A long time ago, 1960, a friend and I went swimming in a farm tank on the land where he and his parents lived. We were in the tank for probably an hour. There were a few snakes on the other side of the tank. Occasionally one would swim near us and we'd splash water toward it and it would leave. A few days later, I saw the friend again. He had told his dad about the snakes after he got back to the house that evening. They went to the tank the next day and kill 17 cottonmouths. This was in central Texas. The only other encounter with a poisonous snake was a small copperhead. As I went toward my truck to leave for work one morning, I saw the snake on the ground just in front of the truck. It was a cool morning and the snake wasn't moving. I took out my pocket knife and cut its head off. I don't think I've been near any other poisonous snakes, but have had encounters with a lot of non-poisonous ones. My mother-in-law came to our house one night about 10 p.m., badly frightened, in her night clothes. She said a snake was in her bedroom. She went to bed about 9 p.m.; but got up to get a drink in the kitchen. When she got about half way across the bedroom, she stepped on the snake. I went to her house, looked in the bedroom; but finally found the snake in the living-room. I got a cleaver from the kitchen cabinet. The snake was between a chair and wall. I got into the chair on my knees, bent over, and tried to chop the snake. I reached too far and bumped the wall with the cleaver. It bounced back from the wall and missed the snake. It 'reared up' like a cobra does and threatened to bite me! Just as it started to lay back down, I hit it just behind the head and pushed it the rest of the way to the floor with enough force to cut its head off. No, it wasn't poisonous.
