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Cotton Mouth

16K views 84 replies 45 participants last post by  Spoonie-whacker 
#1 ·
How many of you deal with these during summer months? Water work has become "let's go shoot the moccasins for an hour and, when we don't see any more, we'll train." I am using two ponds close to one another, I've shot nearly 15 in 3 weeks. Killed these two tonight.

Second, how many have had one of these bite your dog? I see all the rattle snake posts... What ab these suckers?

Reptile Rock python Scaled reptile Snake Rattlesnake
 
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#40 · (Edited)
Well that's not my opinion on the subject it's a fact that WM's are more buoyant and swim with their heads higher out of the water and water snakes swim with a lower head set and with more of their bodies under the surface. I'm not disagreeing with your experience but what I stated is usually accepted when dealing with WM's and water snakes. Either way I'm not a fan of snakes.
 
#42 · (Edited)
I used to have annual encounters with cottonmouths when regularly fishing oxbows off the MS River during my younger years around Memphis & even here in middle GA. I've had several climb or drop into the boat wanting me out of their territory but I managed to take care of them or get them out of the boat & I then moved on. My potentially worst times were turkey hunting. Both times the low temperatures saved me. First I was just removing leaves from under a tree to sit down when I noticed in the low light that the roots were moving around a little - I just let that cottonmouth have his spot and moved to another tree. He was just too cold & stiff to get me. The 2nd time I had cut some cane & stuck it in the ground to serve as a little camo blind in front of my sitting position. After the sun came up I started seeing some movement out of the corner of my eye but I was looking past the cane thinking it was out in the woods. I finally focused on the cane & noticed the little cottonmouth curled up in the top of the cane about 6 inches from my head. I just picked out that stalk of cane and threw it away from me because I had a gobbler talking to me. In fact, I killed a nice tom that morning but it could have been a bad morning except for sub-freezing early morning temps which are unusual both in west TN & middle GA during turkey season.

And the real give-away if you have an aggressive cottonmouth after you is the open pearly white mouth - water snakes don't mimic that pearly white mouth.......
 
#43 ·
Cottonmouths occur west of the Trinity, but they're not very common. They peter out through central Texas as you move west and don't occur in west Texas. One of the snake guys at Univ of North Texas (Denton, TX, north of Dallas/Ft. Worth, where I went to grad school) told me they were hard to find in that area. He also told me they preferred running water over still water or still water over running water, but I can't remember which it was. :eek: He'd been bitten a couple times by cottonmouths when he was catching live snakes in water. Not something I've ever really wanted to try, but all the venomous snake scientists I've known have been bitten at least once. There must be some unwritten rule that snake guys have to get bitten to earn street cred among their colleagues.

In Texas, just about everything bites, including the plants (e.g. bull nettle) and things that are practically invisible (e.g. chiggers.) Eastern Washington is so much more benign.
 
#46 ·
Kelly, you needed to get out more while at NT...I lived in Lake Dallas, just down the road and I could show you where we had cottonmouth's both in Denton and on the north edge of the lake off Shady Shores road near Corinth...as for Central TX , we had quite a few on Decker Lake aka Walter Long Lake especially near the power plant, used to fish there as a kid when my oldest brother would sneak me in while doing his chemist stuff for the city, also shot them at the lease near Creedmoor...where there is water in TX, there is always a chance of stump tails
 
#44 ·
Lonesome Dove both the book and movie were fiction. The first river they would have crossed would have been the Nueces which is extreme south Texas.
 
#45 · (Edited)
I am from West Texas, San Angelo, and I can promise you we have Cotton Mouth snakes.
Have a grad student right now that catches them and does experiments with them alive.
They have been pretty common in our area. My Dad was a science teacher and we went snake
hunting quite a bit. Some day I will post some pictures that are pretty interesting :)
When I see them or a poisonous snake we dispose of them, but not non-poison as they
are here for a reason. That coming from someone who survived a poisonous snake bite while going thru
chemo therapy and to this day almost faints at the sight of any snake.

http://www.gosanangelo.com/news/200...-asu-students-research-involves-sear/?print=1
 
#47 ·
I've heard stories similar to the TX geography range the same down here in GA. Some biologists swear there are no cottonmouths in N. GA. So when I killed one on my pond near Canton GA years ago, I took the snake to the GA DNR biologist who was so adamant about their range and asked for him to identify the snake. His explanation was that was indeed a cottonmouth but it had to have been killed somewhere else......
 
#48 ·
Originally Posted by John Kelder
Attachment 13482Friendly neighborhood that Demopolis is
I dont believe this is a WM. or the one on the left in the first picture. Looks more like a banded water snake. Also, in most states it is against law to just kill snakes unless you are in danger.


The picture of snake listed in master c is not a cottonmouth. It is a nonvenomous water snake.

Rick hall posted great photos. The first is a pissed off water snake trying to mimic a water moccasin. Doing a great job I might add. The water moccasin in the next picture is typical swim style. Venomous snakes swim on top off the water, non venomous swim with their body under water and head poking out of water.

One of my graduate students is from San Angelo, and he has brought water moccasins from there and in the concho river valley back to our laboratory.

Please don't kill all snakes, your mammal pest problems will go up, but if you must kill one please do it safely. I deal with a lot of testosterone laden young males that got bite while killing the snake with a hatchet or machete. It is never pretty.

Chris
 
#57 ·
Originally Posted by John Kelder
Attachment 13482Friendly neighborhood that Demopolis is
I dont believe this is a WM. or the one on the left in the first picture. Looks more like a banded water snake. Also, in most states it is against law to just kill snakes unless you are in danger.


The picture of snake listed in master c is not a cottonmouth. It is a nonvenomous water snake.

I'm sure the woman who was surprised in the holding blind will be glad to hear that :) It was left at Master C for that YANKEE judge to check his grit !! who promptly hung it out of the trunk of his rental car like the EXXON tiger tail . And after that , I was told I could come back anytime :) I left it like I found it , DEAD.....regards.....
 
#61 ·
I haven't seen a lot of cotton mouths. But the ones I have seen were more black than the ones in the photos.
 
#64 ·
There may be a regional factor, too, because I've seen footage of some pretty brightly banded Florida moccasins. But here in Southwest Louisiana, the young ones are pretty and the adults generally very dark and washed out. Took this one's pic because he was still colorful for his size:


And while I'm in the file, here's the Boone and Crockett version:
 
#67 ·
This thread reminds of graduate school at UF. A friend and I did a lot of hunting together. I'm sure the locals would have busted a gut laughing if they could have seen two Yankees out in the schwamps. We had some great times.

My experience with WM is that they don't back down at all. Most I came across were very dark which makes their mouth look even whiter.

One of my favorite Yankees in the swamp story was when my buddy David was taking me out to where he had seen some turkeys roosting along the River Styx. It was dusk and starting to get dark. The water was only a few inches deep. As I heard a owl hoot I turned around to look at David and he was the one hooting and pointing at my feet. I had just stepped on a snake. We quickly decided the scouting trip was over. David had clear sailing back to the truck. I had to try and avoid the snake I had just stepped on.

David was out bowhunting in the same area once and watch a rattlesnake crawl up to the base of his tree. He would periodically look under his treestand and see the snake still there. Once it got dark he could no longer see the snake. He wasn't sure if it was gone or just too dark to see. When he climbed down the snake was gone.

Snakes and gators kept us one or toes but, we never let them keep us out of the woods.

Tom
 
#68 ·
I don't turkey hunt because I don't need another addiction, but also because I have heard of too many close calls with reptiles. I am also not real gung ho about September teal hunting, that requires you to step out a perfectly good boat in the dark.

There are some drawbacks to living in the South, but the women, the football, and the barbecue far outweigh them.
 
#69 ·
I don't mind snakes usually, and don't just kill them unless they're posing a danger, but it reminds me of a funny story.

We were hunting woodies in the early season - my brother and I. He had worn shorts, so he wet waded to put out the decoys (smart move of me to wear long pants!). Anyway about time the sun come up, a snake starts swimming through the decoys - he doesn't see it - I do. I mention it to him and he says - KILL IT!!!. I said no it was just a water snake. He said KILL IT. Again I said no. He said KILL IT OR YOUR GETTING THE DECOYS. BANG.
 
#71 ·
My dad used to tell the story of squirrel hunting in Arkansas during the depression when food was hard to come by.

When still hunting he saw two squirrels in a tree. He snuck up closer and was stepping over a log. His foot was about to come down on a rattler. He balanced on one foot, shot the two squirrels and then shot the snake.

He must have been plenty hungry.
 
#72 ·
I didn't have the presence of mind to suggest holding it directly beside him for more accurate reference when I took the picture, but am pretty sure Ronnie said it was 6'1" when alive. Which is well beyond huge for a cottonmouth. Probably could have eaten nutrias.
 
#77 ·
The one on the left isn't a WM, the one on the right most definitely is. I killed them both. Killed the banded water in the shallow right near entry for a setup. The WM was sunbathing in the road and I followed it through grass under a tree. Once it saw I wasn't stopping, it came right out straight toward me.

It has thin neck, boxy viper head, aggression, and was much thicker and darker in color. But honestly, in a muddy cow pond doing young dog work, anything slithering is getting shot.
 
#80 ·
Well,,,UHHH,,,, As soon as I saw the pictures,,, my hands started to sweat!!!

I.m sorry,, but I guess I is gonna have to stay in Miserable Colorado! I would much rated have to deal with lefty Democrats than snakes!!

One good thing though,, at least you can shoot snakes !!

Gooser
 
#81 ·
They were removing a HUGE Bull Snake at a HT one weekend...
A guy picked it up, and was carrying it off away from the test..

I said" if you drop that thing, and it comes anywheres nearme, I am headin straight to the water!"

The guy told me, "Gooser, they can swim"!

I said " I know, but I cant, and hopefully I will drown before the bastard bites me"

I Hate snakes!!!

And to think our government here banned High capacity Magazines!!!

I get so shook up,, it takes me 80 rounds firing at point blank range,, before I even come close!!


I hate snakes!!!

Gooser
 
#82 ·
Snakes are cool.
 
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