Rattlesnake Festivals begin this weekend
Rattlesnake festivals start this weekend in western Oklahoma
For a slice of life in rural Oklahoma, check out one of the rattlesnakes festivals this month.
It’s something every true Okie should attend once in their life. It’s a part of Okie culture just like noodling for flathead catfish.
In fact, before Okie noodling grabbed worldwide attention, it was the rattlesnake hunts that first brought the national glare and protesters to outdoor Oklahoma.
The national media and the animal rights zealots seem to have lost interest in the rattlesnake roundups. Hardly anyone ever writes about them and protesters rarely show up.
Probably because these festivals have been going on for decades in Oklahoma and likely will for decades more.
This will be the 70th year for the Okeene Rattlesnake Roundup, the oldest of the organized rattlesnake hunts and festivals in the state.
There is a wildlife conservation issue surrounding rattlesnake hunting and the festivals. No animal, even rattlesnake, should be hunted to extinction.
I’m reminded of this every time I visit the Oklahoma City Zoo and see the sign in the Oklahoma wildlife exhibit that opposes the rattlesnake festivals in western Oklahoma for its needless slaughter.
Hey, I would agree to save the diamondbacks if there were proof the rattlesnakes were being hunted to near extinction. But year after year after year, snake hunters keep bringing hundreds of snakes to these festivals.
Find me someone around Mangum, Apache or Okeene or anyone in western Oklahoma who thinks the rattlesnake population is in danger. They have been killing snakes for decades and there never seems to be a shortage.
There is a rattlesnake hunting season in Oklahoma. It opens March 1 and ends June 30.
The first rattlesnake festival begins Friday at noon with the 48th annual “Fangtastic” Rattlesnake Hunt. The following weekend festivals take place in Apache and Waynoka.
That’s followed by Mangum’s rattlesnake event the last weekend in April, which features the largest flea market for rattlesnake good. I still carry a rattlesnake wallet that I bought six years ago there.
Okeene, the oldest event, is always the last, on the first weekend in May. All of the festivals are similar. They feature a carnival, a butcher shop where you can taste rattlesnake meat, flea market, a rattlesnake pit with a pit boss who lectures and entertains with snakes crawling around his boots. He occasionally gets fanged.
Snake buyers come to the festivals to bid on the rattlesnakes by the pound. The snakeskin will be used in wallets, belts, boots, saddles, etc.
Snake hunting is not for everyone of course. A snake hunter told me once that he hunts rattlesnakes because when he comes across a big diamondback, the adrenalin rush is like bungee jumping.
One good thing about being a rattlesnake hunter: Rarely are you denied permission to hunt.
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Comments
I’m glad to know that using gasoline to get them out is illegal. Thanks for straightening that out for me.
What are the methods used to gather/catch/ or get the snakes out of their dens?
I am told most are caught in March when they first appear out of the dens and are just sunning themselves. They are more lethargic at that time and are easy to sack up and snatch with snake poles. Now, I think you have a point about how they are stored and kept until the festivals begin. But most snake hunters are doing it for the money, so it’s in their financial interest to keep the snakes alive and healthy until they can sell to the festivals, which in turn sell them to snake buyers for making belts, boots, wallets, etc. But ultimately, they all end up being killed. And I can’t disagree that the rattlesnake is important in the eco-system. There is an issue about whether organized rattlesnake hunts are wiping out the population. Some argue they do, but the Wildlife Department does not think so.
The people in America are becoming more liberal and democratic which is destroying this country. A rattlesnake roundup is a perfect example. Did you know that the democratic party is trying to put an end to sport fishing because they see it as inhumane to animals? What is this country coming to? We’re slowly losing the freedom that members of the US Military, such as myself, fight so hard for. The main concern for rattlesnake roundups is that they deplete wild populations. This is NOT true. Snake hunters show up to the roundups every single year with just as many snakes as they did the year before and they return to the same dens year after year. The only way to bring an animal into extinction is to destroy its habitat which snake hunters are NOT responsible for. Go complain to tree loggers that destroy wild populations of other animals and leave the snake hunters alone.
In Texas, there are 172 counties that Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes are native to. Only 7 Texas counties hold Rattlesnake Roundups. It would be impossible to exterminate the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake. Snake hunters go back to the same spots and bring in several pounds of rattlesnakes every year.
some one told us how good ur rattlesnake festival is and we would like to apply to be a vendor at it next yr can u please email us info on that
When is the next roundup I have been wanting to go to one every since I moved to oklahome 16 years ago. Where are they & when are they
As someone who has investigated several roundups in the state of Oklahoma, interviewed hunters, and researched the topic for many years I am definitely concerned about the impact roundups are having on the ecosystem.
Some local populations have been decimated leading roundup organizers to IMPORT Crotalus Atrox from Texas specifically for the purpose of having snakes. The Oklahoma Dept. of Wildlife Conservation has not done a complete study of these roundups and their effects since 1988.
And gassing is indeed illegal in the state of Oklahoma, but with a lot of this hunting occurring on private land it is almost impossible to detect. I have also overheard hunters saying that they still use gasoline.
Rattlesnakes aren’t yet endangered as a species, true, but why didn’t you mention the most popular method used in these roundups?
Spraying rattlesnake dens with gasoline, or some other toxic chemical is not only inhumane, but it’s destructive to other burrowing animals and to the environment. It destroys the habitats of other burrowing animals such as: gopher tortoises, indigo snakes, box turtles, coachwhip snakes, pine snakes, southern toads, and gopher frogs, along with burrowing owls, raccoons, opossums, and at least 32 species of invertebrates.
Not only does it destroy habitat for hundreds of species of animals, but the toxicity of the chemical or gasoline contaminates the soil for YEARS! What’s more it seeps into groundwater and contaminates groundwater! Why did’t you mention that as part of this Okie culture?
Why didn’t you mention what happens after these snakes are caught?
They are stored without water or food in unhygienic conditions, and crammed into containers for transport. Many snakes arrive at these events starved, dehydrated, or crushed to death. The rattlesnakes are eventually decapitated, a cruel and inefficient method of slaughter for reptiles.
Rattlesnakes are exploited, and done so without any oversight or regulation. They serve a purpose in the ecosystem by keeping the rodent population in check, and they serve as a food source for raptors.
What I don’t get about people is killing something just for the sake of killing. Okie culture? Puleese. You dare compare this Okie culture to noodling? Noodlers don’t put toxic chemicals or gasoline under the cutbanks to drive out the catfish! This inhumane culture of hunting rattlesnakes is nothing like noodling for catfish!
Oklahoma is/was Indian Territory. Please do tell me the cultural practices of any of the 39 (now 38) federally recognized tribes that rounded up massive amounts of an animal just for the sake of killing? And DESTROYED habitat for hundreds of other species by method.
You write about this like you’re proud of it. Come on….evolve a little bit, dude. Some things need to change as we learn just how destructive our ‘cultural’ practices are.