Lake Hefner

[Jesseda]

mY boss was telling me back the the 50s an 60s lake hefner had tarnatulas all over that area, is it still like that

[OKCisOK4me]

I've riddin my byke out there and neverseen any arounds

[Jesseda]

my boss was telling me that her brother and her would go to hefner all the time to catch trantulas, she said every time they went out there they would be able to find at least one, she told me her and her friends would catch them in mason jars

[jmpokc1957]

In the 60's and 70's I lived on Sterling Drive, which is off of NW 63rd between MacArthur and Meridian, about a mile south of Lake Hefner. There was mostly fields between us and the lake and tarantulas were a daily occurrence along with horned toads, scorpions, turtles and occasional snakes. We would run over the tarantulas on our bikes and they would make a big mess. I'm sure all the development that has occurred since them has driven them out. A shame, but they tell us that's progress.

Mike

[cameron_405]

...haven't seen any tarantulas out that way, but will keep an eye out.

Here's my Lake Hefner area photo set --

Flickriver.com - Cameron_405 - Lake Hefner

[Bill Robertson]

We were in one of the additions first built northwest of Lake Hefner in the 70s. Yes, there were tarantulas everywhere, scorpions too. By the time we sold in the late 90s we seldom if ever saw either one.

[Matt]

I heard that instead of a bunch of regular-sized tarantulas living around the lake, now there's just one gigantic one. (Think Shelob.)

[papaOU]

I heard that instead of a bunch of regular-sized tarantulas living around the lake, now there's just one gigantic one. (Think Shelob.)

(Think Shelob) ?? So is this spider Jewish?

[rondvu]

Wonder if this was filmed in OKC Lake Hefner area?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKGcgDo_ojI

[BBatesokc]

Did they go the way of Horned Toads and lizards? I remember when I was a kid in the 70's there was a field behind our house on Rankin in Edmond. We'd catch all kids of critters you never see anymore.

[baryl]

I don't know about Hefner lake but I've seen them crossing the road a few times up around 150th and Rockwell.

[Jesseda]

when i was a young kid in the 80s in moore, i would catch horny toads, my past time was to search the creeks with friends early in the mornings to find crawfish tadpoles etc, never worried about snakes and stuff as a kid

[ksearls]

A ten minute preview of "Where Did the Horny Toad Go?" will be screening at the 11th Annual deadCENTER Film Festival. Yippie! You can get more info here:
http://vimeo.com/11026741

Poor little critters! I saw a tarantula a few year's back at Cameron Field north of the lake. It brought a 6 and under soccer match to an abrupt stop. I scooped it up with my shoe and rescued it from being squashed with little cleats.

[Prunepicker]

I've never seen a tarantula around Hefner and I used to hang out and
fish there from the 50's until the 90's. The ones in Oklahoma aren't
dangerous, like the ones on Tarzan, and are very fun to let crawl on
your hand. Never heard of anyone getting bit by one.

I'd see water snakes around the docks, too, but never a cotton mouth.