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Things you were not expecting in the dip net

Started by Guest_JohnO_* , Nov 16 2008 05:45 PM

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58 replies to this topic

#41 Guest_dmarkley_*

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Posted 26 November 2008 - 11:31 AM

I'm sorry, but I dont really understand what you are contradicting. I have zero experiences with Northern watersnakes, so I cannot comment on them. I have only run into Cottonmouths and Banded watersnakes.

Sorry, I misread your post. But obviously your watersnakes are more even tempered than ours!

Dean

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#42 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 06:24 PM

I've gotta contradict you Uncle Willie. I've been run out of quite a few streams by aggressive Northerns. They don't seem to care that I am six feet and they are only two. Come to think of it, I don't care either and I go the opposite way!

I think what the other poster was saying, and I can vouch from many bloody experiences, Nerodia sipoden will bite aggressively and effectively if grabbed. Given the choice they will flee. In fact, they are quite hard to catch. If you do manage to get ahold of one, be prepared to shed some blood. :twisted:

I have heard of rare cases where cottonmouths will be aggressive but by and large, they do not deserve their fearsome reputation. It's a shame really, in many places in the rural south all dark colored snakes found near water are killed out of hand as cottonmouths. None of them deserve it, including the actual cottonmouths.
Having said that, cottonmouths do have a potent venom and blend in well with their surroundings. In cotton country always look carefully where you put your feet and hands. The snakes you see may startle you but it's the ones that you don't see you should be concerned with. :wink:

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#43 Guest_nativeplanter_*

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 06:54 PM

. In cotton country always look carefully where you put your feet and hands. The snakes you see may startle you but it's the ones that you don't see you should be concerned with.

This is exactly true. The places to look out for are brush piles, sunny rocks on cool days, under/against logs, and similar places. The basic rule is to never put your feet or hands where you can't see where they're going. The exception to this, of course, is tall grass, where you can't see what's in front of you. But I've been through a lot of tall wetland grass, and have never been too close for comfort. You make a lot of noise as you swish through the grass. If in doubt, you can also carry a long stick to poke around ahead of you. I sometimes use my field auger to that effect.

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#44 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 06:56 PM

I got tagged by a very pretty, moderate-sized (ca. 26-28" TL) Nerodia sipedon pleuralis just yesterday; he was creeping along the edge of a spring run. I didn't expect to see any more snakes this year, but Thanksgiving was warm enough to bring them out. I also saw a midland brownsnake and a smooth earthsnake. Being me, I couldn't help but pick them all up, of course.

Like Mike said, Nerodia tend to flee. But if you do grab or corner one, expect to be bitten savagely, smeared with a particularly vile and potent musk (only ringnecks are nastier-smelling IMO) and, if the snake has anything in its digestive tract, expect to find that on you as well. The only thing nastier than their musk is the half-digested sunfish they heave up. Oh, and their saliva has anticoagulant properties, so expect to bleed freely.

I always train my assistants by making them handle a big Nerodia. It's a character-building experience!

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#45 Guest_fundulus_*

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Posted 28 November 2008 - 08:25 PM

So Newt, I have to ask, why grab a Nerodia in the first place? You very eloquently describe the usual outcome.

I used to spend summers at my grandmother's farm outside of Meridian, MS. Two of her employees had a serious thing about snakes, any snakes we encountered along the Chunkee River on the edge of her property would be shot at using .38's. When my brother and I pointed out that most of the snakes killed this way were water snakes, not cottonmouths, we were treated like total morons. That was an valuable lesson that many adults were total dolts.

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#46 Guest_Newt_*

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Posted 29 November 2008 - 06:37 PM

I'm a very tactile person, I guess. That may be why I got into herpetology in the first place; it's more 'hands-on' than most disciplines.

When my brother lived Oklahoma City he told me about how his friends spent a lot of time shooting "water moccasins" (he probably was shooting them too, but omitted that fact to spare my feelings). I told him there weren't any cottonmouths in central OK and his friends were probably shooting plainbelly watersnakes; I somehow doubt it made much difference.

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#47 Guest_tadpoleboy_*

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Posted 11 December 2008 - 08:37 PM

i caught a ninja turtle. Literally, a toy ninja turtle. Ive also found loads of change, a few arcade tokens, shoes, beer cans, and a dead bloated coon.

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#48 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 23 December 2008 - 04:01 PM

This was a real treat, I drove over an hour to come to this area, and when I got there....

turkeyfeet.jpg 51.19KB 4 downloads

Turkey feet! Lots and lots of turkey feet!

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#49 Guest_Irate Mormon_*

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Posted 23 December 2008 - 08:52 PM

Turkey feet! Lots and lots of turkey feet!

Man, what a score! Beats the pig I found under a bridge. The meat didn't hold together well enough to make fried chops, but the SAUSAGE!! Boy Howdy. Sadly the hide was too ruined to make cracklins. I never found the snout either :-(

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#50 Michael Wolfe

Board of Directors

North Georgia, Oconee River Drainage

Posted 23 December 2008 - 09:24 PM

Turkey feet! Lots and lots of turkey feet!

Must be some really big pickerel around there! Eat the bird, spit out the feet!

Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing. - Benjamin Franklin

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#51 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 24 December 2008 - 01:23 AM

Man, what a score! Beats the pig I found under a bridge. The meat didn't hold together well enough to make fried chops, but the SAUSAGE!! Boy Howdy. Sadly the hide was too ruined to make cracklins. I never found the snout either

Every time I say "boy howdy" around here people look at me like I have two heads!
By the way, I've heard the feet of the bird make the best broth.

-Thom

P.S. Too bad about the cracklins.

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#52 Guest_mikez_*

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Posted 24 December 2008 - 01:23 PM

Haven't turned up anything more interesting than the occasional turtle in my nets but I did flip this critter from under a board while looking for snakes.

Posted Image

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#53 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 24 December 2008 - 03:58 PM

Haven't turned up anything more interesting than the occasional turtle in my nets but I did flip this critter from under a board while looking for snakes.

What the.....I think that belongs in the species ID section.

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#54 Guest_smilingfrog_*

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Posted 30 December 2008 - 04:43 AM

Haven't turned up anything more interesting than the occasional turtle in my nets but I did flip this critter from under a board while looking for snakes.

Cool find. You could put that in a garden to frighten away rabbits and small children. :biggrin:

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#55 Guest_reivertom_*

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Posted 15 January 2009 - 01:55 PM

Once while creek fishing my buddy snagged a large soft shell mud turtle right on the little snout that sticks out of the water. We had to whack off the very tip to set him free after trying everything else. I also came across two very large hellbenders once whlie wade fishing in Kinniconick Creek in Lewis Co., KY. They were not too worried about me being there so I looked them over closely. Strange looking critters!

I seined in a small pond in a remote wooded area once and caught hundreds of eastern newts. Thats all their was save a few crawdads. I kept a few for a while, but turned them loose later. It really surprized me how many there were in that little pond.

Edited by reivertom, 15 January 2009 - 02:05 PM.

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#56 Guest_rjmtx_*

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Posted 15 January 2009 - 02:24 PM

We just got done with three rounds of sampling 33 sites on tribs of the Lower Brazos, so we had all kinds of strange finds. Here's a list of what was once less-than-expected, and is now all-too-familiar: Meth labs, dead dogs, executed dogs, dead dogs in plastic, dead dogs in coats, dead dogs in carpets, dead pigs, cars (VW Bug to Peterbilt) growing out of the banks, dead goats, dead kittens, enough appliances to fill countless mansions (of the doublewide variety), a linoleum bridge made out of mobile home floors that spanned an oxbow lake, boxcar, thousands of houseplant pots, chain gangs, and more meth labs.

I've seen lots of gross stuff in the field, but the one that had the biggest effect on me was a driver's license right next to a used tampon at a site we visited weekly on the Pedernales. It just hit me wrong.

A lot of my sampling experiences up to this point have been more rural, so it was very telling to visit sites frequented by people over the course of the year. At this point, the crew is ready for just about anything.

I love the Lower Brazos, but always come home feeling a little dirty.

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#57 Guest_jblaylock_*

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Posted 07 March 2009 - 11:50 AM

Here's a story of things you didn't think you'd find.

Yesterday, Gus and I went to a small creek that feeds into Silver Creek, which is a tributary to the KY River. We made one pass with a seine through a deep pool and pulled up a HUGE 4inch Northern Studfish. This was a big male with full colors showing. I couldn't believe it. We did not find any more studfish, just this one. I really wanted to keep it, but it was so big. I didn't really know what to do, but turn it loose. I figure it will eventually die because it can't reproduce. Somebody must have turned it loose after keeping it.

I know the range of the studfish comes close to Madison county in Kentucky, but not finding any others really makes me think that it was placed there.

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#58 Guest_truf_*

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Posted 08 March 2009 - 05:04 PM

Here's a story of things you didn't think you'd find.

Yesterday, Gus and I went to a small creek that feeds into Silver Creek, which is a tributary to the KY River. We made one pass with a seine through a deep pool and pulled up a HUGE 4inch Northern Studfish. This was a big male with full colors showing. I couldn't believe it. We did not find any more studfish, just this one. I really wanted to keep it, but it was so big. I didn't really know what to do, but turn it loose. I figure it will eventually die because it can't reproduce. Somebody must have turned it loose after keeping it.

I know the range of the studfish comes close to Madison county in Kentucky, but not finding any others really makes me think that it was placed there.

I found a few at John Swift's in the Gorge. They really spread..... We have them up here in SW Ohio in the Little Miami from South of Xenia all the way down to the Ohio River.

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#59 Guest_RedBeard_*

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Posted 13 March 2009 - 04:07 PM

30 guns! That is bizzarre. And quite scary. I can't imagine how many of those were used in crimes that had not been reported.

I would imagine some would have been used in a poaching incident and they tossed them out once the game warden got on their tail. But that is just a guess.