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I can't exactly say where or when it started, but I can say how. My dad had been an avid
outdoorsmen all of his life and when I came along, it was only natural for him to pass on his love of nature to me.
My memories from my earliest years are blurry and scattered, but dear to me all the same. One such memory was revived
from an old video tape of my dad pulling me in a small raft down a local creek when I was only two years old. I would
jump in and out of the raft with my little safety jacket on while my dad kept a careful eye on me. At this point
I didn't even know what a herp was and probably had yet to catch any, but I knew nature and I knew I loved it.
My dad and I getting a little birding in
Over the course of the next few years a foundation was built for the interest that has now become
one of the biggest parts of my life. My dad would take me out to local rivers and creeks so that we could wade.
I would chase after Bullfrogs, Cricket Frogs, and baby turtles while dad would fish and put up with me jumping in to his good
fishing spots and scaring the fish away. Whether we were fishing the Whitewater River, bushwhacking through a dense
thicket, or stopping to look at something on the road, it was always a great time.
Probably my first true DOR, in the form of a Snapping Turtle
My first really clear herping memory comes in the form of my first snake capture. I was
six years old and was hiking with some friends and all of our moms in our local gorge. Being hyper kids, we were all
running around and probably causing our moms headaches, but my herping instinct had already clearly developed and the urge
to flip some cover was not easily surpressed. My eyes fixated on a small rock next to a little brook that trickled
in to the larger Whitewater River. I turned the rock to reveal a small banded, black and white snake. I was fascinated
and wanted to catch it so badly, but at the time I knew nothing of snakes and was not sure if it was dangerous or not.
I quickly grabbed a small bucket from nearby and scooped the snake up. For the rest of that day the snake and I were
inseperable. While my friends played on the playground I sat and held the bucket, staring at the small mystery snake.
After a little persuasion, my mom let me take it home. A quick field guide check revealed that the small "potentially
deadly" snake was only a harmless Northern Watersnake. My dad built an elaborate aquatic habitat in a rather large aquarium
for the small snake and I enjoyed hours of watching him chase down and eat small minnows. Over the course of the next
year we caught and kept various common herps for small periods of time. These included, a Leopard Frog, a Pickerel Frog,
Bullfrogs, Green Frogs, a juvy Painted Turtle, a juvy Spiny Softshell, a juvy Snapping Turtle, my Watersnake, a Brownsnake,
Gartersnakes, and a large Ratsnake that we kept for only a couple of days. The hardest part for me was always the release,
but as time went by I learned that releasing them back where they came from was very important.
Watching my little Snapping Turtle crawl to freedom
As time went by, I got a little wiser on specific species of herps. I began inhaling field
guides and had parts of some of the smaller ones almost memorized. We started going on trips to specifically look for
herps or at least squeezing some herping time in to all of our family trips. In local creeks I turned up many Queen
Snakes and Watersnakes, along with Long-tailed and Two-lined Salamanders. Trips to Florida, Georgia, and Colorado always
provided for great times and still provide me with great memories.
Exploring the Okeefenokee Swamp with my dad
Up until some point in middle school most of my herp encounters had been chance and my
nature outings were just to look for stuff, but not specifically herps. During middle school I began to specifically
search out snakes, turtles, and other herps. My dad and I took many trips to local parks and then began branching out
and exploring state parks all over the state. We rarely had great luck anywhere, but as I got older our luck improved.
We had many unexpected finds, even locally, like this large female Map Turtle concealed under the soft mud of a backwater
marsh near a large river.
Me Holding a Map Turtle
Canoeing and wading rivers still took up alot of our nature outing time. Most of our river
time was spent on the Whitewater River, but one summer we decided to Canoe the Blue River in southern IN. This river
was known for having Hellbenders which was our main target. While we did not see any benders, we did see plenty of turtles,
Watersnakes, and even an otter with his filleted fish out on a log.
Canoeing the Blue River in Southern IN
I count very few, to none of the trips we took as failures. Even if we saw very little
it was always great just to be out in nature. One trip we took down to a park in southern IN turned out some interesting
surprises. We drove in to the small park seeing few trails or good looking places to herp and when we pulled in to the
visitor center it was very small and inadequate. The nature center, which usually was a good place to get advice about
finding herps in the park, was closed. It was shaping up to be a dull day until a large lizard darted from under our
car to a nearby bush. I thought it seemed too big to be a Skink, but I didn't get a good look at it. We hiked
over to another parking lot to find tons of these Lizards running around. My first Fence Lizards were a real treat and
more than made up for finding nothing else that day. Later that year, we came back to see the lizards again, but they
seemed to be all gone. We hiked around all of the parking lots and the lake, but as far as herps went, it was dead out.
As we turned on to the road that would take us out of the park a black snake slithered out in front of us. I got out
to move what I thought was a Ratsnake and got an even bigger surprise. I walked over to my first Black Kingsnake and
oh, what a gorgeous one it was!
Me with my first Indiana Lampropeltis
Southern IN became my new stomping ground and various state parks and rivers down there provided
many memorable visits. On one such visit to a park in southern IN, a lady at the nature center, who knew of my interest
showed me a small article in a magazine. It told of a place called snake road in southern IL. A place where Cottonmouths
and Rattlesnakes crossed in huge numbers each spring and fall to reach the bluffs they hibernate in or the swamp that they
spend the warm months in and around. This place sounded like a fantasy out of my reach, but as we began planning a trip
there in the fall it became more real to me. My first trip down to that scenic, magical place was a huge blast and it
was the trip where I found my first venemous snakes. This trip along with one to Florida became a yearly tradition and
were the two highlights of each year for me.
Heading for the famous "snake road" in southern IL
Somewhere around my sophomore year in High School, a new aspect of herping was added in: Photography.
It started with an old 35mm film camera that I occasionally messed around with, but only really took off when I dug a digital
camera out of the cupboard that was meant for my dad. This was the perfect way for me to practice photography and really
build an interest in it, because it cost no film, and while the quality wasn't great it was good enough for me to enjoy.
Many great herping finds were captured with this small digital camera, which ended up being my first real camera that was
truly mine. One such find was my first adult Milksnake that my dad and I found laying out in the open along a southern
IN hillside.
Milksnake integrade Lampropeltis triangulum syspila X triangulum
On another trip to a different park in southern IN, the storms had hit hard and the sky was
cloudy. We crossed a small creek and headed up a steep hill. After finding a large Ratsnake skin, we continued
up the hill dodging baby Toads that had recently transformed. When we reached the top of the hill we began turning cover
searching for anything that might be there. I went to turn a rotting log, but nothing was under it. That was about
the time I noticed the tiny tail going into the log that I was still holding up. After a little digging we pulled out
my first Wormsnake.
Midwest Wormsnake Carphophis amoenus helenae
You know desperation has reached an all time high when you are coming up with a plan to catch
a Southern Leopard Frog in an area where they are quite abundant. The day was hot and our hike had produced very little.
We were walking along the bank of a marsh in southern IN, searching the overhanging bushes for Greensnakes. We were
at the point of the day where giving up seems the best option so we were attempting to surround a Leopard Frog that had hopped
into a bush when I hear my dad yell, "Greensnake!". In minutes we were staring at a gorgeous two foot Greensnake.
This was one of the few trips where we went looking for a specific species we had never seen and actually found it.
Rough Greensnake Opheodrys aestivus
Many more exciting herping experiences were to come in the future for me. The fall of
my 17th birthday, I recieved a nice DSLR Camera to truly get me hooked on photography. With this camera and a new car
I could see my opportunities expanding more and more. I began taking frequent trips locally by myself or with friends and
then some more that were a few hours away by myself. I found more and more and started thinking about college and research.
No matter where my future takes me, be it the thick jungles of Central America or just another location in the United States,
I will never forget where and who my love of nature came from. I know that those days of splashing around in the water
and running through the thick brush under my father's watchful eye will always remain some of the best times I've ever had
while herping.
Me and my Dad
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