The almost-full harvest moon rises above Spring Creek Basin last night.
Tonight’s Friday the 13th moon will be a “rare, full harvest micromoon“!
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Snake update: I’m chagrined to report failure in Project Stick-a-Stick-in-a-Pipe-to-Help-a-Rattlesnake. Slowly and also failingly, I tried to use the stick to raise the snake up against the inside of the slick plastic pipe, but the wriggler wriggled its way back to the bottom of the pipe.
To tell the honest-to-goodness truth, I had no idea what I might do with the slither-critter if I happened to get it to the surface, other than fling the whole kit-n-kaboodle (snake, stick, any pride) in some direction closely related to *away*. I think the hole is so deep and so narrow that it keeps the stick relatively vertical, and the snake just can’t climb it any better than the inside of the pipe.
I texted our trusty BLM law-enforcement ranger. He forwarded my text to one of our other range specialists (our herd manager is on vacation). Maybe he knows a good snake-wrangling technique. I looked up “snake poles,” and I may or may not have handy any bits and pieces that may provide the next chance at rescuing the snake.
In the meantime, I put a second stick in the pipe with the slight hope that the snake might make it to where the sticks cross, and from there to the surface.
Here’s the thing: How many of you are pulling for this basin rattler to return to ground level? 🙂 That has to be *uplifting*!
Spring Creek Basin Mustangs 
TJ, I am rooting for the snake to exit and go eat some rodents some where.
I’m with Mark! Hopefully one way or another that poor snake can get out of there & go on with its life – away from people & pipes!!
Hope the snake can get out..I don’t like snakes, but I hate to see any critter suffer.
Thank you all! And exactly – I hate to see any critter suffer. Rattlesnakes occupy an important part in the natural world … I just prefer them in the above-mentioned “away” areas. 🙂 Hopefully we’ll get this critter safely back to ground surface where s/he belongs, and this story really will have a happy ending!
TJ, you might try a more branched branch, like a bough, something that will provide a more “ladder-like” effect, and then put it in the pipe at as much of an angle as you can. Water snakes have no problem climbing my cucumber trellis in the summer so maybe this rattler could climb something similar? Anyway, worth a try…or a snake guy – how about the wildlife folks? I’m rooting for this guy (or girl), even if it is a rattlesnake! All God’s creatures and all. 😊