Into The Briar Patch

One evening at camp, I saw a line of guys running towards the tent cabin. I, of course, did the only logical thing one can do when seeing a bunch of people sprinting in a general direction. I joined them. This was the evening John Lightfoot threw himself under the tent cabin into briars to catch a snake.

The snake was less than happy about it. He spent a good amount of time making angry hissing sounds.

I was briefly worried that John had caught a rattlesnake. I don't think he would have actually caught it if it had been. At a glance, I find that gopher snakes and rattlesnakes have similar coloring. Their markings aren't wildly different either.

With a rattlesnake, you can't always look for the rattle. It is possible for a rattlesnake to lose theirs.

I always look at the head. A gopher snake's head is more of an oval while a rattlesnake's head is more of a triangle.