Running into snakes

[Theosus]

Originally Posted by firedancer

I'm not really scared of snakes, but we don't have too many poisonous ones around here - I'm not smart enough to know the difference, so I leave them all alone.

A couple years ago, in one of the Kettle Moraine forests (Wisconsin), we heard this little shrieking noise and finally figured out it was coming from a frog that was 1/2-way down a snake's throat - only his screaming little mouth was still sticking out! It was pretty cool to see, and of course, we were all too fascinated to remember to get out our cameras!

That just reminded me. My wife and I were fishing. I heard a flopping noise at the edge of the bank and went to investigate. As I walked up I saw a HUGE water moccasin trying to swallow a Bream. The fish was halfway down his throat. The snake couldn't escape, nor could he spit the fish out (because of the fin spikes, the fish will only go one way). The snake just stopped and looked at me like, "so what's it going to be?"
I left it alone and we moved on down the bank.

[ppine]

Leave them alone and go around. Learn the dangerous snakes where you are. Remember they can't hear at all, but are very sensitive to vibration. At dawn and dusk, and whenever the temperature is around 65-80 degrees they are most active. Watch where you put your hands and feet. Step heavily during likely snake time.

[Pathfinder1]

[QUOTE=Newanderthal;50908]Stop. Take a step back. Then take a wide path around the snake moving behind it.

The vast majority of venomous snakebites in this country occur when?
They occur when people are trying to catch or kill the snake. Leave them alone.



Hi...


Excellent advice, especially about how most of the snakebites occur.

[SunnyDay]

Depends on where I am. When I was hiking in Arizona once, I came upon a rattle snake and I peed my pants and then skedaddled. If I'm hiking in Vermont, and I see a snake, I'd likely try to get a closer look.