West Tennesee Collecting

[Marshall_P]

Hi, every year in Mid-June, I go to west tennesee on vacation to my in-laws for a week, anyway, the location is about 120 miles west-northwest of Nashville, near Jackson, Tennesee, my question is has anyone had any luck finding Wild Cornsnakes in this area, and could anyone give me any tips on the best type of locations to hunt for them, I would like to observe them/take some photographs of them in the wild, not necessarily collect as I have 4 of them already, Thanx for any help offered, Marshall P...

[CornCrazy]

Well, I can tell you this...

Corns are not very common in the wild in Tenneessee. They can be found occasionally but usually in Southern Tennessee (just above Alabama).

Also, it is illegal to capture any native wildlife in TN. There is a hefty fine attached to the penalty for catching TN wildlife. I advise you to "look, but not touch."

[Marshall_P]

I've heard that too, & I am just wanting to get some pics of them, I'm not interested in collecting any, I figure I have enough of them here already, hehe! But thanx again, hopefully I'll get lucky when I'm there, but then again, it always seems when you have the camera with you, you can't find anything to shoot, but again, maybe I'll get lucky, Marshall P..

[CornCrazy]

Good luck getting some pictures of wild corns, then. I just wanted to be sure you knew about the laws...

The only wild snakes I've seen in middle and east TN are copperheads, rattlesnakes, black racers, common king snakes, brown water snakes, garter snakes, and various rat snakes.

When I lived in east TN, I never really hunted for snakes so there may be more than I know of. That's where I saw a lot of copperheads, though.

[starwarsdad]

CornCrazy nailed it. I have been hunting corns around Memphis for about 20 years and have never found one. I have seen tons of moccasins, copperheads, nerodia ssp, and kings though.

[Marshall_P]

How is the Black Rat Snake Population, that'd be another i'd like to get on film, they've always been one of my favorites., Marshall P..

[CornCrazy]

I've only found juvenile rat snakes so I am not sure if they were black rats or gray rats or what.

[Marshall_P]

What type of areas did you have success in finding them, open fields or in woodlands? I would be interested in observing them when I visit this summer, I've also seen my share of the venemous types, and several black racers & kings, but not of the rat variety, it'd be great to know where to look... Thanx

[CornCrazy]

Well, I have found them around open fields and in slightly wooded areas. I've also seen several in old barns.

[Marshall_P]

Thank you.... Marsh.