The Cheyenne Bottoms Wildlife Area covers nearly 20,000 acres of a natural land sink just northeast of Great Bend. A good portion of the wetlands is a protected refuge, meaning an area where hunting and shooting guns is not allowed.

Area Wildlife Manager Jason Wagner says they ran into a problem in May with people shooting and killing snakes in the refuge. Wagner wants to make it clear that shooting anything in the refuge is not allowed and that the majority of the snakes you see at wetlands are not venomous.

Wagner noted the only venomous snake at the Bottoms is massasauga rattlesnake, but the snake typically does not come out during the day or heat. Getting caught shooting the snakes or anything in the refuge comes with a fine.