Went hog hunting in a swamp on a hunting lease years ago with my best hunting partner. He loved snakes.
We were walking down the path, when all of a sudden, there was a snake lying traversly across the path. I gingerly stepped over it, and my buddy bent down and identified it as a Rat Snake, about 4 feet long. He picked it up and it was unusually docile, didn't try to bite or anything. He handed it to me and I took it, (first time I had handled a snake.) It wrapped itself around my arm, and we used it as a hog pointer...we figured it would know which direction the hogs were.
Anyway, my friend brought it home, against my protests to leave it there. He said it was worth $200 in a pet store. He gave it to his wife's son, who kept it in a terrarium for a month or so. He said he released it after a while, back in the woods. I kept asking him about it , but he never elaborated. Hope it didn't die in captivity. Things like that bother me, because I am a hunter. I don't want to inflict any more pain on wildlife than what is necessary to bring home meat.
I've made some wounding shots on deer. I thought about it then, and I think about it now. Hunting is a great responsibility, to be taken very seriously.
Les
