Georgia Gardening: Snake ID Needed, 1 by weeding

weeding wrote:
I went out today to fertilize my veggies. I heard my dog Max really barking but then he stopped. I did not think anything of it since he barks at chipmunks and squirrels. I saw that some of my tree collards needed to be tied again to there stakes. I started around one of my veggie beds to tie one of the collards and nearly jumped out of my skin. There was this 4ft plus snake tangled up in the bird netting that I had around my squash and zucchini. I was surprised that Max had stopped barking. The snake must have just gotten tangled because I had just walked up near that area to get my chair and did not see it. It could have been my walking in the area that drove it into the netting. I immediately went for the large garden hoe and started chopping. I thought it was a copperhead. After killing it I started thinking that it might have been a rat snake. Although I don't like killing non-poisonous snakes I really don't want to stand in front of a 41/2 foot snake that looks like a copperhead and trying to decide if it is one. It wasn't the fact that it was a snake that made me jump as I had a very large black non-poisonous snake that use to hang around the front yard. And the 4ft plus garden snake that I had to get out of my house in 2013. It was the large patterns on the snake that made me jump. I need to really start looking around before I start walking thru the garden.
Can anyone ID it.