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I first met Tremper out in West Texas, late one night in the late 80's on the side of the road. Tremper is best described as "highly excitable", especially when herping. We hit it off and started herping together.

It was September of 1990 and Tremper and I were hanging in Sanderson waiting for it to get dark. I flipped a piece of tin shaded by a cut and found a pair of pictigaster coiled together. Without much thought I pinned both heads at once and then placed four fingers on top of two Copperheads. Now what?

Now Tremper puts his head over my shoulder, mouth at my ear and starts yelling "OH MY GOD, WHAT ARE YOU DOING? YOU'RE GONNA GET BIT! LET GO! MOVE YOUR HAND!"

Oh crud! Tremper made me panic and jerk my hand back! Just how fast was I? It didn't look like I was fast enough. Of all the close calls I've had I thought that time I got bit. At the instant I jerked my hand back two heads and four fangs were gunning for me. Of the four fangs one in particular seems to have raked across the top dermis of my left index finger and poked the soft skin at the base of the nail.

It's an hour before dark and we are two hours from Del Rio. We decide to splint my arm and start the trip to Del Rio for treatment with a plan to reevaluate at Langtry.

When we reach Langtry Tremper asks "How's you finger?". "It's fine, no swelling, no nothing" I say. "What do you want to do?". I told him to turn around and I'll start shining cuts

So Here's Tremper with a bag of snicker snackers in his lap, inching up the shoulder of 90 west while I look at the cuts with one arm in a sling. Tremper is involved with his snicker snackers, really involved!

At 3.3 miles west, I see a hatchling alterna on a small cruddy cut with lots of holes in it. The snake is barely moving, but moving towards a good size and deep hole. I glance at Tremper without saying a word and observe him carefully unwrapping his chocolate treasures one at a time and devouring them.

Casually I declare "Hey Tremp, there's a snake on the cut you might want to take a look at." Now if you've ever hunted with Tremper you'll understand what happened next. It was like someone lit a fire under his butt. The snicker snackers came flying across the car at me. He couldn't unfasten the seatbelt. He couldn't find the door handle, he couldn't unlock the door. That snake is going to get away!

Finally Tremper is out of the car, walking towards the snake and puts a light on it. When he hits it with light, they both go ballistic! Tremper is doing his alterna dance before catching the snake, and the snake is booking it for the hole! All I can do is watch!

Tremper got the snake at the last second, after I screamed at him to pick it up. My hand never did swell up, even after Tremper told me "No way around it, your hand will be the size of a Baseball Glove in the morning". Too bad, I was really looking forward to that!

Oh Joe, the memories....I have been on several fateful Tremper Trips as well....we never scored, but I had several very close heart attacks courtesy of Ronaldo....We once herped West Langtry ten days straight.....we were seeing Emory's, we were seeing longnose snakes, we were seeing Desert Kingsnakes.....and every single heretofore mentioned snake on the cut, spotted by Ron.......was an alterna.......according to Ron. He would scream at the top of his lungs "ALTERNA"......I was already given the driving role in the herping team because Ron had driven by one too many snakes the one time I let him drive......of course, I would go running out of the car telling Ronaldo...no, its a longnose.....no its an Emory's....the best one was west of Langtry around the Pumpville cuts.....Ron spots a snake....calmly states: "What we have here is a beautiful dark phase alterna with medium orange blotches....I'll let you keep him at your home if he is a male to breed with your female that you got from here a few years back...we will split the babies (every odd one you get to keep...I'll keep the evens).....I would definitely like to have this specimen checked for parasites to ensure a captive longevity and if you ever get tired of him ..... I would love to have him back.....if only we had a video camera were you could record this momentous event for prosperity...you, my first alterna find in the field......and on and on and on" . I got out of the cut....walked over to the snake....and had to break the news to Ron.....it is a splendida......!!!

Those were GOOD times......gmerker

G... I have some video of Tremper that would go to #1 on YOUTUBE.
I can't post it though, he'd KILL ME!

I'll load it on the LapTop and take it out with me. If I happen to run into you I'll have it with me

Now, now, now. Merker has it 100% right.......but in the interest of the historic record, I must make a few corrections to Forkys account. Obviously, the trama of that vicious pictagaster bite has affected his memory.
It was September 4, 1991, and we were just east of Sanderson
at 7:00 p.m. with plans to hunt all the way back to Del Rio.
It was 72F and still early to start our drive so we stopped to do some flipping to kill time. Soon I spotted some
tin and Forks says, "Tremper, this is not California, there's
no snakes under metal in Texas". So I took a peek under the
sheeting and called Joe over to take a look at my find.
Yes, his lame pinning job quickly lead to my strong plea for him
not to try to attempt the double wammy.
The bite occurrred and as we were opening the trunk of Joe's car, the Sanderson Game Warden drove by and noticed our hook and plastic bucket in our hands.
As I saw Fuentes turning around on Hwy 90, I said to Joe, "here comes the Warden and if you want to spend $600. on a helicopter
ride to Del Rio, you better not say you just got bit".
Without hesitation and with total calm disregard for the status
of his envenomation he said, "hell no, don't say a thing Tremp".
So now the Warden pulls up and says, "what are you two doing?"
And before I could mutter a word Forks says, "just letting some snakes loose!!" I almost died laughing, but at least I was going to get to show a Warden that I had my collecting permit
after many years of abiding by the law, but never get to demonstrate my legal status. And sure enough even that does
not go well. I ask Fuentes if he would like to see my license
as I reached for my wallet and he says, "do you have any reptiles with you?" and since we did not he said that he could not ask for a license without the presence of some herps.
Shucks, I still have never got to show a Warden my papers to this day.
The trip towards Del Rio is as Forks outlined. I had splinted his hand and forearm with a short snake hook and tied them on with most of our "lucky" snake bags.
Yep, I did spill the snicker snackers when I popped my alterna cherry just west of Langtry. A baby female with umbelical still showing. My alterna dance is famous and very lively indeed.
One more thing, on the way home Forks says, "watch out Tremp, boggies on the right!!!"...... I see 3-4 deer running on a collison course for Joes window, so with it being 2:00 a.m. and we were close to Del Rio, I swerved clear across Hwy 90 to avoid disaster and bounced a large whitetail doe off the right rear fender of the car.
Forks freaked and when we got out to inspect the car to inspect the sure damage we only found some hair and the entire side of fender was only polished clean with a perfect billiard shot!
Yes, it was quite a run........... RT

Warden's name, what makes you think you remember anything else old man??? haha

Cervantes!