While hunting in warm weather, watch for snakes

The warm Oklahoma sun has critters of all varieties venturing out of their warm and comfortable winter dwellings. With turkey season well underway and hunters taking to the woods well before daylight, it’s easy to become laser focused on a gobbling tom and oblivious to their surroundings, which could be a big mistake when snakes are coming out of their dens and moving about.

In early April, copperheads emerge from hibernation but will remain close to their dens for a number of weeks before mating according to the ODWC. Copperheads will commonly sun or hide in masses of dead leaves where their coloration makes them nearly invisible. When daytime temperatures reach or exceed 90 degrees, they move to fields or creek bottoms.

A few years ago, a friend and I were turkey hunting down by Oktaha along Dirty Creek. We had put three or four toms to bed the night before and couldn’t wait to hit the woods the next morning. Daylight found us hunkered down in a thicket along the edge of a field and that’s when things got interesting. As the sun came up, we managed to call a trio of jakes that were coming in hot and heavy just the way they were supposed to do. All of the sudden my buddy looked like he’d seen a ghost and at his feet laid a full grown copperhead. What happened next is still a baffling mystery to me and I’m certain we looked like something out of the Barnum and Bailey Circus. On the bright side of things, we managed to escape the jaws of the pit viper but it ended our turkey hunt for the day.

Last year, an 8-year-old relative of mine living in Arkansas was digging through some lumber next to their barn when he was bitten on the hand. Fortunately, after several rounds of anti-venom he made a complete recovery. On another occasion, a friend of mine and his dad were working on a church down by Porum and he was sorting through lumber stacked behind the church and was bitten on the index finger. After receiving the anti-venom and a long recovery, he still doesn’t have any feeling in the finger.

Hikers, campers, and those who live in areas where snakes are found should be more cautious in such areas especially during the spring when snakes are lethargic and less likely to flee from intruders.

One day, a friend and I had the opportunity to crappie fish at a private lake near the town Verdigris. It was a cold dreary day in mid-February and the owner had constructed a small shop in apparently the wrong spot. They had taken out no less than 40 copperheads in that same general vicinity. To top things off while talking, we encountered a copperhead stretched out atop a concrete retaining wall. Needless to say neither my buddy nor I ever revisited that place again.

One of the strangest things I’ve ever witnessed occurred when a co-worker opened a pop vending machine only to find a two foot long copperhead was laying atop the compressor to stay warm. It must have been an old time security system.

Copperhead bites are the most common followed by rattlesnake bites and a large number of bites were unknown. Rattlesnakes can be in community dens, usually a cave or recess, by the hundreds during the winter months. A rattlesnake’s habitat range is varied and they typically take up residence wherever small mammals such as prairie dogs, rabbits, gophers, moles, mice, and rats are found.

According to the Noble Foundation of Oklahoma, of the 46 species of snakes found in our state only seven are venomous. Those who know me will testify that I am snake phobic (Ophidiophobia) to the nth degree and doubt my views will ever change.

Steve Evans, former park naturalist at Greenleaf State Park, put it well. “Snakes are our friends and they help control the mice and rat population. If you leave them alone, they won’t bother you most of the time,” said Evans.

Reach Kilgore at jkilgoreoutdoors@yahoo.com .