Serpent Surprise

 There are many rituals associated with hunting and getting ready for hunting season. One of the more important rituals is attending to your gear and equipment prior to opening day. Nothing ruins an outing more than a pair of waders that have a hole about which you were unaware or a duck boat with broken oar-locks or a waterfowl guns that jams or a broken zipper on a vest or coat.

One of my rituals finds me at the duck hunting club at least a week or two before opening day making sure my duck hunting boat is safe and serviceable.I remove the 25 HP motor from the rack in the locked shed,mount the motor on the 14 foot aluminum boat and check the tires on the trailer. This ritual also includes safely disposing of any old fuel in the gas tank and filling with fresh gas and fuel stabilzer, replacing the spark plug and making sure the cord on the pull start is not frayed. I then fire her up and launch for a quick pre-season shake down cruise.

This Wednesday as I performed this ritual I was treated to an arrhythmia inducing shock. I had just removed the engine cowl to attach the fuel line when I notice something move and heard a slight hiss. I peered over the chamber and saw this fellow had taken up residence in my motor and was apparently planning on hibernating in the motor compartment. This shocked the not out of me and my buddy said I jumped 10 feet back from a flat- footed standstill.

After regaining composure , I nudged this "viper" from it's lair, and then grabbed the tail and gently flung him into the tall grass behind the shed. Hopefully he will eat a few dozen field mice before he hibernates and the mice assault the Clubhouse as the weather cools.