ALL KINGS !
We've been back for two weeks but between work and my collection I've been unable to post until now.
First off, we had a great time hanging out with old friends and met some new people as well. We hooked up with Steve Boyd , a long time herper of the trans pecos, for two weeks in the east end of the region. We were based out of Del Rio and hunted Langtry, Juno and 277. We were joined there by Wayne and Kim Howell, their two sons and Meridith , who we look forward to seeing each year. Our arrival in Del Rio followed an all night thunder storm that had moved in around 1:30 am and lasted thru day break. We got to the hotel and joined a large crew of herpers for lunch in Mexico. The beer and margaritas flowed. Tacos, frajitas, enchalatas , live music and snake hunting stories set the tone. The big event from the previous night was Dave Doughtys' alterna off 277 just before the rain hit.
The following two nights it poured rain in the evenings and the temps fell into the 60's. The weekend was over and when the other herpers went home we bolted down to the River Road. We met a couple of herpers on the road down and were happy they joined us down in Terlingua. Jason and Glenn had flown in to San Antonio from Chicago and Colorado to meet up for their first time in the Trans Pecos. They will be back...trust me! On our arrival in Terlingua we found that it had rained heavy for two days here as well. The sun was shinning and temps were high 90s-100 the two days we stayed. We saw 10 snakes a night but the high light was this sweeeet river road alterna from Panther Canyon that Jason and Glenn got.
We decided to head back to Del Rio since the rains had cleared and we figured alterna would be moving now. Our first night out we ran into Nathan Wells on Juno Road who had found this nice blairs earlier that evening.
The weekend came with the new moon and low barametric pressures! Out in Langtry folks were getting alterna all around us. One night we counted 6 alterna caught and we saw 2 DOR. The following night Steve Boyd found this one west of Langtry.
And he scored again the next night with this......the nicest one we saw on this trip, out in Lozier Canyon.
Another interesting find that night was this annulata found by Cory from Berkley Cal.
By now we were starting to think we were not going to get one this year. Then just when your not expecting it....there was something on the shoulder, something dark! We were east of Palmer canyon. I pull over and run back but there is nothing there. After a 10 minute search with the stubby and my wife combing the road I found this guy hiding along the grass line under the gaurd rail !
Now we were happy! Persistance , followed by luck as John Hollister would say. He had been calling us each night to see whats been happening, John watches the weather patterns and keeps an ear to the ground during the alterna season. He doesn't miss a thing. He doesn't come down until the moon, barametric pressures and temps are just so.
Conditions were just right on June 9th. The temps were 100 during the day , 88 just after dark and stayed in the mid 80s until around 2am. The pressures were low ...29.68 when we left the hotel and the wind was gusty all night. There was lightning in the distance. We were hunting 277 and had not seen a snake all night. Around 2am the temp dropped into the upper 70s. We were down south of Carruthers when suddenly there was a small snake in the road. I had to straddle it. We turned around a couple of times when Maureen shouts alterna and jumps out to catch the snake! It was her 1st alterna .....
Conditons where perfect . We came across an atrox within minutes and then 1/2 hr later , at the radio tower cuts, a beautiful light blairs crosses the road right in front of us. This is the first time we have found more than one alterna in a night. We were more than satisfied.
At this point we're thinking ........Is it possible to find another. An hour later we decide to seach the radio tower cuts up close and find our 3rd alterna of the night, this one was on the shoulder......head bobbin and tongue flicking right were we found the 2nd snake!
Our first and hopefully not our last......................"Hat Trick".
Needless to say we will be back neck year. See ya'll out there!
