BOP 2002 > Still Photography Entries > Magazine Photographer of the Year
- Aurora & Quanta Productions
summary - "The Rattlesnake Roundup" - Every year, at the beginning of spring, the small West Texas town of Sweetwater comes alive with the world-recognizable sound of rattlesnakes. Since 1958, the Sweetwater Jaycees have been holding "The World s Largest Rattlesnake Roundup" by taking a historically despised and feared creature, the Western Diamondback Rattlesnake, and making a party out of the hunting of it. The hunting began, 43 years ago, as an attempt to control the abundance of rattlesnakes that caused problems for farmers, ranchers and their livestock. But now, it s done more because of tradition than of need. And while the hunting still helps control the population, the numbers of rattlesnakes have gone down. Opponents to the roundup say that they are hurting the ecology of West Texas and hurting the fragile populations of these snakes. Hunters say that there are plenty of the rattlesnakes to go around, and that the reason the numbers have been going down is because of the competition with other rattl
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