Copperheads are most active from spring to fall and late summer/early fall is the time of year that baby copperheads might be about. Be watchful and take a few precautions. Please wear high hiking boots, stay on established trails, and be conscious of your surroundings. Watch where you step, especially if you are stepping over a log or some stones. Do not reach into or around trees, logs, bushes, rocks, or any other possible hiding space.
Even though the copperhead does have the potential to inflict harm, it is, like most other snakes, nonaggressive. The copperhead will take a defensive posture only when directly threatened. The bite of a copperhead, while painful and capable of producing severe illness, rarely results in death.
The copperhead has a red, copper-colored head. The body is pinkish to gray-brown with a dark chestnut-colored hourglass-shaped pattern on the body. This pattern is narrow on top of the back and wider on portions of the side of the body. Like other venomous snakes, the copperhead has facial pits between its nostrils and eyes and elliptical pupils. Mature copperheads grow to 2-3 feet. It is one of three venomous snakes found in Ohio and is the most numerous and most frequently encountered of the three.
George Broughton, President of The Broughton Foundation, said, “We want to remind people that our trails are not city parks. This is a wildlife refuge, too. We have coyotes, and bobcats and water snakes, and while we keep the cross-country route and the multi-use trail mowed to keep down ticks, up in our wooded areas those single tracks can cross paths with animals.”
The Broughton Foundation manages and maintains local trail systems within the Broughton Nature and Wildlife Education Area and the Rudolph Family Park.
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