[Wild Thing]

Took #17 for a ride today. Will be picking up some fresh paint when I go into town tomorrow.

 

[fowl]

That small snake a few posts back is a brown snake. They don’t get very big.
I would suggest nail polish on the tail to mark them. Spray paint is likely toxic.


Sent from my iPhone using Michigan Sportsman

 

[Wild Thing]

Took numbers 18 & 19 for a ride yesterday. Actually, I was on my way into town for an appointment so I just caught them and Elaine took them for a ride 😀 Didn't have time to paint them and there was no way Elaine was going to try. I don't really believe these are the same snakes I am catching but I suppose stranger things have happened.

Here is where they are coming from...

Since I blocked the opening on the opposite corner of the barn, almost all of the snakes have been seen coming out of or going into this hole.
I picked up some Great Stuff expanding foam and will try to block this hole in another week or two. Hoping all or most of them will have moved out of there by then.

 

[NonTypicalCPA]

That’s a big one!

 

[Dish7]

Took numbers 18 & 19 for a ride yesterday.

Maybe you have a neighbor that gives these snakes a ride too...and drops them off at your place, lol.

 

[Wild Thing]

Maybe you have a neighbor that gives these snakes a ride too...and drops them off at your place, lol.

Could be. Will have to keep watch for that 😀

Number 20 went for a ride today - not a very big one but he was P.O'd - kept rattling his tail.

Elaine saw #21 but he got down the hole before I got there to get him.

 

[Forest Meister]

Took #17 for a ride today. Will be picking up some fresh paint when I go into town tomorrow.

View attachment 774523

Enough is enough already, we gota know how many of those aggressive mouse eaters you have!

Kingsford is just around the corner from you. Stop in at Nelson Paint Tree Marking Paint & Equipment Enamel - Nelson Paint Company and pony up some hard earned cash for a forester's paint gun, an extra BLACK nozzle, and a couple quarts of tree marking paint. The paint gun will allow you to stand back 7' or more and still turn the rear end of your snake any of about 10 colors.

If you go that route DO NOT purchase the cheapest model, the barrel and intake tube are plastic and very prone to breaking when needed most (another "don't ask me how I know"). Even the mid range gun will last a lifetime and beyond. I have a gun that belonged to a forester whose first career was in research with MSU at a field station and after retiring he became a consultant. The gun came into my possession over 25 years ago when his wife made him quit at age 82 (he lived past 100).

A paint gun is not as convenient for a grab and go job as is aerosol paint, but for marking trails, freshening lines, designating trees to cut or ones that need to be left during a harvest, that big rock we keep forgetting about, etc. it is much, much more efficient.

Oh, almost forgot, they are also effective for marking porcupine tails, and being as how a person can stand back several feet further than if using aerosol, they are much safer too. FM

 

[Dish7]

I have to say that they are a beautiful snake. They must be keeping your tree girdling voles in check?

 

[Wild Thing]

Enough is enough already, we gota know how many of those aggressive mouse eaters you have!

Kingsford is just around the corner from you. Stop in at Nelson Paint Tree Marking Paint & Equipment Enamel - Nelson Paint Company and pony up some hard earned cash for a forester's paint gun, an extra BLACK nozzle, and a couple quarts of tree marking paint. The paint gun will allow you to stand back 7' or more and still turn the rear end of your snake any of about 10 colors.

If you go that route DO NOT purchase the cheapest model, the barrel and intake tube are plastic and very prone to breaking when needed most (another "don't ask me how I know"). Even the mid range gun will last a lifetime and beyond. I have a gun that belonged to a forester whose first career was in research with MSU at a field station and after retiring he became a consultant. The gun came into my possession over 25 years ago when his wife made him quit at age 82 (he lived past 100).

A paint gun is not as convenient for a grab and go job as is aerosol paint, but for marking trails, freshening lines, designating trees to cut or ones that need to be left during a harvest, that big rock we keep forgetting about, etc. it is much, much more efficient.

Oh, almost forgot, they are also effective for marking porcupine tails, and being as how a person can stand back several feet further than if using aerosol, they are much safer too. FM

As a matter of fact FM...I stopped in at Nelson Paint when I was in town on Friday and picked up some more paint (and nozzles for the cans that didn't work anymore). I do have the small spay attachment for my aerosol tree marking paint so maybe I can give that a try first. I know the backpack sprayer that my forester uses (and probably you too) works great for marking lots of trees but I don't usually have to mark that many.

I chatted with a forester who was also buying paint at Nelson's about our snake issue. He said I may very well have a "Snake Hibernaculum" (link below) under the concrete in my barn. If so - he said there may be 50-100 snakes under there. He said they are usually all out by mid-summer and that would be a good time to try to block the entrance to keep them out of there.

HIBERNACULUMhttp://individual.utoronto.ca › ali_naqvi › Hibernaculum

No need to mark porcupine tails here. They aren't protected by law and I don't like them chewing on my Sugar Maples (or hunting blinds) - remember we produce syrup here also. Porkies get a ride only to the nearest opening where I deposit them belly up so that the avian birds of prey can consume some protein. 😀

 

[Forest Meister]

I don't use a backpack sprayer, a paint gun as always served me well (if it ain't broke, don't fix it). I just carry a few extra quarts of paint in the back of my vest and when they are gone it's time to go home. FM

 

[sparky18181]

Porkies get a dirt nap everytine I see them also Destructive to trees and have seen the affects on too many dogs also

 

[Wild Thing]

#21....Found him hanging out in the lean-to of the barn when I drove the tractor around to hook up to my cyclone spreader...

He got the one mile ride also....and he also got some orange paint on him when I released him. I don't think he will show up again but I should be able to recognize him if he does.

 

[Wild Thing]

I have to say that they are a beautiful snake. They must be keeping your tree girdling voles in check?

I do believe they have been keeping the voles in check Dish. We had a dozen apple trees severely girdled (lost 6 of them) several years ago but (knock wood) none since. Of course, we use screen and hardware cloth now rather than tarpaper wrap to protect the trees better, but I really haven't seen many voles or evidence of them in recent years either.

 

[shotgun12]

if they were on my place, it wood freak me out.

 

[Wild Thing]

Took numbers 22 & 23 for a ride yesterday.

Forgot to get a pic of #23 but I guess it doesn’t matter - he looked pretty much the same as the other 22.

Both of them got a paint job when I released them.

Blue for #22…

#23 came out of the trash can like he was shot out of a cannon. Took me 3 shots but he finally went away wearing red. Too bad I didn’t paint number 21 white - we could have had red, white and blue snakes for the Independence Day holiday.

 

[Wild Thing]

Found a little green snake belly up in the driveway yesterday. Have no idea what happened to him.

Too bad?

 

[Forest Meister]

Found a little green snake belly up in the driveway yesterday. Have no idea what happened to him.

View attachment 775397
Too bad?

View attachment 775398

Scared to death by big honkin' pine snakes would be my uneducated guess. FM

 

[grapestomper]

Had this guy on my porch Sunday. Not sure what kind it is. It wanted to eat my puppy.

 

[Wild Thing]

Scared to death by big honkin' pine snakes would be my uneducated guess. FM

Exactly what Elaine said FM.

 

[Wild Thing]

Had this guy on my porch Sunday. Not sure what kind it is. It wanted to eat my puppy.
View attachment 775439

Yep - A youngster out on his own this year. I got a trail cam pic of one about that size last week.