Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My father and I just got back from our first trip hunting in about five years. We hunted six nights - no alterna, but plenty of snakes, among them the largest atrox I have ever seen. Overall it was a great trip and the least stressful law enforcement-wise we have ever had, of course this was probably because I didn't treat them like they were a**holes and answered questions. I saw some of the posts about Lajitas and I have to admit that we were disgusted by the whole place. My desire would be to never drive through that town again. VERY pretentious! There is a dress code in the restaurant, they even bought the trading post and Clay Henry the VIII or whatever he is now. There are so many Lajitas SUV's everywhere and we even saw them all over the park! I felt dirty being there with their attitudes. Add to that the fact that I'm a cheap bast*** and hotels everywhere there - even easter egg have doubled since my last trip and you have for bad feelings all around. Also, the one oasis of La Kiva was apparently sold and it is a shadow of its former self - the braniac that bought it cut down all of the cottonwood trees there. It is a desert again.
Anyway, the bend was the most productive and we saw the kind of animals we were used to seeing in the 80s - one night over 20. All six nights of hunting we had mostly to ourselves, we only saw one mini van hunting on the RR for two nights and also met Roy from Outback on one of the nights. No hunters in Sanderson and no hunters on 277. Rains were fine, animals were out - highlights were 3 trans-pecos, 2 lepidus, 2 bairds, and one 30 foot bull/gopher on the way to Chisos lodge in the daylight.
I wanted to ask about a couple of things I've never asked before:
1) Has anyone caught anything on the dirt rd off of 277 directly across from the north rest area called I think Dolan Creek Rd?
2) What about the Rd south of 90 near sanderson called Five Mile Hill Rd. We saw a couple of black-tails there and there are some really great hilly cuts far down there.
thanks,
GLENN

I haven't checked the books, but I'm thinking that might be a record. LOL

It would be a mighty struggle, but I would have to bring that back

I was exaggerating a little, it was really only 29 1/2 ft.

I knew a guy named Larry Funkhouser from Bakersfield Ca. back in the 60's. Used to trade animals from where I lived for Calif. snakes from him. He used to tell me he had 8 foot gopher snakes and 6 foot Cal Kings but every time he sent them to me they must of shrunk in half. That guy never got anything right. Your story jogged my memory about that dude.
BA

This is pretty funny. I had no idea it would lead to this when I posted about the 30 foot bullsnake - but like father like son I guess. Larry Fankhauser is my dad (not Funkhouser - we corrected the spelling of our names in the 70's). So I guess I will never be trusted about the sizes I quote if you use my dad as a guide. HA!
Glenn

I think I heard that snake's threat display all the way back here in FL ;^) Either that or the maintenance guys sliced thru another steam pipe here on campus ...

Bill

Wow, sounds like a nice trip...would you mind emailing me what roads you found the subocs? I caught this big atrox on Dolan Creek road...

The road heads to Devil's River Natural Area, which is a really neat place to camp...
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Snakes to the Max

1.2 Variable Kingsnakes
1.1 Grayband x Ruthveni
0.1 Western Massasauga (WC)
1.1 Jungle Carpet Pythons
1.1 Pastel Red-tail Boas
1.0 Lavender Motley Cornsnake
7.7 Hatchling Variable Kingsnakes
1.6 Hatchling Grayband x Ruthveni Kingsnakes
0.0.6 Baby Western Massasaugas (big surprise!)

I saw the dress code thing in your post... I was asked to leave back in '95 while visiting a friend that lived there. They do not care for known snake hunters and this was the year ofter the '94 RockCut. So, I do not care for the resort as it is now myself, the new owner has made a lot of cosmetic improvements, but not much else seems different now to me. However, I still consider River Road my favorite place to road cruise. I love the numbers and variety you can see there on a good night. I was there in June this year for two nights myself, stayed at the Egg then. We did not see much that time, and headed up to Sanderson.. In fact we visited with Roy like any other herper would. He is terrific resource in the area and just a great guy. His hotel was booked at the time, so we did not stay at the Outback.

As for the dirt roads around Sanderson, you might talk to Roy. He knows his way around that place and could save you some heartache. If you end up on a private ranch road, you will end up regreting it.

The dirt road off of 277, I thought that lead into Dolan Falls that is a protected area (no collecting) but I could be wrong.

Sounds like a good trip. As far as the Dolan Creek road, it used to have a sign up about no reptile collecting but that was about 8 years ago. However I had a county map and it showed to be listed as a county road,so you should be able to hunt the road ONLY. Good Luck, Steve

It is a shame about La Kiva indeed. The original owner passed away many years ago (1990?) and they have not maintained they place as it was in the heyday. As for the cottonwoods there, they actually lived their life out, and were cutdown as they died. They are very shortlived trees.

I have to agree with you about the river road. It is just a great place to be doing anything, especially road hunting!

Back when Steve Smith (orig. with Excel MLM and now with Everyday Wealth) first started buying up Lajitas and surroundings, I talked to a guy who has sold T-Ranch acreage to me about Smith .. besides calling him an a**hole and idiot, he didn't have much good to say about the man. The ranger at Barton-Warnock I talked to said pretty much the same thing.

Still trying to get out there by the end of the month ...

Bill