Herping Reminiscences
A Collection of Herping Memories
by
Joey Holmes

The last Saturday of September, 1979, some friends and I had the chance to herp Jasper County a few days after Hurricane David. We had precious few hours but did rather well I think. We caught a Canebrake Rattlesnake on the way to get breakfast in Ridgeland. Later, we found Black Racers, a large Cottonmouth up north of town, several watersnakes, an Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake on the Tilman Road, and to cap off the evening, a Southern Copperhead. I'll always remember catching 2 species of rattlesnake, copperhead, and cottonmouth in the same day and in the same county. Not bad for a 17 year old and his friends. I also fell off the tailgate of the truck and got scuffed up a bit (good thing we were not going too fast).

I remember a warm April weekend in 1980. Some friends and I were in Jasper county herping. We had been told to go to a place south of Hardeeville where the landowner would welcome us to snake hunt. We found the place, were shown the outlay of the area, and told the rules: take no Eastern Kingsnakes. We hunted that afternoon and again the next morning. Our findings were not bad. We caught 2 Scarlet Kingsnakes, 1 Eastern King, 1 Black Eastern Hognose, and 1 Yellow Ratsnake; we did not stop to catch Anoles, Ground Skinks, Fencle Lizards, and Black Racers.

The best catches were mine. I flipped a rusty auto-tractor gas tank in a trashed area off a dirt road. There was a rust hole in the tank, about the size of my outstretched hand. Through the hole I saw and heard a fairly large snake moving. I sent in the hook and yanked out a section of snake I was not immediately familiar with. I could tell it was not one of the venomous species from that area, so I grabbed it and pulled it out. With it in hand, I instantly realized I had just caught my first Florida Pine Snake!

Later while flipping some tin (this place had lots of tin) I uncovered a Hispid Cotton Rat. His escape route went by another piece of not yet turned tin. As I watched him run away (beside this other piece of tin) a bright orange flash shot from under the edge of the tin and snatched the rat. The rat was gone! From under that tin we could hear squeals as the rat's life was ending. I had to move a couple of limbs prior to flipping that piece, but when I got it over I picked up one of the best corn snakes I've ever seen! A 5-foot male with great orange colors! Later that year I caught one about that same size, and got another in 1996. All three were about the same size and color. No others have come close.

I had a great trip to Tampa in 1993. I had been asked to go to an Academic Conference my company was having to talk about "experiential classes" like my wildlife science stuff. I would then take some academic instructors out herping. The academic coordinator from PWI went with me. We drove down and checked in.

The next day the coordinator went to sessions while I went herping to scout locations to take the group that I would have. I found some places down in the Parrish area and out on the Little Manatee River. I caught my first Pine Woods Snake and a Black Racer. I drifted and wandered. About 40-50 miles southeast of Tampa, I stopped to check an abandoned house site. I rolled over an old clothes dryer at the edge of the woods and a big snake boiled out and slithered into the grass. I made a pin with the hook and the rear half of the big, dark snake spiraled up around the shaft of my hook. I did not know exactly what it was yet, but I knew it wasn't one of the venomous snakes native to that area. It was certainly not a Coral, Cottonmouth, Pygmy, or Diamondback Rattlesnake. I pulled the front of the snake out of the grass. When it swung free it came towards me with its mouth open. I saw its jaws were burgundy. Its neck was vertically flattened and its tail vibrated. Its overall color was black with a bluish pre-shed look. It was an EASTERN INDIGO!! I dropped him and stepped back. He's protected! Grabbing my cheap camera, I did get a few pictures of the beast before it retreated into the tall grass by the old clothes dryer.

The next day the sessions went fine. I took 4 ladies out to a turf/cattle farm and we caught a Rough Green Snake and a Black Racer.

The last day's sessions would be out at noon and we would be able to leave then. So I had a few hours to go out again. I went north into Pasco County and caught a small Peninsula Ribbon Snake under a barrel lid in a junkyard. Returning to town, I checked out and hit the road for home. Almost back to Jacksonville, we made a stop at an old bar on the side of the road. Some brush and tin were next to it in a field. I went into the field and reached for the corner of a piece of tin to turn it. Suddenly, I realized that on the edge of the tin, coiled in a ball that would fit in a coffee cup was a small Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnake. I almost put my hand right on it. I have only ever seen one other juvenile, back in 1979. My traveling partner wouldn't come over into the brush to see it. I took it to him. Even then, he didn't get close enough to see it well! Some people!

Again in 1996 I was asked to go to home office in Tampa to work on outdoors curriculum for the company. It was around the 3rd weekend in March. We had been having some warm and wet weather across much of the south. I was a bit out of sorts. My Father had died suddenly just about 3 weeks earlier. I was not up to a drive like that but had no choice.

On the way down, things started looking up. I took a break in Jasper County at Hardeeville, just below the fabled Okeetee Club property. I got a cup of coffee in a gas station by the exit ramp. As travelers do, I walked for a minute to stretch my legs. I walked behind the gas station. I turned a couple of bits of rubbish, some boxes, a barrel lid, and scraps of plywood, typical stuff as is found behind gas stations. Over next to the fence (that theoretically keeps deer and dogs off the interstate) was a scrap of tarpaper. I have seldom found anything under tarpaper, but this piece was about the size of a bathtub. I turned it and my eyes fixed on a big Corn Snake! 5 feet or darn close! He was pre-shed and not very pretty, but I knew he would be as soon as he got that old epidermis off. He has since been my primary breeder male and has passed his genes on many times.

More driving. At least now I was a bit happier. I got to the junction of I-10 and 301 over on the west side of Duvall County, FL. Behind that gas station was a large Eastern Garter Snake. Ugly, but a snake.

I moved on down and passed a spot where I had found the Eastern Diamondback in 1993. It had been cleared. A few hundred yards more and there was an old house on the right. I stopped. It looked as if the tin had been arranged by snake hunters. It was laid out so neatly. I checked several pieces and found a Southern Toad. The last piece, I turned from the end. Right by me was a Racer. At the other end, was a Corn Snake! I stepped right by the Racer, grabbed the corn, turned quickly, and grabbed the Racer. Then quickly released the Racer to give my full attention to my newest prize. A female, about the size of a 94 hatchling I had back at the Institute. She had a bright future as a breeder also.

Work in Tampa went fine. Several people were scheduled to come, but I was the only one who showed up! I agreed with everything I said and the meeting/work went quickly. A front had moved in and it was too cold to hunt. I turned the wheels north and headed home.

I stopped at Tom Crutchfield's place but saw nothing I wanted to buy. Alas, but that would be my last visit to that fine establishment. They closed up some months later. Up between Gainsville and Jacksonville, near the locations of the Diamondback in '93 and the Corn and Racer on this trip down, I made a stop. Searching through roadside rubbish, I found a nice female Dusky Pygmy Rattler under an old car/truck seat that was lying on the ground.

It was still a long, lonely trip. By stopping to hunt along the way, I can usually turn a 5-hour drive into 10. The trip did improve somewhat above my original expectations, and it sure helps if I can also find a few good snakes along the way.

In the early part of '97, I had the good luck to catch all three Cottonmouth subspecies: Western in Cheatham County, TN; Eastern in the Congaree of SC; and the Florida down in Live Oak, near the junction of I-10 and I-75. I also caught a Canebrake in Fargo, GA; a Copperhead locally; and a Coral in Live Oak. This was all 4 of the American venomous snakes as described by the Boy Scouts and first aid books within a month! In Big Game hunting circles they would call this some sort of SLAM. Perhaps I should refer to it as a Hot Herp Slam! Reckon a name like that would stick?

This story begins on another trip for the institute. It was April 1997 and I had been sent to a camp/conference center in north-central Florida, near the junctions of I-10 and I-75. The sessions would take a week, and the location was beautiful and remote. The cabins (I said it was a camp) were surrounded by stately Live Oaks, dripping with Spanish Moss (and Green Anoles), and overlooking a very pretty lake. The lake was spring fed and held all the Green Treefrogs, Bronze Frogs, Pig Frogs, and Florida Cricket Frogs you could desire. The land was graced by Southern Toads, Fence Lizards, Ground Skinks, and, in open areas, Six-lined Racerunners. I was primed for excitement!

I had some firsts. I found some nice female Florida Softshell Turtles, up away from the water to lay eggs. I had seen others, even got my hand on one once, but never "caught" one. I got my first Little Grass Frog (they are little indeed!). I found a Dwarf Salamander. I had never seen that one before.

There were also the expected Gopher Tortoises. They always seem to look as if they know the great truths of the universe. I enjoy seeing them and their burrows. Plus, the anticipation of finding a big Diamondback near the entrance surely makes the heart beat!

As the week went on, I became concerned about the lack of snakes. On the third day there I asked one of the camp's groundskeepers where to look. I had been down every road and trail I could find, after meals and on every break. This fellow suggested an area in the woods, near a great meadow where they had once had a facility for horses. Sounded good to me! I walked over there after lunch and promptly caught a Racer! Minutes later raking through an old bale of hay, I found a nice little female Corn Snake. She looked very much like a "Miami" phase; yet only 75 miles east I had caught a very red corn the previous year. I was feeling more optimistic.

The next morning broke with a downpour. A real heavy rain and thunderstorm. I parked at the lodge where sessions were held, but when lunch came, other cars had blocked in my truck. Oh well, I walked to the dining hall and ate quickly. The sky was still gray, but the rain had stopped.

The truck was a bit out of the way, so I didn't bother to go to it for the snake hooks (and the snake bite kit: the EXTRACTOR). Setting out on foot I was at the old stable in a couple of minutes. With shorts and tennis shoes on, I very slowly and carefully walked in the woods and brush. My eyes locked in disbelief! Eastern Coralsnake! On the ground, right in front of me! It seems almost as if we made eye contact. It did seem to spot me and instantly turned and bolted. I had no stick! I had to do something! I stepped right on him with my right foot to hold him down! I looked around. No sticks on the ground anywhere nearby, and the coral was thrashing like crazy under my foot. I found a twig, and, checking carefully, decided that the end on the right side of my foot was the tail. It had been balling his tail up into a little knot and waving it around. Meanwhile, it was burrowing into the leaves and soil with its head. Quite deceiving. Anyway, I got a grip on the tail and moved my foot away. When I pulled the head clear of the leaves, I planned to toss the snake clear of the woods onto the grassy meadow where I could work with it. It almost made it but hit a tiny limb, fell to the ground, and burrowed instantly out of site. I grabbed a better stick and started digging. Got it unearthed and tossed it again, this time into the open. On the grass it crawled quickly back towards the forest. I got in front of it and held the bag open (I always have a bag). It missed the bag a time or two but finally went in. When the knot was tied, I could hardly stand!

My knees were weak. I was sweaty and my heart was pounding! I had just caught the snake-of-a-lifetime, the deadliest snake of my herping career, without a snake stick! I swear I was high on adrenaline the rest of the trip! I have since learned that you are supposed to "tail" Coralsnakes, but at that time it was not something I was wanting to do.

I found more stuff on that trip: another Racer, a nice big male Broadhead Skink, and felt a rush of wind as a Red-Shouldered Hawk buzzed my head (I guess I got to close to the nest?). But nothing, nothing, came close to the rush of finally finding and catching my first Coralsnake.

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