Snakes

[flyingfrog509]

If you can't ID the snakes in the area simply go to the book store and buy a snake book with color pictures. My children have one in the old back pack. For the most part if you watch where your walking and walk a little heavy you'll be fine unless there are tons of them. Also keep an eye just off the trail, a lot of people only look on the trail and walk inches away from snakes. Either way it isn't anything to be paradoid about for sure.

We use to eat rattlers in TX all the time. The ones we caught were near the creek and tasted like a cross between chicken and frog. (guessing they ate lots of frogs)

 

[USMC6542]

Hey bro, forget about the snakes and just take some sandwiches.

 

[protective measures]

I am headed up to Cohutta camping this weekend. In the event I run across a snake worth the trouble, is it legal to kill, skin, and eat it? There doesn't seem to be a "snake season" necessarily but are any of them protected or anything?

Myself & a few of the other NW Ga. members on here LIVED (figuratively speaking) in these mtns., hiking these trails from the early to mid 80's till current.

As it gets warmer, watch out for copperheads heading down to water sources in early evening.

A few years ago while getting camp setup on Beech Bottom Trail, I had to dispatch 2 good sized copperheads with a stick (lots of people around so firing off snakeshot wasn't a good option at the time as it was crowded) in the dark while my hiking buddy did the girlie dance over by the fire.

Some scouts were on the trail behind us so I left the headless bodies on the trail to teach them some awareness skills (that should be a merit badge).
They stepped right over them w/o missing a step!

Anyway, watch out for them particularly, they can be fairly aggressive & they are plentiful. ( The snakes... not the scouts.)

 

[2jackrussell]

As a much younger man, I taught wilderness survival (70's and 80's). If you need (or want) to 'live off the land' for an extended period you will have better success harvesting the abundant crayfish, salamanders, frogs, or grubs in the North Ga mountains. The streams in Cohutta have have some of the largest salamanders (spring lizards) anywhere, some approaching a foot in length. Have a great weekend and watch out for those nasty little copperheads.

 

[jloneill17]

Eat the snake? What are you............ crocadile dundee?

 

[mm30004]

Rattle snakes in Tennessee are a protected species !

 

[Vman]

I'm by far no snake expert but I'm a big fan of letting nature do it's job. I hate bugs so I try not to bother the bats and spiders, lizards, frogs etc unless they are poisonous spiders too close to the home and I feel the same about snakes. They all give me at least a little pause but I know plenty are beneficial to keeping the rodent and even poisonous snake population in check and I'm all for that! All that to say the the first thing I look at is the head, in my abbreviated study of snakes (to make sure I leave the good ones alone) if the head is more diamond shaped it's pretty guaranteed it's poisonous. If it's oval it's usually (NOT always) ok-corral snake being an example, but I don't think those are around here. But if you come across one the old saying is "Red and yellow, deadly fellow, red and black, ok jack -for the King snake! My FYI of the day!

 

[Rocket Man]

I have a healthy respect for snakes. We have had several Blacksnakes and Kingsnakes come into the yard, and let them pass. If I'm in the water, and see Mr. snake coming, then all bets are off.

 

[ptelite]

I've also heard that the poisonous snakes around Georgia can also be identified by having a head that is wider than the body (perhaps because of the diamond shape???) Any truth to that? Seems like I have seen some NP snakes like this as well but I have heard that from a lot of people.

 

[Bear44]

Poisonous snakes are not hard to identify if you do a little research. Why should snake identification be any less important than any other identification skill an outdoorsman develops?