# Nailed a copperhed



## Thwack (Apr 10, 2016)

Shot this 2 1/2 foot copperhead today in the creek that runs through my front yard. Slingshot in the pic is my daily carry piece, and it sure comes in handy. Using .45 cast lead balls, first round went clean through about half way of the snake disabling him, then I hit it with a couple more shots, drug it out of the creek with a stick and finished him off.


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## TheNewSlingshotGuy (Oct 11, 2014)

Hmmm...given that its a snake i can imagine its hard to hit. But, i dont think that was fair to the animal. I bet it suffered quite a bit before it died. Next time, hold it down with a stick and use a machete or bowie knife to do the job. That is, if it is invasive or poses a danger.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Those can be sneaky buggers ... good job!

Cheers .... Charles


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## Thwack (Apr 10, 2016)

These are a real problem here, this one was where I cross the creek about 10 times a day and about 10 feet from where my better half parks her car. Hit another one yesterday, but it got away, and saw another one after I had killed this one and it disappeared into the creek. Had one get into the house last year, came in through an electrical outlet in the floor where the hole had been cut larger than necessary for the plug in. It climbed in on the electrical wire, and was cruising in the living room, I wasn't at home and my better half was throwing things at it and it left the same way it had come in. I sealed the hole shut as soon as I got home and found out what had happened.

I was bitten last year while clearing brush, never saw the copperhead until it was slithering away after I was bitten 3 times in my left forearm, it was up in a sapling I was bending over to cut. That bite put me in a world of hurt I won't ever forget. Lots of people here get bitten every year, rattlesnakes and copperheads abound. Every one I take out just increases my odds of not being bitten again, or my grandkids when they are here.

Like Charles says they are sneaky, extremely dangerous and best to do them in from a distance.


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## TheNewSlingshotGuy (Oct 11, 2014)

Thwack said:


> These are a real problem here, this one was where I cross the creek about 10 times a day and about 10 feet from where my better half parks her car. Hit another one yesterday, but it got away, and saw another one after I had killed this one and it disappeared into the creek. Had one get into the house last year, came in through an electrical outlet in the floor where the hole had been cut larger than necessary for the plug in. It climbed in on the electrical wire, and was cruising in the living room, I wasn't at home and my better half was throwing things at it and it left the same way it had come in. I sealed the hole shut as soon as I got home and found out what had happened.
> 
> I was bitten last year while clearing brush, never saw the copperhead until it was slithering away after I was bitten 3 times in my left forearm, it was up in a sapling I was bending over to cut. That bite put me in a world of hurt I won't ever forget. Lots of people here get bitten every year, rattlesnakes and copperheads abound. Every one I take out just increases my odds of not being bitten again, or my grandkids when they are here.
> 
> Like Charles says they are sneaky, extremely dangerous and best to do them in from a distance.


Wow, that sucks.... keep your toilet seat down.....


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## StretchandEat (Nov 11, 2015)

I believe in live and let live.. Unless your going to eat it or if it's a nuscence.. but especially if it's a poisonous nuscence that's hard to see especially for little kids.. and I'm pretty sure you were aiming for the head and a quick kill.. Good Job


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## ghost0311/8541 (Jan 6, 2013)

Love a copper head skin make a good sling shot handle wrap.


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## Thwack (Apr 10, 2016)

Sorry, already mailed it to one of the posters here so they can give it a Christian burial in a pet cemetery.


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## Charles (Aug 26, 2010)

Thwack said:


> These are a real problem here, this one was where I cross the creek about 10 times a day and about 10 feet from where my better half parks her car. Hit another one yesterday, but it got away, and saw another one after I had killed this one and it disappeared into the creek. Had one get into the house last year, came in through an electrical outlet in the floor where the hole had been cut larger than necessary for the plug in. It climbed in on the electrical wire, and was cruising in the living room, I wasn't at home and my better half was throwing things at it and it left the same way it had come in. I sealed the hole shut as soon as I got home and found out what had happened.
> 
> I was bitten last year while clearing brush, never saw the copperhead until it was slithering away after I was bitten 3 times in my left forearm, it was up in a sapling I was bending over to cut. That bite put me in a world of hurt I won't ever forget. Lots of people here get bitten every year, rattlesnakes and copperheads abound. Every one I take out just increases my odds of not being bitten again, or my grandkids when they are here.
> 
> Like Charles says they are sneaky, extremely dangerous and best to do them in from a distance.


I note you are on the Cumberland Plateau. As a lad, I lived for a while with my widowed grandmother in Van Buren County, about 20 miles out of Spencer, Tennessee. It was at that time the least populated county in the state. We were at the dead end of a gravel road ... nearest neighbor was several miles away through the bush. We were classic hillbillies ... no electricity, got our water with bucket and chain from the well, had an outdoor privy,cooked on an old wood stove, etc. If you know where Fall Creek Falls State Park is, that creek started up as a spring behind our barn.

One day I was crouched down at the edge of a cornfield, trying to shoot some crows that had been raiding the corn. After I had been there a while, I looked back over my shoulder ... right into the face of a copperhead that had rared up behind me. I guess he could sense my body temperature and was checking me out ... from a couple of inches away. From my crouch, I jumped straight up and over a 4 foot wire fence, and never touched it. I immediately blasted the head off the thing with my shotgun. If that bugger had bitten me in the head or neck, or even in the upper body, I sure would have died before anyone could get any help for me. Of course I was shaking like a leaf. I went back the next day to see if I could jump that fence from a squatting start, but no could do. A bit of adrenaline does wonders .... And that's why I say those buggers are sneaky.

Cheers ..... Charles


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## Thwack (Apr 10, 2016)

Wow, great story Charles!

I'm intimately familiar with the Hillbilly lifestyle you described so well. Been through Spencer many times, used to have family in Grundy County.

People who haven't spent time on the Plateau can't begin to understand how aggressive, numerous, and dangerous the vipers here are. You are very lucky you weren't bitten, as upper body bites are really bad, and neck or face would probably be fatal.

I spoke with a herpetologist once and shared some of my snake experiences with him, and he didn't believe a word of what I had to say. Copperheads are docile and reclusive, only dangerous if stepped on. Well, he had a piece of paper that said he was an expert on snakes and he assured me that my delusional descriptions of charging copperheads and rattlesnakes were total poppycock.

I just have to wonder how an expert can be so uninformed on a subject they are supposed to be very knowledgeable about. Lots of book reading and not much real world experience is the only thing I can think of.


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## Ibojoe (Mar 13, 2016)

Way to go man!! Now get after those other two!!


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## Michael Cravens (Oct 25, 2015)

Not even close to a copperhead. That's, without question, a harmless northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon). Probably best to not shoot things that you cannot identify.

Michael Cravens.


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## Michael Cravens (Oct 25, 2015)

Northern watersnakes


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## Michael Cravens (Oct 25, 2015)

Copperhead


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## jld70 (Mar 27, 2013)

Michael Cravens said:


> Not even close to a copperhead. That's, without question, a harmless northern watersnake (Nerodia sipedon). Probably best to not shoot things that you cannot identify.
> Michael Cravens.


Yep, what he said.


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

Charles, you had it hard at your grandma's. I got to pump water for mom with the hand pump on the kitchen sink from the well under the house. We were "civilized" LOL. By and by they bought a pump for the well and my all too often "Charley, it's time to pump me some water again" beckoning ceased. But I had to water and feed the chickens and the rooster hated me and would spur me every chance he got...I got even but that's another story.

When I was about four I was trying to find dad one late afternoon, my dad was stabbing something with a screw driver out back in the grass. I ran up and it was a snake. He said, "Step back sonny, I'm killing a copper head." Dad wasn't scared of much, bronze star awardee in Battle of the Bulge with Gorgie Patton. Mom grabbed me and yanked me back a yard but I still remember that scene like yesterday. We had a bunch of copper heads in southern Ohio...just north of KY across the OH River.

I'd bet my shorts you could pin those snake skins out of a board and dry them for trading material on this forum or just presents as you did...mail 'em off. Nice hat bands! Copper Heads like rattlers are also good eatin'...after you skin them, gut them and cut the sections into about 2 inch pieces and fry with bacon. Sounds pretty gross but it's good. Some say it tastes like Chicken. (So why not just go down to KFC?)

Dad always called 'em "Mr. NoShoulders".

Oh, and I still have the screwdriver!


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## TheNewSlingshotGuy (Oct 11, 2014)

Chuck Daehler said:


> Charles, you had it hard at your grandma's. I got to pump water for mom with the hand pump on the kitchen sink from the well under the house. We were "civilized" LOL. By and by they bought a pump for the well and my all too often "Charley, it's time to pump me some water again" beckoning ceased. But I had to water and feed the chickens and the rooster hated me and would spur me every chance he got...I got even but that's another story.
> 
> When I was about four I was trying to find dad one late afternoon, my dad was stabbing something with a screw driver out back in the grass. I ran up and it was a snake. He said, "Step back sonny, I'm killing a copper head." Dad wasn't scared of much, bronze star awardee in Battle of the Bulge with Gorgie Patton. Mom grabbed me and yanked me back a yard but I still remember that scene like yesterday. We had a bunch of copper heads in southern Ohio...just north of KY across the OH River.
> 
> ...


Was your father's name Phillip? That would be funny.....


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

His name is same as mine Charley but most call me Chuck. Call me anything you want but don't call me late for supper. Phillip's screw driver indeed! hehe

Newslingshotguy, yer a poet. Yer feet show it. They're Longfellows. :naughty:


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## TheNewSlingshotGuy (Oct 11, 2014)

Chuck Daehler said:


> His name is same as mine Charley but most call me Chuck. Call me anything you want but don't call me late for supper. Phillip's screw driver indeed! hehe


Im glad you got it!


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## Chuck Daehler (Mar 17, 2015)

And yes it WAS a Phillips screw driver...yellow clear resin handle, chrome shaft, it's in my shop. Geez, that thing is over 60 years old. It came in a set with a standard one also, I remember when he brought them home, some of the first tools he bought after the war. I thought they were popsicles and grabbed one and popped it into my mouth. The plastic somehow burnt my lips. When we're young our taste is so sensitive. Dad yanked it away from me and told mother to take me inside. I guess I was too much of a pest that day. Have I ever changed? :hmm:


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## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

TheNewSlingshotGuy said:


> Chuck Daehler said:
> 
> 
> > Charles, you had it hard at your grandma's. I got to pump water for mom with the hand pump on the kitchen sink from the well under the house. We were "civilized" LOL. By and by they bought a pump for the well and my all too often "Charley, it's time to pump me some water again" beckoning ceased. But I had to water and feed the chickens and the rooster hated me and would spur me every chance he got...I got even but that's another story.
> ...


I'm a bit behind you but I grew up going into the swamps in a pirogue since I was 10.

I used to have to kill the bad snakes in the backyard so my sisters could play. Just a shovel. I didn't kill the non-venomous ones even if they bit me. Just chucked them over the fence into a field.

I also had to start earning my own money at 12 and other things I think America would be a better place if people still did.

Both ways uphill in the snow I tell ya!

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## TheNewSlingshotGuy (Oct 11, 2014)

Chuck Daehler said:


> And yes it WAS a Phillips screw driver...yellow clear resin handle, chrome shaft, it's in my shop. Geez, that thing is over 60 years old. It came in a set with a standard one also, I remember when he brought them home, some of the first tools he bought after the war. I thought they were popsicles and grabbed one and popped it into my mouth. The plastic somehow burnt my lips. When we're young our taste is so sensitive. Dad yanked it away from me and told mother to take me inside. I guess I was too much of a pest that day. Have I ever changed? :hmm:


Hahaha! Thats a funny story!


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## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

Just wanted to add these days I don't kill anything other than vermin that isn't trying to hurt me or my family or I'm not going to eat.

Invasive species though? I can't wait to get my wrist fixed up so I can use heavy bands without hurting. I'm going to be a nutria poppin' son of a b****.

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## flipgun (Nov 14, 2012)

Nutria bounty is about 4 or 5 dollars per tail, I think.


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## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

flipgun said:


> Nutria bounty is about 4 or 5 dollars per tail, I think.


Yea. Between feral pigs and nutria you can be a full time slayer if you have the right equipment and aptitude.

I'm an extreme animal lover but I hunt. A lot of the PETA crowd can't grok that.

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## flipgun (Nov 14, 2012)

Well, Nutria are an invasive pest. As for feral pig? I consider them to be the real zombie menace, They swarm when possible and eat any and every thing. :aahhhh:


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## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

flipgun said:


> Well, Nutria are an invasive pest. As for feral pig? I consider them to be the real zombie menace, They swarm when possible and eat any and every thing. :aahhhh:


Yeah and I almost wish I lived in Florida so I could go out killing those damn poison frogs that are like a plague there now. Slingshot is perfect for that I think their a few pounds they are so freaking big.

I don't want to kill something as big as a nutria until I can put at least 44 cal lead out at something like 300 feet per second if that's reasonable. They are a destructive beast but I still don't want them to suffer.

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## Grandpa Pete (May 2, 2013)

I guess I will add my snake story: Many years ago I was working for the Boy Scouts of America leading a canoe trip on the Delaware river which runs between New York and Pennsylvania. We had stopped for a lunch break and were getting ready to scale the high and steep bank to the town above. As a couple dozen Scout secured the canoes along the bank of the river an other adult leader started the climb up the rocky incline. He was almost to the top, about 100 feet above the rest of the group when he saw a very large rattle snake. The snake retreated between some rocks. In a stupid move he grabbed the snake by the tail and threw it over his shoulder high into the air and down toward the river. #$%%&&%#@) the three foot long timber rattlers was raining down right in the middle of the Scout troop. We were very lucky it did not land on someone. A canoe paddle and a big rock finished him off. The idiot who threw the the snake down from the rocks took the skin and made it into a hat band. That story was told many time around the campfires on future canoe voyages.

GP


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## StretchandEat (Nov 11, 2015)

I was wondering if it could be a water snake but didn't zoom in.. I know of alot of people who have a mistakenly killed water snakes thinking they were cotton mouths..


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## Got Bands (May 12, 2016)

Charles said:


> Thwack said:
> 
> 
> > These are a real problem here, this one was where I cross the creek about 10 times a day and about 10 feet from where my better half parks her car. Hit another one yesterday, but it got away, and saw another one after I had killed this one and it disappeared into the creek. Had one get into the house last year, came in through an electrical outlet in the floor where the hole had been cut larger than necessary for the plug in. It climbed in on the electrical wire, and was cruising in the living room, I wasn't at home and my better half was throwing things at it and it left the same way it had come in. I sealed the hole shut as soon as I got home and found out what had happened.
> ...


thanks for sharing love to here about those close calls..........that we can now laugh at


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## inconvenience (Mar 21, 2016)

Not the most humane kill but I don't have a lot of empathy for snakes. I judge an animal's capacity for suffering by it's intelligence. This was way different than a highly intelligent animal being destroyed for target practice.

I used to have to go to kill the snakes in the backyard so my sister's could play I used to use a shovel and just cut their heads off in one swipe.

It does seem like you could have shot him through the head but maybe was moving or whatever.

Anyway I don't think this was a bad thing it was on your property and could have posed a danger to you or your family or pets.

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