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Snake-hunting the swamps of South Carolina!

12/2/2015

5 Comments

 
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Raymond Ditmars snake-hunting in the South Carolina swamps, c. 1915.
The steamy, mosquito-ridden swamps of South Carolina literally crawled with reptiles and were a favoured early haunt for Raymond Ditmars.

Packing a luggage of canvas bags, fine soft copper wire for noosing and an abundance of quinine, the snake hunters would head south to Savannah, Georgia, aboard one of many steamers then plying the eastern coast before completing the trip by wagon.

Their final destination was the Pineland Club near the tiny settlement of Robertsville in Hampton County, South Carolina. Owned by friends of the New York Zoological Society, this shooting preserve with rented cabins on the northern flood plain of the Savannah River was perfect for sorties into nearby cypress swamps, hummocks, grasslands, pine woods, and cotton fields infested with cold-blooded life.

Patrolling the swamps, causeways, or narrow deer paths on horses, mules, or a simple buckboard wagon, the famed Bronx Zoo curator and his associates would be equipped with wire nooses and, despite the stifling heat, wore “an armor of heavy brown duck, high top boots, and stout flexible gloves.” As an added precaution Ditmars always carried a revolver.

Having noosed a venomous snake such as a water moccasin (aka cottonmouth) or rattlesnake, he would manoeuvre “the puffing, thrashing, spitting reptile twixt thumb and forefinger around the neck,” dropping it into a fabric sack. The latter would be given “a quick swirl so that the fang that darts forth instantly is embedded in a thick fold of cloth.”

At a meeting of the Linnaean Society of New York City held exactly 114 years ago today in the library of the American Museum of Natural History, the curator expounded upon a recent visit. According to the Society's Proceedings: "He spoke of the different species of snakes met with, of their habits and of the various methods employed in their capture. He exhibited specimens of thirteen of the species obtained.’
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Water moccasin (Agkistrodon piscivorus) enjoying the last rays of sunshine, South Carolina (Photo © Dan Eatherley)
5 Comments
Justin link
18/8/2016 04:58:08 pm

This is so cool! I live near Hampton and Savannah and I had no idea Ditmars ever came down this way! Awesome awesome read!

Reply
Dan link
18/8/2016 07:05:38 pm

Thanks Justin
Ditmars was down in your neck of the woods a bunch of times between 1899 and as late as 1919. In the early days he would be accompanied by the reptile keeper Charley Snyder, later on his family (wife Clara and daughters Gladys and Beatrice). Lots more about this in my book 'Bushmaster'
Dan

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Timothy L. Dykczynski
19/12/2019 11:30:30 pm

Being an avid snake lover ever since I can remember, I first discovered the name Raymond L. Ditmars around 1955 when I was 8 years old on one of my trips to the public library searching for any books on snakes that I could find.
Now in my private library I currently own a copy of every book Ditmars ever wrote.
Also being a snake hunter & collector, for 40 years starting in 1969 I snake hunted on the Okeetee Plantation in Ridgeland, South Carolina. In fact, back in the middle 1970's I was actually in one of the original cabins on the Pinelands Club in Robertville and also hunted in that area which is now Jasper County.
As were Ditmar's, my favorite snakes have always been Bushmasters, Eastertern Diamondbacks and Fer-de- lance and I have had in my collections over the years several specimens of each.
I have read your book and thoroughly enjoyed it.
I consider myself lucky and privileged to have walked and collected some of the same areas as my "Hero", Raymond L. Ditmars.

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gary richmond
20/9/2020 11:29:12 pm

always scheduled a vacation for the first week in April to visit & hunt Okeetee plantation & meet up with friends for camaraderie & catch up,. It was always a delight & one of the best times, now memories, of my life..Early morning & evening was a naturalists dream. i miss it & many of the people I met.

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Tyreese link
15/12/2020 02:03:00 am

Nicee share

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    Dan Eatherley

    British naturalist, writer and environmental consultant

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