Hostage situation

I had to abandon a machete once that I stuck in an underground nest. It was about 2 1/2 miles in over steep ground. I bet it is still sharp.

I don't like cottonmouths or bees........ or briars, vines & privet.

A couple of weeks ago, I had to set a pin that fell directly in the center of a ground hornet nest. I discovered the nest after kicking around the leaf litter, while nailing down the exact point to drive the pin. I started feeling the stings before I saw the little @#$$######*%s. It was right on a creek bank and I didn't want to pour a gallon of diesel on them and have it go into the creek so I drove the pin three whacks at a time over the next hour. They would settle down just enough for me to sneak up on them, whack-whack-whack and run like hell, wait, and repeat. The only stings were the ones that happened before I knew about them.

Who cares about the bees! Where the Hell is that snake and what kind is he? Creepers jeepers, Jp

Jp7191, post: 446305, member: 1617 wrote: Who cares about the bees! Where the Hell is that snake and what kind is he? Creepers jeepers, Jp

That snake is your typical venomous cottonmouth, a sometimes agrressive snake has been known to chase a surveyor if he is disturbed while sunning on a manhole rim.

I had one strike the toe of my boot once & had to clean my britches afterwards. I hate them and the best way to deal with them it do do as Andy Bruner advises and cut off their tail right behind their head.

I still have the occasional nightmare of the time as a little kid in Alabama we built a raft out of big chunks of Styrofoam and plywood and launched down a good size creek for a Huck-Finn adventure. Made it about 100 yards when the swift current swept us into brush overhanging the bank, with one big fat cottonmouth hanging from that brush right at face level with his mouth wide open and fangs bared. With only few feet to spare I bailed and I set a new world record for the 20 yard freestyle. Never tried that again for some reason.

Jp7191, post: 446305, member: 1617 wrote: Who cares about the bees! Where the Hell is that snake and what kind is he? Creepers jeepers, Jp

Actually 2 cottonmouths in the picture typical day in the Louisiana Swamp. Its bad when they start falling out of the button wood trees.

cordgrass, post: 446330, member: 11027 wrote: Actually 2 cottonmouths in the picture typical day in the Louisiana Swamp. Its bad when they start falling out of the button wood trees.

Man, that would freak me out surveying in that country. When my dad was a young man, he spent a little time in Louisiana surveying in the swamps with Michael Baker. I believe he said they carried .22s loaded with shot to dispatch cottonmouths. Do you carry, or was that just us Yankees taking things a bit too far?

FrozenNorth, post: 446332, member: 10219 wrote: Man, that would freak me out surveying in that country. When my dad was a young man, he spent a little time in Louisiana surveying in the swamps with Michael Baker. I believe he said they carried .22s loaded with shot to dispatch cottonmouths. Do you carry, or was that just us Yankees taking things a bit too far?

I don't shot them, I been dealing with these creatures as long as i can remember. My mom got bit in the yard one day just walking out side it was sitting on the steps. Another day my cousin/neighbor was about 5 years old brought home a bucket full of young cottonmouths picking them out the ditch with a stick.

cordgrass, post: 446333, member: 11027 wrote: I don't shot them, I been dealing with these creatures as long as i can remember. My mom got bit in the yard one day just walking out side it was sitting on the steps. Another day my cousin/neighbor was about 5 years old brought home a bucket full of young cottonmouths picking them out the ditch with a stick.

Good on you man. Use to catch buckets of banded water snakes when I was a kid, and a few cottonmouths by accident. Snuck a couple of 4' banded water snakes (looks a lot like a cottonmouth) into my room and put them in 20 gallon aquarium with a piece of plywood over the top. Later that night they pushed that board off and escaped and ended up climbing into my parents bed. I can stilI recall the screams of my parents at 3 a.m.. Of course I denied knowing anything for fear of being skinned alive.

cordgrass, post: 446330, member: 11027 wrote: Actually 2 cottonmouths in the picture typical day in the Louisiana Swamp. Its bad when they start falling out of the button wood trees.

I still remember a trip to Mo. when I was maybe 5 yr. old to canoe with my cousins on the Little Piney River. Being 5 and from a semi-arid state, I thought the Ozarks where some kind of rain forest and the Little Piney River was surely almost as big as the Mississippi. Anyway, those snakes starting falling out of the trees into the water. I could've sworn they were jumping on purpose. My cousins sensing my disturbance, thought it would be a hoot to flip the canoe so we could all swim with the snakes. YEAH, real funny, HA HA.

cordgrass, post: 446330, member: 11027 wrote: Actually 2 cottonmouths in the picture typical day in the Louisiana Swamp. Its bad when they start falling out of the button wood trees.

I agree. I can handle the ones on the ground. Its the ones that lay there on the tree limbs and fall out that give me the creeps. Of course I see that you are from Thiboduax. Now if you were from Houma you would probably just skin them and fry them up for lunch!!

Toby Ford, post: 446349, member: 6936 wrote: Now if you were from Houma you would probably just skin them and fry them up for lunch!!

That comment definitely reminds me of a couple of folks around here... mostly from "down da bayou"

I think I'll stay where they still rattle! Most of the time. Jp

Jp7191, post: 446454, member: 1617 wrote: I think I'll stay where they still rattle! Most of the time. Jp

I never get tired of reading or watching Lonesome Dove!

I'll never understand how you people can live down there. Heat, insects, snakes, heat. For me, summers in the northeast are way too long as it is.

While eastern Oregon has its share of rattlers, it is the non-venomous bull snakes that make me jump. I think their lack of a rattle makes them outright mean. They have no qualms about coming after you just to bight you out of spite where the rattlers seem to want nothing to do with surveyors.

JPH, post: 446639, member: 6636 wrote: I'll never understand how you people can live down there. Heat, insects, snakes, heat. For me, summers in the northeast are way too long as it is.

You can get used to the heat, and the snakes aren't really a problem as long as you pay attention to what you're doing. I don't like banana spiders, I try not to cross paths with them, and deer flies, gnats, and love bugs are all pretty annoying. The upside is that for the most part there aren't any ticks in southeast Louisiana.

The trade offs are that we have extremely mild winters, gorgeous days in spring and fall, and the best food and music cultures in the country, IMHO.

Lee D, post: 446917, member: 7971 wrote: You can get used to the heat, and the snakes aren't really a problem as long as you pay attention to what you're doing. I don't like banana spiders, I try not to cross paths with them, and deer flies, gnats, and love bugs are all pretty annoying. The upside is that for the most part there aren't any ticks in southeast Louisiana.

The trade offs are that we have extremely mild winters, gorgeous days in spring and fall, and the best food and music cultures in the country, IMHO.

I'm glad for you. Me, I'll take the snow, 10 degree days, no bugs for eight months or so. Anything above 60 makes me angry.