I remember as a boy the first time I ever laid eyes on a live California Kingsnake, from that day on I was never the same. I had already found a love for reptiles and would spend hours upon hours at the ditch, an irrigation canal that ran straight through the 17 acre goat farm in Northern California, that I was raised on. Garter snakes and “Blue bellies” were my prey, although I had seen many Gartersnakes on the banks of the ditch, very few ever found there way into my eager hands.
The ditch was surrounded by Blackberry bushes and the snakes knew just how far to leave there spiny fortress to be able to jet back into them without capture. One day while sneaking around a Blackberry patch after another Gartersnake I noticed something different, something I had only seen in books. Black and white, not striped but banded . I had read about this snake many times. The king of all snakes and pictures starting flashing into my head. Pictures I had seen of this snake wrapped around and eating a Rattlesnake. My heart was pounding with excitement when I realized I was actually looking at a California Kingsnake. I thought to myself, maybe I should go get my dad.
I had seen a Rattlesnake a couple weeks back crawl under my granddads chicken coop. I laid on my belly and watched it snoop around for a while before I decided to run and get my dad. My dad my uncle and my Grandpa hurriedly came down to the chicken coop and tipped it on end while my Grandfather would use a rake to scoop out the snake. I could not believe my eyes. I was only gone for a matter of minutes. The snake was gone nowhere in sight. We looked for a good ten minutes while my uncle accused me of being a story teller. My uncle teased me for months pointing at sticks or any object on the ground and saying “watch out Rattlesnake” then laughing. Haha real funny!
I did not want this snake to be gone as well, so I decided I can catch this snake on my own. I remember laying there what seemed like an eternity, playing out scenarios in my head of how this was going to play out and none of them ended with me the victor. Finally I decided to pounce, leaping through the air I came down right on top of it, almost crushing it with my body. Both hands now grasping the most amazing animal in the world. I pushed my self up with my elbows and stumbled to my feet. Running as fast as I could towards the house screaming “DAD, DAD”
When I got close to the house I saw my father hurrying down the stairs to eagerly examine another stinky Garter Snake. But no, it was a different musky fecal bath I was wearing on my shirt that day, it was the start of an obsession. One that is still with me today.
For me the California Kingsnake is an addiction, one that rivals any other addiction. I obsess about Kingsnakes every waking minute. Like other addictions it consumes my every waking moments, and thoughts. Here I was out in nature looking for specimens, and my teachers thought I was out in the streets looking for drugs! I never graduated from high school because of my love of the hunt and seek for Kingsnakes. Teachers that didn’t take the time to get to know the real me thought I was a stoner, a loser, a lost cause. Other teachers that knew me a little better, and my wife since we went through school together, knew it was spring time and that was when I had to cut school to go out looking for my Kingsnakes. If I didn’t have such an amazing and understanding wife standing by me, understanding my obsession as though it were her own, I don’t know where I would be in life. She helped to nurture my obsession and turn it into a creative outlet. If she were like so many other women, she would have long been gone and on to the next marriage, abandoning me to my lifelong hunt, and loneliness. I would be nowhere close to the 26 years of a wonderful marriage that she and I have shared. Instead we raised a family with 2 strong boys who also have a love for the outdoors and a passion for snake hunting. My youngest son Bryce was able to recite most snakes by their Latin names by days of reading and memorizing field guides while riding in the car when out road hunting.
I still see Calkings in the most strange of places; in patterns on walls, pillow cases, bedspreads, garbage cans, my refrigerator and from time to time my wife’s necklaces will make my heart race and skip a beat! I have seen them in our local grocery store, in the produce aisle, under boards that couldn’t possibly have a snake under it at all. I see them as objects on the road late at night, and almost every single time I close my eyes to fall asleep. There have been times I jerked and elbowed my wife in bed because I was bagging a precocious snake in my sleep.
I am a Junkie, and Cal Kings are my drug of choice!
The ditch was surrounded by Blackberry bushes and the snakes knew just how far to leave there spiny fortress to be able to jet back into them without capture. One day while sneaking around a Blackberry patch after another Gartersnake I noticed something different, something I had only seen in books. Black and white, not striped but banded . I had read about this snake many times. The king of all snakes and pictures starting flashing into my head. Pictures I had seen of this snake wrapped around and eating a Rattlesnake. My heart was pounding with excitement when I realized I was actually looking at a California Kingsnake. I thought to myself, maybe I should go get my dad.
I had seen a Rattlesnake a couple weeks back crawl under my granddads chicken coop. I laid on my belly and watched it snoop around for a while before I decided to run and get my dad. My dad my uncle and my Grandpa hurriedly came down to the chicken coop and tipped it on end while my Grandfather would use a rake to scoop out the snake. I could not believe my eyes. I was only gone for a matter of minutes. The snake was gone nowhere in sight. We looked for a good ten minutes while my uncle accused me of being a story teller. My uncle teased me for months pointing at sticks or any object on the ground and saying “watch out Rattlesnake” then laughing. Haha real funny!
I did not want this snake to be gone as well, so I decided I can catch this snake on my own. I remember laying there what seemed like an eternity, playing out scenarios in my head of how this was going to play out and none of them ended with me the victor. Finally I decided to pounce, leaping through the air I came down right on top of it, almost crushing it with my body. Both hands now grasping the most amazing animal in the world. I pushed my self up with my elbows and stumbled to my feet. Running as fast as I could towards the house screaming “DAD, DAD”
When I got close to the house I saw my father hurrying down the stairs to eagerly examine another stinky Garter Snake. But no, it was a different musky fecal bath I was wearing on my shirt that day, it was the start of an obsession. One that is still with me today.
For me the California Kingsnake is an addiction, one that rivals any other addiction. I obsess about Kingsnakes every waking minute. Like other addictions it consumes my every waking moments, and thoughts. Here I was out in nature looking for specimens, and my teachers thought I was out in the streets looking for drugs! I never graduated from high school because of my love of the hunt and seek for Kingsnakes. Teachers that didn’t take the time to get to know the real me thought I was a stoner, a loser, a lost cause. Other teachers that knew me a little better, and my wife since we went through school together, knew it was spring time and that was when I had to cut school to go out looking for my Kingsnakes. If I didn’t have such an amazing and understanding wife standing by me, understanding my obsession as though it were her own, I don’t know where I would be in life. She helped to nurture my obsession and turn it into a creative outlet. If she were like so many other women, she would have long been gone and on to the next marriage, abandoning me to my lifelong hunt, and loneliness. I would be nowhere close to the 26 years of a wonderful marriage that she and I have shared. Instead we raised a family with 2 strong boys who also have a love for the outdoors and a passion for snake hunting. My youngest son Bryce was able to recite most snakes by their Latin names by days of reading and memorizing field guides while riding in the car when out road hunting.
I still see Calkings in the most strange of places; in patterns on walls, pillow cases, bedspreads, garbage cans, my refrigerator and from time to time my wife’s necklaces will make my heart race and skip a beat! I have seen them in our local grocery store, in the produce aisle, under boards that couldn’t possibly have a snake under it at all. I see them as objects on the road late at night, and almost every single time I close my eyes to fall asleep. There have been times I jerked and elbowed my wife in bed because I was bagging a precocious snake in my sleep.
I am a Junkie, and Cal Kings are my drug of choice!
