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Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by BigBend66 on May 21, 2008
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Back in the day, meaning 5 yrs ago we found 50-60 Cottonmouths in 2 hrs. Each year since we have found less and less and last weekend we found only 1. Two guys in the area have devastated the population for pure profit. We stopped by one of the fellows houses and he had 2 50 gal drums filled with several hunder Cottons piled on each other and of course many dead from the weight alone. I asked him how he fed these and he replied { they eat each other} My son almost fell out! The guy is actually very intelligent, so makes me wonder why he is so destructive.
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by Crotalusssp on May 21, 2008
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This person should be reported. I would have probably lost my freedom after I saw something like that.
Charles
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by Chris_Harper on May 21, 2008
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Sounds like he needs a blanket party. But seriously ;-) , I would talk to Fish & Game about his activity. Scraping the land free of wildlife is unacceptable in any shape or form, including herping it to death.
CH
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by BigBend66 on May 21, 2008
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Crotalusssp,
you must know sparkleberry swamp. It's in Rimini which is in Sumpter....
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by earthguy on May 21, 2008
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I'm a long-time denizen of Sparkleberry. While I am DEFINITELY not standing up for this ya-hoo, the recent drought may have as much to do with the depressed population as the overharvesting. Certainly removing a bucket full of any snake is not going to help the population. Let me know how to find this guy (just drop me an e-mail). I know some people at DNR that would probably be willing to at least go check this guy out...
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by BigBend66 on May 21, 2008
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I know Steve Bennett pretty well and he is the top dog over herps with the DNR in SC. I am kind of in a bad spot being one of the guys is somewhat of a friend and would hate to do him harm. Hopefully he will read this thread and get the hint. He actually rens quite a few adds through the forum so he should see it.
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by BobH on May 21, 2008
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The very least you should do is inform this idiot to carefully let the snakes go or you will inform SC DNR. I know Steve very well and he would find something to light this guy up with. "Hundreds" of cottonmouths in two 50 gallon drums is really horrendous. It would ALMOST be worth calling PETA/API to come down on this gut (I said almost)!
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by Adamanteus70 on May 24, 2008
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Is Sparkleberry Swamp a protected area or is it public land? I wanted to clarify the term "poached". This term should only be used when the animals and land are protected. I have walked that swamp many a time and sometimes I see no Cottonmouths, sometimes I see piles basking on floating logs and debris. I just want to put the statement out there that even though the conditions seem right, sometimes no snakes may be visibly seen.
Paul
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by BigBend66 on May 24, 2008
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I just go by the barrels of cottons and the lack of any the last few times down and the fact that the guy said he got all of the cottons from Sparkleberry.
Old hickory, I saw where you e-mailed me but it didn't come through. i am not referring to you concerning the cottons, so no sweat....
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RE: Sparckleberry swamp poached to death.
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by Adamanteus70 on May 25, 2008
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This story has some holes in it to me. If this person was out in the swamp and caught all those Cottonmouths this year, there must still be a large viable amount of Cottonmouths in the swamp. You stated "the last couple times down". With husbandry like you state "living in a barrel" they could not be still alive if they had not been collected recently.
= more info needed to fill in the gaps around why you were at this persons house to begin with if he is a poacher. Which "poaching" is still a word that does not describe this action. Greed maybe, but not a poacher. Someone once labeled me as a poacher because I was road cruising in South Carolina. That person was a DNR employee. After my roadside chat with this person and the way they spoke to my wife and I, we followed through with a complaint, which after pursueing it thoroughly, the employee does not work for DNR no longer. Always use caution when slandering someone.
and for the record, this past spring I walked Sparkleberry Swamp and located about 20 Cottonmouths basking. The swamp is not "poached out" but has specific areas when the concentrations are heavier with Cottonmouths.
They are there, you just have to have a good eye. :P
Paul
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