# Snakes???



## Nats2Bucks (Oct 8, 2013)

Just wondering, I know it's cold now so they're dormant, but how often do you guys see venomous snakes (copperheads and rattlers) in central Ohio? I'm used to seeing them back home, but was curious how often people saw them up here. I haven't, so I wasn't sure if it was luck or low populations.


----------



## M.Magis (Apr 5, 2004)

The odds you'll see one are very, VERY, slim.


----------



## the-fisherman (Sep 20, 2013)

I've never witnessed a poisonous snake in Ohio but seen some rattlers within Wyoming. Ohio is quite safe regarding outdoors activities.


----------



## Misdirection (Jul 16, 2012)

I saw a copperhead once back in the 70's. The road crews had just dug ditches along our road and must have disturbed it. That was in eastern OH about 10 miles from the PA line.

Sent from my DROID RAZR using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## shakey12 (Apr 14, 2012)

I work for the electric company and opened a pad mount transformer. It had 4 Gardner Snakes and an Eastern Massasauga Rattle in it. This was near Delaware this past summer.


Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


----------



## jshbuckeye (Feb 27, 2005)

odds are you will see a bear or hear a bobcat first, second and third


----------



## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

shakey12 said:


> I work for the electric company and opened a pad mount transformer. It had 4 Gardner Snakes and an Eastern Massasauga Rattle in it. This was near Delaware this past summer.
> 
> 
> Posted using Outdoor Hub Campfire


Oh man i would had to of changed my pants after seeing that.. even knowing most if not all the snakes ive ever seen are harmless,they still weaken my knees and make me scream like a girl when i see them....


----------



## shroomhunter (Aug 6, 2004)

Here's a good one I heard while shroom hunting. A guy I know from past years hunting stops by my campsite for a cup of coffee and to shoot the breeze and he asks me if I had seen any balloons while walking through the woods. This kind of took me by surprise as I had just seen one of those birthday balloons tied together with a couple others laying way out in the woods earlier so I said yes. He got a concerned look on his face and warned me to be very careful. He had heard from a friend of a friend that the ODNR had been getting Timber Rattlers from the WVDNR. They would then fly over the area and tie balloons to them and drop them from the plane. A red balloon meant female and blue was male rattler and both together was really bad as they were already a mating pair. I asked him why in the world they would go to such expense and he replied that it was in an effort to reduce the Wild Turkey and Coyote population in Southern Ohio. I then told him my balloons had a happy birthday balloon with them and wondered if he knew what that meant, he just shook his head and said it was to disguise what they were doing. I just chuckled to myself and went along with it as I could tell he was convinced they were doing this.
So back to the original question: I have not personally seen a rattlesnake or cottonmouth in all my years in the woods, I have seen black snakes and garter snakes but that's about it.
Watch out for those balloons


----------



## Big Joshy (Apr 26, 2004)

Central ohio not so much. get down in the hills from ross county south and they are much more common. All the loggers down here wear snake bite proof boots I am told. And we do have a decent number of bears too. I know I never would have beleived it either.


----------



## allbraid (Jan 14, 2012)

Very few if any rattlers or copperheads in this state, not to say they dont exsist but they are very rare. Did walk upon a garter snake winter den years ago as the snakes were coming togeather in late september. Was walking in the woods and saw a snake and as I started looking around I had snakes 360 degrees around me, I stopped counting at around 80 and moved out of the area. There was a rocky outcropping on a south facing slope and I assume that is where they were denning for the winter. If you are afraid of snakes you would have lost your mind that day


----------



## Cajunsaugeye (Apr 9, 2013)

Killed 34 copperheads(lots of young) in one afternoon,a couple yrs ago,Vinton county.Hadn't been to stepbrothers cabin in a while.Set a big bon fire which had been sitting for quite a few months and they started POURING out of that pile.Weedwhackers(we were cutting the grass) took care of them.We always see a couple down there though.Rattlers,have never seen one in all yrs hunting,fishing there and other places.Copperheads are way more common around here than people think.I know of at least 5 I've seen on different golf courses(central ohio).

Sent from my VS870 4G using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Zorro (Jul 22, 2013)

Earlier this summer there were reports of a Rattlesnake near the apple barn on Chestnut Ridge mountain bike course. Reports were that it tried to strike a few riders' tires. I'm glad I never saw it.


----------



## buttugly (May 20, 2011)

Just so you guys are aware. The two rattler species we have are protected. Getting caught killing one will get you in a pickle. There are a couple of non venomous water snakes that are on the list also. I'm not a tree huger mind you, I wouldn't hesitate to harvest a couple of good sized copperheads for bow backing. I just wouldn't kill one unless i needed one.

mark


----------



## britton1989 (Feb 14, 2010)

Ive seen two rattle snakes.. One just off bank in some brush at lake rupert in south eastern ohio.... The other under a small wooden bridge in jackson county by my land where flooded timber stuck in rafters and he was curled up in there... I heard the rattle looked up and all i seen was the rattle and his head next to it looking my way.... Both times i got to about 3 feet from them then heard rattle


----------



## Saugeyefisher (Jul 19, 2010)

buttugly said:


> Just so you guys are aware. The two rattler species we have are protected. Getting caught killing one will get you in a pickle. There are a couple of non venomous water snakes that are on the list also. I'm not a tree huger mind you, I wouldn't hesitate to harvest a couple of good sized copperheads for bow backing. I just wouldn't kill one unless i needed one.
> 
> mark


No snake killing here,to scared to


----------



## snuff (Apr 19, 2007)

Come on bobby. we all thought u were a real man. I was seining last year and when I lifted the seine there was a snake in it with a minnow in its mouth. Lowered the seine and the snake swam away. Minnow still in its mouth. Must have really been hungry.

Snuff


----------



## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Had a watersnake swim right at me while wading this summer. I flicked him with my pole and he changed direction. My inlaws had a few copperheads removed from the tree in their front lawn recently down in Marietta a couple of years ago. The wildlife official said they probably came out of a nearby nature preserve where the city was redoing the walking path. My grandpa farmed a plot in back of his house in Mansfield and killed a few copperheads a year. They're here; figure out a way to disturb their den and you might see one (or more)...

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Oddly enough, I found a false rattler snake in my neighborhood a few years ago while on a walk at dusk. Right on the sidewalk. It was pretty small...maybe 18" long but it had very cool colorations and patterns on it, and it immediately coiled up and started rattling it's tail. But it didn't have any rattles....can't remember exactly what it was called (I looked it up) but indeed it was a snake that just acts like a rattler and wasn't actually poisonous. Very neat find though.

Otherwise, I've only seen garters and a ton of non venomous water snakes while fishing at just about every central ohio lake I've been on.


----------



## OnTheFly (Jul 30, 2010)

False rattler was probably a hognose snake. Found a couple of them in my day.


----------



## bman (Apr 20, 2009)

Actually, I googled ohio false rattlers....it was an eastern milk snake. I remember settling on this the night I saw it when I researched it then. Just a very cool looking snake. First time I've ever seen one in fact.

I've seen two rattlesnakes in my life...both in Illinois. One below the Lake Bloomington dam and one along the Kankakee River. They were both small, and I think they were also both timber rattlers but I'm not positive. That was 20 years ago!


----------



## Fishman43078 (Apr 16, 2013)

I grew up running around Tar Hollow State Forrest. My dad did a lot of horse back riding before us kids came along. I know we ran over one rattle snake leaving TH one night. Walked past a huge rattle snake sunning himself while fishing down off of 327. Only 2 I have seen. Copper heads though are thick or use to be. My dad and uncle at one time lived on edge of tar hollow and had a small stream between property off of Sugar Run. I would say 2 or 3 a summer would either be seen or killed. I hate snakes. I can't say for sure, but I think I killed 3-5 one afternoon when I was around 10. A friend and I were moving huge flat rocks to build a dam across a narrow section of Walnut Creek and we kept finding them under rocks. I never told my dad because I didn't want them to not let me go fishing again. Could have been water snakes, I am pretty sure they were copper heads.

Sent from my SCH-I545 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

I used to own a ball python and a columbia red-tail boa. I'd let the python hang around my neck while reading, watching tv, etc. I tell you what, that python could deliver a great neck massage...

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Mr. A (Apr 23, 2012)

Deazl666 said:


> Had a watersnake swim right at me while wading this summer. I flicked him with my pole and he changed direction. My inlaws had a few copperheads removed from the tree in their front lawn recently down in Marietta a couple of years ago. The wildlife official said they probably came out of a nearby nature preserve where the city was redoing the walking path. My grandpa farmed a plot in back of his house in Mansfield and killed a few copperheads a year. They're here; figure out a way to disturb their den and you might see one (or more)...
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I510 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


If you don't already know, the easiest way to find a copperhead den is by smell. Walk around the woods till you smell cucumbers (for no obvious reason) and you're near a den.....

Mr. A


----------



## Putty (Jul 22, 2013)

Damn I hate snakes of all kinds. I have been fishing and seen them in trees somewhat near me and I just leave. I cannot concentrate at all knowing one is near me.


----------



## Deazl666 (Mar 30, 2012)

Putty said:


> Damn I hate snakes of all kinds. I have been fishing and seen them in trees somewhat near me and I just leave. I cannot concentrate at all knowing one is near me.


I'm like that with bats - got hit in the face by one night fishing for pike in northern michigan.

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## Perch N' Crappie (Nov 12, 2013)

Deazl666 said:


> I'm like that with bats - got hit in the face by one night fishing for pike in northern michigan.
> 
> Sent from my SCH-I510 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


I grew up in the upper peninsula. Never got hit in the face, but i picked up one in my front yard when i was a kid thinking it was a mouse. I can still vividly recall as i picked it up its wings unfolding. It was terrifying. Needless to say my dad was very unhappy with me and proceeded to obliterate that bat no less than 15 times with a shovel After that i remember him badgering me about whether it bit me or not and making me wash my hands a hundred times. Still can't stand those things even today.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


----------



## gerb (Apr 13, 2010)

this isnt in ohio, but i thought this was really cool to see. it was a battle between a large black racer and a pigme rattler...btw, the rattler won. choked the black racer out even though it was like 4x its size.


----------



## Redhunter1012 (Feb 6, 2006)

Perch N' Crappie said:


> I grew up in the upper peninsula. Never got hit in the face, but i picked up one in my front yard when i was a kid thinking it was a mouse. I can still vividly recall as i picked it up its wings unfolding. It was terrifying. Needless to say my dad was very unhappy with me and proceeded to obliterate that bat no less than 15 times with a shovel After that i remember him badgering me about whether it bit me or not and making me wash my hands a hundred times. Still can't stand those things even today.
> 
> Sent from my SPH-D710 using Ohub Campfire mobile app


Uggh, I was with a buddy troutfishing the black river at around dark one evening after shroom hunting. We were wading. We started back for camp, and I kid you not, the bugs started hatching on the water and theere must have been a million bats just bombarding them. I was running on top of that water, upstream. I literally got hit by bats hundreds of times in that terrifying 5 minutes


----------

