Looking for places to snake hunt

Hey fellas,

I'm looking for places around the Brownwood area. Would like to stay within 30-40 miles, unless you have a known den, then I'd be willing to travel a little farther.

Thanks,
JD

por que?

What types of snakes are you lookin for? You lookin to take some photos?

Looking to harvest live rattlesnakes.

Oh, so you are COMPLETELY out of your mind. Welcome to the forum and good luck!

Put all them snakes in baskets and ship them to the Taliban

I don't think I can oblige but I have a question. Do you do this often?

Man your crazy be careful good luck and welcome to the forum.

Good 2 C another neighbor on here. My ranch is about 10-11 miles north of Richland Springs. Love catchin' those Friday night football games on 101.3

I wish you posted this 6 months ago, the lease I just got off of was rattle bug infested. We killed 36 in 6 months! They were every where. This was just south of midland

craigr- My wife agrees with you.
erniejs- that's a good idea.
Ryan84- this is my first year to really hunt them on purpose.

I have seen 4 so far on my place this year, have caught 2.

The first one was on MLK day in Jan. I was a little suprised by that one. I have seen all 4 at the same den. I'll post up pics of the 1st and 3rd ones.

1st one on MLK day.

Caught this one on Saturday.

kool

And the dental check up. Good boy, no cavities.

jdw99 do you know anybody that buys rattlers. My cousin's husband has been going rattlesnake hunting the past couple of weekends and needs somewhere to sell the snakes he caught.

Last saturday he asked me to go with him but since I had to work I couldn't. He ended up catching 14 rattlers that day. Right now he has 16 rattlesnakes in in boat garage that he wants to sell.

I have a place in Coleman Tx you are more than welcome

He should be able to sell them at a rattlesnake roundup. There will be one in brownwood in march I think. Or there is a big one in sweetwater not sure when.

bentman....where are you located in Coleman?

I think a good pair of snake boots would be next on my list of purchases, but I'm just funny that way....

Ewwwww, he touched it. Do they make snake gloves?

between Shields & Fisk

The Sweetwater Rattlesnake Round up starts March 12th and they will start weighing the rattle bugs you caught at 7am that morning.

Man, I have not been snake hunting in years. When I attended college in Stephenville, I would go back home on the weekends and sometimes do some snake hunting. There was a place at I-20 and 281 South Of Miserable Wells that used to buy them. At one point in time around $8.00 a pound was the price. I could go to the bar every night on snake money!

SHOOT'EM IN THE FACE!!!!!

Dude your crazy.

I get all tensed up when I pick up dead rattlesnakes.

Man. I hate those things.

I have always wanted to do this, I had a teammate in college that was from okeene oklahoma that would go back home and do that every year, always meant to go with him, no I wish I had time!

replied to your other post JDW

how much do the pay at the rattlesnake roundups?

what do people buy em for?????? antivenom?

that and the skins and the meat.

I do this every year when I go turkey hunting in Bronte. I am usually behind the game since I can't make it down until after they are out of the dens, so I don't catch as many as I would like. Gets the heart pumping for sure.

JD,
I got about 14,000 acs. in Archer Co. TX w/ numerous known dens. Nobody has done any hunting on them in many yrs. Would like to have you and others out?
Are you interesting in driving that far east to get into a bunch of snakes?

-Aaron

I know a guy that made over $5K at Sweetwater roundup one year. There's some money in them rattlers.

how much do they pay? by the pound? by the snake?

Aaron,

If I can get a few of my buddies rounded up to do an overnight trip that'd be awesome. I'll see what I can work out for the next couple of weeks.

JD

It depends on who you sell too and the size of the snake. If you sell to a roundup it's usually $6 - $8 a pound. (average snake is about 3 pounds). If you sell to an individual they usually pay by size, color and condition of the skin. Roundups are by far the easiest. Just show up with the live snakes, a hunting license and a permit, weigh'em in and collect your $.

A good rule of thumb for western diamondbacks is approx 1 pound per foot.

you can drive to my place& crawl uner the house & barn & have all you want. i shot 3 this weekend thru a vent on the south. they come to it to sun

It is a blast to hunt them, I use to hunt copper heads, cotton-mouths and just about ever other snake that I could get my hands on. I would be nice to find a place to catch some, so yall keep posting them.

are there any roundups close to the dallas area or are they all down in south texas? how much would a rattler fetch if sold to an individual?

Meat is fine, have eaten it before... but it was after the shotgun blast......

Used to have a blast at the Sweetwater roundup. Hit it every year for about 15 years. Started out with just me and a buddy back in high school, then grew to 20-30 guys that would meet up in Sweetwater every year. Good times! Always caught decent numbers of rattlers and made a few bucks. We usually pulled 15-20 out of an average den.....but one year, I found just a small crack (about 15 inches tall and 4 inches wide) in the caprock on the top of a hillside. Gassed the den, flashed my mirror into the crack and saw 4 heads coming out on top of each other. They just kept coming. Ended up pulling 176 rattlers out of that one little crack! We ended up having to dump out our ice chests and anything else we could find to put the snakes in. Have a video somewhere of the trip and pulling up to the roundup and opening my truck toolbox loaded with angry rattlers!

this works good for me.357,12 guage or snakes nasty there evil...meent to do one thing...........

How do you find their dens, and how do you get them out afterwards? I see someone mentioned gas, what kind? I wouldn't mind trying to catch a few...

Regular gas in a spray rig like you apply pesticides with. ut copper tubing on the connection and push it into the hole as far as you can then start spraying. Pull out the tubing and wait. Use a mirror to look into the hole it works better than a flashlight. You can order snake tongs online. You might want some help, sometimes they can start coming out in pretty good numbers faster than one person can deal with safely.

Do you just start spraying in places that look like they might hold snakes? I'm assuming rocky places?

Yes rock outcroppings that get sun exposure. Be careful when approaching they like to come out and sun. Sometimes if there is sand at the entrance you can see drag marks. Just get out and give it a shot. Sometimes its a bust and other times its great. When you find a good den it will normally hold snakes year after year. The next 3 weeks should be pretty good.

if you go out to rogers texas off of I35 past temple they have been known to get good size rattlers out there at all times of the day around september.

are you talking about spraying gasoline in the cracks? wouldnt that kill them? i wouldnt want to eat one that has had gas all over it. i imagine if a game warden seen you do it he'd wright you a ticket.

What permit is needed and where do you get it?

you need a nongame dealers permit and a hunting license. the nongame dealers permit is by application only and it cost $60.

new to leaving post on but have bought a couple of items off of here. I do the snake hunting every year and pick them up all year long. Enjoy it very much and have a blast doing every time i go. when we go sometimes we find alot and sometimes we get shut out. i am always looking for a new place to look for snakes.

I wish all the snakes at my lease would move away , I do not fear snakes I just hate being startled by them

It doesn't take a lot of gasoline to get the job done. We would have several pump up sprayers (2-3 gallon) with gasoline....take off the nozzle on the end of the wand and add about 6 inches of rubber fuel line (held on with hose clamps). We then added between 25 and 40 foot of copper tubing to the end. We quickly learned to hammer the end of the copper tube closed, and punch a few small holes (with a nail) on each side of the last 4 inches of flattened tube. This way, rather than shooting a stream of gas, you would spray a fine mist and quickly create enough fumes to drive the snakes out.

Unless things have changed since I quite doing the snake hunts (about 1995), there was nothing illegal about using the gas, and you did not need any licenses or permits to hunt the snakes.

About the last year I did the hunts, a PETA type group known as "Earth First" began heavily protesting the Sweetwater roundup. They would show up in big groups at the coliseum, dressed in costumes like the grim reaper, etc. --- and badger everyone going into the roundup activities. They said that not only were poor rattlesnakes being killed, but also rats, mice and other rodents were being pushed out of their homes (by the gas in the dens). We just couldn't let this opportunity pass! After cashing in our snakes, I was walking out with a huge wad of cash in my pocket, and a bag of snake meat for one of my friends. I hid the meat and asked the protesters about their cause. I told them that I supported them fully, and asked if I could have my picture taken with them (all in costumes). I was posing in the middle of these nuts and my friends who were taking the pictures counted 1...2.....3...and I held up the raw snake meat in one hand and the wad of cash in the other. The protesters were pissed! Got some great pictures of me being chased around the parking lot by the grim reaper!

I like the idea of gassing the den. I like the idea of LIGHTING the gassed den even better. I applaud you guy's on your insanity, I would love to go and just see it from a ways off. Good luck fellas.

You don't need a license or permit to hunt them but you do if you want to sell them at a roundup.

JD

If you would like me to take a look at your snake problem then you may send me a pm also. Like I stated earlier I hunt and pick them up all year long.

There's your problem. I don't think he's gonna sell that boat garage very easy with 16 rattlesnakes in it...

Good One...

so i am about to gas and old house and i have kill ten snakes from there to see the length and weight of them. from 5 to 9 lbs each. in the sun i have counted over 50 snakes at one time laying by the house. should i just kill them all or should i catch them. and how many do you think there are at the house if i count 50+ at one time???? thanks for the help

could be hundreds....

yea that is what i thought. so what should i do "catch or kill"

If it were me I would kill em all but if you are a brave soul looking for some cash you could kill about half so they dont all gang up on ya. lol just be careful! where abouts is this place?

about 40 min from fort worth???

u boys are funny...SCREW THIS