John,

First off, let me say that I do not have any argument with what you said in your post below to Tanks.

Next, I believe it is a very good thing that the Texas Legislature saw fit to change the ROW collecting rules. It is a long time coming. And, I too thank those that fought for the changes. Maybe now, everyone will congratulate those that had a hand in it.

I would like to remind everyone that the way the state looks at this is as a "privilege". We had to prove a lot of points to get this reversed. It will probably not take a lot of dumb things to happen to give the opposition an argument to get this turned around again. So, I caution anyone and everyone to obey the laws. Buy the appropriate licenses, permits and stamps. Not only the "law" with regard to Herp collecting but also the traffic laws. For example, do not make illegal U-turns, turn in front of other cars, shine bright lights into other cars, block the roadway, stop in the road and leave your vehicle, shine spotlights across the lanes of traffic, and so on.

The ecosystem on the ROWs in West Texas is not only small but very fragile. I have personally seen several places along the roadway that people have pulled the rock cuts apart. This damages places for herps to hide and get into protected places from the sun/heat. I can also tell you from 40 years experience in West Texas that it is virtually impossible to find anything good from "flipping" rocks especially if the daytime temp gets above 85 degrees. If you must "flip" a rock please put it back in the same place and not "flip" it over. We in Texas do not want what has happened in norther milksnake country to happen here.

On a side bar if you go collecting to rebuild or increase your colony to produce offspring for sale, how is that not commercial collecting?

Stay safe out there. Texans will be watching and will not hesitate to let you know if you are doing something wrong or illegal. We do not want more regulation.

ECTimaeus

[ Reply To This Message ] [ Subscribe to this Thread ] [ Show Entire Thread ]