Hey G-Dog
That's one scary encounter you had there - I would not like to have been in that precarious situation and I think you handled it immensely well - probably the best way possible actually, you got out untagged!
While I like snakes now, I am still not sure that I'd want to be a full time snake catcher, it's a good business but it comes with a huge amount of risk and while I did it for many years, that was a long time ago now, I don't think my reflexes are quite as sharp now lol, so I agree, rather just avoid them if possible.
Hope your hikes going forward are snakey-bastardless - but not a bad idea adding your protective gear.
Cheers
Andy
Thanks andrastia, I don't always react to things well, I'm human after all, but in this case I was pretty happy with the thought process and speed of it which ran through the possible actions and outcomes rapidly, and then I acted. It was not a good situation for me and didn't help my distaste for snakes. Bastards.
I'll hike again today and hope to see none...But first I'm off to the range to shoot.
Happy weekend to you. May you devour many Chomps.