Since snakes are relatively slow moving creatures I am not sure how they get so widely distrubuted around south. Mississippi has countless farm ponds from a fraction of an acre to 5 acres or so. Practically everyone one of them has snakes, lots of them cottonmouths. If there is a aluminum boat overturned on the banks, it's almost guaranteed to have a snake under it. Cottonmouths are not shy snakes, I had two leave separate spots opposite the point where I was slinging hardware and converge on the point, it was vacant when they arrived.

I go to church with a guy who is a native of Detroit, he formerly had a customer in the MS Delta. He’s a fun guy and responded well to the usually kidding a guys with a northern accent gets in the deep South. He listened to all the tells about snakes, snapping turtles, grabbling, etc. and took it for what he thought it was worth. They invited him to go catching bullfrogs. They did it by leaning way out the bow of the jon boat grabbing the frog and tossing it to their buddy in the back, who put it in a cooler. After watch a couple he decided to give it a try. He spotted his first frog, leaned out of the boat as far as he could reach, when he heard the crack of a .22 rifle behind him.

“What was THAT?”

“Well, I had to shot that snake on the limb above your head.”

He was done for the evening and I don’t think he has been frog hunting since. Married a Southern girls and has stayed down here however.