Bullsnake Rescue

The largest snake found in Montana is the bullsnake (sometimes referred to as a gophersnake).  Bullsnakes commonly range between three and five feet in length.  Many people consider them beneficial because they subsist largely by hunting and eating rodents.

My neighbor, Kevin, and I are protective of our local bullsnake population.  For several years we made certain a five- or six-foot snake living along our lakeshore remained unmolested by anyone visiting us.

The other day, on a drive to town, I found a rather beefy-looking four-foot bullsnake stretched out on the road, sunning.  The snake did not move when I swerved around him and stopped.  I immediately realized the next car might unwittingly or purposely run over him.

When I trotted back to shoo the snake of the road, the snake coiled up and hissed, sounding somewhat like a rattler, a common defense mechanism for bullsnakes.

The snake displayed zero interest in leaving the road and struck in my direction a couple times.  After a lot of space dancing and poking around the snake on my part, I failed to inspire any movement.

I next went hunting for a long stick to use for nudging the snake off the road.  Eventually, I pried a dead branch from a nearby flourish of sagebrush.  Using the branch, I shoveled the snake off the road and nudged it partway down an embankment.

I am hoping the snake will stay clear of the road for the rest of the season.

The Bullsnake Standing its Ground the Road

On the Embankment After Release

—Mitchell Hegman