Thursday, February 2, 2017

Illegal Vehicle Search

“What is in those gunny sacks” demanded the Deputy Sheriff.

“Snakes”, replied my friend. “Go ahead and check”.

We were stopped by the side of a Colorado 14 in a VW Transporter, in 1968, pulled over by a suspicious deputy (with no legal justification) based on our vehicle and appearance. He started searching our vehicle.

The Deputy opened the first sack and saw a dozen pissed off rattlesnakes. Didn’t even tie the sack back up, just went back to his cruiser and drove off.

My friend had a contract with Colorado State University to collect two dozen rattlesnakes and asked me to help. He had fabricated some snares on  four foot poles and had two stout gunny sacks to contain the snakes.

We went to the Pawnee Buttes area near the Wyoming border and started hunting the snakes. It took several hours and, after catching enough, we headed to Fort Collins. Just past Briggsdale we were pulled over.

A recent reading of ways people have pranked police brought out this memory.

The Deputy probably though he had struck the mother lode on a hot, and boring, afternoon. Two bearded “hippies” in a VW bus must be hauling, or at least possessing, drugs. Niceties like probable cause? Hah! Hippies didn’t have rights.

We had beards, and we were in a VW Transporter. Not hippies, but anti social, anti government, assholes who enjoyed kicking the shit out of shitkickers. Lucky for Mr. Deputy he didn’t push the issue.


Doubt the Deputy regaled his buddies with that story.

7 comments:

Coffeypot said...

He probably sped off without closing the bag because he had to get to a service station to change his skivvies.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Perhaps. He seemed to be in a powerful hurry to leave.

Ami said...

I'd have paid to see that. Really.

One time a guy named Sam moved to our little town in Southern California. Thinking he'd have a little fun with the new guy, our friend Don told him that scorpions show up with a blacklight. And that if you go out in the desert at night with that light, you can hunt them. And 'them's good eatin''!!

The new guy went out and got a huge box full of scorpions and brought them over to Don's house.

I'd have paid to see him fling the box off the balcony, too.

Hahaha

Well Seasoned Fool said...

I would have paid to watch that.

Old NFO said...

ROTF, yep skivvie change time... :-D

Momma Fargo said...

Hell, if you needed rattlesnakes, come down to the River War Haus. We could have fixed you up. Wait. I was one then.

Well Seasoned Fool said...

Long as your shirt was unbuttoned we would welcome you. (Yeah, I'm always been a dirty old man)