Page 9 - 2016TVTimesMay29

Saturday, August 31, 2019
Snakes: Continued from Page 8C
Nonvenomous snakes
You are more likely to encounter these gentle creatures around your yard and on the highway. If you
see them, they are simply coming around because you have mice, liz- ards, frogs or other small pests that they eat. Let them do their job be- cause you will thank them later.
The pit vipers of our area all sport the same obvious characteristics — spade shaped head, nostrils and heat sensing pits on their nose and cat eye pupils.
A venomous pit viper will have all three of these characteristics. Some snakes will make their head look spade shaped to make you think they are venomous but they have round pupils and no pits by their nostrils.
Photo by Peter Paplanus
• Speckled kingsnake: This snake is extremely important to have around. They eat venomous snakes and their presence will keep venom- ous snakes away. They are harmless and docile unless you aggravate them. Also known as a speckled runner. They are black with small spots all over their body.
• Hognose or spreading adder: These snakes will either imitate a cobra or flip over to play dead. They are beautiful patterned snakes just looking for frogs and lizards. They are usually 1-3 feet long and can be found all over the woods.
El Dorado News-Times
9C
Photo by Judy Gallagher
• Black rat snake or chicken snake: The name says it all. Long skinny black snake that can be found robbing a chicken coop or bird box of eggs. Usually found crossing yards or around door frames. Usually seen 2-4 foot long but can be up to seven feet long. Very agile and fast climber.
• Coachwhip: Similar to a black rat snake but faster on land. Comes as a two tone snake sporting brown and red body marks. Old wives tale says a coachwhip will bite its own tail and roll downhill like a bicycle tire.
Photo by Benny Mazur
• Dekays brown snake: Little brown snake with rough scales. Brown with darker brown markings. Found in firewood racks usually eat- ing beetles and lizards. Can be in yard shrubs and around your porch or patio.
• Grass snake: Small green snake. Not aggressive. They look like a green ribbon blowing in the wind as they move.
• Banded water snake, diamond- back water snake and other water
snakes: Found in ponds, rivers, creeks, lakes and any place cool. Most commonly mislabeled as a Cottonmouth yet they look nothing like a Cottonmouth. Just because you see it in water doesn't make it a Cottonmouth.
Photo by Jthatt~enwiki
• Corn snakes and milk snakes: Usually tan or orange with white markings.
Scout ahead before dove hunting
Randy Zellers
Arkansas Game and Fish
LITTLE ROCK — With as much as a few inches of rain falling in some areas of the state within the last few days, dove hunters looking for options on opening day this Sunday are encouraged to scout ahead to ensure recent storms didn’t saturate their chances at a good dove hunt.
A couple of fields prepared by the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission saw substantial precipitation, preventing them from being prepared before opening day. Steve N. Wilson Raft Creek Bottoms and Ed Gordon Point Remove WMAs will not be available.
“We’ve really been geared up
to get some doves out there for opening day on many of our
public lands this year but this
last round of rain hurt a handful
of fields,” said AGFC Assistant Chief of Wildlife Management Garrick Dugger. “Fields that may have been topsown with wheat seed may see some of the seed sprouting early, and disked, prepared fields that were still
to be seeded may now be too
wet to access with the tractors and equipment needed. We also typically burn fields with some standing cover crops on them to expose the seeds, and the wet conditions will hamper that effort.”
Dugger says many fields will be ready, but it’s always a good idea to scout ahead to get the best idea of opening morning conditions and where to set up for the most success.
“It’s just smart to go out in the morning or evening to some of these fields and see where the doves are flying anyway,” Dugger said. “If you go in cold, you may set up on the opposite end of the area from where the doves want to be.”
An updated list of fields and conditions is available at https:// www.agfc.com/en/hunting/ migratory-birds/dove/public-dove- fields.
Photo by Patricia Crane
• Rough earth snake, smooth earth snake, mud snakes and worm snakes: These are all small slender snakes and will not harm you. They eat crickets, spiders and small beetles. They can range from brown, brown and orange and brown with red. They are usually just 5-9 inches long. They keep the bugs and snails in check.
In Arkansas, for every venomous snake you see, you will see 50 non- venomous. Their jobs as snakes is to keep rats, mice, bugs, lizards and frogs in check. Mice and eats carry so many diseases along with fleas, ticks and mites. Letting a snake just slither through your yard leaves a scent that rodents recognize as a predator. It can make them turn the other way.