I've been reading this post, but have not had the opportunity to sit down and get my posts typed up.
Here's a few....
I live in the swamps of Louisiana, and the snakes are bad here. Long as you have dogs, they will kill the snakes and raising guinea fowl keeps the snake population down. Guineas are known to peck a snake to death. Cotton mouth/moccasin have a odor...dogs can sniff them out.
This particular day, I was keeping a eye on a cow that was ready to give birth. Cattle can find the darnest places to hide to have their calves. Most like to go into the briar thickets along the river bank. She had been up & down all morning, I was viewing her through binoculars from the house looking towards the river. After several hours it was time to go check on her, as I hopped on my ATV, I could hear her bawling up a storm, something was wrong. The cattle dog, Ike (excellent snake killer) knows he is not allowed around cattle with newborns, so he kept his distance. As I got closer, the cow was pawing the ground, shaking her head, mooing like a bansee . She was fighting a cottonmouth and trying to protect her baby. I grabbed the longest cypress limb on the ground and took one whack at the snake, I hit him but the stick broke...it was about 10-12 ft long, once it broke it was about 8'. The snake then came after me, I kept backing up and slamming the stick on him. Not much more backing up to do or I would fall in the river. I was petrified, my adrenaline was at top notch. When the snake did not move anymore, I whacked him more to make sure it was good & dead. I then loaded him on the trailer and hauled up to the barn, I wanted to find out just what the guineas would do. I swung the snake and it went spinning in the air, guineas scattered, then they all came back very slowly, stretching the necks staring at this strange thing. It was funny, there were guineas surrounding the snake, his tail moved and guineas jumped straight up. Then they started their pecking. People who own guinea fowl would only understand what I'm saying here.
But, my knees were knocking so bad, that it took about 45 minutes for me to quit shaking from that attack.
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The next snake adventure was blackberry picking...I made sure I beat the ground and the surrounding area to scare off the snakes. Ranger and Ike both will seek, find and kill. This snake was in the tree, dropped out and bounced off my left shoulder, before he hit the ground Ike had him. Whew....another close call.
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Another time riding the ATV in the woods, Ranger grabbed one on the trail. As he shook the snake he let go, it came swinging at me, I had to duck to avoid being hit in the face.
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When I was younger, I was with my brother running trot/trout lines. As JC was checking the lines, I was in the back of the boat. As we were edging towards the bank, JC said "Don't move, when I say duck, you duck" He then yell "Duck" and swung the paddle. Just above my head, hanging on a tree branch was a snake.
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When I was younger, I stepped over a fallen pine tree, I felt the bite...I had stepped on a non-poisonous snake. It was not fun being hauled to the ER for snake bite.
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My MIL cutting grass with a push mower was going in and out of the azalea bush, she felt the sting and brushed it away, thinking wasp...it was a garter snake.
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Ever see a puff adder? or whatever those darn things are called. They coil up, lift their head and start hissing and their neck are swells up like a cobra. I was on the lawn mower, I stopped it, shut the engine off, stood up on the seat, then moved to the top of the mower...it was higher and started screaming bloody murder. Now, this is in the country, no close next door neighbors...but I was heard for a long distance. I was rescued!!!
When I have time later, I will tell of the adventures in FL with a rabid coon attack.
RR
Took one to school in 5th grade and it got loose, boy was that nun mad at me. Bet she still thinks of me still. Can you save me the next one? please please please 
