That picture is good enough for a definitive identification. Your snake is a juvenile black rat snake or juvenile gray rat snake. Oak snake is the common local name for gray rat snakes. Juvenile black rat snakes and gray rat snakes both look like gray rat snakes and the gray rat snake maintains its pattern throughout its life while black rat snakes lose their distinctive patterning and become all black with a white underside as they age and get larger. Given your location in northeast Georgia it is more likely to be a juvenile black rat snake or an intergrade between the black and gray rat snake. In any rate it is most definitely a rat snake. They are harmless.

This appears to be a copperhead. Dont let the dull colors fool you as I have killed many that looked just like that and at first I was confused but it was confirmed. They are abundant in Brazoria county and when I lived at Demi John I had the misfortune of dealing with many of them. Rarely will you find one over 2' lg and if it had a triangular head then that would confirm it. Nasty little snake can crawl under short grass and you will never see them. Keep you yard mowed short as the shorter the grass the less they like it.

I'll never forget my little run in with a snake. I went downstairs to do some laundry and found a garter snake on the floor. It totally creeped me out. I just hate snakes. Especially when you see them where you shouldn't. It was mid January in MN! We ended up with a few in the basement that winter. They were coming in through cracks in the foundation/cement block wall. My husband made up a little noose on a pole(kind of like what the dogcatcher would use to grab an animal. Of course, while he was out of town I found another snake. I had to force myself to use the pole and nab the snake. But I was so freaked out that instead of just tossing the snake out the basement window, I let the entire contraption fly. Good thing I didn't need to use the pole again because I wasn't going anywhere near that snake again-even if it was now a snake popsicle! That spring my husband made sure he sealed even the tiniest cracks in the foundation and that seems to have done the trick. Thank goodness.

Sorry-I rushed to post it because snakes in my garage freak me out! I took the pictures in the dark with my cell phone, so they're not the best.