Grow up in snake country, you learn quick to watch where you step and what you pick up!

Is that a velvet tail (think ya'll call them cane breaks)? Looks like a common water snake, except for the dark tail--hard to tell from the picture. Mr. No Shoulders doesn't bother me as long as I see him before I dang-near step on him. Had a big copperhead ('bout 3 1/2feet long and almost as big around as my arm--huge for a copperhead) slither (literally) between my feet a few years ago when I was bowfishing from the bank of a run-off from the Tenn-Tom Waterway. Snake never paid me any attention, but I almost ruined a good pair of drawers. Shot at it two or three times, point blank, with my fishing arrow. Was so shaken I couldn't hit it, finally just beat it to death with the arrow.

Normally I'll let 'em go if they are in an unpopulated area, but that one got to me. Used to catch snakes when I was younger and dumber, but haven't caught anything but rat snakes and king snakes in several years.

Chad