The end of august I road cruised this juvenile black rat snake with my dad in cass co mo, It was very refreshing to find, being the only time I road cruised this year.
insitu
Fall is one of my favorite seasons, It started out very nice in September, I made a trip to eastern Kansas and found a few syspila, other things found but not photo’d were a few prairie ring necks, a copperhead shed, and some skinks. It was refreshing to get back to Kansas; I hadn’t hunted there for many years, looking forward to visiting a lot of my old spots next spring. I had forgotten how unpredictable the fall season could be.
Here are the two syspila I found
This juvenile male was found first
2 rocks over I found this beautiful female
insitu
There were lots of these plants scattered about
I also found these hatched L.t.syspila eggs
In Mo. I made several after work trips to various locations around the Kansas City area. Things were going good till it got dry, and dryer, and drought conditions set in. But I still was able to find some good things before it got too dry.
I found this T.s.parietalis outside my back patio; I quickly noticed she was stuck,
It took sometime but I got her free, she was bitey until she realized I was helping her. I blocked the whole with a brick to prevent any future situations.
Here are a few things I found in Jackson co. Mo
young prairie king and adult ringnecks in situ
Seen a lot of ornate box turtles
under rocks
and on the prowl
of course lots of five lined skinks
not so many worm or ring necks though
this toad was also from Jackson co
Here’s an adult racer in situ
I found several L.g.holbrooki this fall
Here’s the first one in situ
Here’s another adult
and here’s a hatchling
Just like in the spring I was only able to find one syspila in Jackson co. I blame the weather, it was sooo dry this fall and unfortunately I only have enough time and money to hunt around the kc vicinity, but here’s the female I found
insitu
I did make it up to one of my favorite spots in Platte co mo. I had gotten skunked there this spring on the milks anyway and was hoping this visit would be different.
The first thing I found were these two A.c.phaeogasters
insitu
I then found this interesting syspila, due to the heavy rock she was under I had no time to snap an insitu photo
I also found this young racer
insitu
young racers were the most common snakes that I encountered this fall with around 20 or more of them found
This worm snake in situ shot shows how dry it was, at this time things were still moving, I think mainly to soak up the warmth before the cold nights and mornings we were having at the time.
I then turned this syspila up I had found her 2 years ago almost to the day I wanted to collect her then, all I had was my cell phone to take pics of that day, I was against collecting at that time, for the most part I still don’t collect anything, even though I was against collecting I was very tempted to do so with this individual, but released her. I knew as soon as I flipped her it was the same snake from 2 years ago, this time I had my camera, again the thought of collecting her weighed heavy on my mind, I decided to release her again though, probably would have collected her if I hadn’t found her 2 years ago, I did collect her on camera though and will always have her on film. Usually I don’t see many syspila more than once, for me it’s only happened probably 3 times, so she is a very special snake to me, I hope I will see her again sometime.
here she is 2 years ago
Here she is insitu this fall
here she is going back under her rock
I did find it interesting that all the adult milk snakes I found this fall were female, I seem to recollect this pattern from years past, and all the milks were either in shed or had just shed , I also found a few milk sheds this fall.
I had the opportunity to meet up with Kcmatt for a quick hunt, He introduced me to some other areas I was not aware of at an area we both hunt, He found this yoy holbrooki
After he pulled his camera out I felt a lil embarrassed to pull mine out but wanted a shot of it anyways lol. We also saw a young obsoleta crossing the road that would have made a great insitu shot but it noticed our presence and started to slither away, unfortunately at that time I got stuck on my phone with my fiancé, and I missed the opportunity to photograph it. That was pretty much all we found. I did do a few more flipping in the area and found these hatched eggs
I was thinking either obsoleta or syspila? any thoughts they were smooth and were in the right habitat for those two.
I did find a dor C.c.flaviventris before leaving
That was about it, we got only about 20% of the normal precipitation for this fall, Hopefully we will get a nice wet spring again next year.
I found this gray tree frog at a job site in greenwood mo.
insitu
Yes I did pick it up and move it from its location, because the siding had to go on the wall, we had stacked some of our siding by the chimney that night and the tree frog must have found it cozy, I hope it didn’t die from me moving him lol
I did find a few more spots some in bates co mo.
not much was found here, but I did find some hatched syspila eggs, and thought I saw a bullsnake head backing down a burrow but it could have been anything.
The other spot I found was in Cass co mo. I am pretty excited about this spot, I can’t wait to hit in the spring
It’s just littered with huge flat rocks
Other than that I did get a chance to photo some things up at my dad’s pond
Like this leopard frog
This yellow belly water snake
and this catfish
Well thats pretty much my fall report from west central mo, was hoping and praying for more moisture but just didn't get it, untill now and of course were supposed to get snow tonight lol, Hope yall enjoyed and thanks for looking, can't wait to see some more "actuall" posts
fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
Moderator: Scott Waters
Re: fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
You're in a great area, it's beautiful there. Tons of nice herps, what's not to like.
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Re: fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
Nice thread Brandon. How often do you herp? What type of camera set up do you use? I really enjoyed your photos man thanks!
Re: fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
Justin yepp I love my area, I still want to get to the east side of the state sometime and into ill. I know that area rivals west mo pretty good a few things more common out that way like platyrhinos, thanks
Wildernessman, I usually am only able to herp about an hour to two on average after work, I work 7 days a week, sometime 6 and dont have a lot of free time, the free time I do get goes to my daughter and fiance, so unfortunatley I dont get out as much as I would like, but this fall I really tried to get out whenever I could, on average I probably hunted 1 to two days a week. My camera which is retired now from me dropping it on rocks to many times was just a cheep 100 $ casio exilim that only had 8.1 megapixels Its time for me to replace and upgrade. Thanks for your comments
Wildernessman, I usually am only able to herp about an hour to two on average after work, I work 7 days a week, sometime 6 and dont have a lot of free time, the free time I do get goes to my daughter and fiance, so unfortunatley I dont get out as much as I would like, but this fall I really tried to get out whenever I could, on average I probably hunted 1 to two days a week. My camera which is retired now from me dropping it on rocks to many times was just a cheep 100 $ casio exilim that only had 8.1 megapixels Its time for me to replace and upgrade. Thanks for your comments
Re: fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
Look to the Olympus Stylus Tough Series. They take decent pics go underwater, and are nearly indestructable.
Re: fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
thanks Justin I was trying to get some pointers in the photo forum but I didnt get any bites, got a bite on a gps but that was it, I was thinking about investing in a cannonjustinm wrote:Look to the Olympus Stylus Tough Series. They take decent pics go underwater, and are nearly indestructable.
- Mike Pingleton
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Re: fall report from west central Mo (same as main forum)
I have a Canon D10, which is another hard-case camera that you can use underwater. Very good all-purpose point-n-shoot, perfect for clumsy guys like meBrandon D wrote:thanks Justin I was trying to get some pointers in the photo forum but I didnt get any bites, got a bite on a gps but that was it, I was thinking about investing in a cannonjustinm wrote:Look to the Olympus Stylus Tough Series. They take decent pics go underwater, and are nearly indestructable.
-Mike