Volshooter, I must admit that most of my 22 snakeshootin is at ranges from say three feet to maybe twenty feet, but my old pappy taught me to watch for em a little better than to get as close as you do, hahaha.
Now I have found myself astride of a snake or two, but it didn't take long to get outta that situation.....only problem is to be sure ya don't land on another one when ya jump.
When the snake shootin is goin on around here, you look real good before ya step.
I was runnin my limblines a few springs back, and came on this fella that was bank fishing where the pit vipers roam. I just told him out of my concern for his safety, as I drifted past where he was fishing, that he really needed to look before he stepped, and assured him that I was not just pullin his leg.
I pulled a catfish off a hook and heard some commotion from back where the fella was fishin, and he'd picked up a good sized stick and was frailin away on a copperhead. He picked the limp snake up on the stick and showed it to me before he tossed it in the lake....I just chuckled. By the time that I got to my next line he was frailing another one, and when I looked back to check on him again, he had his gear in hand and was high stepping it back to where he'd left his pickup.....I had to laugh, and ain't seen him back there fishing since.
It's amazing how folks can be around those bad boys and never see em....and I guess that God does surely look after those fools.
My brother-in-law fished around there off the bank for several years for spring crappie and cats. I finally asked him about seeing those bad snakes, and he tells me he never sees any. I can't believe it, and tell him that he needs to start paying attention, well he starts seeing them after that, in fact he starts to notice them so much that he quit bank fishing there.........sorry I ruined it for him....hahahahaha.
