do they have snakes in alaska dave?

Ditto, Homerdave.  And I was born and raised in some of the snakiest stuff you can imagine.  No reason to be scared of poisonous snakes -- respectful and cautious, yes.  They've all got a role to play.

I would never voluntarily kill a black snake or a kingsnake - they are gorgeous, beneficial, and generally cool to have around. The kingsnakes will help control your copperheads, so that's a bonus.  However I have picked up several roadkilled black snakes and prep them like any other snakeskin - skin, flesh with a spoon, staple to board flesh side up, air dry.

It is against the law to kill non-venomous snakes in some states. I think Geogia is one of those states. I get big Elaphe Obsoletas (black rat snakes) in our attic crawl space. We never have rats or squirrels up there. Heck, I don't even kill copperheads or rattlers, but then I like snakes. If you want rat snake skins, I suggest you stick to road kills.

Some species of snakes are also protected by federal law as endangered species, so even if your state law allows killing of snakes, you'ed better be sure of what species it is.

nope, no snakes up here. (though it is geographically possible that there are garter snakes the the extreme SE part of SE). but i was raised where there were snakes, and always had some as pets, up to and including several species of python and one lil' pacific rattler. caught a few other rattlers for fun, never killed one.

It should be mentioned also, that even POSESSION
of one of the endangered snake species could put you in trouble with the Feds, it dosn't make any difference if it was a roadkill or whatever.