Hunting partner is not too smart!!!!

vipers fill an ecological niche (such as rodent control)
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The same a Black Snakes, Coyotes, Buzzards,and a whole list of other wonderful creatures, who aren't trying to kill me!

PS. Rattlesnakes taste like chicken.
 
The only snake I kill on sight is a Cottonmouth. They can be aggressive and don't do anything that benefits me like killing mice. I might feel different about the rattlers if I had dogs.
 
My hunting buddy nearly lost his dog to a pygmy rattler bite. It bit him on the nose... off to the emergency room, 1,000 dollars later, the dog is ok.

Sorry, i don't like em and never will. Don't care what niche they fill.
 
I can see killing a rattler (or any poisonous animal) if it's on your property. But killing it just because it is harmful is just unethical. Stay indoors if you don't want to be bitten by any harmful animals.
 
We let the one in the picture go. Very seldom do we feel the need to kill snakes. If I see one around a stand or if he is here at the house he's done for.

And if I hunted with dogs I think I'd be more inclined to dispach them.

And I'll admit that if I stumble on a particulary big specimen I am much more likely to deal harshly with him..................

But for the most part we wear snake boots and leave them be.

This was near Palatka, Florida. Was warm Sunday. We also saw one cotton mouth..........pushed him off the trail with a stick.
 
Go right ahead and kill all you want to.

I've heard that "filling a niche in the eco-systom" garbage before. Its a croc. I suppose you think we shouldnt kill prairie dogs and sewer rats either?

There are millions of snakes and I dont think the 1/2 dozen I kill a year is going to hurt one single bit. Coyotes and foxes eat WAY more mice than snakes can even compare to, and we shoot them every chance we get.
 
Not a personal attack, just an observation

Jimbob, I have given snakes to UNO for their herpatology classes. yep there are poisonous snakes right close to ya but I wont tell.....where

I love snakes, catch em whenever I can. Used to have a collection of rattlers and some others, got married and them snakes had to go. So I go noodle for snapping turtles for my fun. In the summer.
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It's folks like you that make me question the time and effort I spend to be a volunteer FF/EMT....... hundreds of hours of class timeand training so I can drop whatever it is I am doing and go give medical attention and a ride to the hospital to folks that do dumb stuff....... I lump people that jack around with venomous snakes 'cause they like them right up beside the ....umm..... er ...... individual...... that totalled himself riding a bicycle down a hill in the woods while intoxicated ......at 3 AM. Dumb stuff, most of it.
 
So....

... do all you snake-shooters also spear or powerhead every shark you see in the ocean? I mean, have you ever seen what a shark bite can do to a human?

Or do you shoot every bear you see in the woods? A bear could knock your head right off your shoulders...

Have you ever seen the damage a teenager can do with a Camaro? You'd have to be careful of run-ins with the law, but...
 
... do all you snake-shooters also spear or powerhead every shark you see in the ocean? I mean, have you ever seen what a shark bite can do to a human?

Or do you shoot every bear you see in the woods? A bear could knock your head right off your shoulders...

Have you ever seen the damage a teenager can do with a Camaro? You'd have to be careful of run-ins with the law, but...
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Not many sharks or oceans here ...... or bears.

Mountain lions? Ain't sayin'.
 
If I had the chance, yes. I would kill all sharks.

When I have a black bear tag and its in season, I do shoot him. I would LOVE to thin out the griz and wolves around here as we have WAY WAY WAY too many. Just need to get rid of a bunch of tree hugging, animal rights activsts that think their helping, and we got it made.

It wasnt that long ago (20 years I guess) that I was a punk kid with a fast chevy drag racing down mainstreet every Saturday night. Those were the good old days. It was only 8 years ago I gave up racing stock cars. My daughters loved riding in those stock cars.:)
 
Punk kids in fast cars and on fast bikes...

... kill more people every year than sharks, snakes, lions, tigers, bears, wolves, and the mafia.

By the logic of this thread, we should probably start taking them down.
 
Not likely. Most of us ascribe to a value system which places a greater value on human life, than that of a reptile. YMMV.
 
Sarge...

... my point is that those teenagers are much more likely to take human life than are those reptiles.

But I don't see any posters bewailing the perils of teenagers with fast rides.

The snake fear is way overrated. I don't like them, but I don't go around killing everything I don't like.
 
I would add DUI drivers on the list. No second or third strikes. Take them out on the first offense.
 
... my point is that those teenagers are much more likely to take human life than are those reptiles.
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We all understand your point, but it's a false analogy, apples and oranges. One is not like the other in any way except that both may cause death.

You can say that icy driveways at old people's homes cause deaths too, but that doesn't make them comparable to venomous snakes.

Venomous snakes do not bite because they are malicious. They do it because they are genetically programmed to do it as a defense mechanism, or to paralyze a prey/food source. Killing them when in sight is a human defense mechanism.
 
I'd say...

... AVOIDANCE is a human defense mechanism.

Genetic hard-wiring to kill vipers on sight, given the eons of human existence prior to the bow and arrow, let alone firearms, would have resulted in lots of snake-bit humans.

With the exception of cottonmouths, most North American snakes prefer to avoid you.

My concern with snakes is for my dogs and horses; I've never been too worried about them, myself, as I avoid stepping into brush or over logs if I can't see what's in or underneath them, and I don't go poking my hands into areas where I can't see.

Cottonmouths can be a different ballgame. I've had a couple of friends get into standoffs with those, and I've been pursued by one (beat it to the ski boat). Those, I might be tempted to shoot.

Rattlesnakes, for the most part, no.
 
OK, devil's advocate here...All of those that say, "kill it, kill it" sound a bit like the antis, in their rants.
Is a snake inherently dangerous, without human interaction?

As for breed, I would surmise, Dusky Pygmy , without seeing the tail.
The triangular-shaped head and the presence of the pit glands, are all I have to go on.

I looked it up. Seems to be a Dusky. The record is 31" but they are typically only about 2 feet, full grown.
The reason it wasn't agressive is because it appears to have recently eaten, and didn't feel threatened.
They get rather lathargic during digestion, as well as in cool temperatures.
Cold to them is mild to us.
 
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