Look what the high water has flushed out

[Faulkner]

I've seen several snake threads lately so thought I'd share this photo. My 14 year old son and I were kayaking this weekend in the backwater swamps of the Little Maumelle River, a tributary of the Arkansas River. Though the water level is not as high as it has been, the Arkansas River is still backed up because of the high water in the Mississippi River downstream. As a result, seems the higher than normal water in the swamps have still not drained off.

While kayaking through the swamp we saw a lot of wildlife, but I ran across this fine specimen of a cottonmouth water moccasin. I was in a 9 foot kayak and this little brute was at least 2/3rds the length of my boat.

 

[Indiana George]

Yikes! Glad that we don't have those rascals here in Indiana!

 

[sheriffoconee]

Yeah, that's a big varmint.....make a pretty belt

 

[sipowicz]

If I came across that, I would shriek like a school girl meeting Justin Beiber!

 

[Faulkner]

As I was easing up in the kayak to snap a picture my 14 year old son, knowing cottonmouths have a reputation for being aggresive, said, "Dad, don't get up there and make it mad."

I told him if it started after me he'd better hope he could out paddle me.

 

[jlrhiner]

If I came across that, I would shriek like a school girl meeting Justin Beiber!

I screamed like a schoolgirl when I looked at the picture. :0 YIKES!!

 

[m1gunner]

Looks like he has just had 3 meals.

 

[stiab]

Looks like he has just had 3 meals.

They are a fat snake by nature, and very ill tempered. Don't depend on them to give ground when you approach. I worked in the Great Dismal Swamp for 7 years, and have encounted many.

 

[Maximumbob54]

Well fed. Vermin must be good in the swamp.

 

[CAJUNLAWYER]

If I came across that, I would shriek like a school girl meeting Justin Beiber!

I have come across that and I did shriek like a school girl meeting Justin Beiber!

 

[Erich]

Yikes! Glad that we don't have those rascals here in Indiana!

Did when I was a kid on the Tippecanoe and Wabash Rivers.

Kill every one of them.

 

[oldman45]

When one comes upon something like that, it is not time to scream but time to break out the gun and have some target practice.

 

[VM]

When one comes upon something like that, it is not time to scream but time to break out the gun and have some target practice.

Why?
It's in his home minding his own buisness.

 

[oldman45]

Why?
It's in his home minding his own buisness.

Nope, he has family that will encroach into human homes or bite those on their own property.

Anyway, snakes just need shooting.

 

[VM]

Nope, he has family that will encroach into human homes or bite those on their own property.

Anyway, snakes just need shooting.

Yes, I'll kill a poisonous snake on my property but taking target practice at a sunbathing reptile while boating is not my idea {fun}.
Thanks, but I'll mentor young shooters at the Range.

 

[Jswiney9]

id eat it........... and im not joking.

 

[charlie sherrill]

Fry them in the same kind of batter you use for fish. Just make sure you kill them before you make them mad.

 

[Sebago Son]

Lordy!

You got a depth charge rack on your kayak?

 

[anothermiller]

Id hate to be canoeing along and one of those critters fall out of a low branch..right onto my lap.

 

[oldman45]

Id hate to be canoeing along and one of those critters fall out of a low branch..right onto my lap.

Actually that happened to a local insurance agent. He and his wife were fishing on one of the local lakes and got next to some brush with their boat. A large cottonmouth fell into the floor of the boat. The man promptly shot the snake with his 38spl but it took three shots.

A few words of advice, bullets travel through snakes rather easily. They also make holes in a flat bottom wooden boat. Wooden boats sink faster than one can paddle.

 

[Gasman1972]

Go fishing in the Chowan river in NC, that place is full of brown water snakes and cottonmouth's.

I probably saw 20 or more cottonmouths every time I went to Chowan.

 

[Maximumbob54]

Is this the first possible reason for the Governor? Sure, you can get shot shells for the .38 special but that .410 can hold a bunch more… And six times had better be enough I should think.

 

[CajunBass]

I see 'em all the time on the Chickhominy and lower James Rivers in Virginia. I don't pay them much mind. I flip duck blinds with them sunning on the blind.

I had one crawl up on the back of the boat once. I wacked it in the head with a flipping stick and it went somewhere else.

 

[Texas Star]

Actually that happened to a local insurance agent. He and his wife were fishing on one of the local lakes and got next to some brush with their boat. A large cottonmouth fell into the floor of the boat. The man promptly shot the snake with his 38spl but it took three shots.

A few words of advice, bullets travel through snakes rather easily. They also make holes in a flat bottom wooden boat. Wooden boats sink faster than one can paddle.

So...what happened to them? Did the boat sink?

 

[Maximumbob54]

I see 'em all the time on the Chickhominy and lower James Rivers in Virginia. I don't pay them much mind. I flip duck blinds with them sunning on the blind.

I had one crawl up on the back of the boat once. I wacked it in the head with a flipping stick and it went somewhere else.

Your lack of ophidiophobia serves you well, but most of us just squeal and reach for a shotgun and go nuts. That may be the leading reason for the continued high sales of cheap aluminum john boats.

 

[old bear]

I probably saw 20 or more cottonmouths every time I went to Chowan.

If that had happened to me the first visit would have been my last visit.

 

[oldman45]

So...what happened to them? Did the boat sink?

Boat half sunk. Filled up with water so badly that paddling was not an option. They waded out in waist deep water. His wife was mad at him for shooting the snake. He was mad at her for complaining.

Now they laugh about it. Not funny to them back then.

 

[BE Mike]

The Cottonmouth is the only snake that I have had to back away from. In Florida, while out in the boonies, I saw one and was going to shoot it. It turned the tables on me and chased me back to the car. I was too busy running to shriek like Justin Bieber!

 

[butchd]

I don't mean to contend with Faulkner. 1. because I like his posts and 2. because I don't know who's right. That snake is very common down hear in warm water. The backwater lakes off the Mississippi are full of them. 6 feet long specimins are common. Summer days would see the trees draped with them as they digested the lumps that segmented their bodies. Most old river rats called 'em Water Rattlers. Then more educated folks called them Banded Water Snakes. I've never known which was right. Snakes that I knew to be Cotton Mouths by the smell, fangs, and white mouth were mostly single colored, brown or black. The longest was 4 feet and most were less than 2. They share the diamond shaped head. The true Cotton Mouth swims with his whole body on top of the water. This fellow doesn't. They both have a nasty disposition. My buddy and I were catching frogs one night in Lake Enterprise, as far South as you can get and still be in Southeast Arkansas, when a heavy, flouncing, thumping hit the mid-section of the Jonboat. Neither of us could get our lights on him but both could remember the huge snakes that draped the limbs over our head in daylight. Luckily it turned out to be a 6 pound bass that had jumped into the boat. I'm not saying that this caused it. But I became a drinker for 20 years and my pal is still in a Baptist pulpit almost 60 years later.

 

[GF]

Wait...What?

So I think that VM guy wouldn't shoot a snake because it reminds him of Justin Beaver....

GF