I went to get the mail the other day and as I reached to open the mailbox, I heard movement on the ground. I looked down and saw a big-ass, grey-brown snake, coiled up by the mailbox post. I did the obligatory scream like a girl and jumped back. The snake quickly moved into a nearby pile of brush.
Rewind to last Spring. I was moving rocks from the creek bed behind the garage to the drainage ditch out front. Standing in the ditch, I lifted rocks from the wheel barrow and placed them on the bank. A rock slipped from my hand and when I reached to retrieve it, I see it landed next to a big-ass, black snake. Same results, scream and jump back.
Now I tell my granddaughter that snakes are our friends. They eat vermin that carry diseases. And I have a deal with the snakes; stay out of my yard and I will leave you alone. Come in my yard and your life is forfeit. I don’t want granddaughter stumbling across a snake when playing in the yard. So I ran inside and grabbed my Taurus .22 Tracker revolver loaded with CCI shot-shells. But when I got back, the snake was gone. Couldn’t find it anywhere.
Concerned that I may stumble on the snake again, I put the revolver in a holster and wore it the rest of the day. It didn’t take long to see that the steel frame Taurus was way too heavy to wear for long periods of time. After a little research that night, I determined a better choice for a “snake gun” was a lightweight .38 Special revolver with homemade shotshells. I settled on a Charter Arms, aluminum frame, snubnose, .38 Special revolver. You can wear it all day and never know it’s there. It can also serve as a “mole gun”. If I come across a mole digging in the yard, the #9 shot will easily penetrate the thin layer of dirt over the digging mole. Mole encounters actually happen more than snake encounters. Moles just aren’t as scary.
Fast-forward back to the most recent snake encounter. I now own the perfect snake dispatching weapon. But when I needed it, it wasn’t readily available. I didn’t expect to see a snake, so I didn’t have it at the ready. In order for it to be effective, I need to carry it every time I venture out into the yard.
It occurred to me as I walked back to the house (after making sure no neighbors saw me scream) that carrying the snake gun when in the yard is the same as carrying a concealed weapon when leaving the house. You never know when you may stumble into trouble and it’s better to be armed and not need it than need it and not be armed.