Snake ID?

Anyone know what kind of snake it is? -Kurt Horsley

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Size? Location?

Looks like it could be a Texas Rat Snake.

Joplin

I hope you don't mind this short story.

When driving over the mountains between Ridgecrest and Bakersfield though the small town of Glenville, my friend and I encountered one of these snakes laying across the narrow road. The road was between some high grass meadows and the snake's tail was off one side of the road and its nose off the other side. The diameter of the snake could easily reach approx. 6 inches. It was the largest snake I've ever seen in the wild.

So we pulled over and got out of the car. My friend decided to pick up a 3ft long stick and approach the snake. I yelled to him that it didn't get that big by not having good instincts.

I'm a good distance back at the car and watched my friend approach the snake. I could actually see the snakes big eyes move toward my friend from the distance I was standing.

I'd say my friend got within 7-8 ft of this beast when it struck at him straight out, mouth wide open and only a foot and a half of tail staying on the ground. Its mouth almost made it to his neck and seeing the size of its mouth next to his neck I realized its wide open mouth was about the same size as his face.

My friend dropped the stick and ran back to the car. He couldn't speak for a minute. When he did he said "I'll never do that again"!!! I said, "Why do you think I stayed by the car"? Then I asked, "What's that smell"?

This is a true story my friends. Now I can't say for certain it was a Gopher Snake or a Bull Snake, but I wasn't going to get close to it to find out. Joe Conway