Visiting the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby

by Gadling Staff on

Each week, Gadling is taking a look at our favorite festivals around the world. From music festivals to cultural showcases to the just plain bizarre, we hope to inspire you to do some festival exploring of your own. Come back each Wednesday for our picks or find them all HERE.

Each Spring, avid rattlesnake hunters and handlers gather in Mangum, Oklahoma for the annual Mangum Rattlesnake Derby. The event began in 1966 when the Shortgrass Rattlesnake Association organized the first weekend-long derby to hunt, measure and cook the reptiles. Each year, a crowd of approximately 30,000 hunters and spectators gathers to take part.

The Mangum Rattlesnake Derby, held near the end of April, includes a wide range of snake-related activities, music, contests and food. Visitors come to watch snake handlers, eat at the “Bite-A-Snake Cafe” or enter the snake pit and try to find the longest “rattler” and win the derby. There’s also carnival rides, one of the largest flea markets in the state, live music by regional musicians and a royalty contest.

Want to know more about this crazy snake shindig in Southern Oklahoma? Keep reading below.

The highlight of each year’s Derby is the Longest Snake Contest. Rattlesnake hunters explore the southwestern Oklahoma hills and countryside seeking the longest and heaviest snakes to win cash awards and trophies. Hunters must register for the guided hunts and attend a safety course. Measuring and weighing of the live snakes often requires four men to hold the dangerous reptiles during the process. Snakes at this Oklahoma event routinely measure in excess of six feet long.

Young women who attend high school in Greer County also compete for the coveted title of “Miss Derby Princess” winning not only gifts and cash awards, but also a college scholarship. The winner must be brave enough to pose for a photo with the winner of the “Longest Snake” contest

Meanwhile at the Snake Pit, two handlers stand inside a ring with over a hundred rattlesnakes slithering around their feet. While one handler entertains the crowd by actively working with the Western Diamondback Rattlesnakes, the other educates the crowds about the art of “charming” snakes and facts about the elusive and deadly creatures.

Another highlight of the weekend is the “Butcher Shop Show” where spectators not only watch a snake being prepared for the fryer, but also learn about the delicacy of serpentine meat. The show may be a bit too gory for children and those who flinch at the sight of blood, but it is as entertaining as it is educational. Even in death, a rattlesnake is still deadly and must be handled with extreme caution. After skinning the rattlesnake and removing the head, the butcher demonstrates how the deadly jaws have one final bite left by using a hat or scarf from an audience member.

While some spectators believe that snake tastes a lot like chicken, patrons at the “Bite-A-Snake Cafe” can cast their own vote as to the flavor of serpentine cuisine. Volunteers from the Mangum Mounties Association batter slices of rattlesnake from the butcher shop and fry the meat for anxiously awaiting customers.

Some have decried the butchering practices as inhumane towards the snakes. The Derby Association addresses these questions on its website, indicating that the snakes are “dispatched according to acceptable commercial practices” and that by holding the festival, they hope to “correct modern misconceptions about the rattlesnake.”

Whether you’re watching rattlesnakes get measured, learning about them at the snake pit, or eating one after its been deep fried, visitors to the Mangum Rattlesnake Derby are sure to come away with a unique understanding of these amazing creatures.

Wild animal travel: Where the hunter becomes the hunted

by Katie Hammel on

There’s nothing quite like seeing a wild animal in its natural habitat. It’s why people go on safari in South Africa to see lions and elephants, trek through the jungles of Borneo in search of monkeys, and submerge themselves in steel cages off the coast of Baja California to swim with Great White sharks. But it’s important to remember that despite the precautions taken by tour guides and rangers, these are still wild animals and getting close to them in nature carries some risks. In other words: there’s a reason that safari guide carries a gun.

Forbes Traveler has put together a list of “10 Places Where Animals Eat You”, a collection of destinations where the danger of visiting wild animals in nature is greater. Among the spots that made the list are Khao Sok National Park in Thailand, where cobras kill several hundred people per year; South Luangwa National Park in Zambia, where aggressive hippos have been known to flip boats and even eat people; and Ranthambhore Bagh, India, where around 100 people are attacked by tigers each year.

The article goes on to detail other encounters with wild animals, like when the girlfriend of a Tanzanian guide had her sleeping bag dragged 30 yards by a lion, while she was sound asleep in it. It seems animal attacks can happen almost anywhere though, and the danger certainly won’t stop most people from visiting these areas to see wild animals up close. You may just want to think twice about wandering too far away from your guide.

Rattlesnake in luggage bites man

by Iva Skoch on

We all know that snakes on planes can generally provide endless entertainment. Andy Bacas, a high school crew coach, could testify that snakes can be entertaining even after getting off the plane.

Bacas was bitten by a rattlesnake that had apparently been stowed away in his luggage, USA Today reports. He apparently reached into his luggage Monday morning after returning from a team trip to South Carolina when he felt a sharp pain and saw the nearly foot-long snake.

Rescue workers arrived, took the luggage outside, opened it and blasted with with carbon dioxide fire extinguisher, freezing it and killing it. Bacas apparently got a slightly better treatment.

Nobody knows how the snake got inside his luggage in the first place.

Bizarre Foods From Around The World

by Martha Edwards on

What constitutes typical North American food these days is kind of gross, if you ask me. I’m talking about all the processed junk we put in our bodies. But compared to some other ‘regional’ cuisines that are mentioned in this article, I guess we’re pretty lucky. Need examples?

  • In Iceland, for instance, Hakarl is made of putrefied shark meat. Sheep’s head (served in its entirety) is also popular.
  • In Saudi Arabia, camels are a popular item — camel’s feet and sour camel humps in particular.
  • Fried grasshoppers, earthworms and locusts are all the rage in Africa.

Want more info on bizarre foods? Check out The Weird Things People Eat Around the World. Ugh!

What’s the weirdest thing you’ve heard of or eaten? For me, it was a four-course meal made from a snake that was killed right in front of us in Vietnam. Dessert was a shot of snake’s blood mixed with whiskey. I was also a little grossed out by the pictures of black chicken in Taiwan that an old co-worker showed me. But although it looks like it’s rotten, it’s not — it tastes like … well … chicken!

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Infant Fights Cobra in Bizarre Indian Ritual

by Justin Glow on


Think you’ve seen it all? The video above shows a one-year-old baby “fighting” a de-fanged cobra snake in a bizarre right-of-passage for the young Indian child. And by “fighting” I’m sure they mean “just laying there while a friggin’ snake tries to sink its fangs into his head.”

“This bizarre spectator sport – reportedly from Kasimkota in Andhra Pradesh – has been condemned by animal rights protesters after footage appeared on the internet,” according to an article in the Daily Mail. Apparently a cobra’s fangs can grow back before the “fight” is over, and the babies are put in danger of being bitten by one of the most dangerous and poisonous snakes in the world.

Please tell me this is an isolated case.