I usually don't have a problem with them.....they are usually only 3.5 to 4 feet. They keep the mice population down but these big dudes were inside the pens and eating my quail...."homey don't play that"!

they kill rattlesnakes too but lately I've been finding rattlers in my pens too!

they don't bother my quail, they are only after the mice. They don't bother my grown pheasants either. Although, a Copperhead did strike one of my Eillot males a couple of years ago, he lost his leg at the knee joint.