People keep making posts like this, but how likely are you to have a hoe or shovel out in the woods when you need to kill a snake? A riding lawnmower?!! My son did recently shoot a copperhead off of his back fence with a pellet gun and his wife finished it with a hoe, but they were at home.

Two years ago, they had an Argentine guest and took him out to see their rural land. This guy is from Buenos Aires and not even very familiar with Argie snakes, which include some bad ones. He was a big city guy and seemed not to register Geoff's cautionary comments about looking out for snakes.

A water moccasin showed up and the visitor almost walked into it, despite Geoff pointing to it. He (my son) drew his Colt .45 auto and disposed of the snake, which took off after the first two bullets missed. It was on watery ground and half swimming when he finished it off. He chased it with bullets until he got in a couple of good hits. I think the ammo was Federal's 230 grain HST.

Skeeter Skelton once wrote that if you extend your arm with gun in hand, a rattlesnake will align his head on the gun. I guess he sees it as the object moving and thus the threat to him. You can then pull the trigger and probably pop him in the head. I don't know how far out the sensory pits on his head will detect the heat from a mammal, so he probably is aligning on the visual motion from your hand as you extend your arm. (Keep in mind that Skeeter was a terrific marksman.)

Has anyone tried this? Keep it in mind and see if it works. But don't get too close. Some snakes will go after you and they can move fast. And a coiled snake can strike at least two thirds of his body length, maybe more on a downhill slope.

Venomous snakebite is a very serious medical emergency.
And a hospital stay with antivenin treatment can cost $250,000. The last time we did a snake thread a few weeks ago, that was the figure quoted by, I think, Bear Bio. But I've seen similar very hefty sums cited in magazine articles.

And snakebite lingers. You may lose a limb or the effective use of it. One man who was bitten by a Green Mamba survived but said that his leg hurt so much years after that he'd scrape it with a knife or hold in his campfire! That leg also took a hit from a Boer's Mauser and a spear wound. This was in the early 1900's and he probably didn't get proper antivenin. I don't know when it was first used. The book where I read this is John Alfred Jordan's, "Elephants and Ivory" , should you be able to locate a copy. Mine isn't for sale.

Water moccasin venom is especially strong in necrotic (tissue killing) properties and you can easily lose a leg or arm from a bite. Some people do die, but lasting damage is more likely, and extreme pain. Some US snakes do have easily enough venom to kill an adult human.