Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Just curious... Out of all these alterna you are collecting, it sounds as if you've kept them all. You say you've found 18 now and counting. When do you say enough is enough? Sounds like over collecting to me. How many were adult males in search of females hoping to mate and produce many more alterna for these locales? Any thought of only keeping a pair or two from each locale? DO you feel your affecting the density of the species at all? I know I know, your probly thinking I'm speaking through jelousy....Your probly right. But If I found near that many I wouldn't dream of keeping them all. Remember.. Pictures last forever!

You make a valid argument, but alterna are blessed with some of the most extensive and inaccesible habitat of any Texas snake. If anything he is just making it harder for others to find one by road collecting in the area but they are doing just fine as a whole. I agree some pictures are in order though!
ps...I'm jealous too

I'm working on pics as we speak...............Juno Road will be hunted hard tonight ! I'll keep you posted.

I will try to give you the most honest answer I can. First of all unless you have access to private land and in large quanities, everyone's access to the overall alterna population in any given type locale is EXTREMELY limited to probably less than 1/100,000 th of a percent of thier total population. Also, a great many of these taken this year were taken in areas no one hunts - even me - but rather on my trip back home here in Del Rio. So far....one at dolan creek, one at loma alto, one in rough canyon, three on juno road, two in pumpville, four on pandale, five in langtry area, one just east of comstock, and one on a cut on 90 just outside del rio. I actually kept 12, released 4 and sold 2. Of the 18 collected, 13 were females of which only four were of adult breeder size. By the end of the season, I expect to have collected about 35 alterna. I keep what I like and do not keep everything. I do not breed and seel my babies commercially like a lot of you. I only sell if someone is here and asks for somethiong specific that I have. I often give them away as well. In addition, I do not pick anything else up as a rule. I've removed numerous snakes from the road this year already like annulata, baird's, subocs, emorys, bullsnakes, blacktails, atrox, etc.,....even though I could sell those as well. Alterna is my only interest and although I own a number of other species and hots, I keep only alterna here at my residence. One thing to keep in mind is that in addition to being colored blind to a degree which allows me to see a snake instead of a color or pattern, I also live here and can go every night. Therefore, there is no pressure to produce because I've only got a few nights to do so. If I go several days without seeing any alterna, I can always go out the next night, week, month, etc.,...so my collecting is much more relaxed. Actually my count should be 20 because I missed a very small dark phase on pandale Saturday night and a buckskin on 90 by the lake on the way home one night. There is really just no skill involved. Just have to be in the right place at the right time when that snake decides to crawl out onto the cut or the road. There are always those who will try to discredit your success because they are simply jealous they are not having any. Believe me - there are many many nights I do not see ANYTHING ! My best is five in one night and it was this year. Keep trying and let me know if you come down. I'll give you the tour.

But thats to your advantage, it would show that you acually have caught 19 this season. Keep up the good work, and post some pics of the nicer snakes !

Are you the Bob Sloan infamous for your outrageously amusing storytelling from decades past? Most of the new people are too young to remember you from the past...you were more amazing than Earl Turner in your purported exploits collecting snakes in west Texas. Inquiring minds want to know!

Since "Duckman" will not answer you, I will answer for you. From a very reliable source, and I do mean RELAIABLE, Duckman is Bob Sloan! Since I do not know the man personally, this is as far as I will go, but more information is abound regarding Bob!

Wayne H.

Then it is a crock! hahaha

...all the alterna he found swinging straight down from a rope with a flashlight in the Pecos River canyon. I sure vividly remember it when he told me that tale back in 1980! To top it off, they were all "alterna phase"...rare for that area...to say the least. Bob graduated from the Earl Turner State Unversity with a PhD in MIGHTY TALL TALES...he went underground for many years and...if what you say is true...it seems he's back to impress the youger generation of alterna people by regaling them with new fanciful tales who are too young to know what whoppers he tells. It's impossible to listen to him for very long before it becomes impossible to sort out fact from fantasy...but there's always a nagging doubt about what he's telling you. Take it for what it is...some poor guy trying to get some attention to himself...and the only way he thinks that's possible is to tell fantastic stories. Have some pity for someone like that...but watch out if you have dealings with him...my experiences long ago were far less than savory. He had many tall tales then, too...nowadays we call them "excuses". Anyway Wayne, thanks for the reply.

is that you said where no one else hunts.
Hell everyone hunts the areas you listed.

Your numbers are not unbelievable to me.

There is something else, Rough canyon is part
of Amistad, which is a national Recreation area,
you should not have put that in print. I'm sure
the wardens will be interested in that.

Dolan is also State park, another no-no.

Now show us some pictures.

why is it so hard to believe? in 2002 i found 27 alterna in Brewster, Presidio, and Jeff Davis counties. 2003 i found thirteen, four in one night; i was only able to be out for about a month because i spent most of the summer in Glacier NP. this year ive found nine. three this past friday, and three again on sunday. i dont keep them, i have no interest in the take of wild animals for private collections. i dont take pictures of them because im usually busy looking for anurans.

so why is it so hard to believe, especially when he is hunting in an area that alterna are by far the most common snake?....

rob h

go back and read it again, when you get to this part:

"your numbers are NOT unbelievable to me".

Rob, the problem here is the source, not the numbers.
We have known too much about him for too long, and you
are missing a good chunk of the story, that's all

Best
Joe

Well said Joe, well said. Some people are incapabale of reading. As far as Alterna being the most common snake out there, yeah, right. and I'm a Chinese aviator............I think someone is on drugs. No one really knows how common they really are because of all that private land. Let's just say when it's good, it's good. Rock on Joe!

Wayne H.

Look Geymer, there are NO drugs involved...didn't you volunteer your aviation skills to the Ranch Rescue people?

You got it Mark Smith! That's the school bud. You ought to get a little more pro-active in your community bud. Remember, Spring Shadows is the Alamo! Now let's get back to talkin snakes.

Wayne H.

If Duckman has a MASTER KEY to the Comstock Motel then it is Bob Sloan.

Nora just re-keyed the whole place in Mid-May and there are only two Master keys now!!! LOL... None of the keys were working before then.