I caught a snake!

WITH MY BEAR HANDS! And yes I do mean Bear hands, as in Bear Grillz (I don't think his name is really spelled that way, but it should be.) Anyway Justin and I were out in the woods tagging those invasive trees, when I just about ran into a snake that was crawling on the vines in front of me. You know when you're in the woods and you don't see a spiderweb until you're two inches away from a huge spider? Thats how close I was. At first I was freaked out, but then I got really excited. You see, we're required to pick up any reptiles we can catch and show them to the Horned Lizard team, and that includes snakes. I've basically always wanted to catch a snake, and I love it when nature show guys like Bear Grills pick up snakes like its not even a big deal. So now I had the opportunity, the mandate, and the assurance of Vick from the lizard team that there are no poisonous snakes on base.

I chased the snake on to the ground and tried to pin it down without hurting it or getting bit. It took a bit of chasing, but I finally pinned its head down with a stick and grabbed it right where the head meets the body (I guess you could call it a neck). We got out of the woods and Justin drove back to the office, and boy, that snake squirmed like crazy trying to get out of my grip. Almost did a couple of times actually.

We got to the office, put it in a tank, and identified it as a prairie king snake. Being a climber though, it got out of the tank and was sitting on top of it when I came back from the bathroom. Some of the guys at the office tried to get it back in with a stick, and when that didn't work I just grabbed it by the tail and flipped it in the tank. It struck at me pretty good but missed, and man that thing was pissed off! I may or may not have injured its tail with that flip, so I kinda felt bad about that, but I was PUMPED to have caught a snake!

Next up, biting a snake's head off and eating the body.

Man I love Bear Grills.