My grandpa lives in Arkansas and has a bauxite pit I fish. It's overgrown and I am about the only person to ever fish it now. It is crawling with snakes, big ones small ones and all sizes in between. I always carry a 357 mag loaded with snake shot. Two weeks ago I shot the fattest cottonmouth I have ever seen and a small copperhead. The cottonmouth took 3 shots to kill and he was spittin mad. He was minding his own business on top of a dead fallen tree when I popped him. The copperhead was semi covered in pine needles and I almost stepped on him.