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Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:50 am
by ballparent
Interesting article from the Columbus Dispatch about the varieties of snakes in Ohio. The article has tons of links and information. Scroll down and on the right there'a a slideshow of them catching a timber rattler in Shawnee and a video of them catching a copperhead. :shock:

Snake whisperer
Westerville high-school teacher is the state's go-to herpetologist

By Kevin Mayhood

THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH

FRIENDSHIP, Ohio -- Ben Moore slowly swept the air with the antenna he held as he eased down a steep hillside thick with logs and underbrush.

He kept one eye on the ankle-deep leaves that covered the ground at Shawnee State Forest and the other on a receiver that hung from his neck and beeped softly.

Moore, an 18-year-old senior at Westerville North High School, was tracking snakes with science teachers Doug Wynn and John Birkhimer and fellow students.

This was no ordinary field trip. Wynn is a snake researcher, an expert the state has turned to for more than 20 years for information about Ohio species.

(One indication about the serious nature of the work: Birkhimer carried a GPS unit that had the closest hospitals mapped out, just in case.)

As the group neared a target, Wynn took Moore's equipment and followed the increasingly loud beeps along two fallen trees. The sensor pointed him to the center of one of the trunks.

Wynn and a student lifted from one end of the trunk, and Birkhimer prodded the ground with putter-length snake tongs. A timber rattlesnake exploded from the hiding place and regrouped in a coil against the hillside, its tail a vibrating blur
For the rest of the article, photos, and links.....go to:
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/live/content/science/stories/2008/06/10/sci_snakes.ART_ART_06-10-08_B4_G0ADIMA.html?sid=101

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 9:55 am
by OZZIEOHIO
I spend alot of time in the forest around here. (SHAWNEE AND WAYNE NATIONAL) I havent seen a Rattler or a copper head.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:06 am
by ballparent
Well, it seems they'e there, check out the slideshow which has audio too, and the video, freaks me out just to watch them. The timber rattler blends in so well with it's surroundings that you could be right by one and never see it.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 10:09 am
by OZZIEOHIO
Im sure i have been close to one and not seen it. I know they are there. Just been lucky.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:21 pm
by biggdowgg
you can go to the Information center "as you go up to the lodge" and they have a ratler in a cage in there.

they also have a couple others inside there.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:32 pm
by BigOrangeOne
I killed a copperhead in one of the shower houses in the campground in the park several years ago.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Tue Jun 10, 2008 11:35 pm
by biggdowgg
doid you fry it up with the bass you caught?

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:32 am
by BigOrangeOne
biggdowgg wrote:doid you fry it up with the bass you caught?



Don't want nuttin interferin' with the sweet taste of dem bass.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Wed Jun 11, 2008 1:58 am
by kantuckyII
I thought you was talking about Ozzie and BigOrangeOne fishing up there the other day..

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 3:35 pm
by orange-n-brown 365
we have timber rattlers up around here and DO NOT KILL ONE you will go to jail...they are endangered :122246

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 6:47 pm
by BigOrangeOne
orange-n-brown 365 wrote:..they are endangered :122246


GREAT !!! Extinguish them all !!! :)

I once told a naturalist that if ran across one that I would save both halves for him. :shock:

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Thu Jun 12, 2008 9:49 pm
by orange-n-brown 365
well if you kill it don't brag about it a guy from around here carried it around in his truck and bragged about killing it he ended up in court and was fined and I do believe visited the pokey for awhile...

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Fri Jun 13, 2008 6:07 am
by BigOrangeOne
orange-n-brown 365 wrote:well if you kill it don't brag about it a guy from around here carried it around in his truck and bragged about killing it he ended up in court and was fined and I do believe visited the pokey for awhile...


It's OK to brag (I was lyin' judge).... just don't carry it around with you. :roll: :roll: :lol:

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Sat Jun 14, 2008 10:53 pm
by d-5
I let a three foot copperhead go thru my yard two days ago,It didn't bother me so i didn't bother it. Have not seen it since :-D

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Sun Jun 15, 2008 3:34 am
by kantuckyII
orange-n-brown 365 wrote:we have timber rattlers up around here and DO NOT KILL ONE you will go to jail...they are endangered :122246

If I run up on one of them they would for sure be in danger!

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Mon Jun 16, 2008 11:27 am
by BigOrangeOne
D-5 wrote:I let a three foot copperhead go thru my yard two days ago,It didn't bother me so i didn't bother it. Have not seen it since :-D


THIS time. :shock:

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 10:06 am
by orange-n-brown 365
kantuckyII wrote:
orange-n-brown 365 wrote:we have timber rattlers up around here and DO NOT KILL ONE you will go to jail...they are endangered :122246

If I run up on one of them they would for sure be in danger!


if I am in my car its in danger of being dead that is for sure! Last year we had what my dad calls a hog snake ? my daughter backed her car over it and kept the tire on it until her grandpa could come chop its head off :lol: I've taught her so well!

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Fri Jun 20, 2008 6:19 pm
by YOU'RE TIGER BAIT
WE KILLED A 38 INCH COPPERHEAD YEARS AGO , TURTLE NOODLING IN WAYNE NATIONAL FOREST. MY BUDDY MADE A BELT OUT OF HIM. AND I STEPPED ON A TIMBER RATTLER JUST PAST THE VESUVIUS BOAT SHOP. RIGHT ON THE PATH ON THE SAME SIDE MANY MOONS AGO. HE WAS NOT COILED UP AND I WAS STANDING RIGHT ON IT'S HEAD, I HEARD THE RATTLE, YOU NEVER SEEN OLE BAIT MOVE SO FAST, COURSE THAT WAS ABOUT 10 SURGERIES, AND 100 POUNDS AGO. :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 :aaaaa18 THEY ARE IN THE 650 STRIP MINES TOO. i've not seen a poisonous snake where i live though in about 10 years. but i have plenty of blacksnakes, i don't bother them.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Sat Jun 21, 2008 11:28 am
by YOU'RE TIGER BAIT
IT HAD TO BE ADDLED BECAUSE I LITTERALLY STEPPED ON IT'S HEAD WHILE WALKING , NEVER EVEN SAW IT . THAT'D KEEP AN ADULT ANACONDA AT BAY, I'D THINK.

Re: Snakes in Shawnee State Forest

Posted: Sun Jun 22, 2008 12:33 am
by OZZIEOHIO
This one is on display at Lake Hope. They also have a copper head in one of there cages.