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  • Super User
Posted

Two questions for the gang:

1. Does anyone carry a weapon (gun, rifle, etc.) on their boat for personal protection?

2. I am thinking of getting a "snake gun" for around my house and for the boat. Any suggestions?

I have never been in a situation where I felt threatened on the water. However, we all know funny things happen while boating and that is why I am asking you all for your feed back.

Thanks for your advice and guidance.

Posted

Up here in New England, snakes aren't a threat, so I don't need a gun for them. I go to the lake to get out of the city ( where I have a permit to carry)....I'm by no means anti-gun, but...when the day comes I feel the need to carry a gun on the water for personal protection, I'll cash everything in and retreat to a monastery in the Alps......

I encountered a few poisonous snakes in and around the water when I lived in Virginia....I always found that if they didn't move away from me first, a quiet retreat was the better part of valor.....I'm a good shot, but that's a pretty small target for a handgun, especially since they make my whole body quake like Jell-O. One of the few things I don't miss about living down South...

Posted

I Carry a .22, down here the snakes fall from the trees in the boat (that is not the time to shoot them) ;)the best snake protection is awarness really. I have only had to shoot a few, and that is because my lab would not leave them alone, and one cotten mouth that was having a real bad day I guess.  Long story short, a .38 will scare a snake off, but I doubt you will kill it. A rock tossed in it's direction will do the same. ;D

Posted

Or if you already have a pistol, you can just buy the "snake shot" shells for your current caliber of gun. That way you don't have to buy another gun. It shoots a wide pattern sand like shot good to about 10 ft range. I have a 40 cal, that I use when bird hunting in the desert. I would agree that avoidance would probably be the best but, sometimes the dogs don't always agree. ;)

  • Super User
Posted

I am a big fan of guns and other weapons, but I do NOT carry on a boat.

#1 I have never been and have never known anyone who has been accosted on the water. Perhaps threatened, but retreat has always been an option. I will not show a gun unless I plan to use it.

#2 Snakes can be dealt with with a stick, paddle or rock. I think you are just asking for trouble bringing a gun into play. I have had a couple occasions where I have had to deal with a big, aggressive water moccasin but it didn't require a gun.

#3 The question you should answer is this: Am I safer with or without a gun on board? However you answer should determine what you need to do.

Posted

1st of all it depend on how big your snake phobia is. Roadwarrior sounds like he can stay cool and beat the snake with a paddle. Others might need the gun to blow the snake to pieces before it gets close.

2nd of all it depends where you live and what kind of snakes. If you live in Florida, a gun might be handy especially bank fishing when there are big snakes. Just look at this picture...

051028_pythons.jpg

  • Super User
Posted

Big?

Dec.7 (Bloomberg) -- Brazilian wildlife officials captured a six-meter-long Anaconda that was resting on a farm in the southeastern state of Minas Gerais after it swallowed a 330 pound calf, BandNews channel reported.

The snake was motionless in a shed at the farm, digesting the calf when it was found, BandNews said. It took seven men to lift the snake onto a truck to remove it from the farm. The television station broadcast video of the speckled brown snake, its middle bulging from its meal, being hoisted into the truck.

The reptile expelled the dead calf during transportation and was released in the Parnaiba River after being examined, BandNews said.

So, if you plan to fish for peacock bass on the Parnaiba River, you'll probably want to have someone bring along a weapon. I would hate to kill a snake that big and that old, but I wouldn't like to get to close to it either.

Posted

The Texas Defender also by Bond Arms in 45LC/410 is on a little smaller frame and shorter barrel then the Snake Slayer. I've never have had to use one on a snake, but I wouldn't want to shoot one in the boat with it. I imagine it would mess snake, boat and possibly a foot, up pretty bad at close range. You might also look into a Snake Charmer II which is a compact, plastic stocked, stainless, single shot .410 if you want one to more or less keep it in there. We also carried a .22 quite abit at times. Rat shot would probably do the least amount of damage and used to come in several calibers, but I'm not sure it would always stop a large snake. I would try a hooked pole or paddle first, if that doesn't work use a fire extingisher. One thing to consider also is that you can't legally have a firearm or a rifle on "some" lakes, (at least here) in the boat.

It has been my experience that unless you injure or corner a water moccasin that they usually will try to get away from you if they can. Shooting one and not killing it is anouther story. They can get pretty nasty when hurt or you make them mad. We used to do alot of frog gigging at night from boats and often had snakes fall out of the trees along creeks banks. The only ones that really were a problem were the ones that were hurt or angered. We always tried to look pretty close before going under any lower limbs.

Posted
I Carry a .22, down here the snakes fall from the trees in the boat ;D

Snakes falling from trees? What else do you have down there? Flying spiders? I think I better stay up here in Maine and deal with the long cold winter.

  • Super User
Posted

I was glad that I had my 9mm with my one day. I was out on my jon boat one afternoon this summer and another boat came buzzing around the corner and rite up to where I was fishing. In the boat where two teenagers around 18 or 19 years old. They pulled rite up over my line and asked how the fishing was. I told them the it had been great untill the had stopped their boat right over my fish. The idled close to my boat and I heard the one ask the other "Does he have anything?" I relized what was going on so I reached in my tackle bag and placed my 9 on my lap. They cranked up and flew out of there. They weren't trying to catch any fish and I wasn't about to be a target.

Posted

If you are mainly interested in personal protection Mossberg makes several models of tactical shotguns and one that they call the Mariner.  It comes in all calibers includeing .410 and has a synthetic stock and what they call "Marinecoat" that is designed to protect against hummid envionments.

  • Super User
Posted
freshwater pirates? ARRRRR matey, ye shoulda shot 'em

Hoist 'em up till the gulls 'r done

Yea. They were trying real hard to see what was in my boat. They were so close to me that I could have hit them with my flipping rod. And on a 71,800 acre lake there is no reason to get that close. The funny thing was that this was the first time I carried my gun with me. I don't even know why I picked it up on my way out the door. I just did.

Posted

I have a 410 and a 20 ga. both with pistol grips and short barrels(legal though).They make excellent snake guns with a load of 7 1/2 or 6 shot.I don't carry them on the boat.I use a paddle,stick,whatever for snakes.I really don't have much trouble with snakes.When I first discovered that we had several big gators in my lake,I got kinda spooked and started taking a .44 magnum because I was mainly out there from 4:30 AM until.When you're on a lake by yourself at 4:30 and a gator that looks as long as your boat(a 14 ft. jon boat at the time),you will get a little spooked.Don't think the gun would've done much good from what I'm told.Now,I'm used to the gators(they've never really messed with me;maybe a little curious the first couple of times that I encountered them),I don't carry firearms on the boat.I do keep a piece in the glove comp. of the truck.I've had a few late night "snakes" follow me into the launch area at 3:30 or 4:00 AM.I don't think they were looking for directions.When they saw the .44 mag slid in the front of my jeans ,they made a hasty retreat.

  • Super User
Posted

For snakes, check out coldsteel.com, click on specialty items, then on sjamboks. I've used one for two years now. They are cheap, LEGAL, and very effective. Had to use it twice; once on a cottonmouth that "fell" into the boat, and once on a copperhead my wife caught on a 4" senko. Somebody earlier had the best advice. Just back away. Most snakes will not bother you if you don't bother them. Discretion is the beter part of valor. Unless the snake is in the boat with you. Then, maybe; excretion is the bitter part of valor.

Good luck to all,

GK

Posted

When I was fishing down in Louisiana this past October, one of my K-State friends pre-fished with a guy who had half an army's worth or weapons and artillery in the boat, he never asked him why he had it all, probably too scared.  One of my other friends was fishing with his partner way in the backwaters on the Red River and while they were fishing, a hunter came out and told them to leave and never come back or else he would shoot at them, he said he was hunting for dinner and was sick of boats chasing all the deer off.

  • Super User
Posted

Thanks to everyone for their input.  I sincerely appreciate the feedback.

I think I will not put a weapon on the boat.  I was taught in Viet Nam to shoot first and ask questions later but that does not work in the states.  Plus, I can't put a weapon in the dead guy's hand or on the ground by him if I am in my boat and then claim self-defense.

As for snakes, I will use the paddle while in the boat and a shovel around the house.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Posted

G,day

Guns in boats??? Come on boys there only legless lizards grab"em by the tail

and throw them overboard.

Crikey where"s Steve when you need him??

Cheers Stu

Posted
One of my other friends was fishing with his partner way in the backwaters on the Red River and while they were fishing, a hunter came out and told them to leave and never come back or else he would shoot at them, he said he was hunting for dinner and was sick of boats chasing all the deer off.

Does anyone else hear the dueling banjos? ;)

Posted

I hear em!!!!!!

the only weapon you might need is a dictionary of foul language....scare anybody away...

How about, " yo MF, like me to chew your ear in half"....."yo, want me to come aboard and consumate our relationship?"

no guns necessary....unless you happen to come acroos a deer swimming...even then, he'll probabnly be so tired, you could just strangle him...yum, yum, venison stew!

george.......one more Bud and I'm in bed!

  • Super User
Posted

RW is a wise man.

The whole idea of a boat is to keep the water out, and shooting at something inside a boat isn't going to that.        

  • Super User
Posted

I often have a carry gun on me when fishing... never felt threatened (at least in many years) on the water but have had some really scary stuff happen to or near me at secluded boat ramps.  I have a CHL so I normally have a gun on my person.  Since I carry nearly everyday anyway, it would be abnormal to "disarm" to go fishing.  

You have to be careful though, some water bodies are controlled by agencies that have serious firearms restrictions (read that as no gun, even if you have a permit to carry).

To each his own but one note of caution... please check your local laws, firearms offenses are very serious these days, as is trespassing with a firearm, which is what you can be charged with if you carry in a restricted area.

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