That’s a great point, @Craig6. My dad has hearing aids (and selective hearing, sorry Dad), so I may suggest he does the same with electronic ear-pro in case he ever has to defend himself at night.
How can you all have so many snake stories?? 
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lol… you gotta’ love Missouri.
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I’ve talked about living with my aunt, and my cousin who taught me martial arts. One of the gentlemen who lived on our street, was a herpetologist and he would pay us 25cents for those little green lizards, 25 cents a foot for non poisonous snakes, and 3 dollars a foot for “exotics”.
We are out hunting snakes one day and I see this big wedge of a tail sticking out so my friend and I with visions of finding our very own unknown species dancing in our head, and getting it named after us, jump on the tail.
Well, about 10 feet past the head of the tail, a very unhappy python comes snapping back at us. Then it’s on 2, boys each less than a hundred pounds, vs a python that outweighed both of them.
Proof that God exists and loves fools and children. The python had just eaten , like less than an hour ago. So the 2 of us and the in a muddy canal are all rolling around in the mud. Adults start bringing out chairs to watch, cause it’s obvious this is barely moving , you can still see the bulge of what it had eaten.
Finally, we are victorious, the is shoved into a sack, and off we go to see the professor dragging this in a wagon. He duly pays us but says he can’t use any more snakes anymore.
My aunt, and Jaime (that’s my best friend and fellow Hunter) are not nearly as amused. We both get a woopin but won’t rat out who is paying for the snakes, our $$ gets taken to go buy us new clothes because of course.
Secret 
edit: 3:30 p.m. 4/6/2020 This was in West Palm Beach and lateish 1970’s, 's like that weren’t even a thing back then.
So we honestly thought it was a lizard.
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There used to be this show on Saturday mornings about fishing. So one episode said if you were fishing from the bank to squat down behind a bush on the bank that way the fish couldn’t see you.
So I’m doing that, and catching some fish I finally get tired and still fishing but I sit down on a stump. Next thing I know something kicks me in the butt… hard. I had just bought my first “camouflage” wallet, don’t ask me why? All the cool kids had camouflage gear.
Turns out that stump belonged to a rattler who bit me on my butt but had hit my wallet, and left 2 very neat round holes almost all the way through it.
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That was obviously a bear in cows clothing. Mathew 7:15 
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Take the advice Leviticus 22:28 before you get trigger happy again. There is enough trouble in the world today without a shortage of bacon cheese burgers 
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Tough Room, shoot one cow and get branded for life.
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Yep, that is how it works. Every year I have to hunt a field named “My cousin can’t shoot” by dear family members 
All my efforts to rename it to “The Kevlar Quail Covey” have failed but I keep trying anyway.
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My dad and his wife have lived in Texas outside of Dallas for about 10 years now and keep trying to get me to visit. Last time they were in Wisconsin for a visit I’d almost committed to a timeframe to visit this year. And then they told me about the 8 FOOT rat snake on their back fence in the 'burbs! {{SHUDDER}}
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I bet you could get that name changed real quick.
Do you have any old Dubya/Cheney for prez gear laying around? Talk about how much you admire Dick Cheney.
You know start looking meaningfully around the room when your lack of Quail, due to their Kevlar comes up, and then tell the story about Dick Cheney. Long pause, look around. Go get a beer. Come back. Next morning talk about how slippery the ground is. 
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Ok - I have more snake stories than I thought… Who knew!
Last August I was in Phoenix for the Well Armed Women Conference and we ate at a restaurant near the conference. They had rattlesnake on the menu. I’m normally a pretty adventurous eater (I like to try different foods), so I said why not! The brought it out deep fried … with the spine on the plate. I couldn’t bring myself to touch the spine. I did eat some of the snake nuggets thought - tasted just like chicken!
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That is exactly what I was going to say. Those particular snakes serve a good purpose for your little get away cabin when you’re not there.
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If it had been a rattler, that would be a scary deal. I used to have a place in the country about 20 miles east of Dallas. After school my oldest boy loved to take his .22 down to the creek and kill water moccasins. Some of them were even in the trees.
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You should come hang around the courthouse for a while! It takes all types.
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@MikeBKY Yup, used to be lots of snakes in the jails I used to work in to. 
Most were some what harmless but a few were down right poison.
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We do that now. WM are bad. They HAVE for sure chased me and my guests out of the water in the past. They actually change course to intercept you! Very Scary!
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The rodents rejoice, but I am sad for the snake.
Rat snakes are non-poisonous constrictors whose favorite foods are rodents. A gentle nudge to the doorway may have been a more reasonable response, not to mention much easier on the ears.
Snake rounds in TX, though - completely have to agree with you on that. I worked in Austin for a short time, and the company used to issue “snake warnings” on the hotter days. When you went out to your car you were supposed to stay well back and peer underneath - because the rattlers would slither under the cars for shade, and more than one person has been ankle bitten when stepping up to the side of the car to unlock the door and “kicked” the snake lying underneath. If you saw one, though, they wanted you to go back and get security who would come out with a snake hook and help Ol’ Diamond Jim to mosey on out of there. I don’t think they would have liked it too much if we started firing snake shot under the vehicles.
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I once shot my 9mm inside my house - the ear pain was incredible - I could not hear “at all” for about 5-10min. Consider trying to call 911 after a real encounter in your house - you will NOT be able to hear Them. Its an issue.
I NOW keep a set of Noise Cancelling Impact Sport head phones by my House Gun now. Since they also enhance other noises you can hear an intruder or not much better. I may not have time to put them on but then again I may. Beats permanent hearing damage.
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Amateur question: did you mean you didn’t have one in the chamber when you did the tac-reload? Cheers!
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You shot a little snake? Why didn’t you call an wild animal response company or something. You should have let the rat snake do his job, he went in your cabin because there is rodents in there. You should have thanked the snake but you killed it. You are a real champion.
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