MORNING CALL (Allentown, Pennsylvania) 08 August 06 State OKs rattlesnake retention plan - New regulations designed to conserve state's population. (Christian Berg)
Sportsmen like to keep track of one another's success, and it's common to hear them ask friends whether they got a deer, turkey or bear during the previous hunting season.
Seldom, however, will you hear the question, ''Did you get your rattlesnake?''
Unbeknownst to most people, Pennsylvania allows anyone who's interested to to hunt one timber rattlesnake per year. Deciding what to do with said rattlesnake — the options include eating it for dinner, having it mounted by a taxidermist or keeping it as a pet — is entirely up to you.
Perhaps not surprisingly, relatively few people choose to exercise this privilege. In fact, the Pennsylvania Fish and Boat Commission issued only 1,126 rattlesnake hunting permits last year, with a reported harvest of just 160 snakes. The state's annual rattlesnake hunting season runs from the second Saturday in June through July 31.
''It is not exactly a wildly popular sport in the Commonwealth,'' commission spokesman Dan Tredinnick said. ''It's not like you can walk into the local Wal-Mart and pick up snake-hunting equipment.''
Not even Cabela's, the outdoor superstore in Tilden Township, Berks County, has an aisle devoted to snake hunting. They do, however, offer a variety of snake-proof boots, chaps and gaiters.
Despite the paucity of rattlesnake hunters in Pennsylvania, the commission is concerned about the hunt's impact on the population, which is in decline due to ongoing habitat loss and fragmentation.
''The biggest threat to the timber rattlesnake has been the fragmentation of its habitat,'' Tredinnick said. ''But when you add recreational harvest on top of that, it's sort of a double whammy.''
Timber rattlesnakes are officially classified as a candidate for the state's threatened and endangered species list. ''Obviously,'' Tredinnick said, ''we want to keep it from reaching that status.''
Although the state doesn't have an official estimate of Pennsylvania's rattlesnake population, an ongoing study of historic den sites indicate the species is struggling on the periphery of its range, including areas such as the Poconos and Blue Mountain. Rattlesnake numbers in the heart of its range, which includes the vast forested areas of northcentral Pennsylvania, appear to be stable.
To help meet its rattlesnake conservation mission, the commission last month unanimously approved several new regulations, including establishing a 42-inch minimize size designed to protect females and increasing the cost of hunting permits from $5 to $25 for residents and from $5 to $50 for non-residents.
The changes, which take effect Jan. 1, were applauded by rattlesnake advocates, who say increased protection for the elusive mountain dweller was long overdue.
''The new regulations are well needed, and many of the changes make a whole lot of sense,'' said Andrew Curtis, an experienced rattlesnake hunter from East Greenville.
Curtis is a board member of the Lehigh Valley Herpetological Society, a group of local reptile enthusiasts that sponsors public education programs at state parks, sports shows and other venues. Curtis said the outreach work done by reptile clubs is critical, because no amount of regulations can protect rattlesnakes from a public with an irrational fear of them.
''There's more killed out of season…than ever would be legally harvested,'' he said. ''That inate fear, that thought that the only good snake is a dead snake, is never going to be addressed with a regulation.
''That's why the herp societies and people like myself try to show they're just part of the wildlife, and if you leave them alone, they don't hurt anything.''
Like most venomous snakes, the sight or sound of a rattlesnake can strike fear into the heart of many. Yet despite their fearsome reputation, timber rattlers are actually among the most timid and docile of all snake species found in Pennsylvania, said Chris Urban, chief of the commission's natural diversity section.
Most Pennsylvania rattlesnakes are found in mountainous regions at least 1,800 feet above sea level, Urban said. Boulder fields and rocky ledges and outcroppings — particularly those with southern exposure — are often used as basking areas where rattlesnakes warm themselves by soaking up sunlight.
Historical records indicate rattlers were once found throughout Southeastern Pennsylvania, but today they are rarely found much below the Blue Mountain.
''Pretty much draw a line between Wind Gap and Hawk Mountain,'' Curtis said. ''Give yourself a couple mile buffer south of that, and that's where they're at.''
Curtis doesn't have a pet rattlesnake, but he has observed and caught many of them at several sites in northern Northampton County. All of the snakes Curtis has removed from the wild were used for educational purposes and later released at the capture site.
''I have never harvested long-term and have never killed one,'' he said.
In case you're wondering, rattlesnake hunters don't head afield with a gun or other weapon. That's illegal. In fact, the only legal method for capturing them are by hand or with the aid of a snake hook or snake tongs, which help lift the snakes off the ground while minimizing the potential for injury.
Timber rattlesnakes (Crotalus horridus) can grow up to 74 inches in length, with males typically growing larger than females. The average length of an adult male is 43 inches, with the average length of adult females 36 inches. The snakes may live for 30 years or more.
In addition to their trademark rattles, which are found at the end of the tail, timber rattlesnakes can be identified by the dark, chevronlike bands along their bodies. The snakes can appear gray, yellow, black or brown. The heads have two distinct color phases. The black phase features an all-black head with black eyes, while the yellow phase features a yellow head and yellow eyes.
Timber rattlesnakes typically inhabit secluded forest areas near rocky areas, swamps and thickets. Their diet consists mainly of small birds and rodents, although they will consume other animals. They use an ambush hunting method, lying in wait along a well-used travel corridor and using their tongue and specialized scenting organs to detect the presence of prey.
When a rattlesnake strikes its prey, it injects it heomlytic venom, which destroys red blood cells and debilitates the central nervous system, causing rapid death. After feeding, rattlesnakes typically go to rest in a rocky ''basking area,'' where sunlight is absorbed to aid the digestion process.
Although getting bitten by a timber rattler is quite serious, Curtis said most adult humans would survive such an encounter.
''A healthy adult, 125 pounds and above, will survive the bite,'' he said. ''But it is a venom, and different people react differently.''
Timber rattlesnakes spend the winter hibernating within rocky, communal dens. The snakes typically head into their dens in late October, emerging sometime in April.
During their active months, male rattlesnakes may travel up to two miles from their dens. Sexually immature females may disperse up to a mile, while sexually mature females tend to remain within 200 yards of the den.
Males reach sexual maturity at age 5, while females reach sexual maturing at age 7 or 8. Rattlesnakes mate in late summer and early fall, with females storing the sperm inside their bodies until the following June, when fertilization occurs, according to Urban. Young rattlesnakes are born live in late August or early September, with an average litter size of five to nine, Urban said.
Pregnant females eat little in the summer before their birth of their young. Because of that, Urban said, they typically breed every two or three years and use the intervening time to rebuild their fat reserves.
Officials suspect that the timber rattler's relatively slow reproduction rate, combined with high mortality among juveniles — which are regularly preyed upon by crows, hawks and other predators — exacerbates the impact of hunting and other human influcenses such as road kills and habitat destruction.
The commission hopes its new rattlesnake regulations will help boost the population by protecting mature females from harvest and giving them more opportunities to mate.
In addition to a minimum size of 42 inches, excluding the rattle, the new rules require snakes to have 21 or more subcaudal scales before they can be harvested. The subcaudal scales are the ones between a snake's anal vent and its rattle. And the only way to count them is to turn the snake upside down and look at it.
Tredinnick said the mere thought of handling a 42-inch rattler long enough to complete such a task is likely enough to dissuade most people from snake hunting. Previously, there was no minimum length.
''A 42-inch timber rattlensake is a sizeable animal. Not only is it long, but it's thick,'' he said. ''A lot of folks have a knee-jerk fear of snakes. I don't consider myself one of those people, but I am not one of the folks [who will be] getting permits.''
Biologists say there's good reason for requring the subcaudal scale count. Several years of data collected by commission biologists who examined individual rattlesnakes shows that 98 percent of all rattlensakes at least 42 inches long and with at least 21 subcaudal scales are male. So, the new regulations make it virtually impossible for snake hunters to legally harvest an adult female.
''The males have more subcaudal scales because they've got more equipment back there,'' Curtis said. ''You may find a 45-inch rattlesnake that's an adult female, but it's not going to possess 21 or more subcaudal scales.''
Other changes to rattlesnake hunting rules include a new possession tag that will be attached to hunting permits. Once a snake is captured, hunters will be required to immediately fill out the tag and tear it off the license. All hunters also will be required to report snake captures to the state within 10 days. The commission also collects reports about the number and size of rattlesnakes that are observed but not caught.
Tredinnick said the new rules are a way to protect the rattlesnake population without eliminating the public's ability to hunt them.
The commission also amended its regulations governing organized rattlesnake roundups, in which snakes are caught, measured and later released. Such events are big fundraisers for a handful of volunteer fire departments, mostly in northern Pennsylvania. Seven hunts were permitted by the state this year — five by fire departments and two by sports clubs.
While only a few dozen or so people may take part in an organized hunt, the weekend festivals can draw several thousand people who come to see the snakes and participate in related activities.
At the hunts, snakes are measured and frequently fitted by fish commission staff with a small tag containing information on size, location and date of capture should they be recaptured.
Pennsylvania does not allow any rattlesnakes to be killed during organized hunts. The new regulations prohibit rough handling, require that snakes be given free access to water and shade. Hunters also are required to release all snakes at the site of capture by sundown on the last day of the event.
''We want all the snakes taken (back) where they got 'em,'' said Bill Wheeler Jr., president of the Keystone Reptile Club, which runs several of organized hunts each year. ''The same rock, the same log — not out the window because you're in the same township.''
Although animal rights groups such as the Humane Society of the United States criticize organized hunts because of the stress put on the animals and the potential for them to be injured, participants say the events provide an excellent opportunity to boost the public's understanding of snakes.
''If I get one person to stop killing every snake they see in their yard, I think we've done a good thing,'' Wheeler said.
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