I once had one in my carport and almost stepped on it, it didn’t move, ran around to the front door to get my husband and by then it had moved to the back door. They don’t scare and they will go after you! I watch where I walk, especially at night.
We just got back from taking the dog swimming and scooted out of there once it got dark, there is a copper head that hangs out on the bank.
I’ve had a lot of close calls with snakes and tend to give them the benefit of the doubt most of the time. There have been so many times they could have struck me and didn’t that it seems their attitude is really centered on defense and self-preservation.
But they do provoke easily, and you certainly can’t tolerate them around kids and animals.
We went to play tennis one afternoon and a copperhead had staked out the tennis court to get some warmth. When we tried to sweep it off the court, it became very aggressive. I was pretty much forced to kill it, if we were going to get to hit some tennis balls.
We lived across the street from a major river, lots of trees and a golf course. It was snake country.