Rooster I have this pact with myself .... I do not trust ANYTHING with NO legsor ANYTHING withOVER 4 legs .... PERIOD !

dd

Rooster I appreciate your thing for snakes. If that thing in the picture crossed my path in the woods I would be the last person it scares the piss out of. I don't care what list it's on there would be some lead flying.

Rooster isn't the uneducated one on here. The more you educate yourself about a subject the more intellegent you become about it. Passing this fear down to your child just showsstupidityon your part.
I think its intresting that many on here have a double standard for ethics, its okay to bash Jimmy Houston or another forum member for walking on someones land, or even bash someone for shooting 13 deer, but its totally okay to shoot or kill an endangered or threatened specie?
Where do your ethics stop? Saying its okay to dispose of a beautiful indigo or another snake thats on the list but if you shoot a bald eagle, then in your book, your breaking the law. To me breaking the law is breaking the law, and if any buddy I'm hunting with shoots and endangered animal while hunting with me, we're going to be flappin up some dust and then I'll have your uneducated A$$ arrested.
I've seen so many people try to kill water snakes thinking that every snake they see along the water is a moccassin, but there a lot of slobs that kill needlessly weather its snakes or deer.
I think your just showing how pure stupid you are in saying kill all snakes just cause its in my path. That snake was here long before you or I and its us that are encoaching on it.
If I offended anyone, get over it.

Bobby

right about the time i'm face to face with something that can bite me and kill me.

*dont' get your panties in a wad there chief. Chances are I won't be crossing paths with too many rattlesnakes anytime soon.

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.

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.

SNAKE POACHERS!!! You're all going to burn in hell.

If you want fun, try having a close encounter with a jumbo sized cottonmouth....

Probably because I value my health.

That's like the parent telling their kids to "ignore the bully." I know snakes will leave you alone if you do, but tripping on a coiled rattlesnake in the middle of the night and half an hour from the nearest town is going to prompt me to kill it, sorry.

Glad I reassured you.

Difference is the bully will seek you out to pick a fight, the snake wants nothing to do with you. Obviously if you find yourself in a situation where killing the snake is the only alternative to getting bit, you should kill it. But facts are facts, most of the time you see the snake before he strikes, stepping away fromit is ALOT safer than trying to kill it. If it happens to be on your property close to the house I can see you wanting to get rid of it, but if you are out in the woods hunting and you see one and decide to kill for no other reason than its there, well thats wrong.

Good point, bionicrooster, and I was talking talking about a snake by the house, not one I saw hunting. If I was out in the woods I would definately back off.