I don't like to have poison snakes in my yard. -- Hal

Nope, I don't want any poisonous snakes around me either. I know a guy over in the next county, last summer he killed either 7 or 8 rattlesnakes? He's got a young son, and as far as I know they were all right around his house, yard and garden. That's too close!

I watched what happened to my Beagle, after that copperhead bit her. That cost me $150 or so? She was one sick puppy for a while!

http://wvmetronews.com/2017/04/17/dnr-wants-to-hear-your-rattlesnake-stories/

http://wvmetronews.com/2018/05/11/rattlesnake-study-enters-year-two/

I am not a snake lover, either--poisonous or not. If something has the potential to kill me, I, at least, want it to be big enough so I can see it coming. Not strike the back of my leg when I step over a dead log in a woods.

Ron

I'll keep my bears and wolves and you guys keep your poisonous snakes. Deal?

Copperhead don't bother me "as bad" but rattlers make me nervous.that being said go find you some of them little 2 1/2" too 3" long thick made baby copperhead man they look like trouble! Very hard to see perfect too set down amugst while deer or squirrel huntin!!!!!!!
Colt

I've got garden tools leaning up against the cabin under the rear porch. Went to grab the mattox and discovered a ball of snakes. Tried to usher the two of them out with a shovel. One of them was trying to attack me, mouth open and striking out. 3 to 4 ft long each. Don't know what species they were. Both died of 9mm lead poisoning.

Frank.

I've learned to sort the poison from non-poison. I don't mind the non-poison ones. But, even those can be aggressive if you mess with them.

And, Brian, we are starting to get black bears in this neighborhood. So it looks like the deal is off. I don't much want bears in my backyard either. My predecessors got rid of those things a long time ago. I'm not tickled to get them back.

Hal, get a dog! It will let you know there is a bear. Bears rarely attack people but they do make a mess. They like chewing up your ATV seat and stuff like that. Buddy's son was foraging for mushrooms last week. Saw a shadow in the alders that was a bear and it started huffing at him. He left in a hurry with stained skivvies.

Same buddy's brother got attacked a while back. He still has a messed up knee.

Glad we only have black bears. Even more glad we only have garter snakes!

Well, I'm not an anti snake person or anything like that. As a rule I don't kill non poisonous snakes.

We have a snake here, some folks call it a "milk snake" or a "house snake", they are very similar in color as a copperhead. Unless you get a good look at them they are very hard to tell apart.

You guys remember when I was working on the "old shack" or the King's house. (Up at camera #4.) Anyway, back when the man from the gas company came up to set my propane tank and run the lines and all. The man was there tinkering around drilling a hole through the block wall, and I just told him to keep his eyes peeled for snakes. He asked me why, you see, we'd killed a copperhead and a rattlesnake in the front yard that summer. That was it for him, he was done, finished for the day.

Wardney was with me, the man left a spool of copper pipe, told us how deep he wanted it buried and took off. Said give me a call when it's ready, and he was gone!

Above where you said get a dog. I'll tell you this real quick. I've posted pictures of my beagle, Tina. The little girl was almost 17, when she kicked the bucket on us. She was a good dog!

I was up on the back side of the mountain one day, I had Tina with me, I took her everywhere. I was driving around the side of the mountain, Tina was over on the passenger side. It was warm out, had the windows down, and there was a bear walking toward us, 50 or 75 yards out. The dog climbed across me, jumped out the window and the chase was on!

Oh, it was funny! A fifty some pound beagle running wide open towards a 150 pound bear. And the bear was still walking toward us! I never did time her through the "50 yard dash", but she was pouring it on! Tina would have been 5 or 6 years old at the time, she was in her prime. Good shape and solid as a rock. The bear jumped up on the high side of the road and took off, the last glimpse I had of the bear and dog, Tina was gaining ground on it.

I drove on up on top, talked to the guy up near the TV towers, he said he'd heard the dog coming, the bear ran across the road with a beagle on it's butt. It was getting hot, and Tina came back to me with her tongue hanging out about that far. Give or take, the chase only lasted 30 minutes or so?

Tina was one special little dog!