A short walk along a Missouri lake turned into a medical emergency when 9-year-old Tucker Smith — fishing with his father while his family camped near Pomme de Terre Lake — asked to go a little farther and stepped on a copperhead, according to WBAY.
The frightening encounter sent him to two hospitals and serves as a stark reminder that even familiar family outings can change in an instant when people and wildlife cross paths.
Here's what to know
Tucker Smith was on a fishing trip with his father in September while the family camped at the Lightfoot campground near Pomme de Terre Lake when he stepped on a full-grown copperhead.
"I was walking, and I said, 'Dad, can I go a little bit farther?'" Tucker recalled. "Then I stepped on it, and it hit right here."
The bite was on Tucker's ankle.
"I said, 'Ow, I got bit,'" Tucker continued. "I was screaming super loud. It hurt."
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Inside the camper, Tucker's mother, Niki Smith, suddenly heard panicked screaming.
"I was still in the camper, and all I heard was like panic screaming, and I was like, 'What's going on?'" she recounted. "And he bangs on the door. He's like, 'He's been bit by a snake.'"
Doctors kept Tucker in the hospital overnight after the family first photographed the snake, took him to a hospital in Bolivar, and then, a few hours later, had him transferred to Mercy Hospital Springfield in Springfield, Missouri.
While there, medical staff monitored swelling in his foot and checked his blood work before deciding not to treat Tucker with antivenom.
At the time, his parents noted that Tucker was still not fully out of danger but continued to improve.
More background
Tucker's father, Zac Smith, explained that the family fishes regularly and had never encountered a snake before this happened.
"And I mean, he fishes the creek behind our house here, the pond, and never have we had an encounter with a snake," Zac Smith said. "So just, it goes to show it can happen anywhere."
According to Niki Smith, a nearby camping group stopped to pray for Tucker.
"They prayed for him on the lake," she said. "We came with a group of people, and they stopped like everybody before they went out and said a prayer for him. So he's loved. It was scary."
Where can I learn more?
Like Tucker Smith's ordeal, these stories show how quickly a routine day outdoors can turn into an emergency. They follow rescues and well-camouflaged snakes on trails.
• At Kansas' El Dorado State Park, a copperhead bite surprised responders unfamiliar with local sightings.
• On a Kentucky trail, a copperhead bit a hiker on the ankle half a mile in.
• In Shenandoah National Park, nearly invisible copperheads blended into the trail in a startling cluster.
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