You know… Sometimes things just work out exactly like they should. And when it comes to potential injury being avoided, that’s always a good thing in my book. With the exception of 1 or 2 friends (Reebs, love you, glad your foot is cast-less!), I am one of the most accident-prone people I know. Most of the time, it’s because I am being an idiot, but other instances prove [somehow] unavoidable.

As you have seen before, snake boots are a necessity. Once the weather starts warming up and you find yourself getting fields and duck ponds ready for the upcoming seasons, you definitely want to make sure you’re prepared to at least see a snake or two (hopefully from somewhat afar). Even a warm day during turkey season proved to give me the willies, thankful that I had on more than my usual flip-flops. Turns out, this past turkey season was probably the last good season I would get out of my old snake boots. Like anything else, over time, they wore out/began to dry rot, etc. and I began to tell that they were no longer waterproof. As luck [?] would have it, my dad and John were both in need of a new set of kicks as well. A little bit of searching later, and trusty ol’ Dad found these boots – comfortable, light-weight, cool enough for South Carolina spring/fall summer weather, and water-proof.

Now, on to the weekend. Rainy day or no, it was 4-wheeler time. We hopped on and headed out, snake boot clad and all.

I should preface – No, I did not get bitten by a snake. Nor did a snake strike at me. But damn if we didn’t see a big fat cotton mouth within 10 minutes of getting on the 4-wheeler. And when I say “saw,” I mean our tire missed him by about 6 inches. The only reason I saw him in the grass & reeds was because he had his big, white, fanged mouth wide open, just staring at us! Needless to say, I had a minor panic attack, which seemed to scare him enough to slither away before I came to my wits to get my phone out to snap a photo. This was the best I could do.

I haven’t seen a [poisonous] snake out there in ages. I mean, black snakes and little green ones, sure, but nothing like this guy. I know that doesn’t mean I haven’t walked right by one, of course, but I just found it so fitting that the first day I donned my new kicks was the first day we saw a snake that could do some serious damage. Yikes!

Well… That was my rant about snakes and snake boots. Bottom line – just go ahead and wear them. I know I will. As always, there was much more wildlife to be seen on our excursion. A few minutes later, we jumped some black-bellied whistling ducks. I’d never seen one before (that I know of), so that was really a treat.

Then, it was on to check the crab trap…

And finally, a nice roam through the woods to look at good spots for trail cams/stands for the upcoming deer season.

I promptly tripped over an old barbed-wire fence… Typical. Snake boots to the rescue, again!

Aaaand there she goes! This was one of probably 10 deer we saw throughout the woods. I love the rusty brown color they are this time of year, before their coats turn greyish brown for winter.