I just went out to pick some tomatoes from my garden and nearly gave myself a heart attack.
I walked around to the side of the bed and something moved under my foot - looked down and I was standing on a rather large copperhead! AHHHHH!!!!! Next is a heart attack and me jumping back like 6 feet.
While I give myself a quick check to make sure I haven’t been bit this dude scoots over next to the house and tries hiding behind my downspout. Quick assessment and he’s about 4 foot long and nearly 2 inches around - a big one.
I love snakes, but these guys don’t get to live near the house. Every other snake native to Missouri gets a free pass on my property but these dudes. When my wife was a kid she got bitten by one and barely survived it plus the antivenom so they get treated with extreme prejudice. I usually encounter 3-4 a year on my property but this one was less than 10 feet from my garage door!