Rock Hill police: Don’t use gun to shoot at snakes

[SecularMotion]

ROCK HILL - A man told Rock Hill police responding to neighbors’ calls about shots fired Thursday that he shot his gun at copperhead snakes he found under a tarp in his yard.

Neighbors on Willowbrook Avenue and Kimbrook Avenue called police just before noon Thursday after hearing as many as five shots in the residential area, a Rock Hill Police Department report states. Officers searching the area found a man on a nearby street who admitted he fired the handgun several times after finding the serpents when he was doing yard work.

http://www.heraldonline.com/news/local/crime/article74641702.html

[Nuclear Unicorn]

1. Well, they're taking away the flamethrowers and it is a snake, second only to a spider.

[ileus]

2. Should have used a shotgun.

[JonathanRackham]

3. Exactly what are "other ways " of dealing with the copperheads?

My dad had a .38 that had tiny birdshot. Good for close range and it didn’t overpenetrate. My uncle had .22 bird shot for snakes in the barn. He probably saved a lot of cat's lives as a result.

Sounds like an idiot who was a bad shot, no common sense and less technical sense.

[beevul]

6. Knowledge and a good snake stick, or even a broom handle.

Shooting them isn't necessary, but, take those words with a grain of salt, around here I'm referred to as a 'gun humper'.

[JonathanRackham]

8. I'd agree to chasing them away outside.

In the house or basement I wouldn't chance chasing them into hiding. My uncle has lost two barn cats to copperheads.

[hlthe2b]

4. Good heavens...A hoe or a stick & potato sack was all my grandfather and farming uncles ever used

Why must EVERYTHING revolve around a damned gun? Not to mention the fact that every once in a while, a "poorly" placed rock may ricochet those bullets (or gun shot) into a very unintended target...

[TeddyR]

5. How about

Not shooting the snake at all? We had a pretty large copperhead snoozing in the sun in our driveway a few years ago and we coaxed it into a bag and then tossed it into the woods. Never saw it again. From Wiki - "Most fatal bites are attributed to the eastern and western diamondback rattlesnake. Copperheads account for more cases of venomous snake bite than any other North American species; however, their venom is the least toxic so their bite is seldom fatal." I've encountered copperheads about 3-4 times in my life and never felt compelled to kill one.

[gejohnston]

7. I have a rule that if the snake, coyote, or whatever isn't bothering me or mine,

I live and let live. However, there are snakes.

and there are SNAKES

[hlthe2b]

9. Outside, I'd agree... thus my comment re: the stick and potato bag (gunny sack)

[Eleanors38]

10. Yeah, our family has learned not to kill snakes. A five foot rat snake lived for a time under...

my house. I just let him stay as their was a rather teeming ecosystem there. Wish he was back to keep down the Yamato class roaches which sometimes cut their way in.