I've never actually encountered this before so curious as to the legality. I was home for lunch today and let the dog out, a few minutes later he starts barking very loudly, which he hardly ever does. Walk out and there is a rattler curled up about 10 yards from him. I usher him inside and grab a shotgun, walk outside and it had went back into the vacant lot next to the house.

So...If/when this happens again, can I shoot the snake while it's on my property without getting cited? I don't really care about the citation, the next time it happens the snake will be shot, but just curious. Excuse my ignorance please.

why not get a shovel or a hoe?

Inside city limits?

Probably against some ordinance.

Outside the city, blast away.

Are you worried about the actual act of shooting the snake aka shooting a gun where you live , or more worried about the consequences of killing a rattlesnake?

Biggest worry is firing a shotgun in the neighborhood I guess.

Fishin Texas Aggie 05 said:

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why not get a shovel or a hoe?

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Because I hate rattlesnakes and don't want to get that close to it

Fishin Texas Aggie 05 said:

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why not get a shovel or a hoe?

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Right? Killed two rattlesnakes in city limits in this house.

Shovel is fine.

Country boys know to use a hoe for snake murder.

Get a pellet gun instead of a shotgun

rugger74 said:

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Country boys know to use a hoe for snake murder.

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I'm country but never wanted my snake murdered.

AgsMnn said:

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rugger74 said:

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Country boys know to use a hoe for snake murder.

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I'm country but never wanted my snake murdered.

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I'm not country and want any venomous snake in my yard to be murdered without any doubt or effort

schmellba99 said:

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Get a pellet gun instead of a shotgun

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Make sure it is a good one, killed a huge copperhead years ago with a pistol BB gun and it took like 5 hits before he stopped. I was like 10 at the time but from then on it was yard tools to take them down when they got into our yard.

What you're looking for is a suppressed .22.

Ok. I wasn't sure if you were in the city limits or if the rattler was a timber rattler which you are not allowed to kill. Thanks.

You'll most likely be cited, but if you feel like it's an imminent threat then do what you have to to protect you and your family and animals. But, like others said, use a hoe or a shovel and then you don't have to worry about it.

BAAAAMMM!!! What snake?

I had a rattlesnake come out last week while weed eating the back yard. I just popped it with the weed eater. I kill everyone I see around my house. Dog got hit two years ago and I think we have over 4K in saving that dog. Don't really want to do that again.

Don't know what kind of rattler it is but....Discharging a firearm inside a city limit and killing a timber rattler could be an expensive 0-2.

LostTexasBoy said:

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Ok. I wasn't sure if you were in the city limits or if the rattler was a timber rattler which you are not allowed to kill. Thanks.

You'll most likely be cited, but if you feel like it's an imminent threat then do what you have to to protect you and your family and animals. But, like others said, use a hoe or a shovel and then you don't have to worry about it.

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This is no longer the case... they have been removed from the protected list. I don't advocate killing timber rattlers, just clearing this up.

ehermantraut on snake watch:

This will do the trick, and not be the blast you are trying to avoid.

The women in Zambia typically use a stick to kill mambas, spitting cobras and puff adders.

The rattlesnake is not the issue. The real issue is firing a gun inside city limits. I would highly advise against firing a shotgun in your backyard, especially if you are in a real neighborhood. Depending on your city, this will likely be much more costly than just a "citation". I've seen this play out once in an old neighborhood- it was VERY ugly and expensive by the time it was all done.

Use a shovel or hoe, this is your best course of action. You don't risk getting in trouble or endangering anyone in the neighborhood. It's not like the snake can get anywhere near you if you are at the other end of a shovel. If you are uncomfortable with this, call animal control.

If you prefer to take care of it yourself- a good .22 pellet gun would be a safe bet. Or a silenced .22 with subsonic a rounds- because, well, any excuse is a good one to buy a new gun!

But- above all else- don't make posts on the internet indicating that you don't care about the repercussions and will do it anyway. That could come back and bite you worse than the snake.

Side note, I saw one of the golf course ground keepers kill a snake with a shot gun, walked over to it and it was a water snake. He thought it was a water moccasin. He said he has to take pictures of the snakes to show the maintenance head and all of them were water snakes. Now he no longer gets to kill snakes unless it is in potential direct harm of players.

P.U.T.U said:

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Side note, I saw one of the golf course ground keepers kill a snake with a shot gun, walked over to it and it was a water snake. He thought it was a water moccasin. He said he has to take pictures of the snakes to show the maintenance head and all of them were water snakes. Now he no longer gets to kill snakes unless it is in potential direct harm of players.

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He should have been following the snake threads

One-Eyed Fat Man said:

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The women in Zambia typically use a stick to kill mambas, spitting cobras and puff adders.

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OEFM just questioned OP's manhood. Suck it up buttercup.

Few years ago Christmas Day we were visiting in laws in cinco ranch. My pup Irish wolfhound decided to "play" with one of their chickens and basically scalped it's back off. Instead of just bopping it with a hammer I decided to I needed to pull the trigger on my 0.40.

There had been a lot of drinking already....

Sazerac said:

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Few years ago Christmas Day we were visiting in laws in cinco ranch. My pup Irish wolfhound decided to "play" with one of their chickens and basically scalped it's back off. Instead of just bopping it with a hammer I decided to I needed to pull the trigger on my 0.40.

There had been a lot of drinking already....

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I don't believe this story... not because of the gun shot but because you know someone that has chickens in Cinco Ranch and they haven't been bankrupted by the HOA.

Your profile says you're in Georgetown. If so, here's what the PD says (summary: get a shovel)...

https://georgetown.org/2016/01/15/weapons-use-rules-in-city-and-etj/

"With a few exceptions, it is unlawful for a person to discharge any firearm, air-powered weapon, archery device, or other weapon for any reason, including, but not limited to, hunting, sporting, target practice, or competition, within the city limits or within the city's extra-territorial jurisdiction, which extends up to 3.5 miles beyond city limits."

Shoot it and then go running out to the front of the house franticly looking around for where that loud noise came from and asking neighbors if they heard it too

ttha_aggie_09 said:

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P.U.T.U said:

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Side note, I saw one of the golf course ground keepers kill a snake with a shot gun, walked over to it and it was a water snake. He thought it was a water moccasin. He said he has to take pictures of the snakes to show the maintenance head and all of them were water snakes. Now he no longer gets to kill snakes unless it is in potential direct harm of players.

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He should have been following the snake threads

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Those threads are great but that last pic (that turned out to be a hognose) had mascara behind the eyes and I would have bet anything it was a cottonmouth. Love the threads but identifying those *******s is not something I'm good at.

Rattlesnake can strike a radius about half their length. So unless it's 10 feet long, a shovel should get him while you stay out of range.

Just make sure it's a rattler, not a bull snake.

Marauder Blue 6 said:

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What you're looking for is a suppressed .22.

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Bingo

AZAG08 said:

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Shoot it and then go running out to the front of the house franticly looking around for where that loud noise came from and asking neighbors if they heard it too

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Make sure to not take the shotgun with you.

FYI:

55% of snakebites are 17-27 yo men.
57% were handling the snake at the time.
28% were intoxicated.

I think there are several morals to stories in those stats.

I'll tell you a true story. I was in the ER at Tomball Hospital one night. A barefooted man and woman are led into a treatment area. I hear the man telling the nurse in a rather southern accent, "wellllll............she told me it was a coral snake before she done pick it up."

Here's your sign.

They lived against a green belt behind a school so got away with it for years. Basically no neighbors to complain.