Rod, if it were the rancher that snuffed the snake I wouldn't have spoken up (for the sake of landowner relations and all that). But it was the cavers, and that kind of surprised me (though I'm sure the rancher would have approved at the time). It's just that Florida is almost as thick on the ground with herp (reptiles & amphibians) fans as it is with snakes themselves. And one of them was Clark Whitehorn, my best friend and the person whom I began caving with in high school. He had a very high degree of environmental awareness for a teenager in the middle 1960's, and had turned me on to books like those of the late Archie Carr at the University of Florida on imperiled sea turtles, among the notable early studies of that ilk.
Anyway, I was sold by then (1970) on the need ecological for predators, etc., and had to speak up for the idea of live and let live. I don't think I did so offensively, and I certainly wasn't personally offended by the razzing I got. (Such is the stuff of good trip reports.) After all, I was going back to Florida, and could dismiss them as "environmentally challenged, backward Texans." I wasn't then, and I'm not now, a vegan, Buddhist sort of 'do no harm' person. I've shot invasive nutria rats at our swamp house property. But thus far, I've remarkably had only one test of principles* on my own turf (considering that the place is heaven for reptiles). I heard one of my terriers barking with his distinctive "I've got something spotted but I can't decide if I should kill it or run away" barks. He was about two feet from a moccasin at the edge of the swampy, heavily vegetated part of our shoreline, holding his position and barking for all he was worth. I knew he would either bite me or go for the snake or try to do both when he is in that frame of mind, and an 18-lb dog can easily be bitten fatally by a pit viper. I didn't think I could get a fatal shot or bash in without a good chance of the snake striking, so I dashed to the shed and retrieved a pack of firecrackers (which he is terrified of). I lit it and tossed it between them, which worked to get the dog out of harm's way as he streaked to the safety of the house. And the flashes, smells, and concussions seemed to register with the (deaf, like all snakes) cottonmouth, as it turned away and slithered into deep water. Now in this case my use of a non-lethal method was the result of a quick choice as to what might get the dog out of the way with the best chance of escaping a bite. If I could have safely killed the snake, I probably would have. But I did consciously decide not to try and pursue and kill it. I just threw several more packs of firecrackers into the vegetated, swampy margin to convince the snake that this wasn't a pleasant place to be. *That is the only venomous snake that has made itself visible on or along the several hundred twisted feet of shoreline on the property, or in the mowed yard portion in the 8 years we've had the place. Roger Moore (now a member of GHG, the successor to the Rice Grotto of this story) -----Original Message----- From: Rod Goke <[email protected]> To: [email protected]; [email protected] Sent: Wed, Feb 24, 2010 5:11 am Subject: Re: [Texascavers] snakes? (and other venomous critters) Yes, Roger. Farmers and ranchers have had a long history of dealing with venomous critters in their own novel ways.
