Posted by:
BRhaco
at Sun Mar 6 11:06:10 2011 [ Email Message ] [ Show All Posts by BRhaco ]
There have only been a very few tickets (out of certainly at least hundreds of stops in the last three years). It's definitely NOT illegal to observe or photograph herps on the road and ROW. In some areas the LE will stop you at every opportunity, however, and these stops can last up to 30 minutes. Sometimes you may be asked to consent to a vehicle search-a bit strange since it also is not illegal to carry reptiles in your vehicle.
My experience is that Border Patrol stops are nearly always brief, and you'll be waved along as soon as they determine what you're doing. They don't seem to have much interest in anything beyond their primary concern of human and drug smuggling.
Game wardens seem to be well-versed in the law and in what is allowable and what isn't. In general they in most areas have not asked to search the vehicle and are generally satisfied if you're honest and up front with them about what you're doing (of course there are exceptions to this). Most game wardens are nature lovers as well, and a few are even reptile afficianados themselves.
Sheriffs and sheriff deputies sometimes seem to have no clue as to what the law is all about and what is allowable-they often ask for a vehicle search. I've had to (gently) set a couple straight as to what the law does and does not allow-for example some seem to think we can be ticketed for carrying a snake in a vehicle. They sometimes make you wait while they call in for a warden to come out (this has not happened to me, but did happen to a friend who was carrying a bullsnake he'd collected earlier on private land). My sheriff stops have been the lengthiest and most annoying.
Of course the above is based solely on my own experience and that of a couple of friends. I think I've had worse luck than most as far as getting stopped-probably because I like to look down near the border a lot. It's true that some guys have not even been stopped once since the law was snuck through in '07.
I have heard that out of staters are given MUCH more scrutiny. Your results may vary. My advice is to try to get out there and observe as much as possible while still obeying the law-observe, photograph to your content. The harassment will certainly lessen as LE tires of fruitless stops of herpers.
Above all, be POLITE and cooperative-nobody you meet on the road in Texas had anything to do with writing the road ban law. They are just doing their often very difficult job.
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Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG
Boas, Pythons, Colubrids, Tortoises and Turtles
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RE: Hunting in Tx. - BRhaco, Sun Mar 6 11:06:10 2011