How To Kill A Snake, East Texas Style
No offense to my East Texas readers, of course...
When we were at my in-laws' house last week, we put together a gazebo for my MIL on the back deck. And, while we were out there with our 9,000 bolts, screws, nuts and "parts", we noticed my FIL doing donuts on the John Deere.
This is not normal for him.
About a minute passed and the tractor stopped running. From the field we hear, "Scott! Go get a gun! We got a snake!"
A coral snake (red then yellow, kill a fellow).
It was all over very quickly. The bullet blew the snake (quite sizable) into two pieces, and the boys and I went out to the scene of the crime for a bit of a science lesson. Coral snake = bad. Gun = bad. I, however, was the only one on board with the second lesson.
So, you question: why a gun? Why did we have to blow that snake into smithereens? What about a hoe or a shovel?
Scott explained: the ground out there is like a big beach - sand, sand, sand. To try and chop that snake in half with a hoe or shovel would have only buried it and pissed it off. Better to be done with it in a split second, especially when we're talking coral snakes (and copperheads...there've been quite a few of those out there, too).
My FIL offered to let Scott show Travis how to shoot the gun, but I quickly nixed that idea. I see absolutely no value in an 8 year old knowing how to shoot a rifle (especially an 8 year old with his mama's temper, haha). The guns are locked and put away, and while it might be deep East Texas, it isn't THAT remote.
I will say, a dead snake is a GREAT snake.
posted by Judy @ 6:27 AM
4 comments
4 Comments:
As a snake lover who has owned pythons and boas... I have no qualms about using a gun to kill a poisonous snake in my field or in my yard!
We've got guns, and the kids learn to shoot them. Not at 8 though. All Meego knows is NERF!
I'll take to just seeing coral snakes at the zoo - encased in those big thick glass things!
My boys know how to shoot guns, but I believe they were 12 before they received their first lessons, in a duck blind.
As far as snakes go, I would whole-heartedly agree with you on that front. Michael would disagree, because is a snake lover, but when it comes to poisonous, I think he'd probably agree, even if only half-heartedly. As for guns, Alex has been begging to go to my client's site (a shooting range) to shoot his daddy's new 9mm...I'm not agreeable to that yet, so he's only watched through the big, glass windows while daddy has shot. Thankfully, the range has rules - no one under 14 years is allowed in the range :) Thank God for rules... But, I'm all for kids learning what a gun is capable of, and how it feels when it 'goes off' in your hands - very scary...and loud! Taking the mystery away is the important part of safety...keeping them locked up and out of reach is the other. Good for you Judy - stand your ground - mommies know best, right!
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