TOPIC: SNAKES?

Anyone ever encounter snakes? Copperheads? Mean insects or animals? Do you have any stories or advice? Id LOVE to hear!

KRose wrote:

Anyone ever encounter snakes? Copperheads? Mean insects or animals? Do you have any stories or advice? Id LOVE to hear!

I have only encountered a couple of snakes in all of the years that I have been digging Ginsng but I have a pair of pants legs that I cut out from my' old pair of Rattler Brand Snake Pants that I pull up over my' hunting pants and secure. It is best to always err on the side of safety! Besides, Snake Gaiters or Chaps not only oprotect you from snake bites, they also protect your' legs from saw briars, blackberry briars and bad scrapes, if you happen to fall on rocks. I always apply a good Insect Repellent Spray or Cream on my' forehead, ears, neck, arms, hands, waist area and all over my' boots to keep mosquitoes, gnats and flies at bay (the gnats and flies in the deep woods will carry you off) as well as to keep the ticks and chiggers off of me. Yes, I have encountered lots of animals in the woods while digging Ginseng and most are more afraid of you than you are of them. However, I have had some encounters with female Black Bears with Cubs and these are the encounters you want to avoid. Black Bears have a keen sense of smell and hearing but poor eyesight, so while in the woods, make a lot of noise to ward off any Bears in your area. I actually whistle, sing, hum and sometimes talk to myself and it has always seemed to work. The times that I have had close encounters with bears is when I was being quite. I walked upon some Cubs above me on the ridge, they quickly climbed a tree and began bawling for mama. I quickly backed away drawing my' razor sharp hatchet from my' belt at the same time until the mama bear came into view and charged at me. At this point, I raised the hatchet in case I needed to strike her with it and held my ground, staring intensely at her. She came down the ridge to within 30 yards of me and stopped, looked at me for a minute while making an agressive huff, she then turned to see where her' cubs were at then walked away. I stayed there until see got to the trees that the two cubs were in and I then slowly backed away from that location. If you encounter a Black Bear, you want to be armed with something and stand your ground. If you run, they will come after you and they have the advantage with your' back turned. Do understand that these encounters are few and far between because the mama bear will usually smell or hear you before a situation like this occurs and she will gather her' cubs and exit the area quickly.


Frank

OH
MY
GOODNESS!!!

I will have to get some kinda lightweight boombox with long battery longevity with some crazy bose-type kickers and I will blast some inner city sound effects like its going out of style!!!

KRose,

I've ran across plenty of copperheads and a few rattlesnakes. I always wear high top hiking boots and carry a long handled light weight ( but strong mattock ) for digging and also I use it to beat the brush ahead of me and can be used as a defensive weapon.
Always be careful around rocky ledges because this is where the rattlers love to lay in ambush for prey.

If you just make enough noise walking and clammering along you will pretty much run everything off ahead of you.

rootman

KRose wrote:

OH
MY
GOODNESS!!!

I will have to get some kinda lightweight boombox with long battery longevity with some crazy bose-type kickers and I will blast some inner city sound effects like its going out of style!!!

You definitely don't want to carry the extra weight of a boombox while trying to navigate rough terrain and you will want to be able to stop, shutup and listen from time to time. If you hear a bear before it is too close, then you can make enough sound or movements to usually ward them off.


Frank

Yellow jackets in the ground and hornets overhead aint no fun! Have seen a few copperheads and who knows how many I haven't seen. Checking trail cams the other day and stepped out on a road and there was momma with 3 cubs:ohmy: After she saw me she took them off in the woods.

Those yellow jackets are sure mean little devils.

rootman

I've been \"hit\" twice now by copper heads and have been fortunate enough to not have a fang sunk in my skin. The first one was on a warm early Nov. morning when the biggest copper head that I've ever saw before or since struck me while walking up a trail. I don't know how it happened but, his fangs hit the fold in my pants leg and 1 fang stuck. I thought it was a brier and kicked my leg only to have a copper head go flying past me. That scared the crap out of me. The second time happened last year in Sept. I was moving fast out of the woods after staying to long on a good patch of sang when I could hear the approaching thunder storm. I felt the \"squish\" under my boot and my life (honest to Pete) went into slow motion. You know it as soon as you step on a snake as it has a totally different feel than a stick. Before I could even look down I felt and heard the audible pop of him hitting my boot. Every fiber in my body wanted to jump, scream, and run but, I stood there while he was working those fangs into my Danner boot until I cut his head off with my machete.

I used to coon hunt a lot and where I coon hunted it was infested with copper heads and rattle snakes. A copper heads eyes glow yellow when they are hit by a flash light. There's no telling how many copper heads that I've stepped over in my travels. I would guess that 99 out of 100 will let pass right on by.

Here's a funny rattle snake story for you...

While coon hunting with a buddy one night I had to relieve myself so we stopped walking and I turned away from my friend and started doing my business. I heard something that sounded like a cell phone vibrating so I asked my friend if he had his phone on him and if it was on vibrate. He said that he had it but, it wasn't on vibrate. I thought to myself \"I hope that I'm not standing on a yellow jackets nest\". When I finished peeing I turned on my flash light and not 3 feet from me was a small rattle snake soaking wet from my pee. I figured if the little guy gave me a free pass even tho I peed on him I would return the favor and let him live. My fried wasn't to happy with me as he's terrified of snakes.

Bears.. I love to tree bears and I've been within feet of a BUNCH of pissed off bears and I've yet to be \"had\" by one. I've ran into bears and had bears run into me while sanging and hunting in the woods and almost (ALMOST) all of them have tucked tail and ran the other way. This past spring I jumped out of my boat in the dark one morning trying to beat a gobbler to his strutting area before he did. I walking along a big creek when I heard a sound that I knew I'd heard before but, just couldn't place it at that moment. I stopped and with my little 2 AA mag light tried to make out the little figures going up the tree when it dawned on me \"oh $hit, that's the sound bear cubs make and those are bear cubs\". All of the sudden the brush came to life and momma bear was blowing and popping her jaws just feet from me. It started me so bad that I dropped my flash light and it bounced off a rock and went into a crevice. I had my gun up but, it wasn't even loaded yet so I started backing and while loading my gun I began talking to her quietly. I said \"sorry big momma, I didn't mean to spook you, and I don't mean them babies no harm\". I will just tell you right now, every time she would blow and charge to 10 or 15 feet of me it scared the crap out of me especially since it was pitch black. When she finally left I had to sit down and gather myself. I was shaking like a leaf and when the Adrenalin wore off I was sapped of all my energy.

But, of all the \"critters\" in the woods the one thing that I fear the most FAR above ALL others is yellow jackets. I hate them........ period.

ive encountered few yellow jacket nests...the best thing to do is to run to a nearest brush or small tree and hit your self like a out of control nunchuk, it works

I wear snake boots and snake chaps. It makes for a hot day and heavy going later when you are tired, but with the difficult terrain we have in WV and the rattlesnakes and copperheads we have, I'd rather be safe than sorry. Could very easily be in a situation like Hunter and I shudder to think of that happening. Last year I got lit up by yellow jackets. I stepped on a nest and ran through another one trying to get away from the first nest. Luckily I only got stung on the back of my upper thigh and the back of my head. Although it is ironic to say luckily when I got stung about 20 times!!!!! I almost got stung by bumblebees as well. Went to dig a 3 prong and realized I had stepped onto their nest. I will say that on the last day of my ginsenging trip, we crossed back into that holler and I was able to sneak back over and dig that 3 prong I left a week earlier!!!!