Ever been bit by a Copperhead?.........

M

moralem

Member
Joined
Dec 2, 2009
Messages
2,518
Reaction score
6,516
Not much fun and dang it hurt. I thought I could shake it off based on cowboy tales of guys I know who say they were bit but never needed treatment. Well I must be a wimp because it sure hurt and symptoms of toxicity set In pretty quick. Swelling, nausea and vomiting, disorientation and cold sweat. All in about an hour before I got myself to the hospital. Blood test showed decrease in my ability to clot and decreased white blood count symptoms of the poison. They were worried about internal bleeding.....who knew that is what a copperhead's poison did to you. Kept me overnight in the hospital to administer IV antivenom, antibiotics and tetanus......go figure. I am getting me a Judge to carry......
 
Register to hide this ad
Nope, but a cousin of mine got bit by one and spent a couple of weeks in the hospital.
Their venom causes necrosis (kills surrounding tissue) and can result in complications like gangrene.
He got tagged really bad a couple of inches above the ankle by a big one and it darn near rotted his leg off. VERY ugly.
 
moralem said:
Not much fun and dang it hurt. I thought I could shake it off based on cowboy tales of guys I know who say they were bit but never needed treatment.
Click to expand...

Those cowboy "tales" are called "lies" today. And the buffoons spreading such tales are liars. Dear friend lost his foot over such a bite. Although rarely, if ever, fatal, they can cause you genuine misery and should receive emergency care.
 
Glad you're going to be okay. Snake bites run the full range of outcomes, but they're nothing to fool with. I've seen pics of guys missing large chunks of muscle in their legs because of tissue necrosis when they didn't get prompt anti-venom treatment. Count yourself to be lucky compared to what might have been the outcome.

As for snake medicine, I've used CCI Bird Shot to dispatch rattlers with my snubby Model 66. One shot to the head from about a yard away is all it takes. If you don't own a .38 Special, .357 Magnum, or a .45 LC revolver that accepts birdshot ammo, a good .410 shotgun will fill the bill. Stoeger makes an economical side-by-side that a lot of folks in snake country like to keep around the barn. The Stoeger Coach Gun is pretty popular for that purpose. If you are sold on the bigger crossover revolver idea, the Governor allows you to fire .45 ACP as well as .45 Long Colt and .410., which makes it more versatile than the Judge.
 
Last edited:
Without photos it didn't happen!

Just kidding! I hope you have a speedy recovery!

I go hiking in snake country occasionally, but rattlers generally warn you well ahead of time. I always carry a handgun, but I've never needed it to keep from getting bit, and I'd be surprised if I ever did.
 
I was raised in Copperhead country. Several close calls. Once running to the school bus my sister was in front of me, I saw the old boy, he was huge stretched across our farm lane in the sun, she hit it in the middle of the back, but was off him as he twisted and struck, I could see the open mouth with fangs barred. I broke his back with my history book.

In Middle school a kid I run with in 6th grade was bitten on one of his fingers, he was in the hospital quite a while, he about lost his finger and hand.

My sisters cats ate snakes, they would bring them to the front porch to eat them. Once in a while they or one of the farm dogs would come home with half their head swollen double. Dad did not take stuff to the Vet, they survived. But then they weren't no cowboy.........
 
I saw a guy get bit by a copperhead on the 4th of July. He was *lucky* the snake bit him on the web between his thumb and finger. The fangs went all the way through. He pulled it off, killed it and immediately went to the hospital.
Next time I saw him was just before Christmas that same year. His hand looked like a football! He said it was MUCH better :eek:

Rule 1 - Don't pick up a poisonous snake.
He was showing some Boy Scouts how to pick up a snake without getting bit.
At least that was the plan...
 
I was bitten on the foot by a timber rattler when in the 7th grade (many years ago).

I was taken to the hospital and received all the required shots and suffered no lasting effects. However, my foot was 2-3 times its normal size for a day or so and I've developed quite a dislike for poisonous snakes.

Good luck with your recovery and I hope you have no lasting effects.

Edmo
 
Woman I used to work with said she got bitten by one as a child. She said her arm swelled up to the "size of a loaf of bread" and they had to split it open the skin was stretched so tight. Thinking back she was about my age, so we're talking early/mid 50's maybe. She said her arm turned all black/blue, and she almost lost it.

My neighbors dog got bit by one a couple of years ago. The last time I saw that dog, he was still limping.
 
A woman I used to work with was bitten by a copperhead on the back of her calf. She was at the our local hospital in 30 minutes but was airlifted to Duke University Medical Center. They opened her leg up from her ankle almost to her butt to clean it out & get rid of all the dead tissue. She had some internal bleeding & had surgery to fix that, got several units of blood also. She was in bad shape & in ICU for a couple of weeks then to a room for another week or so before she came home. She was damn lucky she didn't loose her leg & her life. Those damn thing are nothing to play with!

Hope you recovery goes well.
 
Last edited:
Shake off a viper bite? Seriously? Glad you caught it in time, hope you learned something.
 
Wow, I consider myself very lucky in light of these accounts.. My hand is on the mend and swelling subsiding. No sign of necrosis so far but going to see my the doctor today.
e8485786c8f62c87a3698ceeebfafab3.jpg
 
My golf buddy fled NY for the greener pastures of S Carolina back in 2008. Within 2 months of being there a copperhead tagged him on the finger of his left hand while reaching for a piece of wood in his woodpile. He lost his pointer finger and thumb in a most unpleasant aftermath.

He was back in NY over Christmas break last year and still at times has difficulty lifting his left arm up over his shoulder.
 
Closest I've been to one is close enough to administer a butt stroke to the head. I don't have a problem with such creatures but it happened to be exactly where we needed to be.

Most predatory animals are creatures of beauty and grace. I tend to leave them alone unless they're on top of me.

I'm currently allergic to bees. The last time I got stung cost me a month of discomfort. Thankfully that was over a decade ago.

I've yet to be bit by anything truly venemous, and would not want to try it. I've seen plenty of black widows and a few skorpions in the wild. Unless they're very young, the rattlers tend to give fair warning.

I'm not one for hospitals but it'd certainly be first on my list in the case of a venemous bite!
 
I've been bitten (or should I say struck) twice,each time while walking to a deerstand. Glad I was wearing snake boots!
f.t.
 
If you have to encounter a venomous snake, a copperhead's the best one: they're the least likely to bite; if they do bite, they're the least likely to dump venom; if they do dump venom, they're the least likely to dump all the venom.

This accounts for the cowboy tales of shrugging it off to no ill-effect; just stupid, dumb luck.

But it's no joke if they dump the venom, some or all. Don't wait to see -- get emergency medical attention immediately for any person or animal bitten.
 
Hapworth said:
If you have to encounter a venomous snake, a copperhead's the best one: they're the least likely to bite; if they do bite, they're the least likely to dump venom; if they do dump venom, they're the least likely to dump all the venom.

This accounts for the cowboy tales of shrugging it off to no ill-effect; just stupid, dumb luck.

But it's no joke if they dump the venom, some or all. Don't wait to see -- get emergency medical attention immediately for any person or animal bitten.
Click to expand...

I've read that the coral snake is least likely to bite and it does have the shortest fangs. But if one tags you, it's bad news. They're sort of New World kraits, colorful bands, elapid venom and all.

I saw one just in time to avoid it in the woods and let it go, although I had a pistol. We were in wild country and no one else was likely to be by there soon. The bright colors helped me to see it in the leaves.

Also almost stepped on a water moccasin that was hiding under some dead grass by a stream. The landscaper at an apt. complex had cut the grass a day or so before and the snake was hiding there when I had to chase my daughter after she snitted off after a fight with her brother. The snake dived into the water just as I was about to step on it. They're usually more aggressive, and I was very lucky.

The moccasin and copperhead are both of the genus Agkistrodon, and the necrosis from a moccasin bite is even worse. The young of both look a lot alike, too.

Young snakes are more potent, drop-for-drop, so don't think they're innocuous because they're small.

I saw the post about getting within three feet of a snake before firing at it with small shot. I'm not comfortable being that close. They can move fast. And you don't know how big a snake you may need to shoot. I load normal bullets.

I suppose that if I might have to shoot one of those big Burmese pythons in Florida, I'd want a Plus P .38 or more.

I think more fatalities are caused in the USA by Western Diamondbacks than by any other snake. But that's in part because there are more bites by them. Some others are actually more dangerous if they happen to hit you.
 
In the rattlesnake roundups the contestants use tasers to shock the area of a bite. The electrical shock will neutralize the copper found in most venom that is a big factor to the bite severity.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top