Spring time in Texas

[froggy]

Thought everyone would enjoy this article from the Abilene newspaper about the Sweetwater rattlesnake roundup:

"Rattler at round-up neared record
By LLuvia Mares / maresl@reporternews.com
March 13, 2006

Most people run away when they see a rattlesnake, but more than 30,000 people made their way to Sweetwater over the weekend just to catch a glimpse of the critters.

The Sweetwater Jaycees put on the 48th annual Rattlesnake Round-Up in the Nolan County Coliseum. The round-up bills itself as the world's largest and has continued growing since 1958.

Richard Ferguson, KXOX 96.7FM announcer, said this year the round-up netted 13,542 pounds of live Western diamondback rattlesnakes - the fourth largest total in round-up history.

That figure compared to last year's 10,212 pounds. Total pounds caught in the round-up's 48 years is 284,152.

The round-up was conceived by a group of ranchers in an effort to get rid of snakes that raised havoc with their livestock, according to a Rattlesnake Round-Up news release.

At this year's version, 41 snake-hunting teams scavenged the area in search of the biggest, meanest, and heaviest rattlesnakes around.

The victors of the hunt were the Cliff Seekers team, which captured a total of 1,456 pounds of rattlesnakes. Second place went to HLH with 1,422 pounds. Steve Rives came in third with 1,392 pounds. All teams got a cash prize and trophies.

This year's largest snake measured 6 feet 8 inches and was captured by Eric Tomaus. The length fell an inch short of setting a record for largest rattlesnake captured in the round-up's history.

The weekend event launched on Thursday with the Miss Snake Charmer beauty pageant and the Rattlesnake Review Parade. Sara Warren, a student at Colorado High School, was named Miss Snake Charmer.

Spectators not only got to see rattlesnakes up close, they also learned how to handle and milk them, too.

And, for the adventurous, a fried rattlesnake-eating contest was held. Sammy Sanchez beat nine others to take the title. The amount that Sanchez ate was not available Sunday.

BY THE NUMBERS

13,542 - pounds of live Western diamondback rattlesnakes captured this year - fourth largest total in round-up history

10,212 - pounds caught in 2005

48 - years the round-up has existed

284,152 - total pounds of rattlesnakes in 48 years

17,986 - most pounds captured in one year (1982)

16,086 - second largest round-up (1986)

15,053 - third largest round-up (1983)"

 

[RickS]

I dislike snakes, and I hate rattlesnakes. The only good rattler is a dead rattler! /forums/images/graemlins/mad.gif I know all about how they keep the ecosystem in check, but that doesn't make me like them. /forums/images/graemlins/tongue.gif You could not drag me to a snake roundup of any kind. However, I do appreciate all the snakes that are caught, so the Rattlesnake Roundup folks have my thanks. /forums/images/graemlins/grin.gif Vile serpents.

 

[froggy]

Here is another interesting story about finding rattlesnakes under a 10'x10' pallet in Abilene this Spring:

web page

 

[3RRL]

WOW, that is a creepy story. We're trying to do our part. Killed one rattler at the homesite while clearing up. I've got kids and dogs and don't want to bitten myself either. Here's a picture of my son Matt last weekend with the first rattler of the season. It's only a 3-½ footer but has 10 rattles. Even though he shot it and crushed it's head I told him to be careful. But he just had to pick it up for the picture. Guess you're bullit proof when you're young?

 

[Gringo_Viejo]

I'm with you Rick. If the last rattlesnake on the face of the earth crawled in front of me I would delight in blowing his head off. Just yesterday a truck driver delivering hay to us asked if we had a lot of viboras (Tex-Mex for rattlesnake). I told him that I hadn't seen one in nearly two years. He said that there was a rattler under every sunflower where they had been cutting hay. He also told me that May was their breeding season, so that was another reason they were so thick. I have lived in Texas all my life, but I didn't know that.

Then this morning my dogs were barking their heads off. I yelled out the office window for them to cool it, but they kept on. I finally went to the front door to see what they were after. They were about five or six feet behind a chain link fence, and I didn't see anything. I figured that they were barking at a cat, so I told them to shut up again and leave the cats alone. When they kept it up I decided that this was their,"Something's out here and you better come take care of it", bark. I walked out onto the circular driveway, and when I rounded the corner I saw a BIG rattler coiled up, rattling, head up looking for an opportunity to hit the dogs. It took another three or four minutes to get in and get a gun safe open, get a pistol loaded with snake shot, and get back to the snake. I had to walk around him to get in a position to shoot him in the head and not take a chance of hitting one of the dogs. That snake was so intent on the dogs that he never even looked at me.

After I shot the snake and cut his head off, I took it around back to skin and clean it. The dogs continued to give it a wide berth, and the Lab wouldn't even come into the house until I had the snake washed, packaged, in the freezer, and the kitchen floor mopped from where some blood had dripped when I carried the snake in. I told the dogs how proud I was of them. The German Shepherd has been through snake conditioning, but the Lab was not old enough then, and the opportunity has not presented itself again. To the best of my knowledge that was the first rattlesnake the Lab had ever seen, but she was even more wary than the Shepherd. That sure makes me more comfortable about the dogs. They usually run up to explore anything they see, and it has been over two years since The Shepherd's snake conditioning. Fortunately our little Maltese was in the house, or she would have been in the snake's face. All three dogs have had rattle snake vaccinations, but I really don't think the old Maltese would survive a bite from a snake that size.

In any event, all's well that ends well. I got a wake-up call (I'm waiting for another load of hay this afternoon, and guess who's got snake boots on); and I'm a lot more confident about the dogs.