Snake on a Jon Boat
When I was in college a couple of friends and I went bullfrogging one night. We were in a wooden jon boat and we paddled under a overhanging tree branch. I was sitting on the middle seat with a shotgun. A large black snake of some kind dropped into the boat, I let loose with both barrels. The snake hauled ass and we were left with a borrowed boat with a very large hole in the bottom. I don’t mess with snakes anymore. Vaughn Fulton
My sister’s first husband was Coast
Guard search and rescue in New Orleans. He told stories about pulling skiers on Lake Ponchartrain out of the water after falling in a nest of cottonmouths. Of course, I never knew how much of his crap to believe.
Now I have heard stories about nests
in the water, and getting bitten up by them
Sounds like a popular joke to me.
If you take a shotgun every place you go… You might be a redneck!
I must admit I cracked up when I got to the part where you off-handedly mentioned that you had a shotgun with you, and ready to use too (I know, those bullfrogs can be treacherous when cornered…)
popular joke
Actually, the shotgun was in case we met someone who assumes that you are a redneck if you are carrying a shotgun. Vaughn Fulton
Look em in the eye
That’s Funny! Vaughn Fulton
If you had a logical reason for …
– Last Updated: Jan-25-08 8:43 PM EST –
... having a loaded loaded shotgun at the ready while on a simple frog-catching foray, let's hear it. That will work better than a double-whammy of insults (here and private email).
The Shot Gun
Actually, the shotgun was incase the owner of the jon boat showed up. Ownership was a grey area.
This tree …
was horizontal. Across the stream.
Yes, I have seen them on fallen trees, tree roots, cypress stumps, and on docks.
In an upright tree on a branch? No, not yet.
But I have seen a few banded water snakes on branches or palmetto leaves, so maybe you’re onto something.
T
Total BS
1. Cottonmouths don’t live underwater.
2. Cottonmouths don’t gather in large groups except when congregating around denning areas in autumn and spring. (They do tend to have loose congregations of a few individuals in many places.)
3. They don’t nest.
4. They certainly wouldn’t be congregating anywhere in open water, where you’d assume the water skiers would be.
5. In fact, the only way a water skier would ever be bitten by even ONE cottonmouth would be if the skier lost control and crashed into the bank. Cottonmouths will swim across open water, but they won’t hang out there. And I kinda doubt that even one individual would mistake a water skier for a log to sun on.
Here in the Ozarks, cottonmouths are present but far from common. In nearly 50 years of paddling on streams all over the Ozarks (mostly in Missouri but also in Arkansas), I’ve seen maybe 7 or 8 cottonmouths. I’ve also seen them on a couple Ozark reservoirs, and in Mingo Swamp in southeast MO.
As somebody else pointed out, they are pretty distinctive in the way they swim. Their bodies seem to float across the water. Non-poisonous water snakes almost never swim with the whole length of their body above the surface. And while the non-poisonous water snakes can have somewhat wide heads and fairly fat bodies, cottonmouths are always very thick bodied and very obviously triangular heads. And that light stripe from nose to eye area is pretty distinctive, as well.
NC here
cmillard, I live near Kinston, probably only 40 miles from you. I have boated in the tar river nearer to Washington than Greenville, but we saw a lot of water snakes and moccasons there. It had to have been our imagination, but the snakes there seemed more aggressive than all the others we’ve seen in the Trent River at New Bern, where we did a lot of waterskiing in our younger years. NC has it’s share of water snakes and moccasins, and we’ve seen our share. There were several times we had to wait for snakes to cross the ski ropes before we could pull up a skier who had fallen or dropped to rest.
I have fished for several years here, and during the warmer months, it is more unusual to not see a snake than to see one. Most of the time, you see more than one. I don’t like tham and try to avoid them. So far, I’ve only paddles and fished in Turkey Quarter creek on the other side of Fort Barnwell. I don’t remember seeing on on that occasion. I mostly fish salt wter around Swansboro now, but I will fish freah water again. My main fear is paddling under over hanging braches and limbs. Also, I have though about seeing one sticking it’s head through one of the rear scupper holes. I hope I never see that.
I plugged my rear scuppers and all
but those at my feet. I don’t want anything aquatic popping up between my legs.
Not even a mermaid?
Scuppers
I’m plugging all my scuppers next time I go fresh water fishing. I’ll tie a string to the ones in the tankwell. If I get water in the tankwell, I’ll pull the plugs.
shad
In about a month or so, the shad run should be underway here in the Neuse river. I am fishing for them this year. Hickpory shad.
spelling
Hickory shad (poor man’s tarpon)
WV State Snake
Our legislature is currently considering naming the Eastern Timber Rattler the WV State Snake.
Just thought you would like to know.
Jim
that’s what the cottonmouths WANT you to
think.
Killing snakes…
…is done all over the world, and mostly with a stick or garden implement. I’m all for guns, but don’t feel it is necessary in a kayak. If only you had some long, stick-like object that wasn’t burdensome to bring along, you could eliminate the need for packin’ a pistol. Now, what, pray-tell, would a kayaker have that might be used to ward off, move out of the way, or even dispatch an evil serpent? A paddle maybe?
Snakes at a party
Bunch of snakes at a party, Two snakes look over and see Ted the near-sighted snake talking to a good looking female snake. One snake says to the other snake,“Look at Ted, talking to the wrong end again.” It’s an old Far Side Cartoon. VF