Weekly Update Archive

Week Ending 05/17/04

This past weekend marked the opening of Gray-Band season -- at least for me. My web mistress accompanied me on this first trip of the year. We left Houston a little later than I would have liked due to my work schedule but we were able to make it to Del Rio by 12:00 a.m. We were actively "hunting" by 12:30. The weather was not conducive to collecting snakes at all. We hunted very slowly as far as the first picnic area on 277. The reports were one D.O.R. Longnose for the whole night, or at least up to that time. The time was now around 3:00 a.m. We met some Herpers from Tucson and ran into John Wisser and his friend Micah. About all we got accomplished was drinking beer and bullsh*tting at the rest area. Hey...it was THAT slow.

Saturday, we drove across to Mexico and had lunch at Crosby's. It was packed with Americanos as usual. After lunch and my required margaritas, we were off to do some day hiking and collecting. We hiked all around the South S-curves off Juno Road. All we found was a lucky horseshoe and a little antler shed from a spike whitetail deer. Was the "lucky" horseshoe a precursor as to what was to come??? (I think so!)

After hiking the S-curves, we took the shortcut dirt road over to Pandale paved (F.M. 1024) and headed to visit Okie and Vivian Grimm. I sure do miss their BBQ they used to fix back in the day. On the way, we saw this 3.5-4 ft. Atrox. I could not resist photographing her at ground level. I asked Meridith if she had ever seen a whiteboy bounce straight up into the air just in case the snake decided to bolt toward me. The snake behaved in true Atrox fashion as you can see, and after our picture session, we moved on. Another snake we saw on the way was a red phase coachwhip. Again, in typical coachwhip fashion, he was gone before we could stop the vehicle. Sorry, no pics available for that one!

We hunted Langtry dirt back to highway 90 and saw nothing. The winds were high and the temperature was dropping fast. We hunted some cuts into Sanderson, but not all. We saw no more snakes this night. After checking in at the Outback Oasis Motel (where all dedicated Herpers should stay), we decided to crash as the night was pretty much lost. I was too tired to go out, not to mention the winds were 15-20 MPH, and the temp was about 65 degrees or thereabouts. It was time to rest up for Sunday night.

After breakfast and a good night's sleep, me, Meridith and Roy (proprietor of the Outback) went down and hiked Deer Canyon. We hiked the North section which I have never been down before. I was looking for a dinosaur print that had been left in the rocks over millions of years. I could never find it, but we did see interesting patterns in the rock from that time period. We saw no snakes, only lizards and plenty of cactus barbs in our legs. Well, at least mine. I decided to drive as far as I could towards Mexico on the dirt road leading from Deer Canyon. We saw 3 more nice canyons that would be good to hunt at night, but I can tell you, as cool as the temperatures were, this was not the night for that.

When we got back, it was time for a short nap, then dinner. Ruth fixed a great chicken dinner with pablano peppers and some extra fixins. Thanks a million, Ruth! That was very sweet! What more can a Herper ask for? A great meal and a great room with a microwave, fridge and TV, (hint: WEATHER CHANNEL). The low was predicted to be 62 degrees, and I thought if we get an Alterna, it's going to be real real early. The wind was still blowing 15-20 MPH at sundown, but we cruised anyway. Roy once again would ride with us.

We started heading East of Sanderson, spotlighting and checking the cuts carefully. We got 10 miles out where the road began to drop into the canyon, then we made a U-turn. We now began to collect the inbound side of 90 back toward Sanderson. I pointed out to Meridith and Roy where I had collected Alterna in the past. As we approached the cut 5 miles out of town, I began to tell the story of another Alterna I had collected at that spot just two years ago. That was the last Alterna I had collected. After we passed that cut, Meridith was spotlighting out the back window, as Roy and I looked ahead. I trained my eyes to the ground and saw a dark snake laying on the pavement dangerously close to where a vehicle's tires would be zipping down the highway. Roy exclaimed, "Is that an Alterna"? I said, "Yes sir, I do believe it is!!!!!" As I opened the door to check with the spotlight, sure enough! An 18 inch male Sanderson Alterna!!!! As the light hit upon the snake, the snake bolted! I jumped for the snake and promptly took a plug out of my right knee. As I grabbed the snake, the "spuke" began to fly and the Alterna clamped down on my hand chewing ferociously several times. Then, it was all over. I had my first Alterna of the year, and to my knowledge…the only person to have caught an Alterna this weekend in the county and the surrounding "Alterna counties". Ironically, he was found in just about the same spot as the female from 2 years ago. I no longer have that snake, but do have a captive born female (F1) that I will promptly hook up for locality breeding.

Locality data is as follows: Winds 10-15 MPH, 76 degrees, 44% humidity, collected at 8:24 P.M. Later that night, we saw a D.O. R. Longnose at the West cuts of Sanderson. This would be it for the weekend.

I feel very fortunate to have found this snake. I was in the right place at the right time. Sometimes that's all it takes. I will be returning again this coming weekend!!

Rock on Herpers!!!!

Wayne Howell
May 17, 2004

Opening Weekend for
West Texas Snake Hunting

The horseshoe that brought me luck on Sunday nite!