Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I may be visiting TX this summer and would like to hunt for alternas. I was wondering, from those who regularly collect, on average how many hours do you spend on the road per alterna collected (given good weather and habitat)? 20? 50? 100? more?

Rick

I don't know that I could be classified as "regularly" collecting alterna. I do look regularly. I suspect that over each of the last 10 years I have hunted 10 nights minimum between April and September. This hunting has mostly taken place in the eastern parts of alterna range where they are "more common". On each night I probably hunted between 4 and 8 hours, so I will say 6 hours average. So six hours per night x 10 nights per year x 10 years = 600 hours. During that 600 hours I have found 1 DOR and 1.1 live (one AOR, one on a cut). So, if you are only counting live, that's 300 hours per snake.

Some people are luckier (or more "skilled" and probably figure they find 3x as many alterna as I do (an average of about 1 per year in 100 hours of hunting). I figure if you haven't hunted for 10 years, you really don't have a feel for how common/uncommon this snake is. Just because someone tells you they went out 1 night and found 3 alterna, don't assume you could repeat that task.

The real trick to alterna hunting is that you have to enjoy the hunt. If you regard the night as a failure just because you don't find an alterna, you are destined to be disappointed by the process.
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Chris Harrison

There is no such thing as average when finding alterna. The first time i went out, i went near langtry, and found 1.1 in one night. I went out 10 times after that and didn't find squat, its all in the luck of the drawl.
eliot stone
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1.0 Hypo Corn Het. for Amber
0.1 Spotted Python
and always looking for more!

Only 6 hours a night? you don't live out there, do you? It just seems like a waste of a trip to do only 6 hours.
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without electricity, we'd be watching television in the dark

During many of those years, I lived about 120 miles from Baker's Crossing, Loma Alta, Pandale, etc. so I just made a quick run down and back. I usually had to pack it in sometime around 1 am because I had a 1.5 hour drive home ahead of me.
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Chris Harrison

It varies from area to area. Even within a particular area, one spot can be good and another spot 1/4 mile away can be a dud.
Owing to heavily increased traffic along Hwy. 90 from Del Rio to Sanderson, and on Hwy 277 N. of Del Rio, coupled with drought conditions in those areas for many years, poplulations are down.
On some areas, such as Boy Scout Rd, the average is probably one alterna for every 30-35 nights of hunting. In my worst year I found one alterna in 16 nights of hunting. In my best I averaged one every 1.5 nights, but don't expect to see those numbers these days.
Then you also have barometric pressure, wind speed and direction, rains (or lack of), time of year, moon phases and other factors to consider. It is a crap shoot, but one in which experience helps to even the odds.
Stop to look at everything you see. Get out and walk (you miss a lot of stuff when just driving.) Have fun. If you actually find what you are looking for, all the better, but the Trans-Pecos offers an amazing variety of herpetological and other wildlife.
Herping The Trans-Pecos

The first time I went down to the Trans Pecos was in June of 2000. My girl and I flew into El Paso, rented a truck and drove down to Alpine. We had never been to the region before so every night was new and exciting ! It was rich with reptile life. We spent time in the Alpine area, Sanderson , Langtry , and Del Rio. We met lots of great folks and made many new friends. One night out on 277, the famous year when the road was closed, we found a light , blairs phase male alterna. It was captivating. I remember watching it for hours in the hotel. I remember how happy everyone was for us finding one our first time out. I was hooked ! We have been down every year since for at least a month during " the season" . We have not seen another live alterna in over 100 nights of hunting. We look forward to seeing our friends each time we go down. We always meet more people each time we go. Someone always gets an alterna and everyone shares in their happiness. This year one of our friends found 2 alterna in one night on the River Road . If that wasn't enough he found a blonde suboc the following night ! We look forward each year to great Mexican food in Terlingua and the best steaks in Texas at the " Gage " in Marathon. We look forward to staying at the herper friendly Outback Motel in Sanderson. And then there is Del Rio......... hanging around the pool, lunches in Mexico.......always in anticipation of what the night will offer... Do we go up to Loma Alta ? Do we go out to Langtry or the Juno road ? It's all about the alterna........but it's not really about the alterna........they are just "the icing on the cake".

My son and I have spent 300 hours during the month of June in West Texas since the early 90's - six one-week trips. We have collected four alterna in that time frame. They were collected in Sanderson-1, East Langtry-2, and Juno Road-1. For us it has been 75 hours of hunting for each alterna collected. On one trip we collected two, on two trips found one, and on three trips we didn't score. Some do better, some do worse. I have a friend who has spent perhaps more time hunting there than we have, and he never found an alterna. We found three of our four on the road, crossing at night. One of the two East Langtry animals was captured at dusk on a rock cut when it was blazing hot (97 degrees). The others were caught at much cooler temps (70-80 degrees)and later in the night, one of them at 3:30 am. Some hunters do better road hunting, and others seem to be more successful walking cuts. Part of the draw for us is simply being out there in the relative solitude. You see a lot of wildlife out there, which adds to the drama for some. We've seen porcupine, skunks, ringtail cats, opposums, armadillos, badgers, foxes, coyotes, pronghorn antelope, jackrabbits, deer, javelina, and bobcats - to name a few. We have hunted from the western edge of the range(the Hueco Mountains) to Loma Alta in the east. The consensus seems to be that if you want to find alterna, your chances are greater in the eastern portion of the their range, most notably in Terrell and Val Verde counties. If you decide to try the western areas such as Black Gap, River Road, Sanderson, Alpine, etc, be prepared to be stopped by game wardens and border patrol. Our experience has been that there are more stops by them in the west than in the east. However, some of the most picturesque and awesome desert scenery I have ever expereinced are in the western areas. Anyway, enjoy your trip. Even if you don't find alterna, there is enough there in West Texas to interest you and keep you coming back. Last June we saw 50 snakes in the week we were there, including a milk snake, Trans-Pecos cooperhead, two rock rattlers, several subocs,and a large bairds ratsnake. msdds
reply to alterna collector

I have only been down there for 2 nights. They were the most fun I've had herping in a long time. I managed to find an alterna my first night (He is still lost in the house somehwere!!!). We celebrated the finding over a Shiner Bock (of course we offered some to the alterna gods). Some folks have all the luck and some have none finding alterna. The best part of the trip is just going and seeing what is out there. I cannot wait to go back. My body is in Kentucky, but my soul is walking cuts on 277.
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14 Leopard Gackos 5.9.0
2 Tokay Geckos 1.1.0
1 Graybanded Kingsnake 1.0.0 (on vacation in my house)
1 Baird's Rat Snake (Thanks Vadoni!) 1.0.0
1 Trachemys scripta elegans 0.0.1
coming soon...
Corn Snake, Green Anoles, crested geckos, and Yellow Rat Snakes.

Just because you won't find alterna frequently doesn't mean you will be bored until you do. There are a lot of awesome herps out there, and you might see mammals/birds you've never seen before. If it is your first trip, I would suggest staying out all night. It will give you time to walk some cuts and do plenty of cruising. If I am there by myself, it is mandatory that I see both the sunset and sunrise. You can sleep through the afternoon and walk some cuts in the early evening
and find lizards and invertebrates. Just try and enjoy yourself, and don't worry about the alterna. The scenery and stars alone are worth the trip. If you have a camera, bring it.
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without electricity, we'd be watching television in the dark

Thanks for the replies. They make me even more ready to hunt out there.
Rick