Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I think as a group people are confusing the knowledge of hunting and caretaking for alternas being associated with the actual numbers caught over the years by individuals who have put in the time inflated and exagerated. Ive put in 304 nights in 38 years and only caught 24, 20 which were christmases. The legends are few and far between reality.

Well, your ratio is about 1 alterna for every 12 nights of hunting. My ratio is 1 for every 11 nights of hunting (11 alterna in about 80 nights). My impression is that these ratios are influenced by the areas hunted. If you spent as much time in the area around Langtry as you have in the Christmases, your ratio would most likely be more favorable due to higher concentrations of alterna in the eastern portion of its range.
Anecdotal evidence seems to reveal that the numbers of alterna captured in the east, especially Val Verde county, by far exceeds locales such as Black Gap, River Road, Boy Scout Road, etc. It would be interesting for someone to take the lead and gather information from all past known hunters of alterna to see the approximate numbers that have been found in all known locales. That would be quite a project, but my feeling is that it would show a pretty clear picture about where the dense populations exist and where they are more difficult to find due to lower numbers in the biological community.

I am confident Eric Timaeus and John Hollister have found well over a hundred alterna. Like Eric says, where you hunt makes a huge difference. I have found 49 alterna, and I started hunting in West Texas in 1987 (disclaimer, I AM counting the ones my wife found while I was driving, lol). Pretty much every year, I hunted the Xmas Mts at least 3-4 nights and have NEVER found an alterna there in all these years. That locale has been my nemesis.

For the record, I have found one Hueco alterna, one on the River Rd, and ALL the rest were in Terrell and Val Verde Counties. Like Eric said, in the Eastern part of their range, alterna are often the most commonly encountered snake. For comparison, I have only found 5 milk snakes in alterna range in the years it took to find the 49 alterna.

I know several people that have caught over 100 alterna. Like Dave stated, Hollister and Eric have caught a ton, probably the most (the majority of their animals are Val Verde specimens). There are a lot of old-timers that have caught a lot. Val Verde is certainly the easiest place to collect alterna. My dad has collected well over 100 alterna and all but 5 were in Val Verde county. I do not know exactly how many that I have collected (or how many that I should get credit for), but I have collected alterna in 7 different counties (solo finds except one). The western localities are MUCH more difficult. I once found 9 alterna in a five day span in Val Verde county. I am confident that there are not many people that have found that many in the western part of their range in a year's time.