My wife still keeps up with many of her childhood friends. One of them is a man who recently retired to the mountains around Blueridge, GA. Yesterday he was picking up yard debris after a storm and was bitten on a finger on his left hand. He had a thirty minute drive to a local hospital where he was airlifted to Chattanooga, TN to a hospital that had the anti-venom. So far, he has been given four doses, his left arm is swollen to his shoulder, his condition is guarded.

If you are outside, please be careful.

Snake bites are always worse than seen on TV...............

Good Luck..

Give him our prayers. Unfortunately here in Georgia this time of year is breeding season for copperheads. We have them around our property. You have to be real careful about where you stick your hands.

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Tom
NRA Pistol Inst

Just recently got over a Copperhead bite. Went out back on one of those nights when you couldn't see the hand in front of your face like an idiot with no flashlight and shorts on to fetch some water for my cur dog and got bit on the calf of my leg. Never saw the snake. It was about 11:30pm and I just scrugged it off as a thorn bush deal at the time. Bottom line it got ugly a short time later. Got the chills,shakes woke up and my dang leg was cherry red and swelling. Finally got plumb up to my loin before I would go to ER. Scared me when I found out it was a snake bite and could have got gangarine ( however you spell it) Two days in the hosp and 2 wks off work. Just glad it was a Copperhead I'm certain and not a rattler. Popper

They really are much worse than you see on TV . I have had to make more than one prosthesis for snake bite victims and also one for a Spider bite.

Ouch! Just the thought of it...

Antivenin may save a life but it won't stop permanent damage.

While In fact for most people a Copperhead bite is usually not leathal like a rattler or a moc. Like RW just said it doesn't keep you from having some permanent damage. The bottom half of my leg is still in a bit of a mess and it's been about 6wks since it happened. Time will tell I guess. I wish your wifes friend the very best Colby. I just live about ninety miles north of Choo Choo myself in Sparta, Tn. Copperhead heaven. Popper

Dang. All the best to your friend!

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Jorge

And where are the PC crowd who wonders why we shoot every one we see? I like good snakes. The one where the head has been removed by my 12 ga. They can't still bite you after they're dead because the shot charge removes the entire head and a few inches of neck. Think pink mist. I would like a skin, but not enough to bother skinning one to get it.

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Dick Burg

I've skinned timber rattler's and one copperhead. The copper head smelled so musky it was nauseating. I won't skin another.

I kill copperheads and rattlers...for the record.

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C & L

as a veterinarian and then as an emergency veterinarian , I think I have seen more than my share but they were in dogs and cats, not people, so take this for what it's worth...
Eastern Diamondbacks are really really bad news. The little Massasauga (AKA Pigmy) rattler is not to be taken lightly, Cottonmouths and Timber ratttlers are very dangerous.
Many times the snake was not know but often the owners were able to bring in the dead snake.

Cats fared the worst. They usually died. And a sick indoor/outdoor cat goes off to hide after being bit and ...dies..
Dogs with multiple previous bites fared the best. Their immune system developed antibodies to the venom and were actually at greater risk to the antivenin(equine origin.. at the time) than the venom because they had been injected with it previously.
The Pigmy rattlers seem to have a neurotoxin as well. Not sure this is documented in the literature.

I worried less about Copperheads but IIRC most of the ones I saw were the small size.

My partner lived on a lake near Tampa, Lake Calm and he had an ancient Gravely riding mover with the cutting blade and housing in front. If he saw a snake in the yard, he drove over to it and parked on top of it till the pieces quit coming out. While I do not advocate indiscriminate killing, the common water snake has about the same disposition as a cottonmouth and as he had a small child, dogs and cats, I can not fault his actions..
"Kill them all, let God sort them out"..
Hope this slight thread drift was somewhat helpful.

Get medical attention if you are bitten by a venomous snake!!

I'm damn sure not PC, and poke a lot of fun at that whole thing; but if I'm out by myself I won't kill a snake unless it's him or me. It hasn't been him or me for fifty years.

It was different when my kids were little, and would be different today if I had my crazy dog with me or there was a playground close by. Just me, no. I figure I'd be up to my watch pocket in rodents without them and owls and hawks and foxes doing their job.

I'm sure this puts me in the minority, but I'm used to that. I don't watch NASCAR or the NBA, either. About to watch a baseball game, though, and until my health let me down I spent a hell of a lot of time hunting and fishing.

YM, as ever, MV.

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Oh well, what the hell.

i might poke it with a stick 'cause im a 45 year old kid, but im with you .i wont kill without reason.
o.p.-i hope your wifes friend pulls through with a handful of fingers.

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the rules? there are no rules

Wow! Hope everything turns out ok for your friend.
To me every snake is a serious threat, either from a bite or me falling and breaking my neck while trying to run away screaming!!!
I live in south LA surrounded by marshland and rice fields so we have an abundance of snakes. Killed two cottonmouths last month, one under my garage, one in the yard.

Reminds me of a story my old Grannie told about when she was out in the yard cleaning up some limbs that had fallen in a windstorm the previous night. She picked up a limb and the was a cottonmouth under it. When asked what she did,she said she just put the limb back down .......

hard......


three or four times.


(Almost makes you feel sorry for the snake..., he was just minding his own business when this crazy lady started beating on him.)

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Dean
SWCA #680 SWHF #446

I've only seen two close up for all the years I've been going out in the desert.

The first was when a friend and I were out shooting. There were sand dunes on each side of the space we were using as a firing range. We were shooting big bore pistols and they were noisy. A snake came out from around one of the sand dunes, crawled across our 'range' and disapppeared around the other dune. He was about 4 feet long, had a white band in front of his rattles. We let him go; it was his desert, not ours.

The second time I was out with another friend in another part of the desert. We had a little range, but the country was open all around us. A rattler came by, about 4 feet long again, although this time without the white band. He crawled parallel to the range before going down into a little gullly. Again, we let him go as it was his desert.

Any closer to civilization, either would have been dead.

Can't snakes hear gunfire? We were shooting when they crawled by and they didn't seem to be affected by it.

This little old cottonmouth was minding his own business the other day while me and the ole lady where out riding the four wheeler.

Needless to say the ole lady felt she needed some target practice. Once again those ole ladies hurting the poor little innocent snake.

When Would You Kill a Venomous Snake? | Field & Stream

Hope your friend comes out okay with no permanent damage.

If I'm out in the desert or woods I always carry a long stick with me, it helps in walking or climbing and I also use it to move any snake that is in my way. I never kill them unless it is in an area where kids or unsuspecting and uneducated adults hang out.

I've always thought of the snake as a fascinating creature and with their various colorings and patterns a beautiful creature.

Don't pick them up like I did when I was much younger, too old and slow now, but I do enjoy looking at them and watching them.

Snakes don't hear at all, but they're very sensitive to vibration, heat and motion.

Watch a "snake charmer" and you'll see that he's moving rhythmically as he plays whatever that reedy instrument is. The snake is tracking his moves, not hearing the music.

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Oh well, what the hell.

I hope your friend has insurance. Did ya'll see the story of the girl that got bit by a copperhead and her insurance had lapsed. They say she owes $55,000.

Amen to that. God put everything here for a reason. If something needs killing I will do so without hesitation but I don't kill for fun.

Prayers are sent to him and his family.

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Shoot like a pro!

I hope the victim turns out ok.

Personally, I have never received a single rent check from a snake. They are therefore subject to eviction. I will ask nicely one time, and after that, I use gunfire, a shovel, or a machete to make them leave.

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Proud anachronism

If you are bitten by a poisonous snake...Here's a tip... Pack the area of the bite in ice & stay calm.... or as calm as you can... get a good description of the snake, or just ID it.. Don't chase it down to kill it.. get medical assistance fast..
Hope your friend gets by with little or no permanent damage....
JIM.

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SWCA # L-1911

Had my fair share of snakes when I was at FT Hood back in the day. Our battalion CSM found a copperhead in the kimchi box in his jeep on day. Turned out to be one of our "less than stellar" troops who had a big grudge. Got turned in by one of his buddies and spent time at the Disciplinary Barracks at FT Leavenworth as the result. Most recently were the two copperheads my wife found under the tongue of the manure spreader she had stored in our wash stall. She wasn't a foot away from those guys when she lifted up the tongue. Now she has a Model 34 and shotshells in the tack room "just in case".