Sorry, a deletion and typo on my part which made the story even a bit more entertaining.

We do have venomous snakes in this region, mainly copperheads so one must exercise caution when out in their environment. I'm not afraid of snakes and in fact really enjoyed my herp. class in grad school. I have also found myself eye-to-eye twice with these snakes and thus have great respect for them as well as all other snakes in this region. I