Getting Attacked by a Coachwhip and Other Tales from the Past.

[Nicodemus]

I heard somewhere that a small nest of red wasp would make a grown man jump off a power pole too.

That was bad faced hornets, and they made me jump off a 175 foot steel tower.


Thankfully I was only 20 feet off the ground and surgery fixed my ankle good as new.....

 

[Nicodemus]

I was 9 years old visiting my Me-maw and Paw one weekend and Paw loaded me up and took me to go see a hoop snake before UGA came and picked it up that following Monday. The neighbor had killed it and put it in a gallon pickle jar with some kind of liquid.
Ya'll may laugh and he coulda been pullin my leg I suppose but that thing was real. I remember it like yesterday. It was probably about 20" long. Non-poisonous head, It was black with a slight white checker pattern with a white belly with fading black checker. Its tail wasnt much smaller than its head and had a translucent yellow tip about 2" long.

Not familiar with that one. Only snakes I know of with a yellow tipped tail are juvenile cottonmouths and copperheads, and their tails come to a good taper.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Is this the fence lizard you are talking about Nic and NCHB? We use to catch them all the time growing up. you had to grab them behind the head, and they would throw that mouth wide open, just looking for a chance to nail you.

Yep, that's the ol' fence lizard. Most of the males have some blue on their bellies.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Broadhead skinks were called skorpins here in South Georgia, and one little bite would kill a grown man.

They ain`t pizen, but they got a bite like a little gator. Trust me on that.

I found that out when I grabbed holt of a big ol' redheaded male about 10" long down in Florida when I was a kid. We don't have them here, so when I saw that one I was fascinated by it and was determined to catch it.

 

[NCHillbilly]

I was 9 years old visiting my Me-maw and Paw one weekend and Paw loaded me up and took me to go see a hoop snake before UGA came and picked it up that following Monday. The neighbor had killed it and put it in a gallon pickle jar with some kind of liquid.
Ya'll may laugh and he coulda been pullin my leg I suppose but that thing was real. I remember it like yesterday. It was probably about 20" long. Non-poisonous head, It was black with a slight white checker pattern with a white belly with fading black checker. Its tail wasnt much smaller than its head and had a translucent yellow tip about 2" long.

Sounds like a legless glass lizard with part of its tail broken off and starting to grow back.

 

[NCHillbilly]

Everybody used to say that it was illegal to kill a praying mantis when I was a kid.

 

[NOYDB]

Caught a lot of snakes and lizards as child. I had a alligator skink that I would put on my shirt. It would then crawl up under my collar. If I tapped it's tail it would crawl out and move around on the front of my shirt. I used to scare girls doing that with my pet lizard. When you're 8 years old that IS fun.

 

[mguthrie]

Lord have mercy son, you spend some time in South Georgia there ain't no end to the things you'll learn!

He's a far cry from South Georgia

 

[GoldDot40]

How about the chicken truck that's run off a bridge on (insert name) lake? Dive team personnel would go down and see a frenzy of 6+ft long 200lbs catfish eating all the chickens...and the driver of the truck.

 

[NE GA Pappy]

How about the chicken truck that's run off a bridge on (insert name) lake? Dive team personnel would go down and see a frenzy of 6+ft long 200lbs catfish eating all the chickens...and the driver of the truck.

did he taste like cheekun?

 

[Nicodemus]

And the skier or swimmer who landed in the ball of swarming water moccasins and got bit thousands of times.

 

[Hammockben1]

I found a snake as a boy and it was dead on the side of the road I showed my dad and he said it was a coach whip but I never wasmt to sure due to age and never seen one like it and till this day never seen another one my dad said they hurt when they hit you and will leave a big welp on you but it was a peachy orange color with a white belly

 

[NE GA Pappy]

I heard that a praying mantis would spit in your eye too. I know from catching them, they can sure did the barbs on their front legs into your fingers when you grab them

 

[GoldDot40]

did he taste like cheekun?

I'm sure he smelled like em'.

 

[NOYDB]

Heard the catfish story about divers around dams, range from 200-600 lbs. Some claim fish were as big as VW beetles. Too big to noodle.

 

[dirtnap]

I remember all the old folks around here talking about seeing hog bears. To this day I don’t know what they were talking about, ain’t no bears in these parts

 

[Nicodemus]

I remember all the old folks around here talking about seeing hog bears. To this day I don’t know what they were talking about, ain’t no bears in these parts

Hog bears are what my kin and all the old folks around Wheeler County and South central Georgia called black bears. They told me they called them that because they were bad to kill stock, mainly hogs.

 

[Dirtroad Johnson]

I remember all the old folks around here talking about seeing hog bears. To this day I don’t know what they were talking about, ain’t no bears in these parts

Yeah I remember hearing folks mention hog bears too, I never saw one. The 1st bear I ever saw in the wild was in the late 70's or early 80's at Oaky Woods, it had a collar with a transmitter on it.

 

[dirtnap]

Hog bears are what my kin and all the old folks around Wheeler County and South central Georgia called black bears. They told me they called them that because they were bad to kill stock, mainly hogs.

Were there bears around here 75 or 100 years ago? I think I’ve heard you say you grew up around Mt Vernon, that’s only 25 miles from me. I assumed they were talking about bears just thought bears may have been the black panthers of their day?

 

[Nicodemus]

Were there bears around here 75 or 100 years ago? I think I’ve heard you say you grew up around Mt Vernon, that’s only 25 miles from me. I assumed they were talking about bears just thought bears may have been the black panthers of their day?

I`m from just south of Glenwood. There were a very few around during that time, most were centered around the Okeefenokee and along the Ocmulgee River swamp in the Pulaski-Bleckley County areas.