brown and tan).  I was a little pizzed, but she has turned out to be a great little girl and really taken with my male Ball Python (babies in another year or two). Anyway I researched it and what turned her orange/red was a substrate that her egg, when laid in, seeped into the amniotic fluid (osmosis); had she been kept in the same substrate the color would most likely have remained.  Perhaps the good old Georgia red clay/sand was where your rattler was born and raised. Or like my avatar he could have been a really cool mutation.



Thanks wolf'n,  I appreciate your thoughts.  I do not remember why I thought of this and posted, but it is otherwise a vivid memory.  The snake was almost jewel like in red color but had diamonds that were normal colored.  Like a ruby red, but hey it was over fifty years ago!  Wish I could verify it with a picuture!  Best I remember it was red where normally is black or nearly black.


----------



## USMC0321 (Aug 10, 2011)

*Snake Hunting*

I remove snakes for a fee, I don't believe in killing them.  I relocate all venomous and non venomous snakes.


----------



## buckmaster57 (Aug 11, 2011)

3ringer said:


> Snakes are a natural laxative for me



agreed


----------

