DD and NY, I'm sure you know I wasn't questioning your ethics, and I should have said something more along the lines of if you see a snake or other creature you are afraid of, think about it before you kill it, its easy to back off, and once at a SAFE distance its really cool to check these guys out, better than a zoo when you get to see them in the wild.
Bobby, I'm glad you see my point and I know what your talkiong about with the water moccasins, you'd be suprised how many people I know in NJ that swore to have found a killed a "cottonmouth"!!! Which is of course almost always a poor old northern water snake.