Cottonmouth


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Is there any state where it is legal to take a cottonmouth? I know here in TN they are protected. I ran over one the other day and called the TWRA to see if I could legally preserve the skin and they told me that the possession of any non game species living or dead is illegal. I was just wondering about other states. I know in Texas we could take rattlesnakes.

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Legal all over Oklahoma and I assume Texas too. They are everywhere down here. Come take all you want... :D

I kill several every year. If you go to one of our ponds during the summer they are swimming everywhere. I also have a creek through the middle of my place. They love the creek and the crawfish that live in the ground nearby.

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Whether it was legal or not I am not sure, but had a neighbor in Florida who had a rattlesnake skin from one he killed in his yard mounted on a ripped piece of plywood.

Nope, not legal here to kill snakes, but heard from a person we know about a pest control company of sorts having to be called in to kill copperheads from his pasture after the floods earlier this year, kinda had me questioning whether the state gives permission to those companies?

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I love catching snakes. Perfected it as a kid. i would catch the snake and then take it to the house and get the book to ID it if I didn't know what it was. Caught a young cottonmouth once and also caught a little pygmie rattler. I hate killing snakes. Most of them are very good. However, any cottonmouths get decapitated around my property.

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I'm with you on the "let 'em crawl" policy Todd. Very few I kill these days, mostly poisonous ones that are too close to my house/kids. A lady got mad at me last year because I picked up a young copperhead in her yard and through it across the road, lol.

I would also say that a cottonmouth is definitely the lowest one on my list. Too many close encounters with them, and they're just plain ugly to boot :rolleyes:

Used to love playing with hognose snakes but haven't seen one in years. Fire ants have all but eradicated many of our snake species :(

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