Rendezvous

slenon wrote:I don't do snakes but at least I can smell copperheads.
Big Dale

They do have a distinctive smell, don't they. The Ozarks, where I went to
Scout Camps were chock full of them

Most years there were about 50 scouts and in a week we would kill a couple
hundred of them. Those were just the ones that happened to get too close to us
for comfort. I doubt if much has changed in that respect since the 1950's.

Big Dale

"Brimbum" wrote in message
...
slenon wrote:....copperheads.

Most years there were about 50 scouts and in a week we would kill a
couple
hundred of them. Those were just the ones that happened to get too
close to us
for comfort. I doubt if much has changed in that respect since the
1950's.

Big Dale

Despite dire warnings about poisonous snakes from the locals in every
place I've gone where they are known to exist in significant numbers,
there are exactly two places where I've encountered live ones. One
was on a trail at the 2000 Spring Fling clave....a copperhead. The
other place was a youth ranch on the Ozark plateau near Black, MO.
There, we would see about one a week on average.....also copperheads.
Don't know whether this indicates a decline in the population
throughout the region or some local peculiarity. We (well, some of
us, anyway) actively discouraged the kids from killing them.

Wolfgang

Wolfgang wrote:

We (well, some of
us, anyway) actively discouraged the kids from killing them.


It appears you never lived in east, north, or central Texas as well as any
other state that surrounds it. The only snakes that ever bother me are
copperheads, water mocasins, rattlesnakes, oh, I almost the coral snakes that
lived in our back yard where I grew up as a kid. It is seldom when you get
around water that you can go for an hour without seeing a poisionus snake. I
once watched a kid in Lubbock bait fishing and the bait was baby rattlesnakes.
The damn things are everywhere, I saw a copperhead in the back yard yesterday.

Big Dale

Most years there were about 50 scouts and in a week we would kill a couple
hundred of them. Those were just the ones that happened to get too close to
us
for comfort. I doubt if much has changed in that respect since the 1950's.
Big Dale

We ran about 200 campers per week. In an average week we probably saw a
similar number of copperheads. One of those camps is now under a new
highway. The other, that I helped carve out and construct, remains open but
is rarely used as it is considered too rough and unimproved for the program
today.

----
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

Despite dire warnings about poisonous snakes from the locals in every
place I've gone where they are known to exist in significant numbers,
there are exactly two places where I've encountered live ones.

The snakes will usually avoid contact if possible. The time of year and
amount or rainfall affect their concentration. So does the amount of human
activity involving food scraps that draw mice and other small rodents.
Clean campsites usually have less visits from snakes if they are not
situated near denning or sunning areas. Human encroachment into snake
habitat does lead to more encounters. New subdivisions in rocky and/or
wooded areas often experience large numbers of sightings.

Your failure to encounter the serpents in question may also involve your
vision and their protective camouflage. Copperheads in dead leaves are
damnably hard to see.

----
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

Ionce watched a kid in Lubbock bait fishing and the bait was baby
rattlesnakes.
The damn things are everywhere, I saw a copperhead in the back yard
yesterday.
Big Dale

Did the kid catch anything on the bellworms? And do you have a pattern for
the fly?

----
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

Steve wrote:snipWe ran about 200 campers per week. In an average week we
probably saw a
similar number of copperheads. One of those camps is now under a new
highway.

Ours was a little more basic. We hired a flatbed truck to haul us up to the
woods in Arkansas and they threw us off the truck and we camped for a week. Not
much organization, but we had a hell of a lot of fun. Once every few years we
got away without blasting as fast as we could on gravel roads the 30 miles to
the nearest hospital. That old 57 Dodge the scoutmaster had could haul ass on
those roads.

Big Dale

Stev wrote:Did the kid catch anything on the bellworms? And do you have a
pattern for
the fly?


He had about a 3.5 pound bass in a bucket and no I don't have a pattern for the
fly. You would have to spin a hell of a lot of deer hair for that one.

Big Dale

Ours was a little more basic. We hired a flatbed truck to haul us up to the
woods in Arkansas and they threw us off the truck and we camped for a week.
Not
much organization, but we had a hell of a lot of fun. snipThat old 57
Dodge the scoutmaster had could haul ass on
those roads.
Big Dale

The program was a lot more fun in those days. I can recall lashing together
towers that were 30-40 feet high and all sorts of things that are no longer
politically correct or legally advisable. I stayed in the program until 18
then did another ten years as an adult volunteer in the '80's. By that time
insurance restrictions and lowered recruiting ages had substantially changed
the program.

Are you talking about NW AR?

----
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm

He had about a 3.5 pound bass in a bucket and no I don't have a pattern for
the
fly. You would have to spin a hell of a lot of deer hair for that one.
Big Dale

Well, those bucketmouths will eat damned near anything. Who knows if
they're affected by rattler venom?

As for pattern, maybe one of those long sal****er eels with several fly
rattles at the end. Something to conjecture with. I don't have a rod that
will throw that.
----
Stev Lenon 91B20 '68-'69
Drowning flies to Darkstar

http://web.tampabay.rr.com/stevglo/i...age92kword.htm