Upon entering our (we own it, not just staying at) Airbnb cabin yesterday I was presented with an unexpected intruder which required me to immediately draw, fire and stop the threat, ultimately causing the intruder to expire.
There was a 5 foot long rat snake slithering there on the kitchen floor! … What did you think it was a person? What made you assume that?
What I did learn was my training helped me to act quickly and efficiently.
A quick off hand reach over to pull up my t-shirt, draw to close ready, a tac-reload and cycle to swap out a self defense round for CCI Snake Shot round, (In TX you should always have the first 2 rounds your Snake Shot in your spare mag) aim and POW. Dead Snake. The CCI shot does virtually no damage to wood or flooring. It’s ability to penetrate virtually anything is greatly reduced at distances of more than 3 feet. (Will not penetrate (or even mark it) white plastic cardboard at anything further than 3 feet.
Tip of the day: Discharging a firearm (9mm) indoor or in a confined space is super super super loud! I’ve had to do the same thing outside on occasion with some slight discomfort but indoor, OMG!!! It took about an hour and a half for my hearing to fully come back. With that said, would I do it again, yes, but at least I should have single hand fired with a finger in my best ear.
In the time it took to read this, I totally forgot about Covid-19!
Thank you for the distraction. I didn’t assume it was a person I assumed it was AOC! My bad.
Rat snakes can’t do any serious damage to a human. They are non-venomous and can actually be quite docile. We have one living in a shed behind the house and he’s doing a pretty good job keeping down the rat population. Rats cause far more problems for me than snakes do.
Maybe deadly force could be used as a last resort (as it always should be) rather than a first reaction. Just something to consider.
@Fizbin I get the need to dispatch the critter inside the house but I’ve got to go with @David38 on Rat snakes. I’ve got one living out at the farm under the trailer and I haven’t seen a mouse/rat inside in a couple of years. It used to be a huge issue. As much as I dislike snakes in general in this instance I like the bugger and actually look forward to “catching” it outside so that I know the inside is still good. Not sure what my reaction to be at finding it inside tho.
I hate snakes…appreciate your input on snake loads! We have snake loads, but never have fire one. Am going to test, as per your incident. Thanks for the story!!
The answer to your question would depend on the law where it occurred, and most likely, the city or county ordinances. Louisville used to have an ordinance prohibiting shooting firearms within city limits but it was never reenacted in 2003 when the city and county governments merged. The ordinance allowed lawful use (self defense and dispatching wild animals). Calling PD in those cases would make sense because of the dense population and likelihood someone else would call. Even without the ordinance, if you think neighbors may be calling, it could be a good idea in densely populated areas. In other areas, a call may just lead to an officer showing up for no good reason and finding something to give grief about.
If you should have a repeat incident a golf club is your best friend to protect your hearing. No, not to hit the snake with, but you can work an iron up under the middle of the snake. Then you can simply lift him and relocate outdoors. You can also lift him into a 5 gallon bucket, then lift the bucket handle with the golf club and carry it outside.
A famous archer and good friend of mine who was also a wildlife biologist was known for keeping lots of different ‘critters’ around his house. He had a pet buzzard he raised from a baby. One day while he was in his front yard showing off a diamondback rattler he had rehabilitated, and was getting ready to return to the wild, a police car came roaring up. The officer jumped out running up to Dan telling him his buzzard was causing a traffic jam at some intersection. Before Dan could say a word the officer looked down to see the coiled rattler near his feet. Without another word he ran to his car and left. Dan was a fine gentleman and is missed. I own one of his custom long bows.
Indeed, @Fizbin used deadly force against harmless tresspasser, admitted so much in the public forum(against all advice!), and would surely be found guilty of serpenticide if tried by jury of snake peers.
Well, not withstanding the good experience and ability to use your trained skills, everyone has different thoughts on killing snakes and I respect YOUR decision on how you handle them.
At least the rat snakes where we are at are killed by all. They eat eggs, baby chickens, baby ducks, baby birds, wanted lizards, and ours are not docile. The will stand their ground and will come after you. On the other hand a coral snake is docile, they will do everything they can to evade you even prior to you seeing them.
Also, I can’t image anyone wanting one actually inside their house or worse, getting away somewhere in the house to just pop up on the couch, in your bed, on a lamp shade at any time of the day or night. Nope sorry, not risking it.
If the thing were out in the field somewhere far from the house or chicken area, I wouldn’t even waste my time with a shovel on it.
Next, some of the endangered or threatened snakes (Timber Rattler) you can kill one if you or someone is in eminent danger, per my local Texas Game Warden, we don’t have those here in the Hill Country anyway. Check with your local laws or what not.
Mike had a great answer on the local LE thing.
Thanks for the nice PM’s from a bunch of you all as well.
As to should you call the PD… depends on where you are. Out near us, anything short of full auto just makes me think my neighbors are having some fun or doing a good job of keeping up their skills.
In a former life, my wife discovered a copperhead in her underwear drawer. She was a tad upset. Two kids got excited, and kept hollering for me to shoot it. I sprayed him in the face with wasp spray, which slowed him down. Then, I beat him to death with a ball bat.
Walking my dog a few nights ago and had a Copperhead strike at my dog. Used my cane to pin it and cut it’s head off because two small children lived at that house. 2nd time I’ve had to do that at that houses yard.
I don’t watch this program often, but I happened to tune into the “survival” show on a local channel where they did the same thing, but I think it was a rattler. They made a point of burying the head because it was still moving (!) and the venom was just as potent as if the snake were alive. (Kinda reminds me of our automated missile strike capabilities.)
@AlexV Snapping Turtles (or any reptile) are like that also. Many years ago we were trapping Snappers and a bunch of us were cleaning turtles, we would get them to grab a stick and pull the neck out and use an axe to chop the head off on the chopping block. we would throw the offal
and the heads in a wash tub of water and the guy was washing his knife and hands in the water and must have touched the head and it clamped down on his finger. Boy did he squeal, we had to hold him down and cut the jaw and neck muscles to pry the jaws open and release him. His finger was all cut up and the next day it was swollen and black and blue, it took a week for him to be able to bend it. All I thought was “better him then me”.
That’s quite a story, @Bruce26. The only thing I know about snapping turtles is to hold them by the shell, with their belly facing away from you. Otherwise they might get the idea that your Adam’s apple might be pretty tasty
Me, I’m a city boy and not too likely to run across either of these beasties. But it never hurts to have some pre-knowledge of a dangerous animal’s behavior. Thanks for that.
Burn the house down? I’m with you on the dislike of snakes. I’m actually rather terrified of them and reading this thread made my skin crawl and now I don’t want to open any drawers in the house…
