Outdoorsman Thread

[big monk]

AWESOME !!!!!! Thanks for sharin' !!!!!____

[313 Mike]

Thanks for sharing Treefarmer! Controlled burns have been a key management tool since the time of the Indians.

[Colonel26]

Very nice on the controlled burn. I remember Pa burning off pasture fields in the early spring. Boy the grass was always good and green as it came back in.

[ken98k]

Beautiful day today.

[TripleF]

Beautiful scenery! Thanks for sharing Ken!

[313 Mike]

Great pic Ken! Looks like a fantastic Alaskan day...how long before that snow starts to melt?

[treefarmer]

Ken, I'm in total agreement with Scott and Mike, their observations and comments about the beauty of Alaska, knowing each year the differences between Alaska and Florida are great, I just can't get used to seein' y'all playin' in the snow on a snowmobile while I'm sittin' on a tractor planting corn !
What a wonderful, diverse and beautiful world was created for us to enjoy!
Treefarmer

[ken98k]

...how long before that snow starts to melt?

It actually started about Tuesday. We had 3 days when the temp reached 50. That said, it's still possible to see below zero temps in the next couple weeks.

It was in the upper 30s when this photo was taken.

edit; I want to go back out today but cant find anyone to go.

[Dinadan]

Treefarmer - Very interesting photos of the burn off. We used to do that when I was a kid. I always liked walking the woods after the fire. Any bones or antlers would be easily visible.

Ken - all I can say is Wow!

[garddogg56]

looks like some nice riding Ken that thermos is real important

[treefarmer]

Spring has sprung in the south. Lots of fruit trees blooming along with Dogwoods and the wild azaleas we have in the yard. Fish are ready to be caught and turkey season is under way in Florida, along with gardening time.

A great time to be in the outdoors, however once in a while something comes along that makes you readjust your way of thinking, at least for a day or two. I don't really care for snakes, I don't bother most snakes, oak snakes, black snakes, etc.. But once in a while one shows up that gets a little extra attention. I had an encounter with a rather large Agkistrodon Piscivorus yesterday afternoon. We call 'em Water Moccasins or Cottonmouths. Looking up that fancy name told me they appear to live mostly in the Southeast, common around wet places, ponds, creeks, turkey huntin' places. They are nasty tempered and very aggressive. They don't give warnings like diamondbacks usually do when hemmed up.

Yesterday afternoon, I was returning to the house and decided to take another road that took me through a crossing on a little branch. The dog was running ahead of the cart and ran through the water in the branch. As I approached the water I noticed something laying in the mud, 1st thought was a root but then I knew what it was. There was absolutely nothing on the cart I could use to kill the snake. So I hurried to the house for a little help, hoping the moccasin would still be in the crossing. He was still bunched up in his defensive posture when he met with a load of bird shot from a little single barrel 20 gauge.

When I was a boy in central Florida, a neighborhood boy fell in a stump hole and scratched his leg, or at least that's what his family thought. A short time later he had to have his leg amputated way above the knee. Going back to the stump hole, some one found the big ol' moccasin still enjoying his hideout.
Y'all watch out for such critters as this when you're out enjoying God' creation.
Treefarmer

[TripleF]

Makes ya not want to go into the outdoors! Hope I never see one!

[tjmurphy]

WOW!! That's a dandy, Phil! My wife is from Southwest Louisiana and we would go to visit her grandmother and aunts and uncles. Keep in mind that these folks built their homes along the fire breaks cut through the pine woods. Her uncle had a pond on his property that was muddy and stagnent with a LOT of tree roots. The pond was the daytime hang-out of lots and lots of cottenmouths. I killed 12 of the critters in one afternoon one day. Don't think that I put a dent in population.

[FRJ]

WOW! Massive and dangerous.

[jerryd6818]

Cottonmouth is what we called 'em too. I've never run onto one and hope I never do. Looks to me like he was still laying in the same spot when you got back with his 20 ga. demise because he has a full belly and wasn't feeling too active. Sure glad you got him before he got you or the dog.

[Old Hunter]

Wow Phil, that's a nice one (and now a good one!) Turkey season is soon to start - when running and gunning in swampy areas (most of eastern NC) you have to be real careful. OH

[treefarmer]

Snakes are just a part of being in the woods and on the water when you live in Florida.
Used to wade and fish with a stringer tied to our belts. If we had a few fish on it, it was not a big surprise to have a moccasin trail behind or trying to grab a bass. That always bothered me.
Worked for a retired Air Force Colonel when I was in high school building a fence for his daughter's horse. There was a creek swamp at the back of his little place and he wanted the pasture to extend into the swamp on both property lines, then parallel the water along the creek. Aye, aye, Sir! Piece of cake, he said, just run the barb wire from tree to tree. So here I am trying to shop out a line along the creek, hanging on with one hand, standing on what I thought was roots of the tree, when something started taping on my left boot. Looking down I had pinned a moccasin to the roots and he had enough motion to be able to lightly strike me on my boot. The machete made quick work of him.
You know when something happens like that, you do what you have to do and then think about it later. The outcome was perfect however I could have been snake bit, seriously cut my leg or foot with the machete, lost my balance and fell in the creek and drowned.
Lots of memories of snakes in the Sunshine State. I suppose our Eastern Diamondback rattle snakes get more attention than any other snakes. We do our best to rid the woods of them also, and I make no apologies for it to the "environmentalists" who never have run up against a healthy snake. I'm just full of stories about encounters with rattlesnakes. Here's one that was in our yard a few years ago, minus his head. Don't you know that sucker would put a hurtin' on a you it you were unfortunate enough to get bit!
Treefarmer

[Dinadan]

Treefarmer - that Diamondback looks about five feet long. I would say that is the average size of the ones I have seen. I would not want to tread on him!


I have killed a goodly number of poisonous snakes over the years. But now days I just leave them be unless I have a good reason to kill them. I always like seeing reptiles and like to try photographing them when possible. This fellow was so close to my kayak that I felt a need to raise my arm out of biting range when I slipped past him.

I was in a narrow bayou and did not notice him until I was almost next to him.

[royal0014]

... SONUVA ....... !!!!!!
I'd a got bit for sure...

[big monk]

WOW !!!! If that had been me --tha' seat on that Kayak,would be a different color now

[TripleF]

WOW......

So...I'm watching the grandsons yesterday afternoon. We're preparing for our mission Sunday.
I told them I put the turkey call in the car so I wouldn't forget

Can we try it Poppy? Yeah......uh......sure. There parents just built a home in a track housing development in the woods. It's growing very fact around here. The property backs up to the woods where plenty of wildlife live.

So I let the oldest stroke the plunger. I do it. And think nothing of it!

The oldest says lets go out back (we were in the garage). It's raining lightly but I'm ok with it.

What is that he says as he rounds the side of the house.......What? What is what I ask?

Then I see what looks like a mouse scurrying across the back of the yard where it dips down about 12 inches.....No, that ain't no mouse.....I yell.....it's A TURKEY!!!

We walk faster towards the back yard, closer to the woods and the turkey dissappears, but.........but off to the left, 4 houses down are 2 more turkeys!

I'm yelling... we called in 3 turkeys boys! We did it! They loved it. I loved it.

The memory will never be forgotten!

Thanks Phil. Thanks Bruce!!

[Old Hunter]

That's great stuff Scott, great stuff!

[Colonel26]

Way to go Scott!

SNAKES!!! I don't mind em if I seem them first. But if I walk up on em, whew! Here garter snakes and black snakes get left alone, chicken snakes and what we call cow suckers too as long as they aren't around the hen house. But anything else needs to die. We've got a few water moccasins, and rattlesnakes not far from me. But our most prevalent bad boys are copperheads. They're bad dudes too, aggressive and ill tempered, they like to strike without warning.

[jerryd6818]

My mother was deathly afraid of snakes. One time when I was just a tad, we were on our way back to the house from the garden back up on the side of the hill. I was running ahead as usual, when all of a sudden there was a commotion behind me. I turned around and the hoe my mom was carrying was just a blur. I had run right over the top of a snake (probably black snake or little old garter snake). Mom was bringing down the wrath of God on that snake with her hoe. When she got done there wasn't a piece of him left that was big enough to bury. Snakes were in mortal danger when my mother was around!!


Too cool, Scott. Those boys are a couple of lucky lads.

[wlf]

Phil,I have several snake stories.The last just happened after the Lakeland Knife Show, first of February.After the show I was fishing about 6 or 8 miles east of Tampa in the Greater Thonotosassa and Hillsboro rivers ,under all the bridge overpasses.Caught 10 bass 3lbs. and up,and several others (that's great for me,being from WV), in 2 1/2 days.

The flood walls along the rivers were all kept mowed,except the area east at I 4 , where 3 overpasses were together( town, e and w I 4). A drain between the town street overpass and eastbound I 4 overpass had grown up. I walked down under the town bridge and cast out the unweighted blue fleck powerbait worm.As it slowly sunk,I was enjoying the sunshine(about 80°). About 4 ft. from my right arm was a tree that had been cut and just past the edge of the stump I saw the head of a cottonmouth(he liked 80° too). It's a thousand wonders I hadn't sat down on that stump.Thank you Lord.

I got a large rock and crushed his body against the rock below the stump,it was almost impossible to hit his head ,the way it was situated. It didn't immediately kill him and he wriggled out from underneath the rock.I had no other weapons within reach,so he got away, but I hope I mortally wounded him. Poisonous snakes and dangerous animals have no place in my civilized world.