Need source for Cotton mouth skins

[South MS Bowhunter]

Anybody have a good source for Cotton Mouth skins?

[hill boy]

figured in missippi you took a flashlight down to the nearest slough and took your pick.  

[Rusty Snuffers]

As dry as it's been, you'd think my pond would have attracted more than the one I've managed to kill this year.  I've seen plenty water snakes but only the one cottonmouth so far.  I'm looking for copperheads myself.  If I happen to come across any moccasins, I'll snag em for you.

Rusty

[Swinestalker]

How big do you need them? I live in a swampy area near the Mississippi river and could probably round up a few. I don't think you're  real far from me either, I'm south of Natchez near the Ms/La line.

[Rusty Snuffers]

Keep a look-out for Copperheads too!    :D

24" of "fat" x2 would work for my TD.

[South MS Bowhunter]

I need a pair real quick for a Centaur that getting ready to be built.  Copperheads could interest me too.  Anybody know how long it take to dry one before being usable?

[LimBender]

They aren't too hard to find down here, but the main problem I had is they are almost always near or on water, so if you hit or wound em they usually go in the water and are lost.  Catching them around shallow water like ditches would work, which is how I got 1 this year that ended up being just a bit too small to use.

I've seen a fair amount of cottonmouths on Morrison bows.  I don't know if he would sell em, but it may be worth a try.

[pickaspot]

I am on vacation next week and have a lot of fishing on the agenda. We'll see if we can't round a few up for you. I know a young man who just might be up to the task (see avitar).

There is a creek nearby where we saw 7-8 last canoe trip       will take a .22 this weekend    

[Guru]

Originally posted by South MS Bowhunter:
I need a pair real quick for a Centaur that getting ready to be built.  Copperheads could interest me too.  Anybody know how long it take to dry one before being usable?

They can be skinned out, tacked down and dried in the sun in one day for thin skins.....then use the next day...

[South MS Bowhunter]

Thanks Curt!  So i need to make sure the flesh is off completely and just tack stretch it and let them dry?

[Rusty Snuffers]

When I skinned my son's bow, I pinned the skin scales-down and sprayed with Windex.  Was ready to use the next day.

Rusty

[South MS Bowhunter]

Rusty,

Any special way to skin them and how hard were they to get clean?

[Sixby]

Rusty, why did you spray with Windex, I was thinking when I read that that the wax could cause the glue to not hold good?
God bless you , Steve

[Rusty Snuffers]

I had read of using Windex in a post somewhere, can't remember where, though.  I didn't have any problems getting the glue to hold.

As for skinning them, you might want to wait until they're a bit more dead than when I did mine.  They were plenty dead thanks to the .22 hole in the head but I didn't wait very long before i started and the bodies squirmed a good bit.  I didn't have any meat on the skins to worry about and I'm not sure if that's because I did it so soon or if it's the nature of the skin.  Once you get it started, you can peel it off like a long sock until you get to near the end of the tail.  Then you can either turn it right-side-out or just use a pair of scissors to cut it right down the middle of the belly so it'll lay flat.

Rusty