I ran into a hog nosed snake in TN a week ago. First experience for me interacting with that species... he coiled up, flared out his head, and put it up like some kind of cobra... honestly didn't know what we were dealing with for a min but let him slither off. The only other snake I encountered this season was a black racer.
Those are some of my favorite snakes. Neat little critters.
Years ago I ran into one while camping with my family and had the same reaction. First he tried to act like a rattler - but didn't have the hardware to pull it off. Then he tried to go eye-of-the-cobra on me by flattening his head, and when all of that failed he rolled over on his back and played dead. I was impressed. Finally, a fireman from the next site over came over and identified him. Afterwards, we all got bored and he went off to entertain the next group.
