In my area of Virginia, Copperheads are one of the few common venomous snakes around. They are generally harmless and don't bother humans, but we don't like them hanging around our house. Mostly because of incidences when, at a family gathering at my home when I was around 8, I was pondering around as the family was enjoying the yard and sun. Walking barefoot through the brush near the house, I looked up just in time to spot a copperhead, lying alert, in the exact spot my foot was poised to fall upon. That was pretty scary for a 8-year-old, and for the other adults around.
In the past we have only found about one copperhead on our property each year, but one season a few years back was different. Starting that spring, we started sighting copperheads much more common than usual. Dad's usual course was to kill them and put them in the freezer. We had several incidences that year where my sisters also almost stepped on a copperhead. So, with the many copperheads around, and my age, I was interested in putting a use to them. At first, I just wanted to keep a memento of them and kept the heads in a jar of alcohol.. Later I wanted to keep the bronze, patterned skins. So with Dad's advice, I learned how to skin and preserve them.
Skinning and Preserving Snake Skins
First, cut off the head. Be careful, because the snake can still move and bite even after death and removal of the head. Next, starting where the head was removed, cut the snake skin through the middle of the belly all the way to the tail. Next, peel back the skin all the way off the snake. This is usually a easy task. Next, tack the smake onto a board; don't wait or the skin will dry and shrink. Tack it at as close intervals as you are willing, or no more than a inch or less on smaller snakes in my experience. Wait until the skin is completely dry before removing it, and you will have preserved your bright, intricately patterned snakeskin for years to come. I have about 6 copperheads skins from that year, and that wasn't all of them. The only limitation to it's longevity is they tend to fade after a few years.
Skinning snakes takes almost no time at all. One time, at a friends birthday party, there was a dead copperhead they had killed laying around. Having a pocketknife with me, the only thing for me to do was show my friends how to skin one. It only took about a minute, but that's from a little experience. If you are really curious, cleaning them for eating isn't much harder. After removing the skin, just pull out the guts that are clinging below the ribs along the length of the snake and clean it off. Cook to your preference; even I don't have much experience cooking snakes. I would bet they taste good baked in a little chicken broth covered with spices.
Good Luck!
