Wow! I'm glad I haven't been flamed. I didn't know how incendiary this sort of post could have been and the images I saw had me pretty charged up. I think I did a good job of trying to be fairly even handed in my presentation of the information. Marc - no problem moving the thread. I posted on the bow forum originally because over on the other forum that's where the images in question were posted. If you think this area is most appropriate I'll go along with that. I just hope that those who should be getting this message will still get it. It seems like I'm pretty much preaching to the choir here. I'm pleased to see that pretty much all of you appreciate and already realize much of what I've said here. I'm also pleased to see that those of you who are using skins are taking them yourselves. There's nothing wrong with making use of something like roadkill. I forget who else posted it, but the comment about snakes getting scarce in an area they go to. That is exactly what round ups are doing - eliminating the species from entire areas. When I was living in Georgia I performed research for my college thesis on the rattlesnake roundups in Georgia. My research clearly indicated that since snakes were collect for length and weight, the average size of snakes collected started to go down just a few years after the beginning of the roundups. The snake most taken for roundups in Georgia is the Eastern Diamondback rattlesnake, the largest most majestic species of rattlesnake, and the largest pit viper in the world. At one time people could still find EDRs over 7 feet in length! Not so anymore. Roundups and habitat destruction have caused it to go locally extinct in Louisiana, parts of Mississippi, and parts of North and South Carolina. And, it's clearly obvious that in Georgia it is becoming scarce because the snake "hunters" (notice I always put that in quotes, because this certainly isn't hunting as I know it). Those hunters report having to go further afield every year to collect the same amount of snakes from the year before. In the case of roundups like the one put on in Sweetwater, Texas, the same thing is happening to the Western Diamondback. I'm surprised to hear that AZ has bag limits. Does it have a season and specific allowable methods of taking the snakes? The problem with roundups is that they're so entrenched in their communities that they've become major sources of revenue. The organizers of those events don't believe they can put on an event without snakes. However, there had been roundups elsewhere around the country that have seen the light and stopped their taking of snakes. Those festivals now either celebrate the snakes and have only educational displays or have switched to celebrating something else entirely. In both cases I know of, those communities still draw thousands of people and bring in millions of dollars for their festivals. It can be done. The people putting these on need to be made to realize the impact of what they're doing so they can change their festival. ls before it's too late. The thing is, it's only a matter of time. These people can start making changes now, or they can wait until the species is imperiled enough to end up on the Endangered Species List and then face federal fines and jail time for molesting the snakes. What gets me is so many people who participate in this are hunters who should really know better.
