jdmidwest

I know for a fact the little creek I live on was used for commerce many years before my family settled it back in the early 1800's. Indian mounds along a slough that was an old creek bed proved that Native Americans used it as a camp. It was a resting spot, or hunting ground for some reason. I can't float a kayak and a person this time of year down it, but 300 years ago it may have been more.

Sure they do, if you eat too many of them....

Most mushrooms will give you the scours one way or the other...

I have worked with a guy in the last year that is building a Chestnut plantation near St. Gen. Selling the nuts, seems to be pretty popular. One of my gun guys is raising Chestnuts trees also along with several others. I took him some White Walnut from the farm this year and he is raising a few of them for his personal grove.

I just sweated all the way thru my bee suit including the gloves in an hour. I am tired of the heat and humidity

Does Lake Linden have a boat ramp you can put in to? Sounds like you are going to alot of trouble and avoiding the obvious.

That is why they have always been called chicken snakes. They eat lots of eggs from any type of bird. My HS Science teacher had a way to trap them, tape a fish hook on the egg with some fishing line. Come back to a mad snake, but you can break it from taking eggs.

Mark Twain Lake 7/30/2019 cottonmouth at Florida boat ramp. https://forums.ozarkanglers.com/topic/67185-fished-all-around-florida-sunday/#comment-583331

I remember the quarter draft nights or dollar pitchers. Barely.

I took a pic of a cottonmouth 10 years ago at Mark Twain Lake boat ramp and posted online. We were waiting for our turn at the ramp and watching it swim around.

Most poisonous snakes float on top of the water when swimming. Cottonmouths like to just drift along sometimes in the water. Cottonmouth are plenty in southern Missouri. Normally see at least one on the 11 pt. I have always found it strange for a cold blooded creature to be plentiful in cooler waters. When I was a kid just starting driving, it was not uncommon for me to see several copperheads on the roads of a night after dark. Some of the larger ones I skinned out and dried, had them hanging on the shed at the house. Rattlesnakes did not come along until the 80's. We had a big flush of them in late 2000 at the farm. I always credit the MDC for a release in the nearby conservation area. Otters have probably took the worst toll on all of the snakes, they kill alot of them. Most streams are almost void of water snakes any more.

Did you snag the valve and it let go when you scooted out, or was that before all that is going on now...

I can only imagine what would have happened if she was not home and heard the noise in the fireplace. Finding them without any warning would have been even worse.

Starting backwards from this weekend. Camped at North Fork River Recreation Area Sat. Trying out my new Roof Top Tent system with my Grandson along. Just heated my long round steak to nice perfection and placed it on a bun with trimmings, sat down next to fire and started to eat. Halfway thru, pop on my bare left leg above the ankle. I looked down to see copperhead in strike pose at my feet, bailed out, hot dog flew into fire. Went over to truck, I was feeling some burning on my leg, but flashlight did not reveal any marks. Back to snake, he looked funny, lower jaw displaced. Quick rap on back of head made him spit a crawler Cicada out of his mouth. He was trying to get it down and was mad about it, struck my leg for some reason. Grabbed a stick and relocated him to another campsite that was vacant. Wiped leg off with Dude wipes and head was on swivel all the rest of nite. Glad my tent was located above ground, slept well. No ill effects from the strike, bug saved me. Back in June, wife calls, noise in fireplace. Maybe a bird, I am an hour away. 15 minutes later, another call, more noise, looked like a black tail hanging from under curtain in living room. Thought she saw a mouse. I arrived and checked fireplace, doors closed, damper closed, nothing. But the black tail had me thinking snake and I soon found one by my fly tying table in the corner hanging off a folding chair. Into a bucket and outside, 5 ' black snake. Thinking I was done, went back in to clean up the scent drop it did when I shined a light on it and the chairs. Started moving the chairs, there was another staring at me. Outside it went also. Both got a sharp rap on back of heads to clear their memory banks so they could not find they way back and returned to the wild. Pair of blacksnakes crawled up to roof, found hole in chimney screen, balled up in sex, and fell down chimney. Pushed way around damper and doors and into house. Chimney has new screen. 2 weeks prior, I was working on the farm. Wearing gloves and headphones. It was hot, I was mowing and brush hogging roads. At some point I remember bending over to pick something up and felt what I thought was a briar stick. Took off glove, looked at thumb but no sticker and nothing in glove. But thumb was burning like a thorn. Shrugged it off, kept on working. Next morning the thumb was swelled some and all way back to hand, but did not see anything to cause it. Later that nite after the shower, thumb still bothering me, looked closer under light and found 2 punctures about a small staple apart. Swelling went down after a week and only damage was dead skin like a big hangnail and cuticle under corner of nail separated from nail. Dry bite thru glove I am guessing. Probably a copperhead or ground rattler, pretty small from looks of fang spacing Summer half over. 50 years of outdoor camping and this is the first snake I remember in a campsite and it hit me on the leg.

That's a plus, jets steer like a rock at slow speeds. Slight angles work best.