FergusonK's journal - Goodbye Java Jewel.

[Ferguson K]

Out of the five areas they have open he's going to be anywhere from 6- 11 hours from where we are now

@norseofcourse Last year when we picked up our herd sire we drove 24.5 hours round trip, never left Texas.

 

[greybeard]

I like Freer--my kind of country. I guess you know about the big bobcat population there..and it's not for no reason there is a giant rattlesnake statue there in town.
If it weren't such short notice, wife and I would drive down for this again:
http://www.therattlesnakeroundup.com/

 

[Ferguson K]

@greybeard I love love love Freer. I have several monsters hanging on my wall. My little brother holds the record, 7'4" without it's head. My biggest kill was 6'9" with head.

We see these guys all the time.

My dad during one of Freer's round ups a few years back.

I'm hoping we wind up as close to Freer as possible. My dad lives by there. You don't get sunsets like this behind the pines...

 

[babsbag]

Rattlesnakes shouldn't get that big...that is just wrong. How big of an animal can a snake that big eat? Could they eat a cat?

 

[Ferguson K]

@babsbag

Typically they eat rabbits and small reptiles...

Look up Indian Runner snakes... pretty sure that's what they're called. They're a python native to South Texas and they eat rattles. They can grow in excess of 12ft...

Edit this is the snake I was referring to

https://g.co/kgs/5ZOE3L

 

[Ferguson K]

 

[babsbag]

Gave me shivers just looking at it. Our rattlesnakes average 18"-2' and that is plenty big. There are certainly bigger ones, but not common. I saw a King Snake today...12". Hope it grows up to eat a lot of rattle snakes.

 

[greybeard]

It would take a lot of king snakes to decimate the South Texas rattlesnake population. I've been to the Sweetwater, Taylor and Freer roundups back in the 80s and 90s.. By far, I enjoyed Freer the most. Drilled some wells around Freer and George West.
That wide open rough country isn't for everyone, but it's hard to beat.

 

[Ferguson K]

There are so many rattlesnakes down there, of different variations, that there's no way I'll ever walk around barefoot again. Dad keeps antivenom in his fridge because by the time the helicopter gets there you're dead. It's a 1 hour ride to the hospital via helicopter down where he's at. That's a 2 hour round trip. You're dead!

@greybeard we're hoping he gets stationed down in the Freer area, but we're looking all around. George West, Freer, Encinal, Alice... of course nothing is set in stone until we find out where he's going when he graduates which is 6 months away. Then there's move time, and we've got a LOT to move.

So it could be 8 months to a year before we move, which is fine because that gives me time to find a store down there close to where he will be stationed. Although nothing about South Texas is close.

 

[NH homesteader]

That snake is... Wow. You Texas folks are so much braver than me! No thanks on the rattlesnakes!

I hope your husband ends up somewhere you both would like to be. That's a big change, and a big move with that many animals!