My thoughts, pretty much in the following order, were :
1. I'm getting my gun (see, on topic!) - oh wait - that'd be followed by a police visit - bad idea.
2. Wow, that thing must be at least 3 feet long (what you see in the picture is about half of the snake, the other half is concealed in the grass).
3. That looks a lot like a copperhead.
4. Is that a hood?!??!
I wound up convincing it (with a long broom handle, barely visible in the picture) to relocate on the OTHER side of my backyard fence, which backs up to a field, which backs up to woods.
After talking to someone with a bit more knowledge than myself, they said it was probably an "Eastern Hognose", which as it turns out, is harmless.
I wound up finding a baby eastern hognose the next year - definitely confirmed that's what it was as it exhibited a trait specific to the eastern hognose - playing dead. I'm not kidding, it actually flips over on it's back with it's mouth hanging open. Best part is if you flip it back over (correct side UP), it'll flip itself BACK onto it's back to "prove" to you that it's really dead.
