Or is it all bull?
The answer is yes!
I did some field herping earlier this spring with a friend of mine who has access to private university land here in MN.
The land is used for all sorts of plant, animal and CO2 studies. They do annual burns and when the area starts to regrow, the bulls come out for basking and mating.
It is amazing that secretive animals like snakes will spend a fair amount of time in the open with little to no cover around them, although the holes made by gophers are close by and we saw many that were popping their heads out, but not fully exposing themselves.
Here is what we were able to see, and I'm told this was only a semi decent day.
They were visible from a ways off.
Wild animals, but fairly docile when handled properly.
These guys have very nice patterns and colors.
I wish we were able to get more photos, but I forgot my good camera at home.
Thanks for looking.