Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Recently, my colleagues and I set out on our annual herping venture in the upper midwest. The primary objective was Wisconsin, and the very handsome Bullsnakes known to occur there.We were not disappointed, as we found two Bulls, a 4.5' male, and a 6' female. Just prior to the trip, we learned that the Bullsnake was either protected or about to be in Wisconsin (don't ask me why). Mindful of this, we photographed the animals and released them. Because it was so cold, 53 degrees and raining, I was able to perform full scale counts on both animals in the field before release. The male was an impressive tricolor yellow, the female a handsome tricolor red. After this, we only found one herp, an Eastern Garter on a farm. Our luck was considerably better in Illinois, a state with which we are much more familiar. There we found several Western Fox, Chicago Garters, Plains Garters, further south we found Bullsnakes, Blue Racers, Eastern Milks, an Eastern Hognose, a probable Eastern/Chicago Garter intergrade,two Slender Glass Lizards, and numerous Plains Racerunners. Aside from calling Spring Peepers and Gray Treefrogs, the trip was noticeably devoid of amphibians. All in all, a great trip, though the lack of amphibians left me puzzled and perhaps a bit concerned.

Congrats on the bulls. I hope you can e-mail me with a little locality info as I'd like to get in the right area someday to see bull, fox, and some of those garters.

Here in Michigan the amphibians have been pretty good, but I've noticed a decline in American toads and wood frogs. All other seem to be doing well on our farm. The weather has been quite cool this spring and not many snakes have been seen. What I've seen so far in n. MI are: Eastern and Butler's garters, n. water snakes, red-bellies, browns, E. milks, and yesterday a n. ringneck.

TC

Bart,

Glad to hear you guys had an excellent trip. I'm sure it was great to escape the miserable weather we've had here in the NE this spring.

Interesting to hear about the pending legislation on WI bulls. I guess it's a sign of the times. Do you think it's because their population is declining, or because they have a relatively restricted range in WI? Also, are they locally common where they are found (in WI)?

PB

I think it's people trying to justify their jobs. While not as abundant as populations further west, Bullsnakes are not rare in Wisconsin. Like any wild animal, you have to know how, when, and where to look for them. In the early '90's, the Kankakee Sandhill population in Illinois and Indiana was considered hard to come by. We found 12 that week. Of course, we know the animal,and learned through years of field experience. What's unfortunate is that if indeed the Bullsnake is or will be protected in Wisconsin, only the true herper will be affected. Truthfully, if you're going to make a living collecting herps from the wild, Wisconsin is not the place to go. The state is the cleanest I've yet visited, not too many trash piles, and the weather is not the most predicable. You can do much better elsewhere. Those that have no qualms about poaching will not be affected, nor will developers. And government wonders why the citizenry always view them as suspect.