Flintlocks and copperheads

[dhaverstick]

My precious baby bloodhound, Jake, and I were just returning from our evening walk when I spied this copperhead lounging on the porch. Fortunately, I noticed my wife was in the kitchen so I hollered to her to come out and get the dog so I could dispatch the snake. After some coaxing for Leah to walk around the copperhead and take Jake's lead, I went over to the woodpile, selected a good head basher and then came back to take care of business. By this time, though, the snake was figuring out that something was up and proceeded to crawl off the porch and into an old doghouse we have next to the porch. Obviously, I was not going to reach into the doghouse for some close combat so it was time to go to Plan B.

It was pretty dark by then and I knew I needed to use something that would give me the best chance of killing the snake quickly yet not tear up the doghouse too badly. The little 10 watt bulb went on over my head and I said to myself, "I know, I'll use my flintlock pistol." So I ran into the house, put a light shot load in the pistol, grabbed a flashlight, and came back out. Again, I had to coax Leah to step close to the doghouse and shine the flashlight into it. The copperhead was holding his head up just perfectly as I cocked the hammer and pulled the trigger. Flintlock - 1, snake - 0!

As a general rule, snakes around the house get a pass from me but when I have to start kicking the venomous ones out of the way just to get to the door, I have to say that enough is enough.

It was a pretty good size snake; about 2 1/2 feet long

Fortunately, my puppy wasn't too traumatized by the whole ordeal.

Darren

 

[The Baron]

haha - he looks like a happy "little" buddy.

Good thing you didn't come home in the dark to that porch surprise! :shocked2:

 

[Britsmoothy]

:haha: great story.
Gotta keep a trusty Side arm to hand.

B :hatsoff:

 

[Critter Getter]

Wow, good for you. I didn't know MO had Copperheads! I would think that might be a new state record for Copperhead taken with a flintlock!! Greg

 

[Spikebuck]

Neat story and pictures! :thumbsup:

My wife won't even watch snakes on TV. It took every ounce of courage she had for us to coax her into Reptile Gardens near Rapid City, SD. I don't think she enjoyed the visit one bit!

All we have in SE MN for poisonous snakes is Rattle Snakes, but in all my decades of tromping the woods, I've only seen one once.

 

[robinsroost]

:wink: A good looking puppy and a good looking puppy holder too. Looks like you have the main ingredient for a distinctive hat band.........robin

 

[Rick Boylan]

Skin it and eat it. Snakes make good food. And you can use the skin for some knife scabbard or some doo dad.

 

[Britsmoothy]

Say, not wanting to pry to much but that there sure looks like a strange trophy on your stair banister! :wink:

B.

 

[hanshi]

Sometimes it is necessary to dispatch a snake that presents a potential danger. I use to live in Ga (62 years) and we were covered in copperheads - one bit my dog but she pulled through - and canebrake rattlers. We had rattlers on the porch, in the yard, in the barn and the backyard where I'd shoot.

I caught the "offending" copperhead and kept him in a terrarium through the summer. Never had to kill a snake, though.

 

[Nativearizonan]

My brother moved to Viburnum, MO a long time ago. He and his wife are big animal lovers and had several dogs and 4-5 horses and a bunch of goats. They bought 30 acres of unkept, steep woodlands with a house on it. The soon found the place was crawling with copperheads, and there was all kinds of cover for them with blackberry brambles and poison oak underbrush between the second growth pine trees. Their young, big newfoundland "puppy", which weighed about 130 lbs, got bit by a copperhead soon after they moved there and was very ill for a couple weeks. No sooner did they let it back outside and it got bit again, but didn't seem to stay sick very long at all. When the dog went out the third time, he became one serious snake killer. He hunted them and killed them constantly. Meanwhile the horses and goats cleaned out the underbrush, and by the time they left the place after a few years, it was a totally changed piece of land. No snakes, and very few brambles or poison ivy/oak.

I guess the dog was large enough that it was able to take that first bite without being killed by it, and he seemed to have built up a resistance to the poison. He definitely gained a strong dislike for copperheads.

 

[will5a1]

Great story, thanks for sharing it with us.

 

[tenngun]

I've been snake bit four times, three by copperheads. I have killed a few, but try to avoid it. They do a lot of good. Would rather have a snake around then mice.
Unlike rattlesnakes copperheads are a bit small and hard to skinn and very little meat. They taste good but are a might of work. Puts me in mind of one quial or one crab leg.

 

[Skychief]

Another reason to love this place.....One never knows what he'll read about :haha: .

I can see the headline now...'Darren Haverstick, the first man to kill a venemous snake with a flintlock pistol in, Lord knows how long'! :thumbsup:

Good on ya Darren, I'd be cleaning them out too. I've an acquaintance that was bit on the end of a finger by one curled up in his wood pile. Did everything but lose his hand. :shocked2:

Best regards and thanks for a new twist here, Skychief.

 

[pab1]

Glad the pup was okay! Good thinking using a light shot load in the flintlock! :hatsoff:

 

[wattlebuster]

Glad all is safe an mr copperhead is dead. I have a coworker that was bit by one laying in his carport. Hospital for 2 days lots of pain an mucho dollars even with insurance

 

[dhaverstick]

I know this sounds terrible but I didn't do anything with the snake but chuck it down the hill. By the time the ruckus was over it was dark, I had a passel of things to do, and I just didn't feel like messing with it. In Missouri, it is actually illegal to kill copperheads although I've never known anyone to get a ticket for it. However, I know that if I would have went to the trouble of skinning it out and tanning the hide I would have eventually posted a photo of something I'd made with the skin only to have a conservation officer knocking at my door with a ticket in hand.

Darren

 

[Spikebuck]

Well...just posting what you have isn't much different than posting that you made something out of it! I wouldn't turn you in, but some people might and things put on the internet last forever.

 

[dhaverstick]

MDC doesn't mind if you're protecting yourself of defending your property. However, if I used that snake hide to make something, I cannot really prove how I got it. Sure, the odds are slim of getting hassled but I have a taxidermist friend who has to worry about that stuff all the time and he won't touch a copperhead skin unless it comes from a state where it's legal to get them.

 

[sidelock]

My Grandpa had a beagle that got hit in the nose by a copperhead. That dog's head swelled up like a pumpkin but it survived. I have killed dozens of copperheads (when I was kid mostly) and a bunch of rattle snakes,most in Montana. My Grand son stepped on one on his steps last year and killed it with a shovel without getting bitten.

 

[Wes/Tex]

Have got 6 so far this year...nothing as elegant as a flintlock...mine have all fallen to a hoe or shovel. Not that I can't but, I can't. If I set one off in the yard I'll have 57 little blue-haird ladies beating the stuffings out of me for noise pollution and possibly trying to hurt a woodland creature! :wink: :rotf: