I live in the East Bay in Cali out in the sticks, and I have gophers, mice, rats, wasps, yellowjackets, hornets, snakes, and boar.
Over the years I've dispatched ONLY the rattlers. Just killed one three days ago that was in my garage. My dogs sleep in my garage in wire pens, so we were lucky they'd been let out before the bastard got in.
Killed it with .22 mag snakeshot, then completed the double tap outside the garage with an 870 and some of Federal's best birdshot
I value my dogs and the little ones of family more than the snakes. I WILL kill one if I come across it. We've managed to reduce the amount of snakes by killing off their food with rat and mice poison, and either burning out or poisoning the gophers.
870 is still the best snake control for the outdoors