Do you know that it is actually illegal to kill a rattlesnake or copperhead in Tennessee?
It is, they are on the threatened species list. However, this is rarely enforced.
A few years ago I was working as an editor of an outdoor magazine and I received a news release from the state wildlife agency. There was a blurb about this guy they had busted for poaching bears in the Cherokee National Forest and, as part of the investigation they raided his freezer at his house and found more than 100 poisonous snakes in it.
So they got him for that too.
When I got the release I just couldn't figure out why anyone would want frozen snakes so I called the TWRA and asked.
"Oh he's one of those good religious guys," said the officer. "You know, one of those snake-handling preachers."
See we have some hillbillys here in Tennessee that handle snakes during their church services. Most of them have a short lifespan and it helps to clean up the gene pool in these parts.
Can you imagine this guy dancing around the church with his FROZEN snakes?
The snake or my daughters...hhhmmmm.
I didn't know Tennessee had a law against killing these snakes. I don't think Georgia does.