Heebie Jeebies...

How many of you have seen an Alligator Snapping tutorial?



They're all over the south, from Georgia to Texas and as far north as southern Illinois. I remember the first time I ever saw one back home. My older brother, John, and I were trudging through a pond outside our house in Sealy, TX.

As a kid, you always fear the bogeyman. Coming face to face with some ancient creature coming up and getting me from under the water. The fears we all have as kids. Lets just say my fears were solidified for life when John saw this gnarly pile of hatred and claws, sticking its head up for a breath of air.



You can always count on a redneck having some slightly ingenious method of catching a critter at hand. My brother, used a baseball bat to subdue the nightmare inducing monster. He then proceeded to carry it by the tail all the way back home, to the horror of my sisters and mother, and the delight of the rest of our brothers. When you look at one of them, you just can't get past the fact that they can take your arm clean off with their jaws. They have a fishing lure at the tip of their tongue that they use to catch prey as well.

It's cool and downright freakish at the same time. When you see one bigger than a hubcap, you're looking at an animal that's easily 20-30 years old. They have been recorded as long as 4 feet, and well over 250lbs. (There's a story of one as heavy as 400+ on an Indian reservation in Oklahoma, but I haven't seen anything to back that up) They're prehistoric animals that haven't changed much through time. You can find more about them here, and be sure to click the link to the Alligator Snapping Turtle Foundation at the bottom. It's essentially just some hillbilly with a bunch of snappers, but the pic on his front page is awesome.

Living out here in California, you can come across some interesting wildlife for sure, but I miss the really weird critters you come across in the south...and some of 'em walk on two legs....sorta.