Jackrabbit and a snake turned into pen

[pchen911]

Not entirely belonging to this thread... I think. But oh well.

Went out last week with my dad. Got a jack with the 17 hmr and a snake

Jackrabbit was standard, but snake is new for me.

The snake was a California King snake which looked like it has some good looking pattern, I wanted it to try my hand at making a pen with the skin, so had to get my hands on some skin. Pen turning on a lathe being another little hobby of mine.

Skinned and dried, first time trying to process snake skin, so wasn't sure what to expect. I did not tan it, just soak in alcohol first then borax. Dried fine but is thinner than I expected.

After scraping off the scale covering, I cast it in polymer resin and turned the block of snakeskin/resin it into my first snakeskin pen. Little flaws here and there, but fairly satisfied.

 

[SurfNHuntSD]

Very cool project.. just wish it were a rattler rather than kingsnake! The kings eat rattlers, I'm fairly certain.

 

[pchen911]

Yes, you are right. I wish it was a rattle snake instead as well. I only came across a gopher snake, which I passed up, and this king. The king snake had the pattern which I thought looked fantastic and made me really wanted to try the project with it.

 

[Nicholas909]

That is awesome. Looks good

 

[Drewski2324]

Very cool.

 

[Benjammin]

Not understanding why you would kill a King snake to use for making a pen. I kill what I eat & that's it. & also if you aren't aware king snakes eat rattle snakes & as far as here in alpine & east county the rattle snakes are going off because idiots kill King snakes not knowing what they are they just hate snakes so they kill any & all. bad karma on your part for the King snake

 

[pchen911]

Well Benjammin, I respect your opinion. But I also have my own values and opinions which may be different than your own. I won't automatically defer to your values simply because yours is different than, or even it should be more popular than mine. Nor would I try to impose my own personal values upon you.

Yes, I know king snakes eat other snakes. I made my decision to take it and am comfortable with that decision.

But since you asked why, I will explain my reasoning simply as a courtesy. I don't normally kill king snakes or gopher snakes, or even rattle snakes for that matter, except when they are on my farm land in north county. I took this particular one knowing I will probably never kill another king snake after this. This is a one-time, non-recurring take. And it is done in the middle of BLM, nowhere near any residences or farms, ranches, cattle pasture, or hiking trails.

In any case, as long as DFG allows for legal take of King Snake with my fishing license, our respective opinions are just that and nothing more. But I thank you for sharing anyways, it is not unexpected that there would be those who would frown upon this. I'd be more than willing to remove the post if people take offense to it or if it makes others uncomfortable. Not that my values or opinions changes any.

 

[ilovesprig]

pc911,

Nice response to something I've been biting my tongue about (or fingers in this case).....Glad to hear this will be your last king you take, despite being legal.


ps.....Legal to kill hen turkeys in the fall, but doesn't mean we should.....Something a little more dear to me than snakes.

 

[Deleted member 27310]

pc911, how did you dry/cure the skin

 

[ilovesprig]

Kind of a related topic......Just got a call from a friend who's dog got hit by a rattler last night......Died this morning......Last Sunday I looked for that rattler after it had been spotted in his backyard......While looking for it, I saw a female king.....I hunt this property a lot and had never seen a snake of any kind on the property before.

Bummed that I couldn't find it.

 

[pchen911]

pc911, how did you dry/cure the skin

I did a little bit of research before doing this. There are a couple of ways.

The "correct" way that I read on tanning snake skin is to soak it in a 50/50 denatured alcohol and glycerin solution. This will result in a soft, supple skin when dried. Useful if making soft goods like arrow quivers or wallets and such. (I might do this in the future on RATTLESNAKE skin, if I ever get the urge to make a soft snakeskin quiver or something.)

The way that I did it this time was the easier and cheaper way to preserve it.... not tanned, and will result in a stiff skin. (Stiffness of the skin has the feel of heavy-weight paper, it will still roll and flex and can be rolled into a tube then held with glue. Stiff skin is fine for my application since it has to be glued to a brass tube and cast into a solid block using poly resin). First, I soak it in alcohol for 2 days, then soak it in a borax solution for one more day. Pin it on a board and dry it out. After drying, rub the scale coverings off using a soft rubber eraser.

Same soaking process I use to preserve many hundreds of rabbits foot for the kids over the years, (less the rubbing of scale coverings of course).

 

[TonyS]

Don't agree with taking king snakes period.

 

[pchen911]

Don't agree with taking king snakes period.

Sure. I understand.

 

[TRICER]

Very cool pen. I have mixed emotions on the take of a king snake though. I will sum my opinion up by saying "to each their own". But I if you make a rosy boa pen next week then it will be on.

 

[sherpa]

Don't agree with taking king snakes period.

 

[sherpa]

DITTO

 

[Bowman]

just want to say that you had the right. but please lets not start a trend here at taking a beneficial snake that takes care of rattle snakes. if my pa-pi would of caught me killing a King Snake. wack ,, ********. nice pen by the way.

God Bless

 

[Macsteve]

Dude that is cool!!


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[Macsteve]

Kind of a related topic......Just got a call from a friend who's dog got hit by a rattler last night......Died this morning......Last Sunday I looked for that rattler after it had been spotted in his backyard......While looking for it, I saw a female king.....I hunt this property a lot and had never seen a snake of any kind on the property before.

Bummed that I couldn't find it.

Condolences to your buddies dog. May sound silly but after growing up with dogs my whole life, they're more dear to me then my own sister!


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WaterDawg]

Not entirely belonging to this thread... I think. But oh well.

Went out last week with my dad. Got a jack with the 17 hmr and a snake

Jackrabbit was standard, but snake is new for me.

The snake was a California King snake which looked like it has some good looking pattern, I wanted it to try my hand at making a pen with the skin, so had to get my hands on some skin. Pen turning on a lathe being another little hobby of mine.

Skinned and dried, first time trying to process snake skin, so wasn't sure what to expect. I did not tan it, just soak in alcohol first then borax. Dried fine but is thinner than I expected.

After scraping off the scale covering, I cast it in polymer resin and turned the block of snakeskin/resin it into my first snakeskin pen. Little flaws here and there, but fairly satisfied.

A fishing license allows collecting snakes, with exceptions and limits, and I used to go out collecting and keep them for a while as a hobby. But I never even thought about whether it is legal to collect them for the sole purpose of killing them and making stuff. As a reptile lover I don't like the idea, but I have to be consistent with my position that if its not endangered, and its a legal take, then no judgement from me. As a recommendation, if you like making stuff out of snake skin (your pen is way cool), go road cruising at night in the desert and you'll find plenty of fresh road kill if you're on paved road with a little traffic, in spring or summer. Some nice patterns on king snakes, rattlers, glossy snakes, long-nosed snakes, shovelnose snakes, gopher snakes, rosy boas and more out there.

A buddy shot a massive rattler he almost stepped on a few weeks ago while we were quail hunting. We butchered it, fried it and ate it. The skin was too messed up from the shotgun blast to do anything with.