Sweetwater Round-Up records fourth highest total

I know we all hate the roundups, but I thought the data here was worth a look to remind us of the damage being done.
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Over 13,000 pounds of rattlesnakes were weighed in over the course of the World's Largest Rattlesnake Round-Up.

The Sweetwater Jaycees hosted the event and saw the fourth highest pound total in the 48 history of the Round-Up. At the conclusion of the day, a total of 13,552 pounds were weighed in by area hunters.

It was the highest total since 1983 when 15,053 pounds were weighed.

Cliffseekers brought in the most pounds during the weekend with 1,456 while HLH brought in 1,422 pounds. Steve Rives recorded 1,392 pounds and Bill Stenson recorded 1,229 pounds. Nathan Timm was fifth with a total of 809 pounds.

The highlight on Sunday's final day came when Sammy Sanchez won the snake meat eating contest. Sanchez beat out nine other contestants to win the world title for the first time.

Former champion Allen Perrie of Winters finished second and Billy Utley of Sweetwater was third.

Eric Timeaus continued his run of bringing in the largest snake for the Round-Up. This year, Timeaus' largest snake measured 80 inches, which was one-half inch from the record he set in 2004.

Weldon Fitzgerald was the winner of the Sweetwater Reporter's coloring contest for the four to six year old division while Bryanna Delacruz was the winner in the seven through nine year old division.

Officials estimated that 30,000 people attended the event over the course of the weekend.

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13,552 pounds - That is simply mind boggling. Though, I suppose that phrasing it that way gets less negative attention than simply pointing out that well over 1000 snakes were captured for this event, many were killed there, and a big percentage of the rest will not survive.

I was wondering as I read the article, what is the average weight of an adult atrox, say 40-60 inches?
I've never kept or worked with that species at all so I really can't hazard a guess. It would really put the roundups in perspective though.

I'm going to go out on a limb and say that the majority of the ones they got were probably under 10 lbs each...but if we use 10 lbs as the average, thats 1355. As for your question about the average weight, I would guesstimate that my 5.5 ft atrox was probably about 10lbs (I didn't bother weighing much back then...still don't for that matter)

That is truely sickening, where is PETA in all of this? I know, they are out in warehouses slaughtering the animals they supposedly have sworn to protect. I find it disgusting that people are so willing to put a species of animal into extinction, then turn around and say it was such a bad thing to lose such a beautiful creature, hindsight 20/20. Humans are the worst of all species and they actually become upset with mother nature when she decides to take control once in a while and roundup a few thousand pounds of us.

He was mentioned as bringing in the largest snake. Isn't this the same Eric that maintains Glades table at the San Antonio Hot Shows?

They actually have a website for the roundup. http://www.rattlesnakeroundup.com/home.html

One thing is for sure, I am no longer buying Girl Scout cookies as I now know they support the round up.

John Hollister wrote an informative piece about the roundup, I believe him and Eric Timeaus were herping buddies at one time, though John does not support the round up at all. The pictures say so much I almost shot my computer, they are not easy to look at. http://www.kingsnake.com/roundup/

How can people do this?

This is probably a reason why I stay away from guns....

This is without doubt one of the most discusting things I have ever seen in my life. And I also want to know, where is PETA while all of this is going on?

Listen up folks!! I was in San Angelo the weekend this was going down. Sweetwater is 1 hour north. People in that area have a real hatred for snakes. I talked to a guy whos friend found some wintering snakes in an abandoned outhouse on his property. This guy had no cattle or nothing on his land. He rents it out to hunters. He pulled 24 atrox in this outhouse and slaughtered them all. He said they possed a threat to him. I also found out that the Sweetwater JCs were paying $5.00 per pound. To people that hate snakes, thats easy money. As for Peta, if there isnt furr on it, they dont even bother. Plus for a town like Sweetwater, this generates a huge profit in tourism. Im not defending these people at all, just want put some perspective on the subject. If you hated snakes and could collect enough like these guys with 1200 pounds, you do the math. 6000 is a huge payout for free snakes. It makes me wonder how they keep finding so many snakes every year. If they find so many every year, are they really hurting the population. I would think so if they found less and less every year. The hatred for snakes down there is amazing. I have watched people swerve on the highway to intentionally run over them. Texas Parks and Wildlife also supports these, so what can you do. Poor snakes.