Adventure Story Time!

Dedicated exclusively to field herping.

Moderator: Scott Waters

Post Reply
User avatar
dwakefield
Posts: 122
Joined: February 18th, 2015, 11:11 am
Location: Deerfield Beach, Florida
Contact:

Adventure Story Time!

Post by dwakefield »

August was a welcome change. After some fairly slow trips through most of July, my friend and I were eager for things to turn around. We both hadn’t seen any Burmese Pythons in a while, and my friend had never seen a baby before. One of the best locations for them was going to be drenched with rain that night, so we decided to try a different location in SW Florida. We were going to do one dirt road for Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes before sunset, and another nearby for Burmese Pythons after sunset. My friend had never seen a baby burm before, and I had only seen one (my only burm at all), but it was on this road. So we decided to give it a shot. We got to the first road at 6:15pm and saw the telltale silhouette stretched out on the road within 5 minutes. We jumped out to see our first Florida Cottonmouth of the night.

ImageFlorida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageFlorida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

We got cruising again, hoping we’d score big and get a diamondback on this road…..a sight neither of us had yet seen. The conditions seemed great for them: really warm, calm, muggy, slightly cloudy. Unfortunately, they weren’t showing up. We did, however, cruise a Yellow Rat Snake, Striped Crayfish Snake, Southern Black Racer, and a gorgeous Corn Snake.

ImageYellow Rat Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageCorn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageCorn Snake by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

As the sun started to fall, we decided to drive over to the other road which was only a few miles away. We were immediately greeted by a startled gator sprinting off the road and a Corn Snake stretched out in front of us. Not a bad start! However, despite seeing a boatload of gators on the road, it was really slow; no snake in a couple hours slow. But things were about to get interesting. About half way through one of our passes along this dirt road, I started hearing some really bad sounds coming from one of the back tires. I got out to check it and, sure enough, it was flat. I was hesitant to change it right there since we were in the middle of panther and black bear habitat. So we decided to keep driving but to keep it slow…..right around 15 mph. But not too long after that, the sound got terrifyingly bad, and I stopped to check it again. The tire was just getting destroyed. It looked terrible. I said to my buddy, “I hate to say this, but I think we’re going to have to change this thing here.” So we got out the equipment and started loosening the bolts on the wheel…….only none of them would loosen. I was throwing my full weight into it (I’m almost 200 pounds) and they wouldn’t budge (yes, I was trying to turn them in the correct direction). We tried to call a tow truck, but there was no cell signal available out there. We also hadn’t seen another car on that road the entire time we’d been on it. So our only option was to keep driving. We started racing down the road at a brisk 5 mph. It was probably around 10:30 or 11pm at that point, and we had at least 10-12 miles to go before we got to a main road and a cell signal (you do the math). Things were looking pretty shot for the night. But the benefit of driving that slow is that you don’t miss a thing. Thankfully, I shined a big (and very gravid) Florida Cottonmouth on the side of the road that we were very thankful to get out and photograph.

ImageFlorida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageFlorida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

We then resumed our long (and mind-numbingly slow) drive to the end of the road. After some time, we noticed headlights in our rear view. They must have not been going very fast, because it took them quite a while to catch up with us (granted, the road was straight for miles at that point, so we could likely see them a long way off). Slowly but surely, they were gaining on us. We didn’t think too much of it, but wondered who else would be on this back road so late at night. We continued to scan the road for snakes, wondering if we would see anything else that night. Finally, the car was getting close. I pulled over a bit (the road isn’t very wide) to give them room to pass (I didn’t need to slow down though). That’s when everything happened all at once. Taking our eyes away from the rear view for a moment, we both noticed something lying in the road. Was it a snake? It looked like one, but it wasn’t in the normal, stretched-across-the-road position. It was kind of lying in a bit of a curved shape. That made us hesitate for a moment. But as we got closer (things happen slowly at 5 mph), it dawned on us simultaneously: that’s our baby Burm! At nearly the same moment, another thought hit me like a ton of bricks: the other car is going to pass us and hit it! Adrenaline pumping, I slammed on the brakes (not hard to do at 5 mph), threw my door open (hoping that would make them slow down) and jumped out of the car with my arms waving frantically. My friend jumped out at the same moment, waving his arms and yelling at the top of his lungs “Stop! Stop! STOP!” For that brief moment, everything stood still. The success of our long trip hung in the balance. Thankfully……..they stopped. My friend went and triumphantly scooped up our prize of the night: a brand new baby Burmese Python, probably not more than a month old, cruised at midnight on the dot. The guys in the truck rolled down their window and asked what we had found. We told them about it, and then they noticed our flat tire and asked if they could help. They seemed friendly enough, so I said, “Sure, if you don’t mind!” Thankfully, these guys (quite a bit more burly than us) were able to muscle the bolts off and get the spare on. With some words of appreciation and hearty handshakes, they were off. As quick as they had come, they were gone, leaving us to admire our best find of the night. Target achieved!

ImageBurmese Python neonate by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageBurmese Python by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageBurmese Python by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

ImageBurmese Python by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

We started driving again (40 mph is way better than 5 mph) and I knew that we needed gas as soon as possible. Our roadside heroes had advised us not to drive faster than 50 mph on the spare, so we didn’t want to take the main highways all the way home. So we started heading toward the back roads home. We had to go out of our way to get to the nearest gas station. After filling up, we started the long trek home. We actually cruised several reptiles on these back roads, including a young Florida Cottonmouth, several DOR mud snakes, a Peninsula Ribbon Snake, and a juvenile Alligator that we chased off the road to prevent it from being hit by a car.

ImageFlorida Cottonmouth by Daniel Wakefield, on Flickr

At one point, we thought we saw a panther, but turning around to double check proved that it was just a coyote doing its best to look like one (anything looks like a panther at 3am). After taking the county roads through the canefields, I dropped my friend off at his place and then pulled into my own driveway at 5:45am. I was totally exhausted and nearly speechless as well. One of the worst nights of road cruising had turned into one of the most legendary. Never has there been a night of herping quite like it.
User avatar
Kyle from Carolina
Posts: 221
Joined: May 3rd, 2012, 8:12 pm
Location: western MA and NC

Re: Adventure Story Time!

Post by Kyle from Carolina »

Sounds like an epic evening. It Seems like fate that your tire went out and you stopped right then and there. I'm glad that the folks in the other vehicle stopped when you flagged them down. Great photos, too...very crisp. I'd love to see an everglades python.
User avatar
the_cw1
Posts: 138
Joined: April 2nd, 2015, 8:30 am
Location: Utah
Contact:

Re: Adventure Story Time!

Post by the_cw1 »

Awesome stuff man! The python is the cherry on top. :D
User avatar
dwakefield
Posts: 122
Joined: February 18th, 2015, 11:11 am
Location: Deerfield Beach, Florida
Contact:

Re: Adventure Story Time!

Post by dwakefield »

Kyle from Carolina wrote:Sounds like an epic evening. It Seems like fate that your tire went out and you stopped right then and there. I'm glad that the folks in the other vehicle stopped when you flagged them down. Great photos, too...very crisp. I'd love to see an everglades python.
Yeah, it was an adrenaline filled couple of seconds........and total relief when they did stop. What was really funny was that before that happened, and we were driving along on the flat at 5 mph, my friend said, "It would make for a really great story if we cruised a Burm on this flat tire." :lol:
User avatar
dwakefield
Posts: 122
Joined: February 18th, 2015, 11:11 am
Location: Deerfield Beach, Florida
Contact:

Re: Adventure Story Time!

Post by dwakefield »

the_cw1 wrote:Awesome stuff man! The python is the cherry on top. :D
Thank you! I couldn't agree more :thumb:
Post Reply