michael thornton
Member
that might be the 15 i just bought at the cullman show?
Functional .38 for Snakes
- Thread starter Mcgiiver
- Start date
I don't believe in senseless killing. Having said that, I have killed several Copperheads. They were hanging around the front door steps, possibly from a den under the step, and other places around the house. I have since filled in the area under the step.
Until a couple of weeks ago, I had not seen any Copperheads this summer. Then, one night, while I was in the downstairs bathroom I saw a small snake crawling from under the storage area door down the hall into the bedroom. Wonderful! I didn't think it was a good idea to shoot it in the house. So, I got a stick and a rubbermaid tub and coaxed it into the tub. I took it outside. At first, I thought it was a harmless watersnake. The next morning I realized that I had caught a 13" Copperhead. I dispatched it with a stick.
This evolved into a thorough search on the lower level of the house. I'm fairly sure that it came in through the large screening over the furnace air vent which I have since covered up with smaller grid screen.
This is a different scenario from coming across a snake in the woods. They come to eat the frogs and the skinks and they will come back.
I also have a 6 year old daughter that I care a little bit more about than the Copperheads.
There was a piece on the local news recently about a woman that was showing her kids how cute the baby snakes were that she had found. Unfortunately, they were baby Copperheads and one bit her through her glove. This resulted in a trip to the hospital and 18 vials of antivenin at $2,000 per vial.
To get to the OPs question. Probably any .38 caliber revolver will work fine. I would recommend a lighter weight, stainless revolver.
I use CCI shot loads and they work great. I hesitate to say that I used my 6 inch python to dispatch the first two snakes. If there is another opportunity, and I hope not, I'll use my S&W Mod 60. That was the piece I put in my pocket the last time I went into the woods.
I know they were here first first. But, I was here second. If I see them around the house they're gone.
Until a couple of weeks ago, I had not seen any Copperheads this summer. Then, one night, while I was in the downstairs bathroom I saw a small snake crawling from under the storage area door down the hall into the bedroom. Wonderful! I didn't think it was a good idea to shoot it in the house. So, I got a stick and a rubbermaid tub and coaxed it into the tub. I took it outside. At first, I thought it was a harmless watersnake. The next morning I realized that I had caught a 13" Copperhead. I dispatched it with a stick.
This evolved into a thorough search on the lower level of the house. I'm fairly sure that it came in through the large screening over the furnace air vent which I have since covered up with smaller grid screen.
This is a different scenario from coming across a snake in the woods. They come to eat the frogs and the skinks and they will come back.
I also have a 6 year old daughter that I care a little bit more about than the Copperheads.
There was a piece on the local news recently about a woman that was showing her kids how cute the baby snakes were that she had found. Unfortunately, they were baby Copperheads and one bit her through her glove. This resulted in a trip to the hospital and 18 vials of antivenin at $2,000 per vial.
To get to the OPs question. Probably any .38 caliber revolver will work fine. I would recommend a lighter weight, stainless revolver.
I use CCI shot loads and they work great. I hesitate to say that I used my 6 inch python to dispatch the first two snakes. If there is another opportunity, and I hope not, I'll use my S&W Mod 60. That was the piece I put in my pocket the last time I went into the woods.
I know they were here first first. But, I was here second. If I see them around the house they're gone.
Art Doc
SWCA Member, Absent Comrade
In my house or yard they have to go. Still don't kill them. Nudge them along with a hoe and they will leave the area. Snakes wander into human-inhabited areas, they don't seek them. Once they know humans are about they depart.
Stories about someone foolish enough to blithely handle unidentified snakes hardly justifies blasting everything in sight.
Stories about someone foolish enough to blithely handle unidentified snakes hardly justifies blasting everything in sight.
SP,
I know the snakes aren't after me. They're after the toads, lizards and other creatures that surround the house. Copperheads will strike at you if you bother them. If they go away, they'll be back again when they're hungry. I spend a lot of time landscaping around my house. I'm not comfortable knowing that a poisonous snake may decide that I'm a threat trying to prune some shrubs. I can be careful, but my daughter won't.
I respect your opinion, but I guess we're just going to have to disagree on this one.
I know the snakes aren't after me. They're after the toads, lizards and other creatures that surround the house. Copperheads will strike at you if you bother them. If they go away, they'll be back again when they're hungry. I spend a lot of time landscaping around my house. I'm not comfortable knowing that a poisonous snake may decide that I'm a threat trying to prune some shrubs. I can be careful, but my daughter won't.
I respect your opinion, but I guess we're just going to have to disagree on this one.
LC '92
Member
Saxon, I wish you and your hoe would come on down here and nudge these things out of my yard. Copperheads are one thing, but rattlesnakes are another. How could anyone in good conscience leave a killer like this alive when their are people involved?
See the attached photo. That is a 10 rattle Timber Rattler. About 5 feet long and as big around as my upper arm. Disregard the Tokarev I'm posing with because Timber Rattlers are protected in my part of Texas. I'll just say I found him dead on the road. I disagree with this law in Texas though and think that when Texas starts protecting me and my family from being struck by one of these, I'll start protecting them too. This was the third big one we have "found dead" in the last several years.
In all fairness I have to say this one was found dead about 400 yards behind my house in a pasture. But the one that bit the lady that used to own my house was in the front yard.
Kindness to animals is one thing, leaving deadly ones in my yard is another.
CCI .38 Special shot loads and a 2" model 15 keep order in my yard.
With kindest regards,
See the attached photo. That is a 10 rattle Timber Rattler. About 5 feet long and as big around as my upper arm. Disregard the Tokarev I'm posing with because Timber Rattlers are protected in my part of Texas. I'll just say I found him dead on the road. I disagree with this law in Texas though and think that when Texas starts protecting me and my family from being struck by one of these, I'll start protecting them too. This was the third big one we have "found dead" in the last several years.
In all fairness I have to say this one was found dead about 400 yards behind my house in a pasture. But the one that bit the lady that used to own my house was in the front yard.
Kindness to animals is one thing, leaving deadly ones in my yard is another.
CCI .38 Special shot loads and a 2" model 15 keep order in my yard.
With kindest regards,
Attachments
BearBio
Member
I'd like to clarify my position on leaving snakes alone. I did kill them when we had a hunting camp on a friend's ranch. We had small children and dogs present and playing. We killed several that came out from the shade under our trailer. Otherwise, I leave them alone. Black widows on the other hand.............
Now that's just not always the case. I remember moving a hog-nosed snake out of my Mama's yard a half dozen times. I would take him to the back side of the place and put him out. (170 acres) He would be back in a few days. I kept moving him all that summer, though. I do not kill any non-venomous snakes. I have a bunch of common king snakes on my place, which is a very good thing. I also have a bunch of Timber Rattlers, which isn't a good thing. I killed one three years ago literally on the bottom step to my house. I killed what looked like his twin 10 yards from the step the next year. I kill, or passers-by kill, several in the road in front of my house each year. I have bird dogs and nieces and nephews that I don't want bitten. Have you ever seen a bird dog's head swell from a bite? I consider myself a farmer/sportsman/conservationist, but I'll no more let a killer of bird-dogs live when I see them on my farm than I would a rabid coyote or dog. Termites and fire-ants are part of the eco-system, too.
I used to use a 3" Model 36 as my designated snake-gun, but I now keep a NAA .22 mag loaded with CCI snake loads.
rromeo
Member
I bought a Model 10 for the purpose of loading for snakes.
Corn snakes, black snakes, king snakes, gopher snakes, etc, if they're in my yard, they live but get relocated.
Copperheads, rattlers, cottonmouths, if they're in my yard, they die.
I don't seek them out, but if I see one, it's gone.
Corn snakes, black snakes, king snakes, gopher snakes, etc, if they're in my yard, they live but get relocated.
Copperheads, rattlers, cottonmouths, if they're in my yard, they die.
I don't seek them out, but if I see one, it's gone.
VaRecon
Member
I'm in your neck of the woods Romeo, I can overlook a ratsnake on my yard but my 66 will deal with the first venomous thing on my property.
les strat
Member
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Now that's just not always the case. I remember moving a hog-nosed snake out of my Mama's yard a half dozen times. I would take him to the back side of the place and put him out. (170 acres) He would be back in a few days. I kept moving him all that summer, though. I do not kill any non-venomous snakes. I have a bunch of common king snakes on my place, which is a very good thing. I also have a bunch of Timber Rattlers, which isn't a good thing. I killed one three years ago literally on the bottom step to my house. I killed what looked like his twin 10 yards from the step the next year. I kill, or passers-by kill, several in the road in front of my house each year. I have bird dogs and nieces and nephews that I don't want bitten. Have you ever seen a bird dog's head swell from a bite? I consider myself a farmer/sportsman/conservationist, but I'll no more let a killer of bird-dogs live when I see them on my farm than I would a rabid coyote or dog. Termites and fire-ants are part of the eco-system, too.
I used to use a 3" Model 36 as my designated snake-gun, but I now keep a NAA .22 mag loaded with CCI snake loads.
Actually, fire ants are not part of your ecosystem as they are non-native to the USA. They are a South American species.
CQB27
US Veteran
They are indeed a part of the eco-system. Have been for about 50 years now. Ask that calf they killed when its mama dropped it on a bed. Ask my wife when she whelps up after a couple of bites. I didn't say they were native, just that they are part of the eco-system. Kudzu is a non-native invasive exotic species, but it dang sho' is part of the eco-system.
michael thornton
Member
what gun for fire ants?
armsmaster270
US Veteran
Flamethrower from a distance.
I used to fish Lake Eufala (WFG) a lot, and down by the dam, which is constructed of large rock blocks, reside many large Cotton Mouths. I have encountered more than once, aggressive snakes that were determined to get in my boat. I've whacked them with graphite rods to no avail (most of the time), and when they won't give up, out comes the M-66 with CCI shot shells. If they go away, fine, but if they persist, Bang! If you wait until they're in the boat, it's too late.
feralmerril
Absent Comrade
I am not a snake lover. A word of caution here regarding snake loads. I used to load some with speer capsuls. I carried one on top the clyinder under the hammer on my model 60. If I needed to shoot a shot load I would turn the clyinder back. The other 4 were defense loads. Fourty years ago I got in a incident. Two drunks leaveing a bar T boned me and ran. My GF was driveing and managed to run them down. They deliberatly hit us a couple more times trying to get away again. I ran up to the drivers door and told the guy to get out. Instead they locked themselves in. In the excitement and my anger I took the gun and stupidly hit the window with it to encourage them out. Of course the window didnt break. In the aftermath the cops that came to the scene couldnt get the clyinder to open. The shot capsul had moved forward into the barrel totaly locking the gun up!
feralmerril
Absent Comrade
For right or wrong I have shot at least 3 rattlers that I can remember in or near public places. Once I had pulled over to get a drink out of a fountain that was at a turnout by a creek. A huge rattler was right where you had to stand to drink. The next I and a friend were walking and he almost stepped on it. Another, I was takeing stuff from a swimming hole to my truck where my daughter and my GF had been swimming. A rattler slid off the path into a bush. Here come the GF`s fife dog and I knew he would attack or investigate the snake. So I shot the snake. Both my daughter and GF hated me for it and I wouldnt argue about it.
Snakes
Last summer this baby decided to occupy part of my backyard. My German Shepherds alerted us that things were not alright! This thing had 13 rattles and a button and was a foot longer before we removed his head with a well placed shot. It was the fourth one of the summer. My wife almost stepped on one walking out of the side door of the garage. I shot one on the patio with a good 1880s S&W 32. Got one with the PU. Try one for supper, they taste pretty good. If you have grandkids and dogs these things are as dangerous as a loaded gun in the wrong hands. FL lost a sherrif last summer to snakebite and he had shot the thing 3xs. These things are not my friend.
Last summer this baby decided to occupy part of my backyard. My German Shepherds alerted us that things were not alright! This thing had 13 rattles and a button and was a foot longer before we removed his head with a well placed shot. It was the fourth one of the summer. My wife almost stepped on one walking out of the side door of the garage. I shot one on the patio with a good 1880s S&W 32. Got one with the PU. Try one for supper, they taste pretty good. If you have grandkids and dogs these things are as dangerous as a loaded gun in the wrong hands. FL lost a sherrif last summer to snakebite and he had shot the thing 3xs. These things are not my friend.
I agree they may have their purpose but I'm sorry folks... copperheads, mocs and rattlers hafta go anyplace that I may find them.
Other snakes (non-venomous) can stay as long as they don't come around the house or where kids/ g-kids are.
I will say that I don't entice snakes on to my property by having things or landscaping that attracts food or habitat for them. Consequently, I seldom ever see any.
Other snakes (non-venomous) can stay as long as they don't come around the house or where kids/ g-kids are.
I will say that I don't entice snakes on to my property by having things or landscaping that attracts food or habitat for them. Consequently, I seldom ever see any.
