>>...and I think the best population data available will out of necessity include information from hobbyist field herpers. Snakes are being collected, even when and where it's illegal. I don't condone that. I would rather see--and help me think through the downside to this, because I don't see much of one--a total amnesty for a set period on the take of snakes, so long as all data is reported (in this case, to TPWD). The Department would guarantee, in writing, that Herper X will be free and clear of any legal ramifications for the number of snakes/herps they report. The hobbyist gets new localities and/or bloodlines, and the Department gets swamped with a mountain of new data for a variety of species, to make better population estimates and therefore develop the coveted science-based bag limits.





Great points, Chris. And that is a GREAT idea above...I'd love to help implement or present that case if you're working on it (or HCU). We'd have to be meticulous, polished, and aggressive when presenting it. AND we'd have to have some academics on board and on our side.



Also, it would probably be good if herpers had to donate shed skins from each animal collected to museums and researchers for population genetics studies. And maybe a clipped scale or two for stable isotope analysis, which would reveal EXACTLY what those snakes are eating in the wild without having to sacrifice the snake. Can you imagine the THOUSANDS of man hours and precious dollars that would save for poor grad students and professors?



The result would be a mathematical EXPLOSION of ecological and evolutionary data and papers. Herpers would be participating in science and therefore empathetic to scientists, and vice versa, and the entire herping community would be translated to a paradisiacal glory. Like Moses on Mt. Sinai. And we'd all have white hair.



I trust that herpers are willing to comply with laws that they helped make, even if it means NOT collecting something for awhile, if the science-based collection data warns of unsustainable consequences for present/future take.





>>P.S.

>>Forgot to tell you the bad news. The restaurant in the pic has gone out of business...did you send them some sort of "cease and desist" for trademark infringement?



Nah, I knew that people would know they were not the "real thing" when they saw the H missing in the last name. They had it coming.

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