An overabundance of Copperheads...

[Blackwater]

One other thought, could be that it's their mating season. My son killed a couple of rattlers in the act of mating, complete with intertwined spiraling around each other, a couple years ago right behind his house in the field. They can show up in numbers during the mating season, and where they pick and why they pick it is a mystery to me, but it'd probably pay to watch EXTRA carefully in that area for at least a while. I think they release some pheromones or hormones or something that they can attract mates to the smell with. If your dog sniffs around the place a lot more than normal, and acts a bit leery of what he's smelling, that would be a possible indication of this. That's my best guess and all I can add to the discussion, anyway.

[TXGunNut]

Copperheads around here seem to move around more in the spring and fall, always heard that was mating season for them. OP seems to be more about food.

[starmac]

I just pulled the wings and ate them. Males are kind of empty though. There are recipes to cook them too. You can grill or fry them. You can eat locust/grasshoppers too but they just taste like grass.
We have grubs in the ground but I never tried one. My dogs and the fox and skunks dig them up, I find holes all over my yard.

I reckon I have never been that hungry, and hopefully will never be. lol

[6bg6ga]

Can you eat copperheads? I hear rattlesnakes are tasty. At any rate shoot the bastoms.

[snowwolfe]

Someone just reported in our county in Tennessee a lady was bitten by a copperhead. They claimed they are hanging from the trees so they can catch the cicadas. But the cicadas sure don't look like a grasshopper where I live.
Just passing it on, can't verify if it is true.

[wgr]

hot as its been they might be looking for a cool spot, like around water

[MaryB]

I have been hearing a few cicadas buzzing but the garter snakes are thick this year so most of the bugs haven't had a chance int he lawn. I have at least 30 snakes living in my yard with one really big once right by my front door(hisses at me when I weed the hops plated there!). Has a den in a hole in the foundation.

[Teddy (punchie)]

from what I recall the locust were of a Rocky Mountain grasshopper that was able to change into a phase and grow longer wings and body to support longer flying distance. Sometime in the 1950's or 60's they died out or phased out. They are not sure why or what made them phase. There a documentary program on them, not sure if it was about the dust bowl or about just Locusts.