Found a unicorn.

First one I've seen in this area.

Cute little fella.

I would put him in the past tense real quick and in a hurry.

Nope, I just hooked and moved him off to the side. JMO but I can think of no reason, well maybe to eat, to kill a snake of any type. Not when they are easily moved out of harms way.

That one would be part of the most northernmost documented population in the state.

I grew up in Nevada on ranches and farms, from little on we were taught that you’re obligated to kill every rattlesnake we found. Reason being we had a lot of kids and dogs running around and the nearest hospital with antivenom was a good two or three hours away if you can get to the highway right away and drive fast

The main snake of our County it seems. See 5:1 on them vs rattlesnakes, and least in my County.

........ok so..... being from the frozen swamplands , I have to ask.
What type of snake is it, and why your posts title?

It's a cottonmouth. Their natural range is mostly further South. They are rarer the farther North you go.

Keith

Would love to have that skin, it’s got wallet for wife written all over it.

They are fairly docile and open their white mouthes (cottonmouth) to ward off danger or tell you to back away. The nonvenomous water snake everyone confuses them with are the curious ones that everyone thinks is out to get them. I’m in SWGA...both are very common down here. Only been struck at twice and once was a cottonmouth I never saw. He struck and hauled tail to cover. It was my stupidity for not expecting one in a ragweed field. One of the reasons I wear snake boots until we have several hard freezes...which isn’t too often.

Thanks Keith!

A range map (and a whole lot more information) on a "cottonmouth". I don't like the projection of the map (should use Albers instead of Geographic for CONUS maps) But I didn't make it. Interesting that the most northern part of their range is in the central U.S.

https://nas.er.usgs.gov/queries/FactSheet.aspx?SpeciesID=1197

That map is incorrect for georgia. This one is more accurate.

It was found at x. I live at o. Interesting geographical note. That line in front of my location is the divide between the Flint/Chattahoochee and Ocmulgee/Altamaha drainages. It's also the route of the old Atlanta/Macon rail line of Seige of Atlanta fame. Basically any water falling in my yard goes to the Atlantic anything falling across the tracks in front of me to the Gulf of Mexico. So theoretically I'll never see a moccasin on my property but the Methodist church across the tracks might. LOL

This one most certainly was. I had already passed by less than a couple feet. I spotted it on the return trip. It waited patiently for me to retrieve my camera and snake stick. Never once offered to coil or bluff strike. Even calmly rode the hook when I moved it off the trail.

Odd, I never would have thought anywhere in GA would be too far north for them. There are plenty in north Arkansas anyway.

I would never kill a non venomous snake, in fact I like to catch them and take them up to people who dont like snakes. Poisonous snakes are another thing, I wouldnt hesitate to put one in the past tense.

If you know the terrain of Georgia that map makes perfect sense. The areas in white are all up hill from the upper coastal plain. While it's pretty flat right out my front door it's definitely downhill towards the Flint or headed towards Macon. North of Atlanta is all uphill heading into the southern Appalachians.
The area to the west is the Coosa/Tallapoosa drainage between the Talladega range and the Cusseta in North Georgia.

Hopefully we don't have them in Virginia in the blue Ridge mountains.

To the best of my knowledge only the extreme southeastern portion of your state.

Moccasins are a snake of slow moving swamps. They don't do fast, cold mountain waters.

Why wouldn't you kill every venomous snake you see? Why not? I don't buy the rodent control bs

Because they simply are not a threat to me or mine. If they were I would do differently.

At any given time I have upwards of a half a million venomous insects on my property yet I allow my younguns and grand younguns free reign. It all about understands what's real and what's perceived.

Arkansas has a bunch. In summer when the temperature drops down. They like to lay on the pavement to warm up. Sounds like a firecracker pop when u run over one. I hate copperheads

Them cottonmouths have a special smell.

I only kill them where it’s “my job” to kill them. I’ll move them out of roadways and leave them be on any other properties I have access to. That’s what snakeboots are for.

I'm in your camp Warrior. Wife and I catch 2-300 snakes annually, weigh, measure, and release. Hobby research. Always coming up with range extensions and interesting tidbits for science. Rattlesnakes, in my opinion, doing more good than harm, so even they get caught, measured, and released. Fascinating critters. My hat off to you on the action with the cottonmouth, sir.

Jack

Water moccasin are in the state of MA . I know I got bite by one when I was small. Here in Iowa we have copperheads. I seen them and had one swim by me when I was walking up a river with my canoe when fishing.