Here's a wikipedia picture of a copperhead. I find the very muted colors of mine to be much more typical of ones I've seen in the DC area, versus the brighter colors of this one. Maybe it's the lighting or something.
(Image removed from quote.)
When in AL visiting the in-laws, my father in-law took me golfing at the "Peninsula Club" and we were "paired up with a father and his son from Louisiana. I'll never forget driving down the cart path and my father in-law jumps asks me to stop the cart. He said, "that one looks like a 7-iron." I was confused as we were still about 100 yards or so from his ball, but he jumps out of the cart, grabs his seven iron and starts running for the fairway. He starts swinging wildly in a bludgeoning motion and the next thing I see is this snake trying desperately to escape, but alas, it was futile. The other guy gets out of his cart and goes over to assess the damage and said that it was a copperhead (my father in-law has killed a bunch of them in his yard in AL).
I'll never forget what the other guy said: "there's just no need for poisonous snakes in this world. It's not what God intended."
If there is a such thing as reincarnation, he better not hope to come back as a copperhead while my father in-law is still alive.
