We have the same issue here in Pa. If I had a dollar for every person that called me up to identify the "copperhead" they just killed I would be loaded. Too bad not one of them yet was actually a copperhead. Poor water snakes get the brunt of it all. The largest timber rattler I caught here in Pa was 6'2" in Lycoming county. That snake was beautiful and coal black. I miss owning snakes but I can't seem to talk the misses into it. I even tried to talk her into a tiny sinaloan and she wouldn't bite. Oh well, I'll keep trying eventually she'll let me buy my pair of redtails back.