Timbers - 2018-2019 Thread

[Mike]

Franklin,
Copperheads are not fish eaters because their feeding style, like Pa rattlers, is to strike the prey animal and allow it to "get away." The snale then tracks the prey animal with its strong sense of smell until it finds the corpse, then eats it. Would not work with fish. You most likely saw water snakes.

 

[rrt]

Guys around here used to mistake water snakes for copperheads. However, over the past 15 years or so, water snakes have virtually vanished. I used to see them on nearly every in-creek brushpile; not any more. I kind of miss them (along with the croaks of bullfrogs).

However, i am glad that rattlesnakes are pretty rare along the creeks I fish. I don't always watch my feet very well and would probably eventually tramp on one.

For those of you who like rattlers and fish where they are prevalent, good for you!

 

[FarmerDave]

rrt wrote:
Guys around here used to mistake water snakes for copperheads. However, over the past 15 years or so, water snakes have virtually vanished. I used to see them on nearly every in-creek brushpile; not any more. I kind of miss them (along with the croaks of bullfrogs).

However, i am glad that rattlesnakes are pretty rare along the creeks I fish. I don't always watch my feet very well and would probably eventually tramp on one.

For those of you who like rattlers and fish where they are prevalent, good for you!

As far as the watersnakes, I'm guessing any decline would have been due to dry weather over several years. With two wet years in a row, don't be surprised if you see a comeback.

I noticed a big increase in amphibians last year, and even more this year. As far as the bullfrogs, I'm hearing a lot more of them this year than previous, and yes I know the difference. Why two year for the increase? I read that bullfrog tadpoles take 1 to 2 years before transforming to frogs.

The gray tree frogs in my back yard sing me to sleep each night when I leave the window open, and the choir has grown.

 

[FarmerDave]

Mike wrote:
Franklin,
Copperheads are not fish eaters because their feeding style, like Pa rattlers, is to strike the prey animal and allow it to "get away." The snale then tracks the prey animal with its strong sense of smell until it finds the corpse, then eats it. Would not work with fish. You most likely saw water snakes.

Mike, I agree that it was most likely a Northern Watersnake, but I never say never so I took a less blunt approach.

Plus I also remembered another member of the pit viper family that does eat some fish (Cottonmouth). So I wasn't going to say that copperhead never eat fish.

 

[k-bob]

I am at about 0/5 so called rattlers rattling...

 

[franklin]

Mike wrote:
Franklin,
Copperheads are not fish eaters because their feeding style, like Pa rattlers, is to strike the prey animal and allow it to "get away." The snale then tracks the prey animal with its strong sense of smell until it finds the corpse, then eats it. Would not work with fish. You most likely saw water snakes.

I'm fairly confident it was a copperhead as I remember killing it and checking it out. But it was over 40 years ago so my memory may be faded. I'm reasonable familiar with both copperheads and water snakes as we have both on our woodland property. Used to be mostly copperheads but the past 30 years a lot more black and water snakes and very few copperheads.

 

[JackM]

Everyone is making this so complicated. Pick the snake up and look it in the eye. If its pupils are round, it's a water snake that wants to strike or eat you. If its pupil is a vertical slit, oops!

 

[franklin]

JackM wrote:
Everyone is making this so complicated. Pick the snake up and look it in the eye. If its pupils are round, it's a water snake that wants to strike or eat you. If its pupil is a vertical slit, oops!

Wouldn't it strike you when you picked it up and make identification even easier?

 

[troutbert]

I saw a rattler yesterday along East Licking Creek in Tuscarora State Forest in Juniata County.

I was walking up the stream and saw a large tree that had fallen across the floodplain and the stream.

Nettles and such had grown up next to the tree trunk, but I saw a gap, and was about ready to climb up over the trunk, when I saw a rattler coiled on top.

It didn't rattle and I didn't see any movement, even though I had gotten pretty close.

Before this, all the rattlers I had seen in PA have been in NCPA, in the Allegheny Plateau region. This is the first one I've seen in the Ridge and Valley region.

And most of the rattlers I've seen have been in the high elevation areas on top of the plateau.

But this is the third rattler I've seen near streams. One was along a brookie stream in Clinton Cty. It was in a gravelly area grown up in grass, flanking the stream.

Another was on a log in the floodplain of a brookie stream in Blair Cty.

 

[maxima12]

Jackm, perfect in words and wisdom. Isn't this nice, great people, great fun!

If your not here, your somewhere else, Not here? Probably somewhere i don't want to be!

 

[maxima12]

Just got the biggest laugh, Rattlesnakes over 9000 views, just under forumn , boaters rescued less than 200.

Think about it.

 

[tomgamber]

bushwacker wrote:
Can anyone recommend specific locations with a high chance of seeing rattlers? My nephew is into snakes right now and wants to see one. we drove a bunch of state forest roads this weekend and saw many black snakes and one huge garter but no rattlers. we won't mess with them, just want to see one. preferably along a road from safetey of car

cooks run, Clinton county along rt 120, turn at the sign for cooks run.

 

[tomgamber]

Max:Just got the biggest laugh, Rattlesnakes over 9000 views, just under forumn , boaters rescued less than 200.

Think about it.


one's been up for almost 2 months. the other has been up for about 8 hours. thought about it. no brainer. what else ya got. :roll:

 

[maxima12]

Here's how you find a rattler, goldenseal, belladonna, Jimson weed, bloodroot and ginseng! Get up off the couch, grab your keys and go for an adventure!

Belladonna, a nightshade, put you on the warpath, a little more, put you in the ground!

Choose to fry in a chair, choose to fly the outdoors of Pa. Isn't that what life is all about! A choice! I will never know the other side, so it would be a hinderance to my outcome to disclaim or disbelieve!

 

[FarmerDave]

maxima12 wrote:
Just got the biggest laugh, Rattlesnakes over 9000 views, just under forumn , boaters rescued less than 200.

Think about it.

I got a laugh out of your response.

Rattlesnake thread created 10,434 hours before your resonse (give or take an hour) and recently resurrected for second go around.

Boater rescue thread started about 8.5 hours before your post.

Think about it.

Edit: Sorry Tom, didn't see your post.

 

[tomgamber]

FarmerDave wrote:

maxima12 wrote:
Just got the biggest laugh, Rattlesnakes over 9000 views, just under forumn , boaters rescued less than 200.

Think about it.

I got a laugh out of your response.

Rattlesnake thread created 10,434 hours before your resonse (give or take an hour) and recently resurrected for second go around.

Boater rescue thread started about 8.5 hours before your post.

Think about it.

Edit: Sorry Tom, didn't see your post.

NO, NO...THE "HOURS" VERSION IS WAY MORE DRAMATIC... :lol:

 

[wildtrout2]

Finally had my first Carbon county rattler encounter yesterday, after more than 30 times fishing a particular stream. I was hiking out on a steep power line when I heard a buzzing. No mistaking that sound! I would have stepped on him if he didn't rattle. He was only 2'-3' away! The ferns/weeds are so thick along this line that you can't always see where you're stepping.
I couldn't get any pics because of the thick growth, but I got video/audio of him rattling.