Reptile & Amphibian Forums

With recent talk on this forum about field herping "teams" or "clubs", a friend of mine and I were discussing the pros and cons of field herping teams...groups of friends who get together a couple of times a year to search for snakes together. I personally think this is a great concept. The key is to find a bunch of guys who have similar enthusiasm/experience and who have similar beliefs when it comes to collecting, replacing cover as found, etc. Even more than searching for snakes as a team, I enjoy knowing that there is someone out there who I can call and report my findings in the field to, someone who is just as excited as I am whenever I find a scarlet king or a canebrake, even if that person is 400 miles away. So, whenever someone wants to bash a guy because he has a regular group of herping buddies, just remember the excerpt below from Carl Kauffeld's 1957 book, Snakes and Snake Hunting, on page 56 of the chapter titled, Crossley Pines and Corns:

"There were five of us in the "brotherhood," but I don't remember all of us ever being in the field together at any one time. Pat Bilks, Harry Darrow, Mike Bevans, Tom Richmond, and myself composed the fraternity which, at every possible opportunity during the "snake season" in south Jersey, haunted the Pine Barrens in the middle 1930's. Whatever differences in personalities our small group might have held, we were all under the same spell - the fascination and challenge of the flat pinewoods and cedar swamps to the snake hunter."

If it's good enough for Carl Kauffeld, it's good enough for me.

Peter, Phil, Kevin, Ryan, and Zee...I'll see you guys in the woods next April.

Michael Coone
Conover, NC

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I think field herping groups are a great idea. I'm all for it. It is hard to find similar like minded individuals. I open to herping in MD, VA, E PA, Delaware and S Jersey areas.

My philosphy in herping is: if you can return an object to how it was, do so, if it falls apart, do not resort to glue. Each member who "catches" chooses to keep, turn-loose, or give "to charity" the catch as they choose, no questions or discussions on the matter. What is done between buddies stays between buddies (no rating out the buddies).

Mark

My approach is similar. If we are herping in my home county on one of the sites that I set up, I always appreciate if my partners let me know before they go back to it without me. We all discuss what our target species to collect would be for each trip, then if that species is found, it usually goes to the person who really wanted it. If I give a person on the team a snake from my collection, he will always check in with me to see if I want it back before giving it to anyone else. We treat the animals with the utmost respect. We only collect a small percentage of what we find. We try to put cover back where we found it. If I'm breeding something and a friend from the team wants it, I would never think about accepting money from him. I give him the snake and if he has something later that I want, he would just give it to me.

I live in North Carolina and would love to herp Virginia around Roanoke. Any experience in that area?

Michael

I have no experience in Roanoke area. I've been there and through there, and have always been interested in looking in that area. Specifically, I would like to find black kingsnakes, striped neck musk turtles, pine snakes, and "pure" eastern milk snakes. Cornsnakes are also reported to be rather unusual in this area.

I believe in keeping only those snakes or turts that I wish to breed myself. I would consider giving snakes, especially unusual ones, to those looking to breed or preserve locality lines.

I would love to find some guys (and/or gals) to do some herping with. Im in the Cincinnati area if anyone wants to contact me.
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5.4 Variable Kings
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