Avoid the Stingers and Biters that Lurk in the Texas Outdoors

 

THE FIRST TIME TF&G Hunting Editor Lou Marullo hunted Texas with me, he said something I’ll never forget.

“I’ve hunted all over the place, but I’ve never seen a place that has more things that could bite, sting, and kill you than Texas. When you come up north to hunt with me, all you have to worry about is falling out of your treestand. Here it could be rattlesnakes, scorpions, or who knows what.”

We had a good laugh about that but in many ways it’s true.

Texas has lots of critters, both on land and water, that can cause major issues if encountered without expectation.

The following paragraphs contain a gallery of Texas’s major offenders and provide common-sense steps to avoid problems in the field.

Snakes

Let’s get this one out of the way because they are what strikes the most fear into outdoors lovers.

Texas is a very snakey state and all four varieties of venomous snakes found in the country are here. That’s right-we have cottonmouths, copperheads, coral snakes, and rattlesnakes.

Coral snakes are reclusive and rarely bite, but the other three bite plenty of people when stepped on or sat on.

The number one snake for biting is the copperhead due to their high abundance, even in suburban areas. More than a few squirrel hunters in the Pineywoods have sat on one, so watch where you sit, as their camouflage is next-level.

Cottonmouths can be found over much of the state but are most abundant in the swamps of the eastern third and along the coast. While nonvenomous water snakes are more likely to crawl into your kayak, cottonmouths have been known to want to get on anything that’s floating in a stream and also crawl into duck blinds.

Be especially careful in the early teal season when they are on the prowl.

Rattlesnakes are very abundant in many areas, especially the South Texas Plains, areas of the Rolling Plains, and along the coast.

Matagorda Island has lots of them and so do many of the small islands along the Intracoastal Canal. Keep this in mind when you’re wade fishing these areas or setting up to duck hunt along on the bay side of these little islands.

Scorpions

Scorpion bites are typically not deadly but they sure can hurt and in the arid regions of the state they are everywhere.

Scorpions have no problem crawling into your sleeping bag or in your hunting boot and delivering a painful sting.

A great way to avoid bites is to carry a little blacklight with you. Scorpions glow under black light so you can scan your tent or cabin before crawling into bed or look in your boots to find out if there’s an unwelcome visitor.

Jellyfish

Jellyfish are a common annoyance for surf anglers, especially some of the smaller ones that are hard to see.

Although the chance of encountering one is rare, Texas waters sometimes host one of the most dangerous of all sea 

creatures—the box jellyfish.

 

They are famously abundant in Australian waters where fatalities are reported on an annual basis.

In the Gulf, we have the four-handed box jellyfish, a species I was made aware of by former Texas Parks & Wildlife Department (TPWD) biologist Jerry Mambretti back in 2014.

“Our gulf sampling crew caught four-handed box jellyfish, Chiropsalmus quadrumanus, a member of the class Cubozoa, in 3 separate trawl samples about 2 miles off McFaddin NWR beach,” Mambretti said.

“Box jellyfish are known for the extremely potent venom produced by some species, including this species, which is normally found in the west Atlantic Ocean, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific Ocean. Their sting is very venomous and dangerous to humans, especially children.”

If for some reason you see some of these while fishing get out of the water.

Killer Bees

The last time I used the term “killer bees” I had someone write to me and say that I was spreading “bee bias.”

So, here it is again, “killer bees.”

I am talking about the Africanized bees that can be highly aggressive when agitated and are present throughout much of Texas and are very abundant in South Texas.

 

Bees of course are very important creatures and no one is recommending torching hives or anything ridiculous. If anyone gets ecologically important creatures, it’s yours truly.

However, there are fatalities. Last year, a landscape worker died from a bee attack near Austin and just before this article was published a dog was attacked and killed by a swarm of hundreds of bees.

If you see a bunch of bees coming out of a hole or old stump, get away quickly. And if bees show an interest in you out in the field, do the same.

The Scientific American recommends the following if you run into the wrong kind of bees.

“Try to get to an enclosed shelter (such as a car) or run until the bees stop following you. It may be necessary to get a quarter mile or more away from where the attack began. Cover your face with whatever is handy, if you can do so without impairing your vision. Never jump into a body of water to escape bees.”

Unfortunately, many people do not know if they are allergic to some of these stingers and allergic reactions can result in death.

The Mayo Clinic recommends that if itching or swelling is bothersome, take an oral antihistamine that contains diphenhydramine (Benadryl) or chlorpheniramine. 

“Avoid scratching the sting area. This will worsen itching and swelling and increase your risk of infection.”

Then of course get medical treatment.

The great outdoors is the most exciting place to be, but dangers do exist. And in Texas, of course, everything is bigger and that is the abundance and at times ferocity of our stingers.

 

—story by CHESTER MOORE

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