What Caliber is Your Snake Gun?

greener · Post by **greener** » Fri Jan 21, 2011 10:46 pm

Found this in some old emails at work.

97 lbs, 9' 1"
Supposedly found in Missouri

Post by **Bullseye** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 12:43 am

That one would make a nice pair of boots, wallet, a belt, with a little left over for a watchband.

R,
Bullseye

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:42 am

Bullseye wrote:That one would make a nice pair of boots, wallet, a belt, with a little left over for a watchband.

R,
Bullseye

And maybe even a hat?

ruger22 · Post by **ruger22** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 9:13 am

Only snakes I ever shot were copperheads in a woodshed. Took 'em out with a .30-30 94.

greener · Post by **greener** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:09 am

ruger22 wrote:Only snakes I ever shot were copperheads in a woodshed. Took 'em out with a .30-30 94.

Cottonmouth's with .22 hollow point. Most were under 2', largest was over 5'.

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:32 am

greener, I have cotton mouth story. Before I retired here at the lake I was a weekend fisherman and would at least run my boat motor for 15 minutes even if I had no time to go out. My 20" Pike Master is on a lift that is hinged at the front and lowers the boat into the water at the rear. One summer night I had lowered the boat down enough for the water pump to draw and was standing in the boat 3/4 of the way toward the front watching the motor run when over the transom(this is a big/deep boat) comes a 4' angry cotton mouth. All that I have is a 10' aluminum boat hook with a plastic end. I was able to lift him up and throw him back over the back of the boat. He came back after me two more times before he gave up. Now, I have what is known as a Snake Charmer 410 GA.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 10:48 am

For a snake of that caliber, I would say .50 caliber or better. Maybe a .600 NitroExpress.

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:22 am

baom, I agree, but then again those .50" might let too much water in my boat

I had heard stories that CMs were known for being aggressive, but they were not a problem until then as long as you realize that they may be coiled up anywhere and don't stick hands/ankles on them. There was no doubt that this guy was irritated in the extreme. I would have given him the boat if he would have let me go. I later killed one in the same area (out in the water) with a 12 GA. Regards

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 11:55 am

KAZ wrote:baom, I agree, but then again those .50" might let too much water in my boat I had heard stories that CMs were known for being aggressive, but they were not a problem until then as long as you realize that they may be coiled up anywhere and don't stick hands/ankles on them. There was no doubt that this guy was irritated in the extreme. I would have given him the boat if he would have let me go. I later killed one in the same area (out in the water) with a 12 GA. Regards

Now that is a good snake load 1-1/8 oz of # 7-1/2's, my favorite sporting clays load, slso good for most anything. Sure does destroy clay targets.

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 1:07 pm

Yes, that was the load. He was there at the corner of the dock within 2' of the where the back of the boat would come down in the slip.

bearandoldman · Post by **bearandoldman** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 2:40 pm

KAZ wrote:Yes, that was the load. He was there at the corner of the dock within 2' of the where the back of the boat would come down in the slip.

Back in my sporting clays shooting days I found out that #8's break clays but #7-1/2's REALLY BREAK clays. I used to shoot a lot of sporting clays, usually shot at least 10 boxes of shells a week and most times more. Shooting a lot I lightened my 12 gage load to 1 ounce and switched3d to #8's because I used them in the 12, 20 and 28 also and it kept my shot inventory simpler, Of course in the .410 with only a 1/2 ounce, I used 9's just to get more pieces in the air, Shot the 28 gage a lot because it is a great shotgun, recoil is mild and it may have a slightly smaller pattern but due to the short shot string it is a very dense patterns and deliver 12 gage style breaks with only 3/4 ounce of shot, I think that was my favorite gage shotgun,, actually had 2 of them both SKB's a 685 and a 600.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:02 pm

I use my MKIII most of the time, but if my shotgun is handy it's my first choice. But before that I used the shot shells loaded with #8 in my Python.

Years ago I was fishing with a friend of mine. We went it to a cove with a lot of freshly flooded timber. Once we worked our way in we ran into a water moccasin kept wanting to climb into my boat with us. We kept redirecting it another direction but it kept coming back, till we finally decided to clobber it with the paddle. Then we started looking up in the trees and they were flooded with snakes. So we backed out of that cove and moved on.

Then another friend of mine decide to see if he could hook one casting. He did, then I asked him how he's going to take it off the hook

. He ended up cutting the line loosing his lure.

Then a couple years ago I had a snake that was living in my boat and could not get it out. I flooded the boat and he did not show him self so I thought I got rid of it. Then the next day I was ripping across the lake and it came out from underneath the deck right between my legs. I stopped the boat and flipped it out of my boat and took off. I was about 1 mile from the nearest shore at the time, so it had a long swim.

KAZ · Post by **KAZ** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 3:38 pm

It's amazing the power they have, he came back at me three times, and every time was definitely on the attack. This is a deep boat with a high transom. Did any of you see the movie LONESOME DOVE where the cowboy fell into a moccasin nest when the herd was crossing the river? By the way they can bite under water

Medicine Hat · Post by **Medicine Hat** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 4:39 pm

The 'Lnesome Dove' thing isn't just movie stuff.
Grew up on a farm in eastern KS (2 mi. from MO) and every farm had at least one pond for stock water. On a nearby farm, a 6-7 year old boy wandered to the pond and drowned. The pond was dragged for the body, and when retrieved, had more than 20 moccasins that had bitten, and were still attached. Lots of nighmare flashbacks for that poor family.

In those days, I wandered the field / woods with either a .22 or my trusty 12ga. (Savage mod. 94). We had moccasins and copper heads in the brush, fields, and pastures and rattlers in the woods too. Lots of limestone bluffs with cracks and small caves. As much as I tried, we never seemed to run out of snakes.

blue68f100 · Post by **blue68f100** » Sat Jan 22, 2011 6:05 pm

My dad use to hunt snakes on the Trinity river with a little Browning ATD, that I now have. My brother and I use to go with him using only our pellet rifles.

Now he has 2 tanks on his property (32 ac) and he tells me to shoot any snakes that get in them. The only time I see them is after a lot of rain, they come up from the creek.

WM and CH are pretty aggressive snakes like reported. I have to be careful when around wood piles that he has not burned. They seam to like wood piles for there den's. He has even killed them in is firewood stack.

2 years ago I opened the front door on my dads place and a 3' king snake tried to come in the front door. If that had happened I know a few ladies that would have left us till we captured and removed it from the house. It might have been a little hysterical. It's not what you expect when your opening the door to feed the birds. I closed the door and it went on down the porch on it's way.