In the morning, I met Greg in his office, and with kind permission from his boss for me to go along, we loaded up the vehicle with gear - a radio receiver and antenna, a GPS unit, infrared thermometers and a weather data recorder.  Protective leggings also went into the truck, mandatory for anyone tracking rattlesnakes on this project.  Greg also carried data sheets for the rattlesnakes we would be tracking today.

The rattlesnakes in the study were found in several ways; a number of them were found incidentally by birdwatchers or others doing research in the forest.  A tedious, time-consuming method for locating rattlers involved a number of people strung out in a line, walking slowly in one direction and scanning the ground.  This was sometimes necessary to secure snakes in areas of the forest where none had been found.  Snakes to be used in the study were brought into the lab, and a radio transmitter was surgically implanted.  After a period of rest and recovery, the rattlers were released back at the point of capture.  The batteries in the transmitters would last a year or more, and young biologists like Greg would go out several days a week and find them again.  When the snake was located, Greg would then record data on movement, site details, environmental conditions, and anything else that might be noteworthy.

We drove over forest roads to the last-known location of the day's first snake, a male named Kyle.  The honor of naming each snake used in the tracking study goes to the person who found the snake.  Greg turned on the radio receiver and set it to the frequency matching the transmitter inside the snake.  Sure enough, there was a faint metallic beep every second or so.  We strapped the bite-proof gaiters on our lower legs, and headed off.  The forest here consisted of mixed second-growth deciduous hardwoods on rolling hills, some of which were quite steep.

The large portion of our approach to Kyle was easy, since the snake apparently hadn't moved overnight.  The receiver featured a directional antenna, and when you pointed it in the direction of the transmitter, the beep would get louder; turn it the other direction, and the beep would grow very faint.  It sounded simple, but I was to learn that tracking was not always that easy.

When we got close to this first rattler's location, the beep from the receiver changed.  "We're getting thud now - getting close," said Greg.  'Thud' was a flat click accompanying the beep, and when they sounded at the same time, you were very close to the transmitter and the snake.  Greg could turn up the gain on the receiver, which separated the click and the beep; when we got 'thud' again, it meant we were very, very close.

Greg knew where this rattlesnake was.  "Can you spot it, Mike?"  I was looking hard; the morning sun threw dappled shadows on the leaf litter, making pattern matching a little difficult.  Then I scanned over near a small tree, and there it was!  Kyle was coiled at the base of the tree, basking in the early sun.