Snake Magnet?

Last week, I took this shot of a 3 foot gopher snake. I also got a nice video of it, plus another smaller gopher snake and a ring-necked snake while out on my hike. All in all, I ended up seeing 4 snakes that day and because I've encountered other snakes in the past couple of weeks, I've been dubbed the snake magnet and several people had indicated that they don't want to hike with me because I attract snakes.

Now a little background is probably in order here. I've always been fascinated by snakes and wanted to have one as a pet when I was younger, but because my mother was deathly afraid of snakes, I never could. While teaching, a teaching friend of mine offered up his daughter's snake to me. She had gone off to college and he didn't want to take care of it, so he gave it to me for my science classroom. It was a beautiful corn snake that I had for about 10 years.

Now I encounter snakes in the wild, probably because during warmer months, I ALWAYS scan 10 to 15 feet ahead on the trail. I don't want to step on one, so I think I'm possibly more observant than the average hiker. And here's something else to think about. If you see lizards on the trail, there are snakes active as well, you just haven't discovered them yet. So the question is, would you rather hike with someone who is observant of snakes and spots them from 10 feet off, or would you rather encounter a snake from 10 inches? The choice is yours, but I'm always willing to hike with you.