3 1/2 feet of pure death......

[Big Muddy]

My main labor guy, Joe, and I spent most of today, setting up the new Redneck deer stand....we laid down tools on the ground, welded, carried around ladders, and walked around the immediate vicinity of the deer stand the entire time.
About 3 pm, Joe was sitting on the yellow bucket, while I was finishing up the last of the welding....I heard him squeal like a school girl, and lifted my welding hood....under that green palmetto, less than 5 feet from his bucket, he pointed at the tightly coiled-up copperhead....he said a slight movement caught his eye.

We had literally walked, stomped, and trampled every square inch of ground within a 30 foot radius of the deer stand location, and that bastage was lying under that palmetto, less than 6 feet from the leg of the tower....I even remember picking up a dropped welding rod that landed on top of that green palmetto.

After dispatching the snake with my Ruger .22, Joe and I just stood there in disbelief, that we had been working there nearly all day, with that bastage, literally under our feet....shook up both of us pretty good....this is the largest copperhead I've ever killed on my farm....most have been in the 2 to 2 1/2 foot length.

While we were picking up our tools, etc., getting ready to quit for the day, I bent over to pick up my chipping hammer....my cellphone vibrated in my pants pocket....almost messed up a good pair of drawers.

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