FWIW, I've spent many time in a canoe, floating down a bayou, looking at
Cotton mouths. Whether my tale is flavored by that memory (as you suggest)
or whether my recollection of what a fat cotton mouth, vs. a water snake
suggests, is moot. I've been in the canoe shooting the cotton mouths with a
..22 pistol, and having them charge the canoe with enough energy that we
needed to chop them with paddles.

Well, Susan, it's best to trust your books of what somebody says. I can
never prove my tale, so let's just leave it with your refutation.

--

Tom Gauldin, Las Vegas NV
NEW EMAIL
NEW PHONE (702) 263-8804 voice/fax

"Susan Hogarth" wrote in message
news
Tom Gauldin wrote:

Dunno, Susan.

As I suspected ;-)

These were two 30", fat, snakes with black skin hanging
around in a downed tree over the water. One fell out of the tree and
began swimming toward me, prompting the Jesus interpretation of walking
on
water. When I finished with them, it'd take DNA analysis to even
determine
the species, but I always considered them to be cotton mouths.

Yes, it certainly makes for a more interesting story.

Cottonmouths are generally wary around humans (according to the source I
mentioned earlier - I don't have any direct experience of them), but the
water snakes can be quite agressive and crotchety (according to my husband
who *is* a smake fan, and to our personal experience).