snake poles

[Blacktail]

i told my wife and son we could go out and look for some snakes...i have a mop handle...and i am trying to figure out how to put on a rope for getting the snake...so do any of you have pics of any poles that you might use for getting them around the head..thanks john

[NTD]

BlackTail, I really like ya man so I'm not going to go off on ya, but I'm also not going to help you either  

If you want snake skins I will have plenty of them this spring, summer, and fall.

Unless of course you'll be eating them...I might reconsider and offer help

[Justin Snyder]

BlackTail, I really like ya man so I'm not going to go off on ya, but I'm also not going to help you either  

If you want snake skins I will have plenty of them this spring, summer, and fall.

Unless of course you'll be eating them...I might reconsider and offer help

I eat them. 

[FlintWalker]

If you're planning on killing them anyway...skip the catching part and just use that mop handle and whack them in the head!   If it's venomous, remove the head and dispose of it right away.  A headless snake can't bite you.
 I either eat of give the meat to my sister who eats... every rattler I kill.  The copperheads I just can't stand the thought of.  They stink to bad.

[recurve shooter]

my favorite snake pole comes in a variety of sizes, 16 being my personal favorite. 

[Keenan]

 John don't do the mop handle beating meathod ,,,,,them things are fast and sometimes aggressive.  For a good snake pole take a piece of 1/2 PVC pipe about 6 feet long then run a cable down through it then on one end form a loop by inserting the cable back in the tube and back out the other end. then just make a handle attached to the two raw ends of the cable, leaving a loop about 1 foot diam then slip[ over the snakes head and pull from other end. when it pulls into the tube it will hold secure and can actually pop the head off when pulled good and tight. You will not even have to touch the snake while alive.  Just be cautious with the head and always bury them.

[Blacktail]

Nathan.i really don't know what to say ...i want to either give you a big huge OR run like the wind  ...it mainly to save money of course and to show my son some things...and i don't eat them...the last one i seen had a BIG lump in its stomach and i just didn't think that was right...maybe for him but not for me..hey Keenan thanks for the info..that is a great idea...i will seen what i can do..john

[mullet]

  Holy crap, guys. Just step on the head and pick them up. Those little snakes you have aren't that long.

[NTD]

John, I just have a soft spot for snakes and don't like people killing them just for their skins.  They are targeted so often and killed on site out of fear and ignorance that I just don't think it's a good thing to be targeting them for their skins as well.

I kill coyotes for their skins but in my weird way I can justify that...Snakes don't reproduce as quickly nor at the level of coyotes...I know that my hunting them doesn't affect their local numbers.

I do have exceptions, feral snakes...folks in the everglades killing the exotics..GOOD ON THOSE FOLKS!!!  Killing them if your gonna eat them, or someone else is going to consume the meat, good on them too!

I'm not really trying to judge you either man...I just like my snakes! 

Oh and if your looking for skins because you're saving money, I can be cheap brother, especially if it's to save a life    All my rattlers are roadkilled but they are in really good shape for roadkill.

[Keenan]

 Nathan, I can respect your position and I do like eating them however around here there seem to be plenty in certain areas.  I know some people that have a den not far from there house and have had trouble with the dogs and horses getting bit so I've just been keeping the Numbers down to a manageable amount. Works good for me and helps them out.
 There are some areas around here where they are thick.

Eddie; I agree about catching them and grew up doing that but a couple yeas ago I bent down to grab one that I had pinned down and noticed the other one on the rock ledge just a foot from my head   Thankfully it was a juvenile andnot real aggressive.

[stickbender]

     Blacktail, come on down, and let Eddie take you to some big Palmetto patches, and look for gopher tortoise holes, and get ya a big one!   Just get your self an Osage stick, and whack em!  But not just once......   We used to get a lot of copper heads, and cotton mouths, rattle snakes, and an occasional coral snake, with a stick. when I was a kid.  But a decent sized stick.

                                                                         Wayne

[El Destructo]

When I moved here in 1982...you could go out in the Desert and walk around on a nice day....and snag a couple dozen rattlers...now you can go a whole Summer without seeing one roadkilled Snake...these Roundup here have about wiped out the Western Diamondback...and it's even getting rare to see a Prairie Rattler anymore too....thats a shame...because they do serve a purpose other than skinnig a Bow....last year I found three roadkills...two Summers ago I killed one myself...but only because I stepped in the Middle of her....and had no where to go to get away...and the sad fact of the matter was....she was full of young too..I about crapped myself when I felt what I stepped on...and then heard He buzz....

[DanaM]

Not many snakes here in the UP, only one big enuf to back a bow with is the western fox snake or pine snakes and they have become rarer than
blond haired frog, I won't kill a snake just for its skin. I will recycle one if I find one on the road. I will be posting a bow backed with a pine snake they are
quite nice lookin.

[Hillbilly]

John, I used to make ones just like keenan described with the PVC and aircraft cable, work great. I don't care much for killing snakes either, unless it's for a good reason.

[Josh]

I don't like killing snakes either.  I have been known to drive the back roads in the spring and fall and collect them out of the road though...    I have had a bunch of pet snakes most of my life, mostly king snakes, corn snakes, a few pythons... I don't condone killing them for their skins but if one dies, I think it is a good thing to use its skin for something so it kinda "lives on"  if that makes any sense.