WEBVTT - Ep. 487: Render - Civil War Send Off: Snakes and Surrender 0:00:14.720 --> 0:00:17.120 My name is Clay Knucomb and this is a production 0:00:17.360 --> 0:00:20.560 of the Bear Grease podcast called The Bear Grease Render, 0:00:20.720 --> 0:00:24.119 where we render down, dive deeper, and look behind the 0:00:24.160 --> 0:00:26.640 scenes of the actual bear Grease podcast. 0:00:27.080 --> 0:00:30.960 Brought to you by to Covi's Boots. I'm a cowboy. 0:00:30.560 --> 0:00:33.440 Boot man and I've been wearing to Covis for years 0:00:33.640 --> 0:00:36.040 with the most comfortable boot I've ever put on. 0:00:36.440 --> 0:00:38.040 Good boots for good times. 0:00:47.159 --> 0:00:49.600 We have a very distinguished guest with us today on 0:00:49.680 --> 0:00:52.880 the Bear Grease Render. He's been here at least once, 0:00:53.040 --> 0:00:54.160 if not twice. 0:00:55.000 --> 0:00:58.040 We have just once. 0:00:58.240 --> 0:01:02.280 Yeah, we have the infinitoue Brad birch Field with us. 0:01:02.480 --> 0:01:04.160 Brad turning your mike up just a little bit for 0:01:04.280 --> 0:01:06.600 me like that. 0:01:06.640 --> 0:01:07.720 Hey, there we go. 0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:12.560 We've brought Brad in for multiple reasons. We have brought 0:01:12.600 --> 0:01:17.880 him in because of his incredible expertise on the American 0:01:17.920 --> 0:01:24.240 Civil War yep at number one, Professor Brad Birche number two. 0:01:24.319 --> 0:01:27.319 If you recognize the name Brad Birchfield from The Bear 0:01:27.360 --> 0:01:30.520 Griase Render, you will know that he is our resident 0:01:30.720 --> 0:01:34.960 snake Man. That's right, and you probably can't hear it, 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:40.760 but within eighteen inches of my foot. There is the 0:01:41.760 --> 0:01:45.640 rattling of what is most likely a venomous rattler. We 0:01:45.720 --> 0:01:47.640 have a couple of snakes in here. We're going to 0:01:47.680 --> 0:01:51.720 pull him out later. I've also got here Bear. John 0:01:51.800 --> 0:01:53.080 Neukom yep, see Bear. 0:01:53.240 --> 0:01:53.880 Good to be here. 0:01:54.040 --> 0:01:59.640 Josh Lambridge Spilmmaker. This is the final Bear Grease render 0:02:00.040 --> 0:02:03.840 on the American Civil War Summer, the finale. We did 0:02:03.920 --> 0:02:07.760 six episodes. I ran into a guy in the airport 0:02:07.800 --> 0:02:12.239 the other day that was like, hey, Clay Bear Gree 0:02:12.320 --> 0:02:18.160 Civil War summer, and he wanted to make bets that 0:02:18.560 --> 0:02:22.239 the Beargree Civil War Summer was gonna go like eight episodes. 0:02:23.120 --> 0:02:27.559 He was like, he gave me some terminology, gambling terminology 0:02:27.600 --> 0:02:30.600 for like over under, for if it's gonna actually end. 0:02:32.040 --> 0:02:35.640 But I think we've done it because we had a surrender. 0:02:35.800 --> 0:02:38.360 I don't know if you guys heard the war is over. 0:02:39.240 --> 0:02:43.320 They surrendered, you know, Robert E. Lee surrendered at Appomatics Courthouse, 0:02:44.040 --> 0:02:46.760 which interestingly isn't a courthouse. 0:02:48.360 --> 0:02:50.360 Did you know that, Brad? You knew that? 0:02:50.919 --> 0:02:55.520 And you were educated at an American public schools your 0:02:55.560 --> 0:02:58.120 parents were wasn't your mama teacher or something? 0:02:59.120 --> 0:03:01.720 Your wife she taught you a lot. 0:03:02.160 --> 0:03:05.760 Yes, but uh yeah, the same guy's house basically where 0:03:05.840 --> 0:03:08.200 you know he was at bull Run and the battles 0:03:08.280 --> 0:03:10.440 started there and it ended in his front yard. 0:03:10.680 --> 0:03:11.240 That was wild. 0:03:11.600 --> 0:03:11.799 Yeah. 0:03:12.280 --> 0:03:17.440 So and then uh, now bear you uh would you 0:03:17.480 --> 0:03:20.840 have known that that Appomattox courthouse was not actually a courthouse? 0:03:21.000 --> 0:03:23.400 No clue, Yeah, no clue at all. 0:03:23.440 --> 0:03:27.320 Okay, Well, we're gonna, we're gonna, we're gonna talk about that. 0:03:27.360 --> 0:03:31.079 But there's no way that I'm going any further than 0:03:32.040 --> 0:03:33.200 let's look at these snakes. 0:03:33.320 --> 0:03:34.880 You want to look at snakes already? 0:03:35.680 --> 0:03:36.800 I mean, unless you've got to. 0:03:36.920 --> 0:03:38.440 Kind of feel like we need to build up and 0:03:38.640 --> 0:03:39.760 end with snakes. I don't know. 0:03:40.120 --> 0:03:43.040 Could we guess what's in there that we have a 0:03:43.120 --> 0:03:45.640 rough idea of one? Yes, you you are? 0:03:45.640 --> 0:03:46.600 They both venomous. 0:03:46.640 --> 0:03:47.680 They are both venomous. 0:03:47.720 --> 0:03:50.480 They're both venomous. Yeah, Okay, is the one on the 0:03:50.520 --> 0:03:53.800 orange bucket, timber Rattler, the one in the red bucket 0:03:54.520 --> 0:03:55.600 Western Diamondback. 0:03:55.800 --> 0:04:00.800 No, you're close, you're half right, you on a copperhead? 0:04:00.960 --> 0:04:03.160 Yes, how many snakes do you have? 0:04:03.560 --> 0:04:04.840 I'm really not sure. 0:04:05.200 --> 0:04:07.560 He's not an owner, he's a guardian, that's right. 0:04:08.320 --> 0:04:11.520 They tell me, they love me. I've got I think 0:04:11.640 --> 0:04:13.640 more than forty but less than fifty. 0:04:14.240 --> 0:04:16.240 You're really not really sure. Yeah. 0:04:16.920 --> 0:04:20.520 So they all have names and scientific names. Okay, yeah, 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:22.920 they're not having like Larry and Steve and specimens. 0:04:23.040 --> 0:04:24.200 They're specimens. 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:29.000 Do you mind telling the story of the of the 0:04:29.120 --> 0:04:32.120 old snake that has since passed away? 0:04:32.200 --> 0:04:33.000 Oh, he's right. 0:04:33.240 --> 0:04:35.800 Yeah. So on the original podcast, I brought the big 0:04:35.839 --> 0:04:38.800 timor rattlesnake and that was a doozy yeah, And that 0:04:38.920 --> 0:04:42.760 was over two years ago. And for whatever reason, he 0:04:42.839 --> 0:04:45.360 quit eating, which snakes do that sometimes, and then they'll 0:04:45.400 --> 0:04:47.320 go off feed and they'll come back on feed, and 0:04:47.400 --> 0:04:50.040 sometimes you can do little things. But everything I tried 0:04:50.080 --> 0:04:52.240 over this thing would not eat. But it was so 0:04:52.400 --> 0:04:56.039 massive that it survived. And again it is attributed to 0:04:56.040 --> 0:05:01.880 their incredible metabolism. But it survived twenty twenty seven months 0:05:01.920 --> 0:05:05.120 without a meal, So two years and two months. 0:05:05.440 --> 0:05:09.159 That is unbelievable. Wow, But it would dropt. 0:05:10.240 --> 0:05:12.000 The snake died of old age. 0:05:11.800 --> 0:05:14.360 That's my assumption, because it was old. It was it 0:05:14.400 --> 0:05:15.720 was twenty five plus years old. 0:05:16.120 --> 0:05:17.320 Twenty five plus years. 0:05:17.640 --> 0:05:19.680 I had it for fifteen and I got it from 0:05:19.680 --> 0:05:22.320 the university. It was retired animal that they were using, 0:05:22.800 --> 0:05:25.880 and it was it was probably twenty years old up there, 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:27.359 so I mean it may have been closer. 0:05:27.400 --> 0:05:30.800 So if you were walking out in the woods and 0:05:30.839 --> 0:05:34.960 you see a timber rattlesnake called up, that snake might 0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:38.039 have been laying there for two years. I mean it's possible. 0:05:38.080 --> 0:05:39.240 I mean he probably would have moved. 0:05:39.320 --> 0:05:42.040 He probably moved, yeah, during cold season and stuff. 0:05:42.080 --> 0:05:43.960 I just think about an animal that just would have 0:05:44.000 --> 0:05:46.880 been right dormant. That was kind of the idea that 0:05:46.920 --> 0:05:50.440 they wouldn't be hunting, and they obviously wouldn't be moving 0:05:50.480 --> 0:05:52.839 around too much because they're probably conserving energy. If they're 0:05:52.880 --> 0:05:54.960 not writing for over two years. 0:05:54.720 --> 0:05:59.880 It would probably stay in their wintertime. Hibernaculum den hybernaculum, 0:06:00.160 --> 0:06:01.599 that's the that's the fancy word. 0:06:01.640 --> 0:06:03.719 Is that a snake word or is that an animal word. 0:06:03.760 --> 0:06:06.320 I think it's a snake word. I don't know though bears. 0:06:06.600 --> 0:06:10.280 Bears have a hybernacil be hibernate, but yeah, you would 0:06:10.279 --> 0:06:13.000 hear the term a den. It wouldn't be a hibernaculum. 0:06:13.200 --> 0:06:16.080 Same thing with rattlesnakes, though we hear rattlesnake den, but 0:06:16.160 --> 0:06:17.680 it's technically a hibernaculum. 0:06:17.720 --> 0:06:20.640 Well, is there a way to trace back who taught 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:20.960 you this. 0:06:21.000 --> 0:06:25.799 Word of Probably doctor Steve bo Pray from the University 0:06:25.839 --> 0:06:28.520 of Arkansas. Okay, he's fresh on my mind because I 0:06:28.520 --> 0:06:31.279 had dinner with him last night. But yeah, he taught 0:06:31.279 --> 0:06:32.160 me a lot of big words. 0:06:33.000 --> 0:06:39.560 And so you're you are a You're not a trained biologist, 0:06:39.600 --> 0:06:43.320 but you a degree biologist. Correct, you're not a herpetologist. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:45.080 I'm gonna I'm gonna what. 0:06:45.000 --> 0:06:46.159 Does the degree even mean? 0:06:46.360 --> 0:06:46.880 Exactly? 0:06:47.120 --> 0:06:49.599 But you've been messing around with snake's your whole life, 0:06:49.640 --> 0:06:51.760 and I mean you're essentially a snake biologist. 0:06:52.080 --> 0:06:54.240 Yes, so yeah, I like to think I play one 0:06:54.279 --> 0:06:58.480 on the internet. But yeah, I'm a I'm an advanced 0:06:58.520 --> 0:06:59.599 snake enthusiast. 0:06:59.800 --> 0:07:00.960 I think would be a good. 0:07:01.040 --> 0:07:04.720 You know, you're the most You're the most normal advanced 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:08.080 snake enthusiast I've ever been around. And to say you're 0:07:08.200 --> 0:07:11.240 normal is a little bit of a you know, maybe 0:07:11.760 --> 0:07:16.480 a slide of words here, I'll think. But I've been 0:07:16.520 --> 0:07:17.680 around some snake people. 0:07:17.840 --> 0:07:21.720 Yeah, I run across these same people in my little circles, 0:07:21.800 --> 0:07:25.200 run across or run with, well sometimes run with. Yeah, 0:07:25.280 --> 0:07:26.000 it just depends. 0:07:26.080 --> 0:07:28.480 But tell us about your trip to South America. 0:07:28.560 --> 0:07:30.200 Oh yeah, yeah, So I got to go to the 0:07:30.280 --> 0:07:34.640 Amazon rainforest back in February, which it turns out, and 0:07:35.600 --> 0:07:39.120 Peru they don't have like a summer, winter spring. They 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:41.920 have a rainy season or a dry season. And we 0:07:41.920 --> 0:07:45.160 were there during the rainy season, and we stayed I 0:07:45.160 --> 0:07:48.239 think we were like sixty something miles down the Amazon 0:07:48.240 --> 0:07:51.240 from a Ketos had a little research station and they 0:07:51.240 --> 0:07:53.600 have a generator there and they would run the generator 0:07:54.040 --> 0:07:59.040 twice a day so you could charge your phone. But like, no, no, yeah, 0:07:59.360 --> 0:08:02.760 it was a lot off the grid. Turns out as 0:08:02.800 --> 0:08:04.960 scared as most people are of snakes, I'm that way 0:08:05.000 --> 0:08:08.880 about spiders. And there are more spiders in the Pruven 0:08:09.000 --> 0:08:12.400 Jungle than you can You just can't believe. And some 0:08:12.440 --> 0:08:14.040 of the guys I wait with there into spiders and 0:08:14.080 --> 0:08:15.840 stuff and so they were all excited, but I was 0:08:16.120 --> 0:08:17.920 pretty much terrified the entire time. 0:08:18.680 --> 0:08:21.920 I don't particularly spiders Enema spiders. Yes. 0:08:22.080 --> 0:08:24.400 In fact, I won't get into details on this, but 0:08:24.720 --> 0:08:26.280 all the listeners out there, if you'll go to your 0:08:26.280 --> 0:08:30.600 phone and google wandering spider, wondering spider, it's like one 0:08:30.600 --> 0:08:33.120 of the top three deadly spiders in the planet, I think, 0:08:33.520 --> 0:08:37.760 but it's got a very strange venom. And uh, they're 0:08:38.360 --> 0:08:40.480 I don't say they're aggressive, but they're not. They're kind 0:08:40.520 --> 0:08:42.840 of like a cotton mouth. They don't attack you, but 0:08:42.880 --> 0:08:44.880 they don't back down. I got you. If you run 0:08:44.920 --> 0:08:47.040 across one, they just kind of, you know, bow up 0:08:47.080 --> 0:08:49.959 at you. Are they big wou? Yeah? I would say 0:08:50.040 --> 0:08:51.000 three four inches across. 0:08:51.320 --> 0:08:52.680 That's that's a big spider. 0:08:52.760 --> 0:08:53.320 That spider. 0:08:53.640 --> 0:08:54.920 It's a crazy spider. 0:08:55.400 --> 0:08:57.280 We can get to the Wikipedia and read that. And 0:08:57.400 --> 0:08:59.199 oh yeah, if you think it's worth missing. 0:08:59.040 --> 0:08:59.600 There's a bear. 0:08:59.720 --> 0:09:02.280 Just pull a picture on his phone of a giant 0:09:02.360 --> 0:09:06.160 or ragnet with two arms raised to the heavens, so 0:09:06.600 --> 0:09:09.920 like or you could call it like yeah, raised to 0:09:09.920 --> 0:09:12.880 the heavens, or like a referee calling for a field goal. 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.600 Well, so we're down there with a bunch of tree 0:09:15.640 --> 0:09:20.240 huggers for all practical purposes. So normally, like most people 0:09:20.360 --> 0:09:22.960 kill snakes, I will stomp a spider and get great 0:09:23.080 --> 0:09:25.520 joy in doing so. But I was like, I can't 0:09:25.520 --> 0:09:28.040 really do this, you know, I'm down here. And so 0:09:28.120 --> 0:09:30.280 we had one that lived under our porch. We had 0:09:30.280 --> 0:09:31.959 these steps. It went up to our little thing called 0:09:31.960 --> 0:09:34.520 a tambo. It's basically like a little Gilligan's Island hunt 0:09:35.200 --> 0:09:37.480 and stilts. And at the bottom of the stairs there 0:09:37.520 --> 0:09:40.320 was a large, wondering spider that lived under the bottom stairs. 0:09:40.440 --> 0:09:42.120 And every night I would go out to go take 0:09:42.160 --> 0:09:45.040 a shower or something, and the spider would be there, 0:09:45.320 --> 0:09:48.440 just waiting, and he did not move, and we had 0:09:48.440 --> 0:09:51.160 to We figured out a way to manage it, but 0:09:51.800 --> 0:09:52.199 it was. 0:09:52.160 --> 0:09:54.679 Not pleasant, so killing him wasn't an option. 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:57.600 No, And one night lifted up toilt lid, big one 0:09:57.600 --> 0:09:58.960 in the toilet hanging out. 0:09:59.000 --> 0:10:00.560 No way, I bet you killed them. 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:03.640 Nope, I just went to another toilet. No, I just 0:10:03.840 --> 0:10:07.960 abandoned ship. I mean these things they're everywhere. And other spiders, 0:10:08.000 --> 0:10:09.840 like have you ever heard of a bird eating spider? No, 0:10:09.960 --> 0:10:12.520 it's the largest spider, the lithe bird eater. Yes, we 0:10:12.559 --> 0:10:13.160 saw one of those. 0:10:13.200 --> 0:10:14.800 I want to know who came up with that name? 0:10:14.920 --> 0:10:17.400 I don't know, And I think they should name more critters. 0:10:17.600 --> 0:10:18.080 I agree. 0:10:18.640 --> 0:10:22.240 There's a glaugh grouper. Yeah, yeah, but we saw one 0:10:22.240 --> 0:10:23.960 of those guys, like it's not a real big one, 0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:28.880 but it was literally probably eight ten inches across that's terrifying. 0:10:29.040 --> 0:10:32.360 It was that a venomous spirab it's a tarantula. I 0:10:32.400 --> 0:10:35.679 mean it's it's just it's venomous, but it's not deadly. Yeah, 0:10:35.880 --> 0:10:38.480 But like saying scorpions, they've got all those. I mean, 0:10:38.880 --> 0:10:41.040 so in my mind before we went, I was like, 0:10:41.080 --> 0:10:43.360 I'm gonna buy my shetty and take my bull whip 0:10:43.360 --> 0:10:45.760 because I do own some bull whips and uh. 0:10:46.120 --> 0:10:47.960 Doora, maybe's not as normal as we think. 0:10:48.080 --> 0:10:51.319 I mean, chopping through the jungle having adventures. And when 0:10:51.320 --> 0:10:54.320 I got down there and saw where like underneath big 0:10:54.400 --> 0:10:58.240 leaves or be nests of wasps, oh, and then scorpions 0:10:58.240 --> 0:11:00.640 and then bullet ants, you'd be like enough against a 0:11:00.640 --> 0:11:03.120 tree and there'll be a trailer bullet it. So literally 0:11:03.160 --> 0:11:05.880 I was walking, you know, yeah, as thinly as I 0:11:05.920 --> 0:11:08.360 could through the trails, just trying not to touch anything. 0:11:08.440 --> 0:11:09.200 It was terrifying. 0:11:09.440 --> 0:11:12.080 But we did find a bunch of snakes. We found, uh, 0:11:12.440 --> 0:11:15.199 I don't know how many. I think total species list 0:11:15.280 --> 0:11:18.400 was of like one hundred and sixty different species of reptiles, 0:11:18.400 --> 0:11:21.880 amphibians and the ragnans and stuff. But we didn't find 0:11:21.920 --> 0:11:23.320 the one snake that I wanted to find which is 0:11:23.320 --> 0:11:27.840 a bush master. It's the largest venomous snake in this hemisphere, 0:11:28.360 --> 0:11:31.560 and it's very interesting. It's a pit viper, but it 0:11:31.640 --> 0:11:35.400 lays eggs. Most pit vipers have live birth. 0:11:35.480 --> 0:11:39.120 Yeah, so some snakes have live birth and some snakes 0:11:39.200 --> 0:11:40.240 well lay eggs. 0:11:40.360 --> 0:11:44.439 Technically, they have eggs in their belly and then they 0:11:44.480 --> 0:11:47.760 hatch out and then the live snake emerges from the 0:11:47.760 --> 0:11:50.720 they hatch hatch inside, but we call that live birth 0:11:51.280 --> 0:11:53.719 versus laying an egg and a banding it like most 0:11:53.720 --> 0:11:56.400 snakes do, and then those egg hatches itself. So wow, how. 0:11:56.320 --> 0:11:57.280 Big is a bush master? 0:11:57.400 --> 0:12:00.000 They can get eight to twelve feet, Oh my lord, 0:12:00.760 --> 0:12:04.160 and they're real deadly, very very What was the chances 0:12:04.160 --> 0:12:06.920 of you seeing one? It was really high because this 0:12:07.080 --> 0:12:10.320 group that we went with has they do this every year, 0:12:10.920 --> 0:12:13.800 and they were I think fourteen of fourteen trips where 0:12:13.800 --> 0:12:16.520 they found a bush master and we broke that streak 0:12:16.559 --> 0:12:16.880 for him. 0:12:17.360 --> 0:12:18.480 Oh, massmaster. 0:12:18.920 --> 0:12:21.120 So I did find. The coolest thing I found was 0:12:21.120 --> 0:12:26.040 a six foot Peruvian boa bult constrictor, which as a kid, 0:12:26.080 --> 0:12:28.760 you know, I'd see these nast geographic and me and 0:12:28.760 --> 0:12:31.240 my son were walking and I was it was raining 0:12:31.400 --> 0:12:34.040 because it just comes its rainforest, so it rings and 0:12:34.400 --> 0:12:36.880 I stepped on something and because I was looking kind 0:12:36.920 --> 0:12:38.680 of at the periphery, I wasn't looking right in front 0:12:38.679 --> 0:12:41.280 of me, and like I stepped in something kind of squished, 0:12:41.480 --> 0:12:43.440 and I looked down and there was a six foot 0:12:43.440 --> 0:12:45.640 bowl constrictor. I mean it looked like you know, a 0:12:45.679 --> 0:12:48.280 pet store. You know. It was just awesome to see 0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:50.920 a wild one and city strike at you. He was 0:12:50.960 --> 0:12:53.400 not pleasant. Yeah, it turns out they don't like to 0:12:53.400 --> 0:12:56.480 be handled. I didn't get bit, but had We had 0:12:56.520 --> 0:12:57.880 a good time trying to get it in a bag 0:12:57.920 --> 0:12:58.760 to show everybody else. 0:12:59.559 --> 0:13:02.720 So how so was this like a like an eco tour? 0:13:03.160 --> 0:13:04.679 Yeah, more or less. 0:13:04.720 --> 0:13:06.520 You picked up on the dark web or something that. 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:10.280 Now I've got some friends some of these people, and 0:13:10.600 --> 0:13:12.439 they do have an eco tour thing there, and a 0:13:12.480 --> 0:13:14.960 lot of the money goes to purchase tracks of the 0:13:15.040 --> 0:13:17.920 rainforest so it doesn't get cut down, and so they're 0:13:17.920 --> 0:13:20.559 preserving habitat down there. So even in the Snake Realm, 0:13:21.280 --> 0:13:24.400 we're big on public lands and saving habitat and all 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:25.160 that kind of stuff too. 0:13:25.200 --> 0:13:28.240 So you've traveled all across the country here in America 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.400 looking for snakes, like, you know, randomly, you'll be somewhere 0:13:31.400 --> 0:13:33.120 and you'll be like, yeah, I'm looking for this snake. 0:13:33.160 --> 0:13:36.240 You're trying to check off a list, right seeing every 0:13:36.320 --> 0:13:38.959 species of snake in America pretty much or. 0:13:38.880 --> 0:13:42.960 In yeah, call America right now. Yeah, Actually, in Labor 0:13:43.040 --> 0:13:46.680 Day weekend, I'm going south of the border to look 0:13:46.720 --> 0:13:50.280 for the last rattlesnake. That is, the last US rattlesnake. 0:13:50.320 --> 0:13:54.480 It's called a cradulous whittler dye obscurists. It's the New 0:13:54.520 --> 0:13:58.120 Mexico original rattlesnake. And so they occur on two mountain 0:13:58.160 --> 0:14:00.160 ranges down kind of the Boothill area of New mex. 0:14:00.880 --> 0:14:03.880 But they're now what border are you crossing? The Mexican one? 0:14:04.360 --> 0:14:05.640 So it's in New Mexico though. 0:14:05.720 --> 0:14:07.160 Yeah. So there's two places you can find them in 0:14:07.200 --> 0:14:11.480 the US, and they're functionally extirpated from this range. There's 0:14:11.520 --> 0:14:13.400 another range that you can't get on because it's owned 0:14:13.440 --> 0:14:15.560 by the Nature Conservancy and they do research on these, 0:14:15.559 --> 0:14:17.400 so they don't want anybody in there messing with them. 0:14:17.520 --> 0:14:20.960 But across the border into Mexico they're apparently common. So 0:14:21.680 --> 0:14:23.680 we're hooking up with a guy that's been several times, 0:14:23.760 --> 0:14:27.600 and he's assured me everything's good and safe, and so 0:14:27.960 --> 0:14:28.520 we'll see. 0:14:28.760 --> 0:14:30.400 Okay, so when when are you doing that? 0:14:30.440 --> 0:14:31.520 It'd be Labor Day weekend. 0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:32.800 Labor Day weekend. 0:14:33.080 --> 0:14:36.760 Yeah, we're gonna have a post mortem. If I get killed, say, 0:14:36.760 --> 0:14:38.120 we're gonna have a moment of silence. 0:14:38.400 --> 0:14:41.440 I will dedicate an episode to you. 0:14:41.560 --> 0:14:42.600 Yeah, go get killed. 0:14:42.680 --> 0:14:45.040 Okay, but yeah we do. We chase a lot of 0:14:45.160 --> 0:14:47.040 a lot of different snakes in different areas, just like 0:14:47.120 --> 0:14:49.080 y'all do when you go hunting. You want to kill 0:14:49.080 --> 0:14:49.840 a baron basct. 0:14:49.920 --> 0:14:52.000 How many do you like in North America? 0:14:52.120 --> 0:14:52.920 Rattlesnakes? 0:14:52.960 --> 0:14:53.520 Just snakes? 0:14:53.560 --> 0:14:55.080 Oh, I wouldn't have any idea. 0:14:55.520 --> 0:14:57.880 Oh so it's not that's not a goal. Then I 0:14:57.960 --> 0:14:59.280 kind of said that not a goal. 0:14:59.480 --> 0:15:02.000 Now the go is the rattlesnakes, the rattlesnakes. 0:15:02.000 --> 0:15:03.280 How many rattlesnakes are there? 0:15:03.640 --> 0:15:06.200 Uh? Good, you put me on spot here. I want 0:15:06.200 --> 0:15:09.240 to say forty? Wow, that many things. 0:15:09.400 --> 0:15:12.360 They're rattlesnakes and other continents. 0:15:12.760 --> 0:15:17.480 Yes, South America has the it's a new world thing. Yes, 0:15:17.640 --> 0:15:20.560 really Yeah, that's a great segue into. 0:15:23.400 --> 0:15:25.200 My wow flag. 0:15:25.640 --> 0:15:28.880 So we were talking about the Civil War. Eventually this 0:15:29.000 --> 0:15:30.960 actually comes from revolutionary. 0:15:30.440 --> 0:15:32.600 We'll hand that other aside to Clay. 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.080 Let me see here, Okay, get it all on the 0:15:35.080 --> 0:15:35.560 screen here. 0:15:35.600 --> 0:15:38.080 This is what is known as the gads And Battle flag. 0:15:38.360 --> 0:15:40.160 It's made by a dude that was in the navy, 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:43.280 and it's got a rattlesnake on it that says, don't 0:15:43.280 --> 0:15:46.840 tread on me. It's got thirteen segments on his rattle 0:15:46.880 --> 0:15:50.560 to signify the thirteen colonies. And again this is Clay said, 0:15:50.880 --> 0:15:52.600 rattlesnakes are a new world thing. They don't have these 0:15:52.640 --> 0:15:54.520 in Europe, so no one in Europe had ever seen these. 0:15:54.880 --> 0:15:56.400 And they come over here and they got this crazy 0:15:56.440 --> 0:15:58.440 snake that can kill you that has rattles on them. 0:15:58.640 --> 0:16:03.680 So Benjamin Franklin was big on writing stuff. I'm gonna reata. 0:16:04.320 --> 0:16:06.080 We can just drape this over the siddle here. 0:16:06.600 --> 0:16:10.920 Yeah, so get up my cheaters here. 0:16:11.000 --> 0:16:11.480 Wow. 0:16:13.000 --> 0:16:16.840 So this was Benjamin Franklin wrote this in seventeen fifty 0:16:16.840 --> 0:16:19.960 five or something like that. Says, I recollected that her 0:16:20.000 --> 0:16:24.360 eye excelled in brightness that of any other animal, and 0:16:24.400 --> 0:16:28.320 that she has no eyelids. She may therefore be esteemed 0:16:28.920 --> 0:16:33.200 an emblem of vigilance. She never begins an attack, nor 0:16:33.520 --> 0:16:37.920 when engaged ever surrenders. She is therefore an emblem of 0:16:39.000 --> 0:16:44.080 magnanimity and true courage. As if anxious to prevent all 0:16:44.240 --> 0:16:47.920 pretensions of quarreling with her, the weapons with which nature 0:16:47.920 --> 0:16:51.000 has furnished her she conceals in the roof of her mouth, 0:16:51.120 --> 0:16:54.280 so that those who are unacquainted with her, she appears 0:16:54.280 --> 0:16:57.560 to be most defenseless. And even when those weapons are 0:16:57.600 --> 0:17:01.200 shown and extended for her defense, they appear weak and contemptible. 0:17:01.640 --> 0:17:05.720 But their wounds, however small, are decisive and fatal. Conscious 0:17:05.760 --> 0:17:09.000 of this, she never wounds till she has generally given 0:17:09.119 --> 0:17:12.159 notice even to her enemy, and cautioned him against the 0:17:12.240 --> 0:17:15.240 danger of treading on her. So I thought that was 0:17:15.280 --> 0:17:20.000 a really interesting writing Ben Franklin talking about the timber rattlesnake, 0:17:20.040 --> 0:17:22.400 because this is the same rattlesnake that we have here 0:17:22.440 --> 0:17:25.000 in the Ozarks. They have in the northeast, they range 0:17:25.080 --> 0:17:28.479 up into New York Pennsylvania, And like I said, it 0:17:28.520 --> 0:17:31.639 was a good symbol to kind of explain the the 0:17:31.680 --> 0:17:34.640 deal to England at times like don't you know, don't mess. 0:17:34.440 --> 0:17:36.520 With us, or they'll be tread on. The high price 0:17:36.600 --> 0:17:38.880 to be paid yeah, in interesting. 0:17:39.359 --> 0:17:39.800 There you go. 0:17:40.000 --> 0:17:40.520 I was good. 0:17:40.840 --> 0:17:41.520 How about that? 0:17:41.520 --> 0:17:42.760 That was that was really good? 0:17:42.960 --> 0:17:44.880 Yep, okay, So I'm gonna open this okay. 0:17:45.240 --> 0:17:50.960 Oh yikes, look at that guy. 0:17:51.560 --> 0:17:53.320 I'll use this thing here. 0:17:54.200 --> 0:17:54.520 Okay. 0:17:54.560 --> 0:17:58.200 So, so Brad has a five gallon bucket and he's 0:17:58.320 --> 0:18:02.800 opened the bucket and in the bucket is a very 0:18:03.960 --> 0:18:08.680 it's a good sized smokes timber rattler that he has 0:18:08.720 --> 0:18:10.879 put on a floor in the office right next to 0:18:10.920 --> 0:18:11.320 our feet. 0:18:12.320 --> 0:18:14.879 Wow. Wow, he's got a heck of a rattle, doesn't he. 0:18:15.080 --> 0:18:17.320 Where's my where's my phone at? 0:18:17.520 --> 0:18:17.680 There? 0:18:17.680 --> 0:18:18.040 It is? 0:18:18.920 --> 0:18:22.719 Okay, So there's a there's a timber rattler on the floor. 0:18:23.480 --> 0:18:24.000 We can get it. 0:18:24.040 --> 0:18:28.440 And they still how old would you say? That snake is? Brad? 0:18:28.560 --> 0:18:31.159 This snake is probably five or six years old to 0:18:31.160 --> 0:18:34.160 be my guess. Wow, it's definitely. 0:18:34.760 --> 0:18:37.000 You better get out the way. Be really still. 0:18:37.440 --> 0:18:39.720 I'm gonna stand real close to Brad because he's. 0:18:39.600 --> 0:18:43.320 Got I've got my boots on, so I'm probably okay. 0:18:43.800 --> 0:18:47.639 There's probably okay, you're probably okay, bear, you're not okay? 0:18:47.680 --> 0:18:52.800 Now, So this is the same snake that they were seeing, 0:18:53.760 --> 0:18:56.359 and it's on that flag. And again, as you can see. 0:18:56.960 --> 0:19:01.320 She's really not too aggressive or striky. It's a female, 0:19:01.560 --> 0:19:04.680 I think, so this one is. And now it's gonna 0:19:04.720 --> 0:19:06.679 take off and vanish somewhere. 0:19:07.119 --> 0:19:09.200 Better seriously move. 0:19:11.760 --> 0:19:14.720 Sometimes it's easier just to grab one by the tail. 0:19:15.680 --> 0:19:19.400 Oh my lord, Brad, Wow, okay, we're app We're completely 0:19:19.440 --> 0:19:20.480 wrangling this snake. 0:19:20.680 --> 0:19:22.280 We're wrapped up in wires here. 0:19:22.920 --> 0:19:25.000