Kyle’s News & Reviews In Agriculture
By Kyle Jeffreys
I guess we are back in a rainy stretch of weather for the next few days. Last week I had 2.3 inches in the rain gauge at the Multi-purpose Building and Monday morning I emptied out another 1.9 inches from the Sunday rains. If you are a fisherman you should be happy because there certainly is plenty of water to fish in, for the rest of us we are ready to dry out.
Last week I was out on a landowner’s property to check the alkalinity levels in his lake and saw the first snake of the season, it was a black racer or similar, and it was moving good. Hopefully that will be the only one I see this year. As an adult male I am not scared of much, but lightning and snakes top the list. Over the years I have had close calls with both and can only say that God was with me several times.
One time I was turkey hunting in the Yocona River bottom around Taylor and happened upon a cottonmouth. I am not one of these people that is so afraid of a snake that I must kill it just because it is a snake. In general, if I can see a snake at a distance, I let it go if it is not aggressive, because whether you like it or not, snakes are very important in keeping the numbers of mice and rats in check.
That morning on the Yocona river I was watching a couple of long beards out in a field and decided that I needed to try and get in front of them, so I got down in a drainage ditch to move. First mistake, never get in a small drainage ditch to move on a turkey, never the less I was moving down this ditch very slowly.
The ditch was not deep enough for me to stand up to walk so I had to move in a bent over fashion while watching the turkeys. I was using my left hand to balance while holding my gun with my right hand. I placed my left hand down on what I thought was a pile of leaves, instead it was on a coiled-up cottonmouth with his mouth wide open. I briefly saw my life flash before my eyes, while my heart leaped into my throat, I calmly stepped back and promptly walked past the turkeys to my truck and drove home to change my pants. The only way I can describe it is when you are driving along the road and almost have a wreck, you get so flushed you can feel the blood running up to your head and immediately start to sweat.
A Private Applicators Class is scheduled Monday April 22, at 1 p.m. at the Multi-purpose building in Coffeeville. This class is required for those seeking to purchase and apply restricted use pesticides. The registration fee for the class is $20. Please call the Extension office at 662-675-2730 to reserve your spot.
