Every sawed-off sportsman knows when they have encountered another sawed-off sportsman. The telltale sign is they are using an item outside of it’s manufacturer’s intended design. As Shaving #1, I knew immediately when I and my sawed-off sportsman father crossed paths with “Willy” who was fishing for crabs in Saint Marks swamp using fish heads on a rope. Overall it was an effective procedure, catching 3 - 4 crabs with each “cast” (dropping the fish head into the water); however, it had caught the attention of another inhabitant of the swamp. An 8 foot American Alligator was “hovering” about 20 feet away – and watching.
Of course when sawed-off sportsmen cross paths they immediately go into what they’re doing, what they’re using, and how they came up with the idea. As I am merely a shaving and not personally sawed-off or a sportsmen, I cared little for the conversation and directed my attention to the swamp and specifically the alligator. Then the gator submerged. I sounded the alarm (“Hey, hey he’s under”), the sawed-offs took a look around, and the gator emerged about 5 feet from where he’d been. Not close, but still watching.
The sawed-offs went back to their conversation. All the while Willy is “reeling in” his line, picking off the crabs, checking the fish heads, re-“casting”, and repeating. Again, the gator submerged, again I sounded the alarm, again the sawed-offs took a look around, this time they decided the gator had gotten bored and moved on. I’d been in the field too long to turn my back on the swamp, but I directed my attention to the sawed-offs. As I’m listening to them regale one another with their stories – comparing scars as it were – Willy continues to reel in his line.
This time more than crabs come out of the water. The gator is rising silently out of the water and headed for Willy’s feet. Not knowing what else to do I start to scream like my hair is on fire. Mostly out of annoyance, the sawed-offs look at me and then to where I’m pointing – right at their feet. Both sawed-offs yelp and fall back. Ironically, Willy’s chosen method of escape is the crab-crawl backwards to safety. Crabs, fish heads, and rope abandoned Willy escapes.
Never take your eyes off the swamp.
MS-L
2/11/2007
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Saturday, February 17, 2007
5. Interview with a Sawed-off Sportsman
ML: Thank you for doing this interview.
Sawed-off Sportsman: No problem. I did this once before and it worked out pretty
well.
ML: You mean interview yourself?
SS: Yes.
ML: When was that?
SS: I don’t have to answer that question.
ML: Then why did you ask it?
SS: Got to use a line out of a movie.
ML: Which movie? No wait, I know, you don’t have to answer that either, right?
SS: Correct-a-mundo.
ML: How long have you been ‘sawed-off’?
SS: I once heard someone say that people don’t change, they just become more and more like themselves. That’s been my aspiration.
ML: Earliest ‘sawed-offness’?
SS: Well I remember the garter snakes clearly from about 4 years old at my grandfather’s place. My mother said that when I was little she harnessed me to the close line in the backyard, you know so I could move around, and I took an unusual interest in worms.
ML: Were your parents ‘sawed-off’. I mean is this…..approach, genetic?
SS: My mother had her own shotgun and always accused my father of knocking the biggest pike off her line on their honeymoon. My father was experimental sawed-off. Two adventures of his ‘yut’ come to mind. Once he wondered if a deer could be killed with a .22 – he reported “no problem”. Another time he was experimenting with black powder and a rabbit ear shotgun that likely took cartridges. As he later said, the only mistakes he didn’t make involved tying the gun to a tree and pulling the trigger with a string. Had he not, neither one of us would have lived.
ML: And your children?
SS: Ah yes, the shavings; they vary. Shaving 1 doesn’t come across as sawed-off – she makes you take your shoes off before coming into her townhouse – but then there’s the 20 year old turtle and 600 guppies in the plastic garden pond in her dining room. Shaving 2 is not naturally sawed-off but she knows what she’s doing because I taught her some stuff before she knew what I was doing. Shaving 3 likes to get sawed-off if he can bring along a bunch of his friends. Shaving 4 is an extremely serious menace to both salt and fresh water teleosts; comes back from 8 hours on the high seas and goes down to the pier to relax by catching pinfish.
ML: And Mrs. Sawed-off?
SS: She wants me to abandon my aspiration and stop teaching the children stuff. I tell her “Honey, I gotta be me” and she says “Please stop.”
ML: So how many episodes of “Adventures of aSS” can we look for?
SS: I saw that.
ML: I meant to be amusing, have I failed?
SS: Nice shot.
ML: And the answer to the question?
SS: I don’t know how long we have. Who does?
ML
2/9/07
Sawed-off Sportsman: No problem. I did this once before and it worked out pretty
well.
ML: You mean interview yourself?
SS: Yes.
ML: When was that?
SS: I don’t have to answer that question.
ML: Then why did you ask it?
SS: Got to use a line out of a movie.
ML: Which movie? No wait, I know, you don’t have to answer that either, right?
SS: Correct-a-mundo.
ML: How long have you been ‘sawed-off’?
SS: I once heard someone say that people don’t change, they just become more and more like themselves. That’s been my aspiration.
ML: Earliest ‘sawed-offness’?
SS: Well I remember the garter snakes clearly from about 4 years old at my grandfather’s place. My mother said that when I was little she harnessed me to the close line in the backyard, you know so I could move around, and I took an unusual interest in worms.
ML: Were your parents ‘sawed-off’. I mean is this…..approach, genetic?
SS: My mother had her own shotgun and always accused my father of knocking the biggest pike off her line on their honeymoon. My father was experimental sawed-off. Two adventures of his ‘yut’ come to mind. Once he wondered if a deer could be killed with a .22 – he reported “no problem”. Another time he was experimenting with black powder and a rabbit ear shotgun that likely took cartridges. As he later said, the only mistakes he didn’t make involved tying the gun to a tree and pulling the trigger with a string. Had he not, neither one of us would have lived.
ML: And your children?
SS: Ah yes, the shavings; they vary. Shaving 1 doesn’t come across as sawed-off – she makes you take your shoes off before coming into her townhouse – but then there’s the 20 year old turtle and 600 guppies in the plastic garden pond in her dining room. Shaving 2 is not naturally sawed-off but she knows what she’s doing because I taught her some stuff before she knew what I was doing. Shaving 3 likes to get sawed-off if he can bring along a bunch of his friends. Shaving 4 is an extremely serious menace to both salt and fresh water teleosts; comes back from 8 hours on the high seas and goes down to the pier to relax by catching pinfish.
ML: And Mrs. Sawed-off?
SS: She wants me to abandon my aspiration and stop teaching the children stuff. I tell her “Honey, I gotta be me” and she says “Please stop.”
ML: So how many episodes of “Adventures of aSS” can we look for?
SS: I saw that.
ML: I meant to be amusing, have I failed?
SS: Nice shot.
ML: And the answer to the question?
SS: I don’t know how long we have. Who does?
ML
2/9/07
Saturday, February 10, 2007
4c. Four-man fishing
Four-man fishing is a semi-logical outgrowth of two-man fishing.
Two-man fishing was invented to deal with a ‘good news/bad news’ situation. The good news was that about 150ft off the Gulf side of Captiva Key there was a zigzag pattern of concrete structures on the bottom (presumably beach erosion control) which attracted many fish. Of the many species present the snook were to kill for; really big snook. The bad news was it was too far to cast.
First instinct was to get a swimming pool raft and snorkel back out to the spot with mask, flippers, bait bucket and rod & reel. Reflection suggested that the rod & reel would likely end up on the bottom; poor treatment of the reel which was marginal anyway. That being the main anticipated problem, Plan B was Plan A minus the rod& reel in the water.
Terry was a militant non-fisherman which usually means someone with an extra supply of beginner’s luck if you can just trick such people into actually fishing. I assured him that I, not he, would be “fishing”. He would be standing on the shore merely appearing to be fishing as he would be holding the rod & reel. That, plus the possibility I would get the hook in myself and he could reel me in screaming, secured his participation.
It was a good plan but not a good enough plan. The snook were there but the sheepshead nailed the shrimp first and quickly and they are hard to hook.
Four-man fishing was invented to deal with the line abrasion problem with sharks hooked from the beach. Another rule of sawed-off sportsmanship is nothing succeeds like excess. Oh, they might be able to saw through 20 pound mono but they were not going to saw through ski rope. Big hook, 3ft steel leader, big swivel (off a defunct cast net), 200 feet of rope and…ah the part of the plan that needed some planning.
You don’t really get a good feel for how hard a big fish is pulling, in a tug-of-war sense, because the reel drag gives up line. You just know he’s leaving. Consequently, tying the rope around my waist seemed problematic a priori. Hand holding the rope sounded dicey so I tied a sturdy 5in diameter steel ring to the beach end of the rope. With about $11.57 already invested, and still not knowing who would win the pulling contest, I decided to accommodate up to four people on “Team Human’. As these people would likely be some of my children and their friends, handles were fashioned from two foot pieces of stout bamboo that were each attached to the steel ring with carabineers and about three feet of rope, i.e. little chance of getting tangled up (speaking of being pulled through the water screaming). The plan was that on some morning when it was SS: 0 / Sharks: 3, I’d walk/swim the baited hook out to the second sand bar, come back and give the standard Ahabian pep talk to those assembled – “What say ye lads? I think ye do look brave. Will ye join hands with me on this?” – and we’d drag the next one out of the Gulf.
As events have unfolded since the invention of four-man fishing the necessary deployment conditions have not come together. But the apparatus is generally with us, stored securely in the bottom of the Fisherman’s Quiver in a black plastic bag. So when all is said and done, two-man fishing didn’t work and four-man fishing has not been tried. And though the weather outside is frightful, the August beach beckons.
ML
2-2-07
Two-man fishing was invented to deal with a ‘good news/bad news’ situation. The good news was that about 150ft off the Gulf side of Captiva Key there was a zigzag pattern of concrete structures on the bottom (presumably beach erosion control) which attracted many fish. Of the many species present the snook were to kill for; really big snook. The bad news was it was too far to cast.
First instinct was to get a swimming pool raft and snorkel back out to the spot with mask, flippers, bait bucket and rod & reel. Reflection suggested that the rod & reel would likely end up on the bottom; poor treatment of the reel which was marginal anyway. That being the main anticipated problem, Plan B was Plan A minus the rod& reel in the water.
Terry was a militant non-fisherman which usually means someone with an extra supply of beginner’s luck if you can just trick such people into actually fishing. I assured him that I, not he, would be “fishing”. He would be standing on the shore merely appearing to be fishing as he would be holding the rod & reel. That, plus the possibility I would get the hook in myself and he could reel me in screaming, secured his participation.
It was a good plan but not a good enough plan. The snook were there but the sheepshead nailed the shrimp first and quickly and they are hard to hook.
Four-man fishing was invented to deal with the line abrasion problem with sharks hooked from the beach. Another rule of sawed-off sportsmanship is nothing succeeds like excess. Oh, they might be able to saw through 20 pound mono but they were not going to saw through ski rope. Big hook, 3ft steel leader, big swivel (off a defunct cast net), 200 feet of rope and…ah the part of the plan that needed some planning.
You don’t really get a good feel for how hard a big fish is pulling, in a tug-of-war sense, because the reel drag gives up line. You just know he’s leaving. Consequently, tying the rope around my waist seemed problematic a priori. Hand holding the rope sounded dicey so I tied a sturdy 5in diameter steel ring to the beach end of the rope. With about $11.57 already invested, and still not knowing who would win the pulling contest, I decided to accommodate up to four people on “Team Human’. As these people would likely be some of my children and their friends, handles were fashioned from two foot pieces of stout bamboo that were each attached to the steel ring with carabineers and about three feet of rope, i.e. little chance of getting tangled up (speaking of being pulled through the water screaming). The plan was that on some morning when it was SS: 0 / Sharks: 3, I’d walk/swim the baited hook out to the second sand bar, come back and give the standard Ahabian pep talk to those assembled – “What say ye lads? I think ye do look brave. Will ye join hands with me on this?” – and we’d drag the next one out of the Gulf.
As events have unfolded since the invention of four-man fishing the necessary deployment conditions have not come together. But the apparatus is generally with us, stored securely in the bottom of the Fisherman’s Quiver in a black plastic bag. So when all is said and done, two-man fishing didn’t work and four-man fishing has not been tried. And though the weather outside is frightful, the August beach beckons.
ML
2-2-07
Monday, February 5, 2007
4b. Sharks (n = 2/13)
There seem to be two main obstacles to landing a shark hooked from the beach.
First, because the angle of the line with the shark’s body is nearly parallel, they have a most excellent opportunity to saw on the line with the very rough skin on their tail. Their business end is defeated with a strong hook—three feet of 120-pound steel leader attached to the hook at one end, and a big swivel at the other. The big swivel is attached to a pointed snap and swivel. Then the experimentation begins.
Having lost a good many sharks in the surf, I discussed the situation at a salt water tackle store and the guy said, “Kid, you need a bigger reel.” A bigger reel would hold more heavy- test monofilament line, which the shark would have more trouble sawing through. Now I’m not cheap, but I do not like to own equipment that’s better than I am and I felt unworthy of owning a big salt water bait reel. Plus, casting is not such a reel’s strong suit. I skipped the self-psychoanalysis and told the guy I was using a big spinning reel. He said, “Kid, you need as much 100-pound mono as you can deal with and this tool to tie a nail knot.” Under ten bucks and we’re back in business! At present we’re using about 15 feet of 80-pound mono- leader, tied at one end to the pointed snap and swivel, and at the other end with a nail knot to the main line of twenty pound mono. With a reliable drag, line strength and capacity are virtually interchangeable. It’s a very good reel (my wife bought it for me), so this ought to work and two times out of about 13 it has.
This brings us to the second problem:
They cheat! The devils jump. I’m talking straight up and clean out of the water, and spin while they’re in the air. I am also suspicious they are spinning underwater. This spinning business, of course, can easily take up some hard-to-predict amount of the 80-pound leader, getting their skin on the 20-pound main line.
However, this jumping is not without its own recreational aspects. One morning I was standing on the beach about 8:00 as the “women & children” time zone begins. This little girl, about nine, comes walking over.
Little girl: “What are you fishing for?”
SS: “Sharks.”
Little girl: “No you’re not.”
SS: “You see that place out in the water where it goes from sort of white to darker? You watch that place.”
Unbeknownst to my small skeptic, Mr. Shark had been messing with half a lady fish since before she came over and took off right about the time she said “No you’re not.” So, I set the hook and the shark went right straight up in the air.
Little girl: “[silent pause] Mommy, Mommy, Mommy…..”( decreasing font size indicates decibel level as she runs away)
A sawed-off sportsman always enjoys these educational interactions with the public but there remained the basic problem of line abrasion.
ML
1/31/07
First, because the angle of the line with the shark’s body is nearly parallel, they have a most excellent opportunity to saw on the line with the very rough skin on their tail. Their business end is defeated with a strong hook—three feet of 120-pound steel leader attached to the hook at one end, and a big swivel at the other. The big swivel is attached to a pointed snap and swivel. Then the experimentation begins.
Having lost a good many sharks in the surf, I discussed the situation at a salt water tackle store and the guy said, “Kid, you need a bigger reel.” A bigger reel would hold more heavy- test monofilament line, which the shark would have more trouble sawing through. Now I’m not cheap, but I do not like to own equipment that’s better than I am and I felt unworthy of owning a big salt water bait reel. Plus, casting is not such a reel’s strong suit. I skipped the self-psychoanalysis and told the guy I was using a big spinning reel. He said, “Kid, you need as much 100-pound mono as you can deal with and this tool to tie a nail knot.” Under ten bucks and we’re back in business! At present we’re using about 15 feet of 80-pound mono- leader, tied at one end to the pointed snap and swivel, and at the other end with a nail knot to the main line of twenty pound mono. With a reliable drag, line strength and capacity are virtually interchangeable. It’s a very good reel (my wife bought it for me), so this ought to work and two times out of about 13 it has.
This brings us to the second problem:
They cheat! The devils jump. I’m talking straight up and clean out of the water, and spin while they’re in the air. I am also suspicious they are spinning underwater. This spinning business, of course, can easily take up some hard-to-predict amount of the 80-pound leader, getting their skin on the 20-pound main line.
However, this jumping is not without its own recreational aspects. One morning I was standing on the beach about 8:00 as the “women & children” time zone begins. This little girl, about nine, comes walking over.
Little girl: “What are you fishing for?”
SS: “Sharks.”
Little girl: “No you’re not.”
SS: “You see that place out in the water where it goes from sort of white to darker? You watch that place.”
Unbeknownst to my small skeptic, Mr. Shark had been messing with half a lady fish since before she came over and took off right about the time she said “No you’re not.” So, I set the hook and the shark went right straight up in the air.
Little girl: “[silent pause] Mommy, Mommy, Mommy…..”( decreasing font size indicates decibel level as she runs away)
A sawed-off sportsman always enjoys these educational interactions with the public but there remained the basic problem of line abrasion.
ML
1/31/07
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
4a. First shark
We vacationed as often as possible at Grayton Beach and fished as much as possible from the beach; always with Mr. Shark in mind. Everybody knew they were around; dusk and dawn were best and according to their movie manifestations cruised the surface with dorsal fin beckoning. Consequently I fished for them with the biggest bobber I could buy and a pinfish about six inches underneath the bobber.
Then I bumped into somebody who knew what he was doing. Fishermen have a reputation for “secrets”: places, baits, techniques. In fact I’ve never met one who wouldn’t enthusiastically tell you everything he knew. And this was no exception. Shavings 3 & 4 were whacking pinfish on #10 gigs and shrimp in the surf so I wandered East to see what this guy was up to. He was fishing for sharks with cut squid on the bottom. I mentioned the dorsal fin business but he assured me the bottom was the place to be. I ask him if squid was good but he said live bait was always best. I told him we had plenty of live pinfish so he rigged one up, walked out to chest deep water and cast it as far as possible.
The rest of the tutorial included leaving the bail open, finger loosely on the line, until the shark started frankly swimming away as they were inclined to fiddle with it before they got serious. This, plus making sure no swimmers were near-by as sharks tended to run parallel to the shore not straight out to sea. It did not take long. Shavings 3 & 4 got their picture taken with the big rod and a four foot black-tipped shark strapped to the hood of his old International jeep (guy was a class act).
The next morning, sans big bobber, bail open, finger on the line, standing on the second sandbar…. it starts. Just a few line wraps at a time and after about a minute off he goes. I’d been standing there thinking “I’m gonna catch a shark. I’m gonna catch a shark. I can’t believe it, I’m gonna catch a shark”.
With the second attack in Jaws you get only a brief glimpse of the shark. It was a lot like that. Out of the water comes the back third of the fish and then thunders down. I kid you not, thunders. I had a new thought; “not that shark” as I turned and headed for the beach as fast as possible.
All useful fishing knowledge seems to come from acquaintances or personal experience. Experience here taught a) forget about those swivels with gently curved snaps; use the ones that come to a point, and b) cast from, but linger not on, the second sand bar. There is symmetry to shark fishing’s possible outcomes; we’re not talking about carp or skipjack.
ML
1/26/07
Then I bumped into somebody who knew what he was doing. Fishermen have a reputation for “secrets”: places, baits, techniques. In fact I’ve never met one who wouldn’t enthusiastically tell you everything he knew. And this was no exception. Shavings 3 & 4 were whacking pinfish on #10 gigs and shrimp in the surf so I wandered East to see what this guy was up to. He was fishing for sharks with cut squid on the bottom. I mentioned the dorsal fin business but he assured me the bottom was the place to be. I ask him if squid was good but he said live bait was always best. I told him we had plenty of live pinfish so he rigged one up, walked out to chest deep water and cast it as far as possible.
The rest of the tutorial included leaving the bail open, finger loosely on the line, until the shark started frankly swimming away as they were inclined to fiddle with it before they got serious. This, plus making sure no swimmers were near-by as sharks tended to run parallel to the shore not straight out to sea. It did not take long. Shavings 3 & 4 got their picture taken with the big rod and a four foot black-tipped shark strapped to the hood of his old International jeep (guy was a class act).
The next morning, sans big bobber, bail open, finger on the line, standing on the second sandbar…. it starts. Just a few line wraps at a time and after about a minute off he goes. I’d been standing there thinking “I’m gonna catch a shark. I’m gonna catch a shark. I can’t believe it, I’m gonna catch a shark”.
With the second attack in Jaws you get only a brief glimpse of the shark. It was a lot like that. Out of the water comes the back third of the fish and then thunders down. I kid you not, thunders. I had a new thought; “not that shark” as I turned and headed for the beach as fast as possible.
All useful fishing knowledge seems to come from acquaintances or personal experience. Experience here taught a) forget about those swivels with gently curved snaps; use the ones that come to a point, and b) cast from, but linger not on, the second sand bar. There is symmetry to shark fishing’s possible outcomes; we’re not talking about carp or skipjack.
ML
1/26/07
Monday, January 29, 2007
3. By the dark of the moon
We needed more snakes.
Having long been incensed by TV nature shows repeated claim that “snakes see poorly”, absent a shred of data upon the topic, we had begun an evoked potential study of the visual acuity of the snake that was easiest to come by – banded water snakes. Using Tim’s set up we had done a few experiments with water snakes captured the previous Fall. The arrival of an NSF summer undergraduate, Sheena, had exhausted our water snake stock so it was off to the creek to get some more.
Much lore and some data from nighttime road hunting suggested snakes were not out-and-about much under a full moon. A side effect of this suppression of snake ‘walkabouts’ was not apparent until we saw some data. To wit, if they are hold-up under a full moon then they will make up for lost time after a full moon. And though the moon be fullish and bright the nights immediately after it is full, it rises progressively later each night! Thus, by three nights after a full moon there is an early period of no moon; and snakes are anxious to get back in business.
Shades Creek at the end of Monarch Drive is full of minnows, pretty good sun, but not many ‘snake rocks’. They had to be more abundant than daytime trips revealed. Plus it is shallow, sandy bottomed, in town and you can literally drive into the creek so parking was close in case anybody ‘cracked’. In short, the perfect place to take a motley group ranging from the fairly sawed-off (Bob the veterinarian who raised leopard geckos), to two NSF summer undergraduates (Sheena and her roommate, Sonja) through two geeks (Tim and Mark). Mark, the fMRI foreman, was the least prepared for the events that unfolded. We bumped into him in the parking lot before kick-off. He says “what’s up”? We says “we’re going snake hunting, wanna come?” Mark says “neat”. I think he figured it was like the legendary snipe hunt. He found out different.
So thirty minutes after sunset three nights after July’s full moon, six adventurers, six flash lights, two snake bags, one snake stick (you never know) did not even get their feet wet before Bob spotted the first midland banded water snake (N. sipedon pleuralis).
The rest is history. We caught 32 and four got away; all in just under 60 minutes and 200 yards. I was surprised. Mark was way past surprised beginning with borderline apoplectic but rallying to grabbing a few himself.
We counted them the next morning. Kept five for experiments and one gravid female as Bob and Mark wanted to try some fMRI snake obstetrics. The rest went back in the creek the next night and I can imagine their story. “First there were these bright lights. Then we got graded up and put in this weird flying hole. Then they dumped us into this place with invisible sides. Then they put us back in the weird hole. Then they flew us back and dropped us in the creek. We swear, that’s what happened”!!
Bob and Mark never got around to the fMRI but the snake had her 14 babies and into the creek they went. Around October another one had five babies which, timing considered, likely resulted from a mating in the “weird hole”. At least one Casanova wasn’t complaining about his close encounter.
I’ve long thought a more systematic study of snake movements and moon phase was in order but never did it as the driving was far and typically turned up only half-a-dozens snakes on a good night. Here we had 36 snakes per hour in 200yds of creek. And in peoples’ backyards! So residents of the banks of Shades Creek looking for a good science project might consider this opportunity. For I write of adventure not far away… or long ago.
ML
1/24/07
Having long been incensed by TV nature shows repeated claim that “snakes see poorly”, absent a shred of data upon the topic, we had begun an evoked potential study of the visual acuity of the snake that was easiest to come by – banded water snakes. Using Tim’s set up we had done a few experiments with water snakes captured the previous Fall. The arrival of an NSF summer undergraduate, Sheena, had exhausted our water snake stock so it was off to the creek to get some more.
Much lore and some data from nighttime road hunting suggested snakes were not out-and-about much under a full moon. A side effect of this suppression of snake ‘walkabouts’ was not apparent until we saw some data. To wit, if they are hold-up under a full moon then they will make up for lost time after a full moon. And though the moon be fullish and bright the nights immediately after it is full, it rises progressively later each night! Thus, by three nights after a full moon there is an early period of no moon; and snakes are anxious to get back in business.
Shades Creek at the end of Monarch Drive is full of minnows, pretty good sun, but not many ‘snake rocks’. They had to be more abundant than daytime trips revealed. Plus it is shallow, sandy bottomed, in town and you can literally drive into the creek so parking was close in case anybody ‘cracked’. In short, the perfect place to take a motley group ranging from the fairly sawed-off (Bob the veterinarian who raised leopard geckos), to two NSF summer undergraduates (Sheena and her roommate, Sonja) through two geeks (Tim and Mark). Mark, the fMRI foreman, was the least prepared for the events that unfolded. We bumped into him in the parking lot before kick-off. He says “what’s up”? We says “we’re going snake hunting, wanna come?” Mark says “neat”. I think he figured it was like the legendary snipe hunt. He found out different.
So thirty minutes after sunset three nights after July’s full moon, six adventurers, six flash lights, two snake bags, one snake stick (you never know) did not even get their feet wet before Bob spotted the first midland banded water snake (N. sipedon pleuralis).
The rest is history. We caught 32 and four got away; all in just under 60 minutes and 200 yards. I was surprised. Mark was way past surprised beginning with borderline apoplectic but rallying to grabbing a few himself.
We counted them the next morning. Kept five for experiments and one gravid female as Bob and Mark wanted to try some fMRI snake obstetrics. The rest went back in the creek the next night and I can imagine their story. “First there were these bright lights. Then we got graded up and put in this weird flying hole. Then they dumped us into this place with invisible sides. Then they put us back in the weird hole. Then they flew us back and dropped us in the creek. We swear, that’s what happened”!!
Bob and Mark never got around to the fMRI but the snake had her 14 babies and into the creek they went. Around October another one had five babies which, timing considered, likely resulted from a mating in the “weird hole”. At least one Casanova wasn’t complaining about his close encounter.
I’ve long thought a more systematic study of snake movements and moon phase was in order but never did it as the driving was far and typically turned up only half-a-dozens snakes on a good night. Here we had 36 snakes per hour in 200yds of creek. And in peoples’ backyards! So residents of the banks of Shades Creek looking for a good science project might consider this opportunity. For I write of adventure not far away… or long ago.
ML
1/24/07
Friday, January 26, 2007
2. What's in a name
More than the answers to all of life’s riddles can be found in the movies.
The Missouri Breaks was a western with a cast that could not be ignored. Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and a good many others whose faces, if not names, you would know. It was great. However the few people I talked to, that also saw it, hated it. Cross examination of their opinion clearly revealed that it was not the movie they loathed but the character Marlon Brando played- Robert E. Lee Clayton. And he was law enforcement.
Tom (Nicholson) was the co-leader of a gang of horse thieves pretending to be start-up ranchers. Jane, the daughter of the local horse baron, pursued Tom romantically and eventually over came his amusing coyness.
One afternoon, riding face to face on the same horse (Fully clothed, the PG rating came from Robert Lee’s ‘methodologies’.) Jane, who was pretty sure that Tom, et al. were up to things other than they affirmed, attempts to get a handle on how long her new beau is likely to last.
Jane: Are you an outlaw?
Tom: No, why do you ask?
Jane: You have all those guns.
Tom: I’m a sportsman.
Jane: A sawed-off shotgun!?
Tom: I’m a sawed off sportsman.
I knew as soon as he said it…that’s it, that’s what we’ve been doing, sawed-off sportsmanship. No, not stealing horses, you can have my share. And no, not using sawed-off shotguns; it’s against the law. Rule One of the “Sawed-off Sportsman’s Code” is never break the law. In fact, one worthy of the label is generally a deep student of the fish and game laws…at the time and place. However, bonus points accrue to activities causing new law to be written.
ML
1/18/07
The Missouri Breaks was a western with a cast that could not be ignored. Jack Nicholson, Marlon Brando and a good many others whose faces, if not names, you would know. It was great. However the few people I talked to, that also saw it, hated it. Cross examination of their opinion clearly revealed that it was not the movie they loathed but the character Marlon Brando played- Robert E. Lee Clayton. And he was law enforcement.
Tom (Nicholson) was the co-leader of a gang of horse thieves pretending to be start-up ranchers. Jane, the daughter of the local horse baron, pursued Tom romantically and eventually over came his amusing coyness.
One afternoon, riding face to face on the same horse (Fully clothed, the PG rating came from Robert Lee’s ‘methodologies’.) Jane, who was pretty sure that Tom, et al. were up to things other than they affirmed, attempts to get a handle on how long her new beau is likely to last.
Jane: Are you an outlaw?
Tom: No, why do you ask?
Jane: You have all those guns.
Tom: I’m a sportsman.
Jane: A sawed-off shotgun!?
Tom: I’m a sawed off sportsman.
I knew as soon as he said it…that’s it, that’s what we’ve been doing, sawed-off sportsmanship. No, not stealing horses, you can have my share. And no, not using sawed-off shotguns; it’s against the law. Rule One of the “Sawed-off Sportsman’s Code” is never break the law. In fact, one worthy of the label is generally a deep student of the fish and game laws…at the time and place. However, bonus points accrue to activities causing new law to be written.
ML
1/18/07
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