STAR-GAZETTE (Elmira, New York) 07 June 07 Handler can't be rattled - Longtime pit boss to return after recovering from snake bite. (George Osgood)
Morris: Rattlesnakes apparently get in your blood.
At least, they got in Amos Osborn's, in more ways than one.
See, Amos has been pit boss at the Morris Rattlesnake Roundup for 50 of its 51 years.
For a long time, things went fine. Then in 2003, a timber rattler sank its fangs into Amos' hand and sent him to the hospital for a while.
He was back in the pit in 2004 and 2005. And last year, he ran afoul of another rattler. That one almost killed him.
Osborn, 69, said then that his snake-handling days were over forever. Well, forever has come and gone, because on Saturday, Osborn will be right back in the snake pit.
"I just couldn't find anyone else to do it," he said. "So I'll be back in there."
With some help. Osborn will bring in an expert snake handler from Lancaster, Pa., to do much of the work -- like handling the business end of the rattlers captured by snake hunters.
Pit handlers immobilize a snake's head by inserting the head and a portion of the body into a clear plastic tube. Then the snake is measured and shown to the crowd that always gathers around the pit.
"He will be tubing them," Osborn said. "I will be helping with the measuring. There will just be the two of us, as far as I know."
Hunters may have to do their own measuring in the woods or risk prosecution.
The Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission, which controls snake hunts and snake hunting, requires captured rattlers to be at least 42 inches long from the snout to the base of the rattle and to have at least 21 "subcaudal scales," the scales between the vent and the base of the rattle. The size restriction and subcaudal scale count virtually guarantee that all captured snakes are males.
License fees for rattlesnake hunters increased this year from $5 to $25 for residents and $50 for nonresidents of Pennsylvania. The Morris Township Fire Company, which runs the snake roundup, increased its registration fee from $2 to $5 this year. The fee the fire company pays the state climbed from $25 to $50.
Fish and boat commission officials are not snake hunt fans, and executives would prefer that they end. The timber rattlesnake is a "candidate" species, which could become a threatened or endangered species in the future, according to the commission's Web site.
They certainly weren't threatened in the Morris area at the advent of snake hunting in the 1950s. In subsequent years, hunters turned in hundreds of timber rattlers during the one-day event, which started as a means of keeping the area's rattlesnake population at a manageable level.
At present, all captured snakes are returned to the areas from which they were taken after the hunt.
Organizers of the state's four major rattlesnake hunts -- in Morris, Cross Fork, Sinnemahoning and Noxon -- will join forces to help keep their events viable in the face of increasing state regulation, Osborn said.
"We all want to be on the same page ... in the fight against the fish and boat commission," he said. "We need to join forces."
Fish and boat commission workers will be at the snake pit on Saturday to "tag" each captured snake with an encoded chip that will tell -- if they are captured again -- where they were caught the first time.
Some snakes will be easier to catch than others on Saturday. Especially if you're a kid.
Snake hunt worker Melanie Herb has 240 rubber snakes to hide on the fire company grounds. At some point on Saturday, she will turn kids loose to find them. Each snake has a number, and each number corresponds to a prize, from small toys to a new bike.
Registration for the snake hunt begins at 8 a.m. Saturday, and the award ceremony starts at 6 p.m. Organizers will award trophies for the longest and second-longest rattlers in both the yellow and black color phases of the timber rattlesnake.
As for Osborn, he's ready for another pit visit.
"My 50th wedding anniversary celebration is coming up July 1," he said. "I have to be there for that. Nothing is going to happen."
Handler can't be rattled

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