Doesn't look good for the turkey....

[growalot]

and a whole lot of other critters here..http://www.myfoxny.com/story/28976158/ulster-county-forest-fire

 

I looked this up because...we were told this a.m. about a fire the DEC started...while trying to "burn out" a very aggressive species of rattler in the area of Cameron...I thought well that sounds wild..but it's the DEC, so Who knows! ...only thing I found was this....Too bad...but WOW how stories get started and spread just like......

Edited May 5, 2015 by growalot

[The_Field_Ager]

page not found

[growalot]

Ya a whole bunch of the stories I saw on this...links no longer work????...hhmmm Then I read some comments...and the ppl commenting made a mention about DEC and all of a sudden some land owner was being blamed  when locals knew better???? Now I am wondering...though still NOT CAMERON..

[Pygmy]

According to a friend of mine who lives only bout a mile from the "rattlesnake refuge" near Cameron Mills, the DEC had been doing some controlled burns to IMPROVE the rattlesnake habitat. There were several grass/brush fires up the Canisteo Valley that day, and I'm not really sure who started the one on the state land in question.

The only species of rattler present there is our native timber rattlers, and the DEC is very protective of that parcel, since timber rattlers are a threatened species, and according to a local herpetologist ( now deceased) that parcel of state land, formerly the Richmeyer farm, has the highest density of timber rattlers in the state. When a snake has to be relocated because it is in a highly populated area or whatever, the old Richmeyer property is where the snakes are released. The DEC has several snakes in that area that are fitted with radio transmitters and technicians periodically go in to locate the snakes and check them for whatever it is that snakes are checked for.

[growalot]

So like I said that sounded wild...we use to go up there a lot "jeeping" when we were kids Lived off of Ossion...and I have friends that live up that way....Are you sure only timber? I thought the pygmy rattler(Massasauga) was there as well. I know we have them here for I had one strike the tire of the mower one day some years ago...scared the crud out of me...I didn't think I was capable lifting my knee to my forehead! I know what they look like for I fed one weekly in the pet shop I worked...the owners daughter had one she bought at auction. Use to have to knock the rats out before feeding so they wouldn't bite and injure the snake but still had a heart beat...let me tell you..that took practice...the lizards got more than their share of rats...That is until I learned just how much momentum a knock out took...

 

Any ways what we were told is that the "brush fires" from the burn took out several ppls private wood lots and burned a bunch of acreage that the DEC lost control of it...SO...part of that story was true...they did a controlled burn.... During a red flag time???

Edited May 5, 2015 by growalot

[ATbuckhunter]

I hope this fire gets put out soon cause it's only half a mile to a mile from where I hunt. I had no clue that there was a rattle snake refuge there though.

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[Lawdwaz]

I hope this fire gets put out soon cause it's only half a mile to a mile from where I hunt. I had no clue that there was a rattle snake refuge there though.

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Two different things going on here.  The fire in the link above and the rattlesnakes in Cameron Mills have nothing to do with each other.

 

Don't buy the snake proof boots.........................

[phade]

Cutting my teeth hunting while growing up in the south, venomous snakes are nothing I would really like to encounter while hunting in NY or doing anything in NY for that matter.

 

I've had enough encounters for my lifetime.

 

I can't see the DEC starting any controlled burn during such a time.

[ATbuckhunter]

Ya the snake thing confused me. But the fire is about a mile from my hunting ground.

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[growalot]

Well what ever happened or how both fires started...not good for ground nesters denned animals

[thphm]

One Wild Fire was started by a local land owner burning stuff ( there has been a Red Flag Warning ) here for the past week. I guess some people just do not listen or obey the warnings..