Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire What kind of snake did I kill?

I know jack-chit about snakes, but sure like killing them.

My weed-eater got this one. Grass snake?

Looks like a speckled king snake. Good guy.

Are they poisionous?

That's how we do it...Beat em down and the go look up what kind they were. And I have no clue what that was.

You killed a good one.
King snakes eat rats, mice and (when hungry enough) Rattlesnakes, (OK, other snakes in general, but that includes Rattlesnakes, I've seen it).

iff'n you don't know what it is, why kill it? There are only a couple of poisonous snakes around, the rest are really valuable for keeping the balance in nature.

Actually...snakes are not poisonous...they are venomous. It was a good snake.

King snakes are non-poisonous. No reason to kill them. They eat other snakes and also rodents.

That's a coral-headed rattlecoppermocassin - just like the rest of 'em.

I kill very few snakes as most are good or just plain old harmless but that don't apply to copperheads, hateful little bastards. At least a rattlesnake will warn ya it's there...

Yep, a King snake, one of the good ones. But try to tell that to my wife! It doesn't matter if it's a 6" grass snake or a timber rattler, she is going to try to kill it. A couple of years ago she come running out of the house with my Marlin Super Goose 10 ga hollering for me to find her some shells. I did just because I wanted to see her shoot a gun that is taller than she is. (Yeah, I can be mean like that.)

Ya, I need to let the king snakes live since there on my team.

Did not kill it this one, I was using my weed-eater in heavy brush and he got wacked. Moved from FL to TN & Ive never seen a King Snake.

Thanks

That's hilarious.

That is my favorite snake.You killed it.A pox on you.

She has already wanted to know "where exactly did you kill it".

She will never walk to the NW corner of the yard again.

They eat Copperheads 'round here...

Most of the rattlesnakes I've run into, including one I had between my legs, didn't rattle. Might be different in other parts of the country but not here in Kalifornia. Most people get bitten because they step on or too close to one. E

You should get over that.

You really are an idiot. And stupid to boot.

Yeah, a rattler will rattle if you step on him but in that case, it's done too late.

That is to bad, there was no point to it. I like the snakes I have on my land, they eat mice and that is a good thing. I got a big black snake that suns himself on a rock, he is going to go into hibernation soon, He been around for about 4 or 5 years now. Leave them be, and you would hardly notice they are even around.

sig888,

You gotta hit up elkhunternm. That dude loves snakes.

Yep, unless he's eating your chickens' eggs, you should probably have left him be.

Never has been a poisonous snake. How much you want to bet?

Oh damn. You might have cost me a bundle with that little correction.

Never seen a king snake eat an egg, could happen but I never have known of it. We do have a snake here that will do that regular. We call them chicken snakes and they are black or real dark blue with a lighter belly. They will get to seven or eight feet. Down by the lakes and rivers there is one that looks almost the same but he will swim along the edge of the water from tree to tree and climb up and eat the baby birds, eggs, and young squirrels. They tend to get a little bigger. miles

+1

+1,000

You guys aren't real big on reading comprehension, are you? It was killed as a by-product of clearing brush. Knocking down brush to clear the snakes away before you cut the brush down with a weed-eater seems a little counter-productive.

The only way I will kill a king snake or bull snake is by accident. All other snakes, kill first ask questions later.
Rattlesnakes don't last long when they cross my path. Just the way it is. I love seeing king snakes and bull snakes in the yard. Makes me feel good that there is a lesser chance of seeing a rattler.

You killed it by accident clearing weeds. Guess he was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. Hate when that happens. Pretty snake you whacked! lol

Kique

Only good snake I know of is a DEAD one.

It's interesting to see the holier than thou attitudes about killing snakes on a hunting site.

You may think you're a "meat hunter", but dang few of us are subsistence hunters. We kill deer and critters because we want to.

But heaven forbid ya whack a snake's head off.....

To my way of thinking, at least where I live stateside, you can have snakes or rats. Rats can eat the wiring on a motorcycle, therefore, rats must die.
Every once in a while, I'll kill a venomus one if my Portie won't let it alone. Rest of the time, let 'em kill rats.

I like snakes around the yard but have only seen garter snakes which help keep the cricket population in check. Wish we had a few of the field mice eating variety to help the neighborhood cats keep the population in the neighboring hayfield in check, the mice want to move in with me about now.

That is after the surprise. We don't have any poisonous/venomous snakes but one of the places I lived as a kid had a prodigious copperhead population. Who says white men can't jump!

Ever shoot a fawn or two and leave them in the woods?

Its a little different, but not a lot.

I was brought up if its not food, harmful , or a pest, killin shows poor stewardship.

Moot, since this was an accident.

past 4 or 5 years the damned stray cats killed off all the snakes around here.

We only have two cats and they stay close to the houses. One belongs to a good guy neighbor and the other to the assisted living center so they're safe. I think the coyotes are keeping the strays down. Pretty sure I saw a coyote zip through the edge of the headlights behind the supermarket down the street and somethings been turning on the neighbors' security lights. This is all at the very edge of our little town. 'Spect that'll change when fur gets prime.

King snakes are protected by Tennessee law and are among the largest snake species in the state. This snake species is known for eating other snakes---including other king snakes---small rodents, reptiles, birds, bird eggs and frogs. The list of king snakes in Tennessee include the eastern milksnake, scarlet kingsnake, speckled kingsnake and the prairie kingsnake. The eastern milksnake and scarlet kingsnake, found in eastern Tennessee, have color patterns similar to the venomous coral snake, which is not native to Tennessee. However, these two snakes have red-black-yellow or white patterns, while coral snakes feature red-yellow-black patterns.


Read more: Protected Snakes in Tennessee | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/info_8487189_protected-snakes-tennessee.html#ixzz28hTSsEv0

Didn't read thread but will say a few things.
Little guys are very good to hve around, wild and free or as pets. Since not often seen above ground you couldn't ask for better rodent and rattle snake control. Extremely docile, rarely try to bite, preferring to ball up and hide head in the middle. Kills prey by constricting. They really like little mice, seek out nests and eat 'em all, including mama if she comes home. Also likes snakes, lizards, toads, and frogs. Cannibal. The bite of local venomous snakes has little or no effect.

ARRGGGG, dats a King Snake, he eats rattelsnakes and copperheads fer lunch, he's a goodern, Ole Big Boy here at the farm is around 8ft long last time I saw him.

In 15 years I havent seen a venomous snake, rabbit, squirrel, or any king of mouse/rat in the yard, i think he eats 'em all.

And there's a forearm sized hole going under the back slab by the fireplace, I think that's where he holes up during the winter.

Gunner

*faint*




It'd be him, or me, the place wouldn't be big enough for the both of us. >shudder<

Nobody, and I mean NOBODY dislikes snakes more than me. I'll admit to going medieval on all I saw in my younger less informed days.
Now I try and simply observe, appreciate, and move on. Not 'holier than thou' by any measure. Simply where I'm finally at.
Matter of fact, I've got a black rat snake living in my little (10x10)storage shed at the cabin. It's been there 3 or 4 years running. It's around 7' long (I guess about as big as they get) now and absolutely HUGE! I don't even use my shed now since last time I went in there we wound up face to face (literally about 18 inches from my face) and I just decided he could have the place for the summer. Have a mentioned I don't really care for snakes? Having said that, if I stumble across a venomous snake especially in places it's likely to encounter a human, that's the last day it'll slither. Also, it is illegal in Georgia to kill a non-venomous snake.

one of the worst azz chewings I ever received from my dear mother, was when I used a stick to sling a big black snake out of our yard back into the hayfield where he belonged.


geez that woman hates snakes, her dad (my Pops) had taught me black snakes were good to keep the mice population down and thus the binder twine on our bales of hay intact


like many things in life, fear trumps common sense most often


I've lived in AK for so long, snakes give me a real start myself now.

prowling the woods as a kid, it just becomes 2nd nature to not step over a log without seeing what you're going to be sitting your foot down next to.

I've pretty well lost that habit and it scared the bejeezus outa me the last time I went tromping through the old home woods and had a snake slither away from my clodhoppers

I remember thinking, Gawd amighty, give me bears and skeeters any day!

Saw a snake crawling along the pool deck one fine day. It was a big one, over three feet long. So I grabbed a shovel, that way if it was a rattler I could bury it with the same shovel. Turned out to be a common king snake, so I gathered it up and placed it gently on the other side of the fence where it could hunt for vermin. Wife had seen it and asked why I didn't kill it. I told her that king snakes are immune to rattle snake venom and eat them, other snakes and lizards and mice, and all the rest of the things she finds scary.

She asked if I could capture it again, seeing that it would eat lizards, she had a few lizard people at work she would like to introduce it to.

Thanks for reading the thread KDK, seems a few here just reply without reading.

I done the research Swampman700 posted & familiar w/kingsnakes now. I lived on a lake in FL and use to kill water type snakes all the time, but never seen a King.


Suck a dog dick BrentD

well part of it is "the only good snake is a dead snake" phylosphy of a number of people here just cause they dont want to be around venomous snakes......funny thing is easiest way to keep venomous snakes off your property is to encourage kingsnakes, bullsnakes and ratsnakes to live on your property....one reason is as others here have said, kingsnakes will eat venomous snakes....some species of kingsnake are more inclined to do it than others but all species will do it.....

second, atleast around here, ive not seen where a rattlesnake can compete against bullsnakes around buildings....rattlesnakes are sit and wait predators while the other three ae very active hunters and if you have a number of them on your property they tend to knock rodent levels down to a level that rattlers go look elsewhere for food....granted if your inundated with mice and rats they prolly cant keep up but in the end i would rather have the non-venomous snakes around the house than the rodents...

but anyway by killing the good snakes your actually making it more likely you will run into the venomous snakes cause like it or not you have rodents on your property and they attract snakes...

I distinctly remember the last non-venomous snake(s) I killed. It seems in the spring all the snakes come out of hibernation on the same day (literally). My back yard is a beaver pond so we've got LOTS to choose from. One spring day several years ago a decent sized rat snake was outside the fence and my very young son was playing inside the fence. I hit the fence to get the snake to move on his way and instead he came AT me and rushed inside the fence! He crawled up in a bush and simply watched. I went inside for the Sheridan and my neighbor became intersted of the activities. I just 'thought' snakes bothered me until I met that neighbor. THAT boy (and a BIG boy at that) was simply terrified of those things. Anyway, one shot and that snake was done. About 2 minutes later I see another INSIDE the fenced in yard. Same fate. About 5 minutes later my neighbor is hooping and hollering as one had just climbed inside the engine compartment on his truck. Same fate. 3 in less than 10 minutes. That subsequent year was the first and last time we also had a rodent problem around here. Lesson learned.
They all get left alone now to do what they do very very well. Did have one somehow get in the garage and crawl over my wife's foot. She recovered quicker and better than I would have.

neet vid thanks.

up here we call them king or gopher snakes.

norm

Kill em or leave em, I don't care...But a lot of folk would make the case that wolves in your backyard serve a valuable purpose too.

ya but I can generally out run a snake!!

whole lot of difference between a 120 pound wolf and a half pound snake.....plus a 6 foot bullsnake can live within city limits without causing any real harm....

Indeed, they do.

Of course they say you're an idiot, and stupid to boot.

An illegal one.

In Tennessee, it is illegal to harm, kill, remove from the wild,
or possess native snakes taken from the wild without the proper permits.

LOL, he wont bother ya, I have stumbled up on him around 5/6 times over the years and he just looks up and peacefully goes about his way, still kinda spooky lookin' when he raises his head 2ft off the ground and looks back at ya.

Gunner