five foot rattlesnake in driveway around 9:30 tonight. kids rang doorbell to let me know. go for help. snake coiled up on front door mat and i couldn't get back into house. neighbors and i (watched) caught and beheaded snake. have picture of dead snake, but don't know how to post (only adds to my computer illiteracy). cops (two ??? ) showed up later upset that snake was already dead. they then couldn't determine whose patrol car to put dead snake in for prank....learned neighborhood built on old farmland and that this is the fifth snake caught and killed within three houses around mine. time to buy a shotgun!! woo hoo!!!

Clint, I just use ratshot in my 357 for snakes... it is alot easier.. every other round is ratshot just in case I miss

may I suggest a .410... that actually is why the .410 is the only shotgun sized in caliber instead of gauge.. .410 (same size shell as shotgun) used to be a pistol round filled with shot for use against snakes. it later became popular as a shotgun round...

getting a pump shotgun from dad since he doesn't use it. going to double check with home owners association though. wouldn't it be cool to be outside, water hose in one hand, beer in the other, and shotgun at my side.

AAAHHH home owner's association.. doubt they'll sign off on it when they can't even sign off on a paint color aside from white. or did you get lucky and get the fabled "laxed" home owners association?

i may not be able to get gutters without permission , but everybody around me can landscape, put trees in, and put up flags without home owners permission. also, wife and i no have kids, but the five houses around us there are about 16 . they all play in the street and everybody's yard (even mine ). i'd rather shoot a rattlesnake rather than one of the brats get bit (if brat gets bit in my yard, i'm responsible, I'M SUED). however.....if i clip a brat, no more trespassing.......

That's why I bought an older house in a neighborhood with NO HOA

Don't even kid about someone getting bitten! A rattler bit me in 1987, and I still am numb in the immediate forearm area. I was bent over a truck cap picking it up, and the snake was under the cap. It lunged at me, bit my forearm above the wrist, and when I stood up it came up with me wrapping around my arm! I had to take it by the head and take it off my arm. Anyway, 4 days in the hospital....all kinds of pain and one operation. I'm in the woods all the time since I was a kid..but still it happened in an instant. The best snake in my yard is a dead one......

buck, reread post. no joking about getting bit by rattlesnake. joked about shotgun and clipping kid and shooting one , but not getting bit by one. just stating a fact about getting sued. someone trespass and drowns in your swimming pool, lawsuit, you lose. it has happened. burglars have have been shot or wounded in a robbery, sued home owners and won. rather get fined from killing a rattlesnake than a lawsuit. cheaper . cya.