Reptile & Amphibian Forums

My son and I spent 9 days in West Texas and scored big this time around. We searched several grayband hotspots. Each was unproductive with the exception of Juno Road. On the evening of the first day of summer, June 21st, we started our hunt at the turnaround point about 5 or 6 miles north of Bakers Crossing. By the time we got to the Crossing we passed a herper from Manitoba, and a little bit later we also met a couple of hunters from Florida. On our first pass of the S curve we found a 26 inch female Blairs light phase AOR at 9:20. The road temp was 94.5 at that time, and the western skies were still tinged with pink. We were very stoked at this point, but searched in vain for several hours. On each pass we asked the other hunters what they had seen, and their responses were the same as ours - nothing. Only one snake had been seen all night long - the one we found at dusk. The other hunters left Juno around eleven or so, but we continued, knowing that the conditions seemed to be ideal. It was rather odd, though, to see absolutley nothing on the road. None of the snakes we've grown accustomed to seeing on Juno, such as longnosed, emoryi, bairdi, etc. At 1:52 am, just 4 tenths of a mile south of our first sighting, we found our second snake of the night - a 37 inch dark phase male blairs AOR. At that time the road temp registered 85.4. After we bagged him and started down the road, I re-opened the bag to admire him as my son drove the car. While doing so, at 1:57 am he straddled an 18 inch screamer light phase male blairs, 4 tenths of a mile north of our first alterna. I was stunned. Never before had we found three in a week, let alone three within 4 1/2 hours! We have photos of the animals which I will post as soon as we get our DSL line installed in our new home. We saw no other snakes that night, but it was an unforgettable experience. I understand that a couple of graybands were found on cuts both north and south of the Crossing before and after the first day of summer. We returned to Juno Road for the next three nights, but saw nothing other than a very large blackhooded sanke and one longnosed snake. The rains kept everything under cover. Man, we love that locale!

Holy Cow! Thats phenomenol. In the 25 years I've been involved with alterna I've never heard of anyone [reputable] thats found 3 in one night on Juno. Several collectors have caught 2 but never heard of 3. I think Keith Amalong caught 5 in 3 nights back in the early 90's. Congrats, thats a hall of fame, once in a lifetime night.

Thanks for your acknowledgement! My son and I were wondering if there was a comparable experience on Juno in the past. We have made 7 trips, totaling about 53 nights of hunting for graybands. With this trip included, we have found 7 graybands, which works out to about 1 for every 7 to 8 days of hard hunting(we almost always go from dusk to dawn). All of ours were found from just after dark until 3:30 am(this one another Juno in 92, 2 miles north of the s curves). Since 4 of our 7 have been found on Juno, we are very fond of that particular locale, but have never seen any north of Bakers Crossing. I've seen pics of alterna from Juno that have small, almost diamond-shaped saddles. Do you have any knowledge or experience in the different phases of Juno animals? Thanks again for your feedback. Marlon

not. I mean years of hitting Juno I have seen a big Fat O, then every once in while , BAM ! But when i have not seen one living snake on Juno i have always seen just about all of the mammals and owls that Texas has to offer on Juno. As Brad said, your find has got to be legendary soon. The only other person/s that may or may not of ever come close to this, is the Hewys > ? Hueies > ? that I think use to live on or just off of Juno Road on a ranch. Some one please chime in here about that father and sons team that use to drive i think BMWs up and down Juno. I have not heard of these folks for some time though and I don't really know if they had all of the alterna ( blairs morph and alterna ) that they claimed. I do know that they were pricey on thier animals.
Anyway, congratulation on your finds.

Chambo

Chambo,
I knew Les Hughey, I met him one time in the late 80's or early 90's, he WAS at that time married to one of the Baker women, either officially or through common law. When I saw him, he was living at Bakers house, the one thats located still at Bakers crossing, well on the North side on the crossing, then up the road to the East there. I had heard about all of his claims of catching alotta Juno road alternas & when I went there, he had like 3-4 in semi-clean cages. One or two were light phase & 2 were dark phase blairs. All were for sale at outrageous inflated prices, like 200-500 dollars each. Needless to say, but I didnt buy or even consider buying any of them. Les was a heavy-smoker & a fast talker, with his stories sounding like bar-room fishing tales as I listened & my opinion quickly steered me in the direction that Les MAY have caught these and other alternas, but my take on him & his snakes was, I am not interested, nor did I think he was credable on everything he was telling me. I told other snake hunters that asked me what I thought, which was, I didnt really trust Les on the exact locales and areas those snakes came from off Juno & that he was asking WAY more than what the snakes were even close to worth at that time even. I didnt know or meet any of Les's kids, so I cannot give a opinion on them, but Les was catching snakes PURELY for money then, certainly not because he had any real interest in them. JF

Les drove a diesel powered audi I think. I know it was a diesel. I also remember what happened to my friend Lance Benton. The old "Hey, did you just grab my b@lls?"???
I think he ran over an alterna in front of me one night. But who knows, we all have probably ran over something in our life.
A nice 18 inch light phase north of the curves. His alterna were expensive and I agree with Chambers. You don't quite trust a fast talking man.

Still, you can't beat the location of his house. Right on the Devils River. Nice place for a summer home.

Take Care,

Steve

Les smashed a light phase on Juno right in front of me one night. The guy can't see!

Joe

I would be trying to get some sleep under the grove of trees just South of Bakers Crossing and that little Bast*** would be going back and forth looking for Alterna and waking me up every pass with that loud ass car of his! And YES, his Alterna seemed to be laced with gold,..........or so HE thought. Did anyone ever purchase Alterna from him???? Oh well, no one has to worry about seeing me on Juno. I wish everyone would hunt that road. There are much better localities without having to worry about the tire testors. I wonder how those tires would hold up to the spikes??? HHHMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM.

Wayne H.

were thinking of buying from Les. One guy is the hyper viper. But Joe could tell us if he actually did or not. I mean i remember the hyper viper spending at least the same amount on some other alterna in his days ! I also remember taking down a large BUNDLE of cash for him to pay off Lee Frazer on some Pepper Hill animals. Maybe the Peppers were worth more or not. I don't know. It's funny, I don't know if I was paying Lee for animals or a THREAT he made on Hyper Viper. I know that Mr. Hyper was worried on Lee getting that money in a timely fashion and upon Lees request no mailing of funds !

Chambo

Don't think he ever bought from Les,
maybe considered it, but....

Les's problem was that
1) Prices too high, preventing quick sale and
2) He couldn't care for them, preventing later sale.

Les did manage to sell a couple snakes but for the
most part he didn't do very well. And if you consider
that he lived at Baker's Xing then you'd have to say
he did miserably!

Joe

Congrats on the 3 in one night catch on Juno road! Like Brad said, that has to be a record number of alterna seen & captured in one night on Juno road. I had only ever heard of 2 in one night off Juno as well, so that is indeed a once-in-a-lifetime night for sure. I think Joe & David Forks had several doubles in one night off Juno, I am sure Joe will say if he reads these posts. Keith Amalong also had some real scores off Juno when he was collecting as I recall. Look forward to seeing their photos, again Congrats! J. Fraser

Thanks, John. I don't know if you remember me, but back in 94 we met in East Sanderson a couple of days after we had found a light phase blairs with alternates, which we finally traded to you for a couple of juvenile graybands. How did that animal fare for you? Hopefully it became a good breeder for you, as I remember it being perhaps sub-adult when we found it in the town of Sanderson, right next to the Department of Transportation building. I do remember that Les Hughey was not happy with me and my then 14 year old son for finding the large male melanisitic blairs in 92. Les was just ahead of us, maybe 200 yards. At 3:30, I was tired and on the way out of there on the way to sleepy time in the Comstock hotel, when the snake crawled quickly on the road from the west side. When I showed it to Les at the top of the hill, he said, with a tinge of irritation, "Yeah, you got yourself a large male there." Anyway, he offered for us to come to his place to buy alterna from him in his home. He said he had a vast array of them. When I asked how much and he replied at least 200 apiece, I said no thanks, and traveled on to Comstock. I remember whatever car it was he drove made a terrible racket coming down the road. It had a missing muffler, or a shot one at least. The last time I saw him on that road was way back in 94, if my memory serves me right. Marlon

Marlon,
Of course I DO remember you & still remember that light blairs you were talking about that you found crossing 285. I had the snake about 10 years, then it died, it was a very good animal. I did use it in a couple of breeding projects back then as well.

Email me when you get a chance, thanks for mentioning the Sanderson snake, made it quite easy to remember you from that.....John

Yea I think three is it. One night in June '93 (11th I think)
we found three alterna (two males and one gravid female) plus
an annulata.

Joe