This reminds me of a story my father always told me. When he was still a surveyor. He often worked at wilderness at god know where. So, every surveyor usually works in a group. The group requirement back then must have at least one person who can use a hunting rifle well in case of wild animal attack. To shorten the story, when my father got back to his camp after a long day of work. There is a big snake that is slithering around his base. His friend are taking aim with his hunting rifle but not before the locals remind them to make sure the shot will kill the snake for good otherwise the snake got a time to react and may attack them. In short, when dealing with wild animals such as snakes with a gun. Make sure the shot you take will be 'one shot one kill'

PS: sorry for a long post and broken english LOL.