- KING OF THE KENTUCKY FORESTS - Part 3 Photos and Story by Phil Peak |
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 Hardin County Locale |
In Hardin county there once existed a place that was very interesting and unique to my experience. There was a trailer park that had been consumed by a flood and left in ruins. This created a sort of transitional habitat in which various species were vying for a foothold and on one occasion on an evening in early May I was able to find three species of Lampropeltis within a short distance of each other. Surrounding this now vacant and dilapidated trailer park was a variety of habitats. Old field, swampy marsh and thick forest abutted this place from different directions. I thought that as time went on and the Prairie Kings, Milk snakes and Black Kings had to compete with each other it would be interesting to see which would be the dominant species. Milk snakes were never common here and I think that in this open habitat they were having a difficult time competing with their larger cogeners. For the first several years I had the distinct impression that the Prairie Kings may win out. I had found these here in good numbers and I had found | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| several exceptionally large specimens well over four foot. In the last two years however I had noticed that more Black Kings were being found in comparison and I was beginning to rethink my original assessment. Unfortunately like most good things this little microhabitat has run its course. The new land owner is cleaning up the hundreds of articles of artificial cover that dot the landscape here and he has little interest in accommodating me or my thoughts on why his newly purchased property was so interesting.... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Not far from where I live in southern Jefferson county I had come upon a vacant house a number of years ago complete with sheets of tin that had been blown off the roof in a haphazard manner. Adjacent to a grassy hillside with a southern exposure that went up to some thickly wooded knobs I took the liberty of dragging a number of these sheets of tin to a better position on the slope above. I undertook this task in early March and by mid April I was seeing king snakes in pairs and even in threes under single sheets of tin. This was clearly a king snake site and I could reliably see Black King snakes at this site at any given time if weather conditions were even half way conducive to finding snakes under tin. On many occasions I would even see kings coiled up basking in the open in the evening rays of the sun before it set behind the wooded hills. For the next few years I could always count on stopping in at just about any time to see some of my favorite snakes at any given time through the active season. Over the past five years or so I had |
 The author holding some nice nigra |
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| seen king snakes here from around mid march until late in November. These snakes were very dark and glossy and on more than a few occasions I found very large specimens that easily exceeded four foot in length and a few that were considerably larger. I had never seen a thin snake there and all that I have seen looked to be very healthy and robust. As luck would have it I found out last Winter that the house had been razed to make a parking lot. In addition the parking lot designers thought it necessary to bulldoze the hillside as well for no apparent reason. This left me with two sheets of tin on the far reaches of this already small tin site. I surveyed the damage this Spring and on my first two visits to this site I still found king snakes under the solitary sheets of tin despite the recent carnage. To my chagrin I later found out that my two sheets of tin had been discovered by a couple of budding "snake hunters" and this tin has never produced again.... | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Though I have lost a few king snake sites along the way I can almost always count on finding a few kings where ever we may go a field. Sometimes finding king snakes on roads never traveled is even more satisfying than seeing them in places more familiar. I look forward to what the next tin field may bring. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Various Ky Locales |
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