tms wrote:
Hey Gene,
If you have a lot of those, you could make some money selling the dried skins to bowyers. A number of my bowyer friends would use cottonmouth skin as bow backing. It makes an attractive bow, although I prefer bull snakes.
I've heard that cottonmouths get particularly aggressive during floods, and that they are good swimmers. I don't think I'd want to be in the water with one, good temper or bad.
Cheers,
Tom
Don't have any skins at all. Had a live one in the garage a few years ago, and occasionally find them around ponds, under wood stacks, in outbuildings, etc. They don't have rattle's so folks sometimes get surprised by them. Normally, they only want to get away from people, but they can be unpredictable. They give live birth, usually in late summer, of a half dozen or more, and do guard their young for a while, so that's the most likely time they'll confront you. I haven't heard of anyone around here being bitten in years tho.
They've been known to climb into small boats to rest or get warm. Some guys fishing from a boat will carry a revolver with shotshells, and line their boat with a couple inches of cork to absorb the pellets that miss the snake. Water lowers their body temp, so they need to bask fairly often, and this is often mistaken as aggressive behavior. They're just looking for someplace to get warm.