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Good Texas herping areas?

Silt

Silt

New member
I'm going to be heading down to the southern Texas region with my family during spring break for about a week (April 6th-14th). We're arriving in Houston and will have a rental car for the full time that we'll be in Texas for. Both my dad and I are avid reptile lovers, so there will be LOTS of flipping and herping while we're down there! My dad grew up in Ontario by lots of marshes so he has lots of experience with catching turtles, garters, etc. (most of which he brought home to his mother's dismay!).

For those of you either live or have visited southern Texas, where are some good herping areas? I would love to see and catch some corns or bairds. From my understanding, they are found in the south of Texas, correct?

Just to give you a better idea of exactly what places in southern Texas we'll be going to, we're basically driving right along the coast from Houston to Padre Island.

Any help would be greatly appreciated! :)

Lisa
 
Well you're going to be a little south and way east of a lot of the corns and rats in texas, but you might be south enough for Elaphe Emoryi Meahllmorum and Elaphe Obsoleta Lindheimeri. The other thing I would definatly warn you about it there are a lot more poisonous snakes down here than there are up there. I'm originally from Iowa and enjoyed doin a lot of herpin without worrying about poisonous snakes but now I still hesitate a little on flipping, but if you are aware it helps and a lot of the species aren't very aggressive. One book that I would reccomend if you really want to explore snakes in texas is Texas Snakes: A Field Guide. It is excellent and pretty inexpensive (about 15 bucks I think). Good luck to ya and if you want to make the hour or so drive to College Station I'd be more than happy to take ya'll to a couple of places I've had luck with around here. :cheers:

God Bless Texas
 
Howdy:

Just as a reminder: you need a valid hunting license to herp in Texas whether you plan to actually keep anything or not. While herping, I've been checked by Wardens in south Texas and (many times) in west Texas. I've never been checked elsewhere, but I've even had sherriff's check for my license in west Texas.

You will be passing through a couple of counties with records of "Kisatchie" cornsnakes, but they are VERY, VERY rare in those areas. You'll be in the area of E. emoryi as the previous post mentioned, but they are more common, generally, in the southern counties of your trip. Baird's are MUCH, MUCH further west in Texas. Texas rats will be very common in the northern counties of your trip only.

KJ
 
What's this another Aggie? I thought I was alone on here. Do you do much herping around CS?
 
Nah, I'm not brainwashed enough to be considered an Aggie. That's reserved for undergrads. :grin01:

I herp near my house east of College Station a fair amount, but that's because I can do it from my ATV.....lol. Somehow, I find that more fun that driving the back roads in my jeep or truck. I used to herp in east Brazos County before they paved my favorite spots, but I tend to spend more of my time in Grimes, anyway. More cool animals here - including a couple of spots still known to have tarantulas.

I flipped a few spots in north Brazos a week or so ago, but only fond a few "small things" and a rotten dog (dog fighting victim). I figure it should pick up soon, though. I want to go north a county this year and do some more herping that way. I always promise myself to do more, but I never really get around to it. I spend a little time SE of Brazos looking for pygmies with a friend, but that is usually reserved for the fall, of course.

No collectingallowed of course, but have you visited Lick Creek Park yet? You can see a LOT of neat things there. It's a fun place to get out and walk around.

KJ
 
And, if you want to head out even further west, you can head out towards Del Rio, The Trans Pecos River, and then on to Big Bend Area. Those will yeild you with some Bairdi's, Trans Pecos Rats, as well as Grey Bands and some others. But this is big Atrox country, as well as Mojave. So keep your eyes open.
 
Yeah I actually am about to head out there and I love it out there. I've already found a southern copperhead and an eastern hoggie. Hey, would you wanna go herpin together sometime? Its fun to go out, but it might be nice to find somebody to go with sometime. I don't know the area all that well yet cause I've only been down here three semesters and last year I didn't have a car so a little experience would be greatly appreciated and helpful.
 
Actually, Galen: GWB and I are planning a trip out that way sometime this year. probably in June. I will keep you updated and let you know when we are planning on going. Probably going to be a 4 day weekend trip type of thing.
 
Thank you for the replies, everybody!

KJUN, would you be able to explain more about that permit? I thought that you would only need such a liscense if you were catching and keeping the animal. :shrugs:

Thanks,
Lisa
 
Silt said:
Thank you for the replies, everybody!

KJUN, would you be able to explain more about that permit? I thought that you would only need such a liscense if you were catching and keeping the animal. :shrugs:

Thanks,
Lisa
Click to expand...


Nah, it is the ACT of hunting that requires a hunting license - not the actual collection. If you go fishing, you need a fishing license even if you don't keep anything. If you go deer hunting, you need a license whether you plan to shoot anything or not. If you have gun in the car and are spotlighting, they'll give you a ticket for trying to poach deer at night.

They consider herping the same way. (You can look for birds without a permit, but they say if you look for snakes you need the permit.) Oh, if you have no gear like hooks in the car and no bags and are just driving around, I doubt they'd write you a ticket even if you were one of the unlucky few to get checked. I doubt any judge would find anyone guilty of anything in that situation. HOWEVER, if you are flipping trash and stuff obviously herping, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a citation. If you had bags in the car ands they saw you stop, they might write one - I don't know. I guess it depends on the warden, but it is similar to thespotlighting at night with a gun in the car.

Sucks, huh? You canlook for and photograph birds without apoermit, but you can't do the same for snakes because they'll assume you are collecting. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Still....

KJ
 
And, you can get a 5 day non resident license. They are a little more expensive, but if you are planning on doing herping, much better than the possible citation.
 
KJUN said:
Nah, it is the ACT of hunting that requires a hunting license - not the actual collection. If you go fishing, you need a fishing license even if you don't keep anything. If you go deer hunting, you need a license whether you plan to shoot anything or not. If you have gun in the car and are spotlighting, they'll give you a ticket for trying to poach deer at night.

They consider herping the same way. (You can look for birds without a permit, but they say if you look for snakes you need the permit.) Oh, if you have no gear like hooks in the car and no bags and are just driving around, I doubt they'd write you a ticket even if you were one of the unlucky few to get checked. I doubt any judge would find anyone guilty of anything in that situation. HOWEVER, if you are flipping trash and stuff obviously herping, I wouldn't be surprised if you got a citation. If you had bags in the car ands they saw you stop, they might write one - I don't know. I guess it depends on the warden, but it is similar to thespotlighting at night with a gun in the car.

Sucks, huh? You canlook for and photograph birds without apoermit, but you can't do the same for snakes because they'll assume you are collecting. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Still....

KJ
Click to expand...

Thanks, that's good to know.

Do you know exactly which permit I would need and how much it costs? I'm trying to find it on the Texas Parks & Wildlife site, but I'm not getting any luck. The closest I've come to was a page which lists all of the permits: http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/business/licenses/online_sales/list_available_online/index.phtml

I know that my dad would definately need a permit, but would I need one since I am under 16? :shrugs:

Thank you once again for all of your help!

Lisa
 
Just the regular old hunting license is all you'd need. There isn't a special herp permit. It is prohibitively expensive for out-of-staters. That's just a warning. I don't know what the temp license costs - if one is even still sold. Sory. I'm just warning you.

If I was out of state, I'd bring NO gear. No bags. No hooks. Nothing. I'd have no intention of keeping anything. I'd look for insects, such as tarantulas and scorpions. To the best of my knowledge, those don't require a license. If I was checked, I'd show I had NO collection gears, explain I am trying to get images of insects, and not mention snakes. If I saw one, I'd take pictures, but "No, officer, I'm not looking for any native reptile or amphibian." I'd be hunting instects with a camera.

Heck, if you are looking for insects with NO COLLECTION GEAR at all, there isn't much that can be done unless you run into a really mean warden and judge.

I am not advocating anyone to violate any laws. I'm encouraging you to look for unregulated (I believe) insects with nothing to imply you were herping while staying within the law. Any herps you see would be photographed, but not touched or anything. ;) Just don't grab a snake in front of a warden.....lol.

KJ
 
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