One of the reasons to look up once in a while!!! 5.5 foot bull snake, in one of our BLM campgrounds.

If the copperhead is in the yard he dies, they scare my wife and bite my dog. If a rat snake is in the yard and my wife has not seen it I shoo it to the woods to eat rats. If one gets in the chicken coop and/or eats eggs or scares my wife I kill it.

Snakes poisonious or not have no interest in Humans unless provoked, or surprised. If given the chance to escape they will. They simply operate on instinct and are interested in only basic functions to survive, find food and mate. I've caught Copperheads in my yard mainly in the hedges and relocate them to the nearby creek, same with the non venomous. I've dealt with Rattlesnakes in South and West Tx and killed several until I discovered they would retreat out of site quickly if you have a long enough stick to prod them with and allow them to escape. The dead snake pictured earlier in this thread looks like a Checkered King and is harmless it would have quickly moved away if given the chance. I suppose growing older has mellowed me out towards widlife, I would rather watch and see how they operate rather than inflicting harm. I do have my limits, fire ants, fleas, scorpions, mosquitos, hornets or any kind of flying insect that bites or stings will get taken out if possible.

Relocating them from around one's home is fine until you open your garage or back door and step on one. Or you dog finds one in your front yard, gets bit, and dies.

In the wild? Let them go

Haven't seen anything down here in Pine Tree country except pit vipers, coachwhips and a couple "Red on Yellow" coral snakes. The Copperheads run about 4+ feet and are thick as my forearm are common even in the mowed grass in my back yard....'cause the neighbor to my east refuse's to clear the last couple acres of her 5+? acre yard & leaves it in a natural state with 100'+ pine tree's & 40'+ tall bamboo so thick you cannot walk thru that part of her yard, in a "feud" with the guy behind us who groom's his 8+ acres every week, rain or shine.

The neighbor to my west built a 6' tall wood fence but set it back from the chain link fence by about 4-5 feet, leaving a brushy corridor between the fences ....and a perfect place for copperheads. Even the City Animal Control guy refused to pick up the last copperhead that came out of the No Man's land area between the fences, it was so big...until I stoned it to death with broken bricks left over from a yard project....said NO Firearms could be discharged with him on site either.

Have not seen any live rattlesnakes yet this year except the ones down in the more heavily treed areas or run over in the street at the foot of the steep hill to my east, only copperheads so far. The coachwhips are a lot more aggressive than I expected too but the drought has not allowed the heavy weedy areas to develop from the City zoned tree line to the curb so far this year ...and the one last year just barely missed me the last time the dog wanted to "go see" the devil.

I'll probably start open carrying again in the fall when the dog and I can take our morning daily walks again past all the unimproved acre + sized unimproved property's up & down the east end of the street, once I am past my health issues.
Ron

Back yard at the old ranch. Excellent snakes to have around.

That Indigo looks unhappy.

LOL, was actually really mild tempered. That's been my experience with all of them, but yes they don't look happy.

If I could run across one snake in the wild that I haven’t yet, it would be an indigo.

They are my favorite native snakes. Always sucks to hit one with a shredder on a tractor, chunks of snake flying everywhere.

Same here. Never seen one in the wild.

Indigo's are loved by folks in South Texas, they eat rattlesnakes (among other things) and while they can grow quite large and may look menacing. Are one of the most docile snakes you'll ever handle.

One year I took my youngest son down to the lease turkey hunting in Three Rivers. He was riding around with my buddy, when he stopped and pointed to a long black Indigo stretched all the way across the road. When my son asked what the black "hose" was and was told a snake, he locked the truck door!! Said later he wouldn't have got out of that truck right then, even if it caught fire!!!!!!!!

I ran across an Indigo on our lease a few years back. He was in the road and had a rattler wrapped up - it was a cool fight but you know who won! To this day I hate I did not have my phone to video the fight. Very cool snakes that will scare the crud out of you if you stumble up on one

that will take care of your rattle bugs

Which snake is it the usually if you see one there is another nearby?

that's a dadgum cobra er sumthin.

Texas spreadin adder….

Yeah, that one was really trying to act mean. I put my hand down there and tapped him on the head a couple of times to see if he would bite (knew he wouldn't) and that was too much for him.

Immediately rolled over on his back and played dead. I righted him one time and he flipped right back over. Left him alone after that to go on his way. Funny snakes.

Obviously a high fence protein fed copperhead....

Only snake I ever truly enjoy seeing

Copperhead is a pregnant female.....I believe they normally give birth to live young in August/Sept.

Good catch!

Yes

They are exceptionally pretty in the sunlight. They are absolutely deadly for a rattler.

A couple of days ago in South Texas. Be careful out there!