sweetwater texas rattle snake roundup? (Taylor, Freer: sale, lease, camping) - (TX) - City-Data Forum

todaro3577 · 04-06-2008, 04:24 PM

so im watching television, national geographic channel and i run across this show about rattle snakes called serpent encounters. apparantly there is a festival that comes once a year in sweetwater texas that is based on rattle snakes. there is a wiegh in, they skin em and make tons of different things with the skin and they educate people on what to do when you encounter one and much much more activities go on. is this still currently happening on a yearly basis? the time of filming looks to be in the early 90's. seems amusing to me. just curious to see if anyone has ever been to this event and if its just held in sweetwater or is it a state wide thing.

teatime · 04-06-2008, 04:50 PM

It's down the highway from me and I've been wanting to go but my fear of snakes keeps me back. No, it's not a statewide thing -- the promoters say it's the world's largest rattlesnake roundup. I think the Kiwanis or some such charitable group stage the event every year as a fund-raiser.

There are lots and lots of rattlesnakes here in West Texas. Anything they do to control the population is fine by me!!!

love roses · 04-06-2008, 05:06 PM

They have a rattlesnake round up in Taylor, Texas as well. Except at this one, they have games like how many rattlers can you stuff in a bag. They do the same as far as what to do when you encounter one.

todaro3577 · 04-06-2008, 05:22 PM

by the looks of the shows there seems to be alot of rattle snakes in texas. they got a camera in a pit where they stay and it looked like hundreds of them in there. does the public encounter these snakes often? or are they more populated in vacant open fields?
this money they raise from this event, what do they do with it? you said its a fund-raiser, is that for the town they hold the festival in?

GoingHome2TX · 04-06-2008, 07:11 PM

Freer has a round up as well. I have not been to the one in Sweetwater, but I have been to the Freer roundup.

They do not limit it just to rattlesnakes. They stick all kinds of snakes in a pen and have snake handlers wading through the pile that could have anything from a coral snake to a mamba, to a cobra, to rattlers slithering around him.

They have BBQ snake cook off events, generally a musical event, art on display and sale ranging from belt buckles to boots to trinkets.

It is interesting and worth seeing at least once.

todaro3577 · 04-06-2008, 07:43 PM

do they all usually happen around the same time of the year? i notice the one in sweetwater texas is held in march

GoingHome2TX · 04-06-2008, 07:46 PM

The Freer Roundup is at the end of April, I believe.

love roses · 04-06-2008, 08:15 PM

The one in Taylor is in April as well.

MurphyPl1 · 04-06-2008, 09:54 PM

They hold them earlier in the year like that because the temperature isn't as hot. The snakes are heat sensitive and are almost dormant when the weather is cold. So you get the slightly warmer weather where they are moving, and not so warm that they aren't sluggish.

DH has been to the Sweetwater round up and we used to have a deer lease not far from there. In all the years we had that lease I only saw one snake out on the lease. DH and I came across it while riding back to camp one summer.

Oh, wait, not entirely true. The weekend after we got married, another couple and we went camping on the company deer lease. DH and the other guy ran across a rattlesnake and were able to catch it and cut it's head off. By the time they brought it back to camp it was still moving a bit but it was interesting to see up close.

wade_word · 04-07-2008, 01:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by todaro3577

so im watching television, national geographic channel and i run across this show about rattle snakes called serpent encounters. apparantly there is a festival that comes once a year in sweetwater texas that is based on rattle snakes. there is a wiegh in, they skin em and make tons of different things with the skin and they educate people on what to do when you encounter one and much much more activities go on. is this still currently happening on a yearly basis? the time of filming looks to be in the early 90's. seems amusing to me. just curious to see if anyone has ever been to this event and if its just held in sweetwater or is it a state wide thing.

You'll think it's amusing until you actually get near a rattlesnake. You just have to use caution and don't take any chances. Get your first-aid kit with you just in case.