On June 15th (Friday night) my wife and I where stopped on a local road here around Odessa TX by a younger state trooper. We had just managed to capture a very large pouched cotton rat of some sort and where admiring the little guy and the amount of fleas it managed to transfer to the net and the inside of the Sterlite box it was in when he pulled up behind us. This is not our first run in with LE on this road as it is a awesome road for herping and seldom traveled, I had mentioned it in a forum before and was amazed by the increase in the number of LE patrols in the area (they had easily quadrupled). When the officer stopped us, he walked rapidly up to my drivers side door, the window was already down and he shined the light in my face and asked to see my hands, upon realizing it was a officer approaching me from behind I had reached in and grabbed the large rat (FREAKING HUGE MEAN UGLY BASTARD) by the scruff of its neck and was holding it in my lap letting it happily chew on my shirt tails waiting for the opportune moment. When he asked to see my hands I raised them from my lap up to even with the top of the steering wheel, the officer after noticing the large mean, now angry and vocal rat backpedaled and reached for his holster. I did a little backpedaling of my own, and quickly told him I wasn’t dangerous and I wasn’t going to throw it on him, I simply didn’t have the time to let it go after taking pictures when he pulled up. At this point he seemed rather amused, and called with a wave of his hand, his ‘partner’ that I strongly believe was his brother, in plain clothes from the passenger seat of the patrol car. They both came over, and I demonstrated the proper release of the animal (letting it go rapidly and running away before it could exact revenge). We talked for a few minutes about what herping is, why it isn’t a danger to others, how far I should pull of the road, and weather or not I should use my flasher when catching a snake. The officer seemed interested in the proper use of my tongs, so I was happy to oblige by demonstrating on my wife’s hand. All in all this was a good experience, never did he ask for my ID, or hunting license, he seemed friendly, and jovial, it was around 3am when this happened, so perhaps he was wanting to go home. We talked a little about different reasons we enjoy this sport, and got some strange looks from him when mentioning that this was our idea of a date, with a friendly goodbye and a reminder to pull off the shoulder when we stop next time he and his brother where on there way.
I was fortunate that this was a positive experience, as I did have a few animals in bags in my back seat, and a Springfield XD that I carry in a locked container in the backseat (you never freaking know in the boonies…) Had this guy been somewhat ornery things could have gone down hill in a hurry. The only negative aspect is that immediately after he left I realized I was covered in fleas, and did a little strip tease ‘pack rat’ dance for my wife, who was thrilled by the whole thing and took pictures and video that will never see the light of day!.
Eric.
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To you im just the crazy snake guy, but to some I'm a 'Herp'.
