I had to be out of town all day so my family took to the trails at the local State Park. They came upon a very irritated adult black rat snake in shed phase in the middle of the trail. My wife and one son went around the snake through some leaves and my other son spotted a snake appear from where they had just walked over. It came up and spread its head and turned out to be about a 15 inch hognose! It would not have been seen if not for the black rat in the trail. Of course I was only informed by a phone call and had to wait until I got home until they would tell me their big find!

After hearing all the details we only had about an hour before dark to check our property.

2 red milks, 16+ and 19+ inches

2 red-bellied snakes

4 northern water snakes

3 earth snakes

2 ribbon snakes

8 ringnecks

6 worm snakes plus 5 more that were found days before

Both milks were in shed phase and I was very pleased to see the larger one for the fourth straight year. Same tin as last year. The other one was a completely new snake which was also good.

A great day that was not even planned!