sorry about the photo quality

That is a Cottonmouth. They are venomous, but not really dangerous or aggressive in any way. All the stories about their aggressive nature are urban legends and old wive's tails.
They are actually slow and sluggish and probably the least likely to bite of all of our venomous snakes.

Thanks FHFchrish,
it really was sluggish, wrapped up like a Ball Python, and never showed me it's mouth at all.

We walked past, about a foot away, it never even moved until I hollered at my buddy. I understand they get stepped on a lot.

David

Most of the Cottonmouths I've encountered do the "Ball Python" thing, too. I did a photo shoot a few years ago with a huge female Cotton that was freshly-caught by a friend of mine. She'd do the mouth-gape thing, but I wanted to try to get a video of a strike. She refused to cooperate, and just tucked her head underneath her body and coiled into a compact ball when the mouth-gape failed to scare us away.

Most snake bites happen from people walking along with their brains disengaged and not paying attention and stepping on the snake (I would bite too!), or getting too close and scaring it (snakes do not bite due to "being mad"), or "messing with it", when leaving it alone would be the best bet. Thanks for leaving it alone!

Alex