.An evening get together on the patio, combining good friends and good food. A young child and her father playing in the back yard, as the sun is beginning to touch the treetops.
"Whoa... what is that?" A visitor clears the weeds near the big tree and heads towards the house. A snake.... a very large snake. A very large and fearless snake.
As the child is brought back to the patio, and everyone clears the yard, I asked Princess to fetch my .45. While waiting, I block the snakes path to the house with a stick... only to watch it rear back in a strike pose and violently shake it's tail.
Uh oh......
While it looked like nothing more dangerous that a very large Black Rat snake, it's posture and total lack of fear made it too dangerous to leave near the house.
With perfect handling skills, Princess brought me my carry pistol; A Glock 30 with a Lasermax guide rod laser installed. Finger clear of the trigger, and muzzle discipline intact, she handed me the pistol from the deck.
Mindful of the slight offset between the bore and the laser, I placed the pulsating red dot on the snakes lower jaw and squeezed off one round. The now 'mindless' snake collapsed in a quivering heap.
A harmless snake? Most likely. Then again, with such a large snake who shows no fear at all, the possibility of getting bit still exists. Not poisonous, but still painful, scary, and rife with infection, such bites are not to be sneered at.
The Lasermax made precision sighting easy, and left no need for followup shots.
Lasermax (1), big scary snake (0).
7 comments:
Rattlesnakes aren't the only snakes to shake their tails. Copperheads and Cottonmouths do too. I know from personal experience.
Is the grill at the top indicative of snake's final fate?
Antibubba
That is a great story, victory for the side of good, and convincing proof that LaserMax is worth exploring as an improvement. Thanks!
There went a great opportunity to expand the postings on the effectiveness of rat shot.
Yup Andy, I thought of that. The thing is, my 'snake shot' rounds are packed away (well... WERE packed away).
As I held that stick in front of Mr. Act-Like-A-Ratlesnake, I cataloged the weapons at my easy disposal.
AR180b? Too noisy, vast overkill, and too much chance of bouncing bullets around.
12 Gauge house gun? Ditto above.
.45 Glock with laser sight? Not too loud, and very, very accurate. Good angle to the dirt for the big slow bullet.
And a chance to play with my new laser. Yup... .45 it was.
A day or two later I considered the swords hanging in the living room. Okay, that would have been pretty cool too.
Very large black snakes in N. America are likely Indigo snakes. A highly desirable and protected species of constrictor. The behavior you describe is atypical of Indigo snakes. they usually are quite shy and retreat rapidly, they are afabulously beautiful shade of blue black in color.
You should work to preserve any nonpoisonous snake in your neighborhood.
Willorith, no snake is protected in my back yard. I am NOT going to take the time to discern the differences between a black snake and a Water Moccasin.
Ditto for Hog snakes and Copperheads.
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