Missouri Snake Search............

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John Fraser
Posts: 5
Joined: July 29th, 2011, 1:08 pm

Missouri Snake Search............

Post by John Fraser »

Hi All,
After reading longtime friend Brandon Decaveles post on Missouri Finds, I had had contacted him & told him I needed a MO fix myself, since I hadnt been to MO in years to get any herp photos. Leaving my house in Fredonia just before 5am, Saturday morning, I rolled into Brandons driveway in KS City just past 7:30am. We loaded my camera & gear into Brandons car & we were soon headed East, first destination would be Johnson county. We had seen several 3-Toed Box turtles crossing roads, as we got into Johnson county & we stopped & got a quick shot of this one:
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We soon run into longtime friend & legend Brian Hubbs, who was in the area, taking numerous herp photos, as he would observe them. We all 3 stopped at a area & soon Brian found this bright 12" Red milksnake from under a large rock & we all 3 got some photos of it:
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Heading on to other areas, we spot an old shingle pile along the side of a road & Brian starts raking thru it & soon I spot this 7" Northern Red-bellied Snake, that was moving away from Brians pillaging, my first ever observed red-bellied snake in the wild:
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After 2-3 hours here, we headed West, back into Jackson county, for I had always wanted to see & search a MO Cedar Glade type habitat & Brandon knew of one that he said we should search. Cedar Glades in MO are not very easy to see from roads & it takes dedication & long walks to ever even find many of them. Brandon had done his homework well & after parking, we walked thru many trees, scary growths of poison ivy & ticks that didnt let our sprayed pants of deep-woods off scare them a bit, and then the woods broke open into the beautiful cedar glade, that had much prickly pear in bloom:
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Heres a shot of Brandon, standing on a rock that he said almost always had a milksnake under it.
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He was right on the money, for I lifted the rock & sure enough, a big, 30" in the blue syspila was laying there:
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Here s shot Brandon took of me at that special rock that milksnakes seemed to like:
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Brian was also searching here with us & he soon had found a nice 36" Black ratsnake, that he just had to molest a bit:
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After some serious tick removal, when we got back to the cars, we headed back to Brandons, where I said my good byes to both friends & headed back South for home. Thanks Brandon for a great day of herping, habitats & friendship. Beware everyone, for Hubbs is everywhere, amassing more photos & documentation of herps currently, than anyone else I know of, keep up the good work Brian......John :)
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DMong
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Joined: June 6th, 2011, 10:42 pm
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by DMong »

Great post John!. I just saw it over on KS and hoped you posted it here as well.

Congratulations on some nice finds!.........That was a sweet juvie syspila there Hubbs.. :beer:




~Doug
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chris_mcmartin
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Joined: June 9th, 2010, 12:13 am
Location: Greater Houston TX Area
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by chris_mcmartin »

You better take that pic of Hubbs down before he gets back on the Internet! :lol: Pics of Hubbs should be like Sasquatch, blurry/out of focus and therefore refutable as to the true identity!

I was out with him near Alma last week and it was way too hot/dry/late in the season out there. 1 "ugly" milk, only a few ringnecks, and some GP skinks was all we found. Oh, and some baby water snakes around a nice little creek.

Mr. Fraser, are you going to be at Snake Days next month? I met you (briefly) near a cut in W TX in 2010.
Jimi
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Joined: December 3rd, 2010, 12:06 pm

Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Jimi »

ticks that didnt let our sprayed pants of deep-woods off scare them a bit
For this unpleasant and potentially dangerous problem, I heartily recommend permethrin solution for your clothes - ticks and chiggers find it very frightening, so much so that they do not get on your pants.

I am an evangelist on this subject, I have seen the light.

cheers,
Jimi
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Cole Grover
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Joined: June 8th, 2010, 10:06 am
Location: Montana

Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Cole Grover »

John,

Awesome post, my man! Wish I could have been there. I got your message - glad you liked the book! We'll talk soon.
Jimi wrote:I heartily recommend permethrin solution for your clothes - ticks and chiggers find it very frightening, so much so that they do not get on your pants.
While I whole-heartedly agree that permethrin is the shizzle, it hardly kept the ticks off when I was in that neck of the woods a couple of weeks ago. They're un-friggin'-real. I've never seen anything like it and shudder to think of what would have happened had we not lucked out and bought "the good stuff" to spray on our clothing...

-Cole
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gbin
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Joined: June 10th, 2010, 4:28 pm

Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by gbin »

It's true, permethrin is great stuff, but the ticks in MO are by far the worst I've ever experienced. (Not the chiggers, though; northeastern Guatemala holds that distinction.)

Gerry
stlouisdude
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 8:30 pm
Location: St Louis, MO / Hartford, CT

Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by stlouisdude »

Where the cows have recently grazed usually is not too bad, but in last year's fields I typically get several ticks on me each time I walk them. I've found a pair of overalls very helpful. I knock the ticks off as I go, then throw al the clothes in the wash as soon as I get back. Although the ticks are quite numerous in MO, I don't often hear of people getting sick. Another thing I've found helpful is using duck tape to remove masses of small ticks. I'm back in New England this week, where the ticks are considerably rarer but many of my neighbors have suffered tick related illness.
Joe Mahoney
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 9:44 am
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Joe Mahoney »

Nice milks and rats!

I had to double take there for a minute I thought you were herping with David Hasselhoff :roll: .
stlouisdude wrote:I'm back in New England this week, where the ticks are considerably rarer but many of my neighbors have suffered tick related illness.
I'd hate to see the ticks out there if you're calling them "rare" up here in New England. I went out for about 5 minutes to check a boardline I set up that has been so graciously "clened up" :evil:. Knocked about a dozen or so off and felt a couple more crawling up my leg when I got home. They have been brutal in my neck of the woods for the last few years.
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Brandon D
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Brandon D »

John Im glad that we were succesfull given the harsh conditions we were faced with, dry and hot are a bad combination when you want to see milks. Although with 3 milk finding experts together Im surprised we didn't see more. We probably would have if we would have had a bit more time, I'm going to check the locations we didn't get to sometime this week, and will follow up with a big spring post on here after I get to those areas. Heres some more pics I wish I would of got some pics of the holbrooki we found but Brian...I mean david hasselhoff said he will email them to me.

Heres another shot of the lil syspila Hubbs found(under the rock I helped him lift lol)
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I saw this and thought about eating it...
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Heres some more shots of John's first ever Jackson co Mo syspila, I think this would of been a very nice looking snake had it not been in the blue
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Somehow after letting Brian sleep on my couch I ended up buying his books and adding them to my other favorites, I have read through a bit and so far I thoroughly enjoy them!
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Again John Im glad you had a good time it was a great day hanging out with some of my mentors, I think it would be a good day just hanging out with you even if we werent snake hunting, never a dull minute around you John, I was glad to be able to show you guys around like you both have done for me in the past. Next spring we will have to do it again but before the ticks get so bad and have it more planed out and during the peak
:beer:

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Brian Hubbs
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Location: "Buy My Books"-land

Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Brian Hubbs »

Well, the world is safe for the moment, I'm home in AZ once more...and the guards weren't even very upset that I'd escaped for 3 weeks. John, it was fun seeing you and Brandon again...but those pics are horrid...that's what only 5 hours of sleep does to my already ugly mug. :o What a trip. I ended up with 25 official county records in Kansas and Nebraska. Now I have to write them up for Herp Review... ;) I also ended up with about the same number of tick bites. Now I'm on antibiotics for 10 days. Missouri sucks... :lol:

Thanks for buying those books Brandon. I can't wait until I can cash your post-dated check... :lol:

Here's the coolest pic I got of the whole trip...

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25 Painted Turtles on one log - Nebraska by tricolorbrian, on Flickr
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Dougsnake
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Joined: June 7th, 2010, 5:59 pm

Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Dougsnake »

I also had a tick induced fever last week.Next time I go out in the field I'll try permethrin again but damn I hate the taste of the stuff.



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DaveR
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Joined: October 9th, 2010, 12:00 pm
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by DaveR »

Love that shot of the painted turtles.
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Brian Hubbs
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Brian Hubbs »

Thanks. That's a record for me.
Zach_Lim
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Re: Missouri Snake Search............

Post by Zach_Lim »

Jesus Christ, that lil Red Milk is absolutely a SCREAMER :shock: !!!

Brian, that is quite the motherload of turtles!
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