Very interesting. Thank you for posting that research. After I made my post, I began to research as well to make sure I was right, but quickly got distracted by something else. I have just always heard that copperheads are less dangerous. Perhaps it’s just that they inject less venom. It’s interesting that the venom chart and the article you posted contradict one another. The chart shows the copperhead as having more potent venom than the rattler while the article says the opposite. Anyway, I’m not happy about our choices either, but I will do whatever is necessary to end the national nightmare that is Barack Obama.
Most of the charts I looked at had the copperhead venom with less lethality than most rattlesnakes.
Some rattlesnakes, though, were pretty high: the green mojave rattlesnake and the eastern diamondback were far higher than the copperhead.
The danger of the copperhead, as opposed to a rattlesnake or a moccasin, is that those two give a warning, a rattle or a white-mouth display, but the copperhead’s warning is an initial strike that’s supposed to use less venom than any subsequent strikes.