that have cottonmouths in them. Or do you even go into the water to trap.

Not at all if you grew up knowing to keep an eye peeled for them. You learn to never stick a body part anywhere that hasn't been visually examined. Moccasins are by nature not at all aggressive they just don't give a dam and will hold tight expecting you to go around.

Gators on the other hand can give a guy the willies.

I did it for thirty years, and never got bit. I recall one large dam in a new site that I started walking on. I noticed movement, and there was a cottonmouth. I shot it, and then there was movement everywhere. That first day I shot 17 and the second day I shot 11 of them on that dam. The last time I worked that site many years later, I didn't see a single one.
They just added another challenge factor to trapping amongst them. After a while I developed a snake sense and a keen vision for them. Although a green military sandbag laying in the weeds would alert me too, because the weave was similar to the skin of a cottonmouth. I used my tater rake to pick up everything. i didn't reach for anything with my hands. I didn't fear them, I was just careful.

When I went south I was told to never stick my hands anywhere Un till I first checked things out. I trapped In the south for 15 years during the months of Jan and Feb and I might have seen 2 or 3 cotton mouths. It was still a bit cold for them to be out.

Dangerous? Nah!

Potentially dangerous? Yep!

And there was the time when I was in a ditch nor more than four feet wide. A log had fallen into the ditch creating a perfect choke point for a snare. As I was working on getting the snare set up, the hair on the back of my neck bristled. I turned and not five feet behind me was a big old cottonmouth with it's head raised up and it's mouth wide open. A whack with the tater rake took care of it. About dirtied my drawers with that episode.

And there was the time when I was raking out a beaver dam. I happened to look down, and there was a big old cottonmouth crawling over the toe of my boot. That was another episode where my drawers were in jeopardy of being soiled.

I’ve backpacked thru the highest grizzly density areas carrying loads of stinky marten bait,,,,,and had some encounters


These snake stories freak the crap out of me

I have been wading in a stock pond giging frogs in April and May and have had them swim out after me and they were not wanting to play. They are not easy to gig when they coming at you. Wish I I had a video of it afterwords but it was not funny at the time.

ya'll going to cause poor ol mad dog Gary to wet the bed tonight, lol.

I start telling cottonmouth story's we'll be here all night!

I've had so many encounters that there is not enough bandwidth on Tman to post them all. Would lock up the internet.

You Southern boys can keep those nasty things down there. We don't want them up here!

Anyone been bitten?

When you clean out a pipe, you have to be careful your not pulling out a moccasin, same for dams, I have had them to come out of the dam while clearing a hole, always and I mean always look before you step or grab anything.not so bad in dead of winter, but this time of the year, they will come out to warm on sunny warm days.

I’ll take poison ivy over snakes any day!

Well, we have that, too. The most dangerous thing is the ice. The 1/8 to1/4 inches of ice is not quite enough to support you vechile and barely enough to support yourself. Many times I have broken through and ended up in ankle deep ice water.

Haven't seen many while trapping animals. Down here a lot of people mistake the common water snake for a cottonmouth. But while crawfishing I have seen dozens. Even grabbed a baby that was coiled around the string on my trap. Thank goodness it was still cold out or that would have been a bad day. During the end of crawfish season when the water is low your boat gets stuck a lot so your in foot high lillies up to your waist more than your in the boat. Never had an issue and I'm not like most I don't shoot them I think it's bad luck. I've asked a few fisherman over the years if getting bit is a life flight deal they said you ride back to the landing put the boat on the trailer and drive to the hospital that's an hour away. Around here the worste I've heard of is someone losing a finger.

If there ain't snakes there ain't frogs. lol.

If you think about it, most of our outdoor activities have the potential for danger.
We are usually alone. Could have a major medical emergency or injury. If it's not snakes or hornets it could be bears, falling through ice or frostbite. I've never been lost but there have been a couple times when somebody moved a river or railroad tracks and didn't tell me.
We all may have to deal with animal rights activists.

There ain't nothing like looking eye to eye with a cottonmouth on a high creek bank. You definitely pick your battles with those suckers.
Run in to this big boy last March make some beaver sets.

A friend I sometimes trap beaver with was bit twice by cottonmouths, both bites within a 2 week time frame.