Concho Billy Tr

I was sitting at the base of a tree after walking about a mile off the trail. It was relatively early like 7:45 ish and I picked a spot that had a good view of a little meadow surrounded by pine forest interspersed with palmetto bushes. It was quiet and  hot, but not the sweltering heat that would descend upon me in a couple of hours. There was even a slight breeze to hold the ever present, voracious mosquitoes at bay. I was covered in camo with a head net that I was thankful for because even the gnats couldn't penetrate it. I blended in to the forest flawlessly. Suddenly I heard a slight rustling a short distance to my left and I froze. Ever so slowly I turned my head trying not to make any sudden movements and alert whatever was there to my presence. At first I could see nothing but I could hear very slight movement occasionally, it was coming closer. I inched my camera up and waited, my old guy muscles cramping and my eyes stinging from the sweat that was dripping into them. It was like ten minutes before I was rewarded for my patience.

There were two of them, a doe and a fawn. You can see the little one peeking through the bush behind the Momma. After the first click of my camera they lifted their heads up and their ears perked up. But they couldn't see me so they didn't run.

However, they zeroed right in on my location with those huge ears. If I had moved at this point they would have bolted.

 Even so, after repeated clicking the fawn got nervous and retreated behind the palmettos.

If I had waited a few more minutes I could have gotten some better shots of it. It was really cool.

The day had begun with a nice sunrise and a pic of a hawk on a tree near the head of the trail.

The skeeters were so thick there was literally a cloud around me of bloodthirsty insects. They covered my arms and legs but could not bite through my clothing. Still there was a loud constant high pitched mosquito buzzing. They were huge too. I don't know how the animals out there stand them. It was creepy knowing that if I wasn't protected I would be eaten alive by bloodthirsty, giant swamp mosquitoes on steroids. Some of the areas I was walking through were cool looking too. I waded some but kinda skirted the deeper parts.

This was looking like serious python territory to me. I've been fooling around with snakes my whole life, I've owned over a hundred fifty different species, including pythons in excess of 10+ feet. One thing I have learned about snakes is that they are creatures that operate solely on instinct. Which means they have triggers that activate their behaviors. Which means that if you look, act and smell like food and they are hungry, they will try and eat you. Contrary to some people's beliefs, pythons don't really care if you are too wide to swallow. If you present to them like food they will kill you first and then see if they can swallow you. Even if it means you get stuck in their mouth or you burst out of their bellies. Scientists know that Burmese Pythons are in the Everglades and reproducing that's a fact. But what they aren't telling you is that there are bigger, stronger, and much more aggressive python species that have been seen there. Reticulated pythons are longer and much stronger than Burmese Pythons and African Rock Pythons are much more aggressive. The largest recorded Retic was 33 ft long and over 300lbs. But 10-20 feet is average. These are the snakes they find under people's houses every once in a while that it takes five guys to drag them out. Any way I'm not oppose to wading through deeper water but I was feeling a little creeped out today and decided to go with my gut and stay in only about a 6-12 inches of water.

But the beauty of the place captivated me.  I stomped around for a few more hours but didn't see much of note and was thoroughly tired, calm and grateful for the opportunity to come here when I finally decided to end the day the way I began it. With a cool pic of a bird.