Here's a view on one of the ponds on the farm. This is the oldest of the ponds and has been allowed to go natural with lots of trees on the edges. This gives cover not only to the wood ducks, box on the left, but also some not so nice water moccasins. I noticed one in the shade on the bank opposite, at about 40 yards. He was seen the day before and I kicked some mud in his face shooting offhand. Today, we were riding the BadBoy buggy home from the swimming hole when I saw him again. I was determined to get rid of him as he was the size that would be aggressive, and could strike my black lab as he "fished" the edge.



I grabbed Emily's Miss. Delta 32 cal. , shooting sticks and some round ball. I had been shooting the round ball with good effect, and had a good zero at this range. I approached from the base of the dam, shown on my left, below. I came up slowly with my head just above the weeds. I adjusted my scope parallax to be in focus and then increased the power to 24x. I steadied the gun in the sticks, I could see he had moved further up the bank and was now slowly heading in a ENE direction. The wind has been steady and brisk from the south. My first shot went in front of his nose. A minor adjustment to make up for the southern wind and he rolled up and twisted his front half up. I didn't want to approach him until I new he was dead. This was assured by putting 5 more into various other areas. There was no purposeful movement but lots of spinal reflex left. He twisted with each shot. This continued for over a half hour, indeed until I sent it to the bottom of the pond for the catfish to feed. It freaked Kelli out! The kayak is present as it was a much better route to pick up the snake then trudging thru the weeds, brush and water on foot to retrieve him.


This shows the effect of the round ball on the business end of the Cotton Mouth. The additional shots were at the body (all I could see) and I believe this head damage was all from the one shot.


The original owner had asked Gary to make this gun for "pest control" as you can see it fulfills the roll nicely. Snake head at 40 yards with round ball. I'm very pleased.

Kent

Ooooh Doggy, thats pretty darned accurate and a very nice looking gun to boot. he won't be biting anybody anytime soon. Good shooting CJ

Hello Kent,

I'm properly creeped out ... .... in a "good way" ,... you understand. Yuck .... I might be afraid to leave the house ... to go to the shop this morning. Snakes ...

That's some fine shooting. You ruined your hat band though, with all those body shots. I bet there's another one around there, somewhere, though.

Good shooting. Thanks for the post. Glad the gun is working well!

Gary

Nice shootin' Kent! What a great post, airgun, dead monster, pretty scenery... excellent.

Too bad about the hat band... You could have worn it and then become a famous snake hunter saying things like "crikey!"

Well, if he makes a belt out of it...he at least already has the notches made...lol

Well, it's long enough to be MY belt...

Snakes! Yikes, we don't have such things here in little ole NZ. I think most of them left in fear of possible earthquakes....
Nice shooting Kent! Not a bad looking BB gun either
Cheers
Neil

Jerry I can't believe you'd make a crack about the length of my belt. I'm wearing my best slimming black Barnes Pneumatic "T" and still the gut takes center stage. I guess I should have had Kelli frame the picture a little differently.

Crickey, I was thinking of his untimely death. I didn't want to make the same mistake and let my guard down only to get stabbed in the heart.

I didn't mention that the "pests" that the gun was meant to control were up to the size of deer. It's a powerful and yet quiet rifle.

Kent

Hi Kent,

Oh ... "What he said!!!" Boy ... the way it was phrased, I didn't even catch his venomous (get it?) comment. If you note those horrible pics he took of me Saturday .... I think he needs to spend a moment or two ... just THINKING about what he's done!



And now ... all progress here must stop, while I drive to WalMart for a new set of nose pcs. for my glasses! I'd just make a set from ancient ivory, or something, if I could see to do it .... hahaha

Gary

Excellent shooting Kent. Hitting a snake in the head at 40 yards standing is no easy task. Good job!


Julio