I’m leaning yellowbellied. It just wasn’t cantankerous to be a moccasin, and I’ve ran across at least a hundred.
Moccasins don’t run, they run AT you, flashing their mouth the whole time.
And they’re fat from head to (especially) butt, with short, skinny tails.
The one TX way is to smell it. Moccasins stink to hell - an undescribably rank, putrid scent that no other live snake possesses. If HG’s snake has no scent, it’s probably not a moccasin.
Exactly how close do you have to get to sniff the snake? Is six inches too close? How about a thirty feet?
LOL, Since you describe the smell I know you know what your talking about. Copperheads have a particular musky smell also.