I use a hoe, best snake tool there is.
I got cornered in my work shed back in the late 70’s a cotton mouth between me and the door and the hoe. I was in a tight spot and that moccasin was getting territorial. luckily, I had a basketball on the bench right behind me and I got the basketball and dribbled the snake into submission then I reached for the hoe and lopped his head off.
I lived in a trailer, right next to a swamp and I had more snakes in my yard and more encounters with water moccasins than I even care to remember. Water Moccasins are ornery snakes. I hear that Sidewinders are pretty vicious Critters themselves. I try not to kill snakes cuz I do understand their value, but I am not getting bit by no snake if I can avoid it, and if I cannot avoid it then I want to do everything I can to neutralize the snake.
Yep, if the choice comes down between you and the snake the snake has to be on the losing end.
I let snakes live and let live...except copperheads and Cottonmouths. Steve Irwin caught every kind of poisonous snake in the world except for one...the water moccasin/cotton mouth. He said they were vicious and unpredictable and when they bite they bite not once to get away, they continually bite the target. Think of cottonmouths as the Kathy Griffin of snakes.
“I use a hoe, best snake tool there is.”
Smart thinking - and if she gets bit your only out $20. Well, $40 I suppose if you need to hire another one to move your snake.
“Why sure honey - I’ll move your snake.”
Cotton Mouths will attack during mating season.
“I had a basketball on the bench right behind me and I got the basketball and dribbled the snake into submission then I reached for the hoe and lopped his head off.“
I’d pay good money to see a video of that.
L
“Water Moccasins are ornery snakes.”
A biologist once wrote that there are only two reasons you ever see two water moccasins together: they are mating or one is eating the other.
I saw a cottonmouth also called a “water rattler” at a state park. Ever hear of that?
I live out in the countryside and have rattlesnakes. I leave them alone unless near my home. They can kill my dogs. Just use a long hoe. They will strike the hoe and briefly be on the ground with their body extended. You then chop their head off.
ps
All water moccasins need to die. They are curious and aggressive.