The fun and the fury of a rattlesnake derby

Shayne Naylor has some recommendation for individuals who need to hunt rattlesnakes: “Be vigilant” and watch “the place you’re placing your fingers and toes.” Each spring he leads folks into the countryside of Oklahoma to hunt out snakes. Wielding tongs, hooks and a bucket for stashing their catch, just a few dozen hunters look below rocks and into crevices to trace down their prey.

The hunt is a part of the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby, held on the final weekend in April. Some 30,000 folks go to the city, which is often dwelling to solely 2,800. In a snake-pit tent wranglers carry out among the many rattlers. At a butchery present snakes are killed and skinned in a gory show. Their meat is fried and served up at a café. Hunters can promote their catch for $10 a pound, and win a prize for the longest snake, overseen by a newly topped Miss Derby Princess.

The primary organised roundup befell in Okeene, Oklahoma, in 1939. Ranch house owners banded collectively to cease the reptiles from harming cattle and other people. The occasions unfold to different states. They’ve drawn the ire of herpetologists and others, who say they’re merciless.

Sweetwater in Texas is dwelling to the biggest roundup, held each March. It has been particularly controversial as a result of hunters use petrol to chase snakes out of their dens. Such “gassing” may be dangerous to different wildlife, together with some endangered species, and to groundwater. Efforts to ban it have failed.

Opponents have had extra success in Georgia, the place declining numbers of japanese diamondback rattlesnakes inspired higher co-operation from organisers. In 2001 Fitzgerald’s roundup was remodeled right into a wild-chicken pageant. Claxton’s grew to become a wildlife pageant in 2012. And final 12 months Whigham’s grew to become a no-kill and no-catch affair. However in Oklahoma, the place the western diamondback is extra considerable, locals see no cause to cease their roundups. “Youngsters come out right here and run round,” says Caleb Allen, out on the hunt in Mangum. “And who desires their youngsters operating round in a subject of rattlesnakes?”■

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