As much as I hated to...I killed 2 black snakes this past week in Braxton county. They were the black rat type...not the racer kind. Dang near 6 feet.

Snakes don' t bug me a bit...but these were heading toward the cabin...and that spells their end. The shovel does a hell of a job. I actually caught both that I killed...but they insisted on heading under the cabin.

My wife doesn' t share my fondness for the serpents.


Are there a lot of snakes this year, or is it just me?

Pro, you just killed you two of your best defenses against rodents, and copperheads that there are!! Heck, had you caught them it would have only taken me 30 minutes to drive to your place in Braxton county to get them.......and I would have turned them out here on my acreage here in Roane. [8D]

Not your imagination about the snakes in WV this year either from what I have seen......however, really the only increase I have seen is Copperheads in a Bigtime way!! My cats have been bringing them in since early Spring.....I killed my second today on the bank behind the house, and next door neighbors have killed 6 already. Most in the 2 1/2 to 3 foot length, adult snakes! My cats have been bringing in hatchlings and only a couple larger ones. How they do not get bitten is beyond me.

I always noticed Copperheads worse in the hot, dry, drought years....but with all of the monsoons we have been having here this year...I have never seen them as bad!! Just an additional note.....watch out for Timber Rattlers.... several have been killed out here so far(3)....not good. Especially when you have a son that is going on 4 1/2 and not scared of anything that crawls! Take care folks out there weed eating, scouting and such! We are seeing so many snakes because so much rain has flooded their dens with water, so they are moving to find other shelter....just a theory though. WV has not seen this much rain in years!!

I' m not at all a fan of snakes. You guys in WV have some real big snakes, especially Robert Byrd!! LOL

They are terrible down here in SW Pennsylvania. You cant just pick out one type either. Yesterday I went to a lake near my house to do some bass fishing, and in the two hours I was there, I probablly saw 30 water snakes. The Garter Snakes are crazy this year also. I was mowing my back yard and actually hit two of them and avoided hitting probablly ten times that many. I have also seen a good number of black snakes hanging around our old horse shed. Hopefully they are the taking care of all the rodents and cooperheads.

Thankfully, I havn' t seen any cooperheads yet. They are around but I have managed to avoid them so far. With the overall increase of snakes, it kinda riases your guard while you are out in the woods and out fishing.

I certainly don' t envy any of you in snake country. I' m thankful I live in Maine where all we have to worry about really is garter snakes...