ChuckS Posted March 6, 2011 Share Posted March 6, 2011 We were on a hike at the Laguna Wilderness yesterday and it was snake day! Prior to this day, we had seen exactly one rattlesnake in the wild for all the years we have been here. It was near 80 degrees yesterday and I guess it was good sunbathing weather for the diamond back. We came across 2 snakes sunning themselves in the path. We then spotted something moving in the bush just off the trail. It turns out it was 2 rattlers performing their mating dance. Extremely cool. They didn't seem bothered by us voyeurs as long as we were not directly upwind. Don't see that every day! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The_Vigilante Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Any photos/movie of the mating dance? Oh, you didn't have your camera. Too bad-that would have been a cool video. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I don't like buzzers. I know they don't want anything to do with us, and would be content to let us go by, but sometimes there's just too damn many of us. Whenever possible, go up the trail first. First guy gets them excited, and the second one gets bit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bwana Six-Gun Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Completely off topic, but cooking up a batch of your chili. It will make jake no-shoulders run for the hills. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I was coming home from work one afternoon, driving through a heavily wooded area (read swamp, where I grew up), when we saw a deer running down the side of the paved road, with what looked to be a large walker hound running behind it, which isn't so strange in these parts. The closer we got, the more it looked like a goat, until we passed it, and realized it was a piebald deer. I've lived 42 years of my life in these swamps, and that is the first and only live specimen of a piebald I've ever seen. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Completely off topic, but cooking up a batch of your chili. It will make jake no-shoulders run for the hills. I agree. I tried fried rattlers on a stick at the Ft. Bend Co. Fairgrounds outside of Houston and later at the Mangum, OK roundup. Depending on the sauce/marinade, they're very tasty. ===================== I was out shooting yodel-dogs (coyotes) for bounty in OK once, and on the way back to the truck my buddy took me over to a huge hole in the ground. It was maybe 12' across and I couldn't see the bottom. Pitching a rock in made me think it was maybe 25' deep. While I was pondering the nature of it he showed me another hole of similar dimensions about 40' away. He then explained they were connected by a tunnel and it was the largest rattlesnake den in western Oklahoma (!). I nearly soiled myself getting back from the edge. As he began to get control over his laughter he pointed out it was winter and any inhabitants were in hibernation. He swore before God-Almighty that back in his highschool days, he and some other boys were there out drinking one night (underage, of course, and certainly full of piss and vinegar). On a bet, one of them crawled down one of the shafts and through the tunnel, saying, "They're too cold to be bothered, as long as you stay to the side where the layer of bodies is thin". It took the guy about 45 minutes, but he collected the money. I wasn't there and can't confirm, but I believe Lynn was telling the truth. I guess you had to be there. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I was coming home from work one afternoon, driving through a heavily wooded area (read swamp, where I grew up), when we saw a deer running down the side of the paved road, with what looked to be a large walker hound running behind it, which isn't so strange in these parts. The closer we got, the more it looked like a goat, until we passed it, and realized it was a piebald deer. I've lived 42 years of my life in these swamps, and that is the first and only live specimen of a piebald I've ever seen. That is rare. You were lucky. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GrumpyOne Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 I was coming home from work one afternoon, driving through a heavily wooded area (read swamp, where I grew up), when we saw a deer running down the side of the paved road, with what looked to be a large walker hound running behind it, which isn't so strange in these parts. The closer we got, the more it looked like a goat, until we passed it, and realized it was a piebald deer. I've lived 42 years of my life in these swamps, and that is the first and only live specimen of a piebald I've ever seen. That is rare. You were lucky. And it was the first one I'd ever seen, stuffed, live , dead or anything...I had to look it up on the internet when I got home, that's the only way I know that they are called "piebald". Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Any photos/movie of the mating dance? Oh, you didn't have your camera. Too bad-that would have been a cool video. The only reason we saw this is because we didn't pack the camera! We did beat the odds on Catalina Island a few weeks ago. We saw one of the Catalina Foxes and managed to get a pic. Normally, that's don't work! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JakeMartens Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 hate snakes, evil bastards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SiG Lady Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Spotting rattlers is like spotting a spaceship full of Reavers....... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ima45dv8 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 We had one honey-hole where we'd fish that required us to bring two lawn chairs. One would face uprange and the other downrange. It made for a nice conversational arrangement, but not without a price. One would fish while the other drank beer and used a Ruger Mini-14 to keep the bastards at bay. After a while we'd switch and the other would fish. At that hole I actually preferred not fishing (more beer ). (shudder!) I never did see them mate. That would have been very cool... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GentlemanJim Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Its the last day for every poisonous snake I find. all others get a pass. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul Santiago Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 hate snakes, evil bastards baaahh!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChuckS Posted March 7, 2011 Author Share Posted March 7, 2011 Ya know, I like reptiles. It's people that scare me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
outerlimits Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 We have a couple of bald eagles that come every spring to hang out by our lakes. Damn those things are big. They fly with little effort, and fast. Beautiful to watch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Singlestack Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 Ya know, I like reptiles. It's people that scare me +1 At least with snakes, you know what you are dealing with. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
carter300 Posted March 7, 2011 Share Posted March 7, 2011 We have a couple of bald eagles that come every spring to hang out by our lakes. Damn those things are big. They fly with little effort, and fast. Beautiful to watch. My 1st ever Spring gobbler season, heard one, and was looking for, found it in dead tree, bout 75 yards away, how could I NOT see it, it was HUGE. My jaw hurt from just looking at the beautiful beast. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D.Hayden Posted March 8, 2011 Share Posted March 8, 2011 We have a couple of bald eagles that come every spring to hang out by our lakes. Damn those things are big. They fly with little effort, and fast. Beautiful to watch. We have 3 or 4 that live down the road. They often fly by the front yard, spooking up the geese and huns (Hungarian partridge) in the field. It's so easy to spot them right now in the trees, without the leaves.. they seems to have just come back in the last 2-3 weeks.. or they were better hidden last month. Coming back from the store last Saturday - we saw 6 without much effort. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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