DAILY COURIER (Prescott, Arizona) 19 June 08 Snake wrangler takes on live-and-let-live attitude (Joanna Dodder Nellans)
John Hardison used to make hatbands out of rattlers, and now he makes friends - well, sort of.
Hardison travels far and wide to rescue rattlesnakes when people call emergency authorities for help. And he does it on his own time, although he really appreciates it when people at least cover his gasoline costs from his home in east Prescott Valley.
"There's a certain thrill of danger about them that attracted me to them," Hardison explained about his hobby. He also gets a few bonuses.
"I want to save people from getting bit, and I want to save reptiles and put them out where they can do what God meant for them to do," Hardison said.
When he moved to Arizona in 1963, Hardison took advantage of its great outdoors. He'd run across rattlers during his hunting, fishing, prospecting and camping trips.
He also made a little money on the side playing in a country band at Rawhide in Scottsdale.
During one performance, he wore a headband he made from a rattler he caught, then made a few more for fellow band members who admired it.
But by the 1970s, he said his interests were changing as he matured.
"I used to do a lot of hunting, but I hunt with a camera now," Hardison said. "My days of making hat bands and eating them (snakes) are over."
About four years ago, he joined the Arizona Herpetological Association when he heard it needed volunteers to help relocate wild animals away from development.
He figured he knew quite a bit about rattlers so he focused on them, estimating he rescued about 100 in four years in the region surrounding his Glendale home.
Hardison retired from Safeway after 44 years at the end of 2007, then moved up to Prescott Valley where his new bride already lived.
He sent off an e-mail to local law enforcement agencies that let them know about his services, and they undoubtedly were happy to make use of them.
"Evidently, not too many people up here do that kind of work," Hardison has found.
Arizona Game and Fish wildlife managers might be able to help if people call that agency, but they're often out in the field a long ways away because their territory is so large, said Zen Mocarski, information officer for this region. Hardison has a special wildlife services license to capture, move and release reptiles, Mocarski noted.
Some people just call Hardison to get help identifying snakes.
But most are people like Elizabeth Craig.
"I don't want to get near it," she said after calling Hardison for help getting rid of a snake in her north Chino Valley yard. She said Chino Valley animal control officers wouldn't come out, so she called the Yavapai County Sheriff's Office and someone gave her Hardison's number.
Hardison came to the rescue, but Craig had lost sight of the snake and Hardison couldn't find it despite trying for a while.
Even if it turns out not to be a rattler, he'll move it for people.
He also enjoys telling people about the value of the snakes, which can be a huge help at keeping down rodent numbers in rural areas, for example.
He'd love to find someone who would come along and help with the education part while he tries to catch snakes.
He always brings the right gear that makes it much safer for him to catch a snake than it would be for the average person.
He wears Kevlar leggings made to ward off fangs. He brings specially made tongs to catch snakes, as well as a snare (wire loop) as a last resort and an open hook that works on rattlers but not other snakes.
"I'm not afraid of them, but I respect them," he said.
He usually releases them about a half-mile away if possible, and his experience has taught him that the snakes are so traumatized they don't return.
"I know them," he said. "I know their habits."
He's never suffered a rattlesnake bite, but one did give him quite a shock when it chased him.
People had been throwing things at the snake and poking at it, so it was pretty riled up by the time he arrived, Hardison related. Then he had to do some more poking to get it unraveled from a woody old rosemary bush.
"By the time I got him off of there, he was one angry guy," striking at the air and the bucket Hardison put it in.
When he let it loose it coiled up and he took a photo. That's when it came at him.
He thought that was coincidental, because snakes usually just want to get away from people. He stepped to the side.
But the rattler kept coming right at him.
That's when he realized rattlers can be just like people in one way - they have their own personalities.
So he did the mature thing - he just got out of its way and left it alone.
For help with snakes, call Hardison at 775-9856.
Snake wrangler takes on live-and-let-live attitude

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