Posted on 07/29/2005 6:19:30 AM PDT by Cowman
WYMT Mountain News Camper Speaks Out About Snake Invasion
An invasion of poisonous snakes ran some Floyd County campers out of their campsite twice in less than one week.
Campers say they killed dozens of copperheads as well as one rattlesnake and a water snake at their favorite campsite.
Quincy Cook has been camping with his friends and family at this campsite for years and says he's never seen poisonous snakes until a few days ago when they were invaded.
"I had a light on my head and looked down and they was crawling everyway like night crawlers. We shot everything all to pieces, I'd say that first night we probably shot 150-200 rounds," Cook said.
Instead of crawling away like he thought the snakes would react, Cook says they acted very strange, "You would start shooting at them and they would come right at you."
Knowing some got away, cook and his friends went back to the campsite. They have now killed a total of 25 copperheads and one rattlesnake.
While he wonders where all the snakes came from, there's one thing he's learned about his favorite campsite. "I'm not going this weekend, I might not ever go back there no more. If you're there after dark you better keep your eyes open because you'll get bit!"
Tim Slone with the department of fish and wildlife says the large number of copperheads is rare in one area and they were likely mating.
He also says that copperheads are more active at night because that's when they do most of their hunting.
YOU CAN'T DO THAT!!! Killing all snakes is profiling and not politically correct. You have to wait until the snake bites you so you won't hurt a "snake of peace"
Must have been a population boom in one of their food sources; rabbits, mice etc. Predators go where the prey is.
..."I had a light on my head and looked down and they was crawling everyway like night crawlers....
CFR convention?
Crulty to animals, the government will now come after them.
Whacking Day?
Someone needs to go to the range before they go to the campground...
"That first night"?!?!?!? This means they stayed a 2nd night with all those by now pzzed-off snakes?
I dunno..pretty rare to see so many copperheads like that..
However, it's a pretty good idea to have preds. around..
150 to 200 rounds and killed only 26 snakes?
Geez...sounds like the campers are more dangerous than the snakes!
EW ... gives me the creeps.
I do NOT like snakes.
Don't forget the snake killing permits from EPA and DEQ as well as the approved euthanasia method permits from ASPCA and Fish and Wildlife definition of clearly marked snake killing and snake safe areas
"They need to do an enviromental study..."
Reminds me of an environmental study I saw conducted in New Mexico. An area known as Mescalero Sands was known to be home of the rare Sagebrush Sand Lizard. The area is also known to be home of some oil reserves, of which exploration was halted so that biologists could study the lizards.
The first time the lizards were studied they were caught and placed in buckets in grid corners of the study area. Then the unexpected happened: it rained in the desert! Yep, drowned all the lizards.
Well, the second part of the study was revised; after all, lizards are fairly difficult to capture by hand. This time they were collected with: B B guns!!. I kid you not. Many more lizards were killed than would have been by seismic testing or oil drilling. It was a typical leftist paradox.
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