Out with a bang: Snakes culled during East Carroll Parish Snake Rodeo

A non-venomous diamondback water snake swims along the bank near Byerly Boat Landing in Lake Providence in East Carroll Parish on Saturday. Steven George, a biologist for the Army Corps of Engineers who is based in Vickburg, estimated that participants would kill approximately 200 diamondback water snakes during the day. They are the most common type of water snake in Lake Providence.

Water sprays from a shot fired by T.J. O'Neal at a snake floating under a cypress tree in Lake Providence on Saturday. Participants were only allowed to use light load shotguns for safety reasons.

A dead snake lies coiled in a net after T.J. O'Neal shot its head off during the annual East Carroll Parish Snake Rodeo on Lake Providence on Saturday, May 21, 2016. It was the first snake O'Neal had shot and been able to retrieve. He had shot three but two sank underwater before he could net them. Snakes sink quickly after they have been shot so participants must scoop them up with a net right away. Retrieving the snakes after they have been shot is the hardest part of the snake rodeo, said Wayne Parker, an agent with the Department of Wildlife and Fisheries said.

T.J. O'Neal picks up a dead snake by the tail during the annual East Carroll Parish Snake Rode on Saturday.

T.J. O'Neal drops a snake he shot during the East Carroll Parish Snake Rodeo on Lake Providence into an orange bucket he and his rodeo teammates were using to collect the snakes they killed on Saturday. O'Neal and his teammates had shot only one snake by early afternoon.