Lots of folks noodle. You can even get a guide. Lots of urban legends out there about that sport.Between the bodies, snapping turtles, and cottonmouths you guys are making me rethink this one
Don’t poke hands into holes where fresh cut limbs are around. (Beaver den),you will see snakes, they are more scared of you than you are of them. Snakes don’t attack unless provoked.
The biggest thing to fear is a blue cat on a nest.
They are aggressive and will bite. My first blue was taken from the fender well of an old car in the Arkansas river. When it bit, I hurt myself much more than the scrape the cat left when I trashed my arm on the rusty metal of that car.
Some heavy duty rated latex gloves from harbor freight would be what I’d wear when noodling.