Reptile & Amphibian Forums

cut and pasted from correspondence sent to Rep. Pete Gallego's office.

Currently, it is a violation to hunt game animals, game birds, furbearers, exotic animals, or exotic fowl on a public roadway. “Hunt” is defined as capture, trap, take or kill, or the attempt to capture, trap, take or kill. Additionally, it is a Penal Code violation to discharge a firearm on or across a public road.

I have a little problem with the gray area surrounding "attempt to take". I don't like things left up to interpretation.

Currently, it is not illegal to hunt nongame animals from a public road or rights of way, as long as a person is not hunting from a vehicle.

Is that so? They certainly do not enforce as such.

Any hunting from a public road may create a potential traffic hazard and safety concern.

Getting in a car and driving to work may create a potential traffic hazard and safety concern! Why is walking to right of way lumped together with driving in a car?

House Bill 2414 HCS, prohibits the hunting of a wild animal or wild bird from the public road or rights of way. The bill does not apply to the trapping of a raptor for educational or sporting purposes as provided by Chapter 49, Texas Parks and Wildlife Code. An offense will be a Parks and Wildlife Code Class C misdemeanor.

TX H.B. No. 2414 IMO is unconstitutional because it discriminates against Herpetologists. Public roads and right of ways are the only public lands available to us since Texas denies us the privilege of pursuing non-game non-protected species in Wildlife Management areas. In New Mexico collecting from Road Surfaces is written into the law as legal means of take for non-game non-protected species.

If enacted, the bill will provide game wardens with an enforcement tool that will enable them to clearly distinguish lawful activities on roadways from unlawful activities.

How so? How will a Game Warden determine if an individual is attempting to photograph an animal or collect it?

A person hunting nongame on a public road or rights of way would be clearly in violation if they do not have a Texas Parks and Wildlife permit authorizing collection on a public road or rights of way.

What permit is that? Can I buy it at Wal Mart? No, because this permit does not exist. If this permit did exist what is the criteria for obtaining it? How much would it cost?

Much of nongame wildlife collection on public roads and rights of way is for commercial purposes. This bill would stop this aspect of nongame collection on public roads and rights of way.

Is this the real problem? Introduce legislation which specifically addresses this problem and we will support it almost across the board.

This bill would create a wildlife sanctuary where collection would be prohibited.

We will clearly illustrate that our public roads and right of ways are in no way shape or form Wildlife Sanctuaries. Quite the opposite, our public roads and right of ways are more akin to slaughter houses.

The bill also provides an alternative enforcement tool for game wardens.

This bill will cost the taxpayers more money in the form of more Wardens for enforcement when the money should be spent on managing the resource, not closing it off to hobbyists.

Hunting from a vehicle on a public road is currently a Parks and Wildlife Code Class A misdemeanor.

We covered this but, if so why don't they enforce it. And if so WHY do we need TX H.B. No. 2414 if it is already illegal?

This bill makes the offense for hunting any wild animal or wild bird on a public road or rights of way a Parks and Wildlife Code Class C misdemeanor. Game wardens would have the discretion to file a lesser charge, if conditions warranted (e.g., juvenile or first time offender.) This bill will not prohibit entities such as schools from obtaining a collection permit for zoological collections, scientific research or educational display.

This bill is a testament to the fact that TP&W can't or won't manage a sustainable harvest of non-game non-protected resources so they close it off and spend the money on enforcement.

If anyone wants to copy this to their Reps please do so. You might want to clean it up a bit and use your own wording.

Forky

Frank Corte Jr.

Hit the Local and Consent Calendar committee with it, your Rep, Gallego, Isett and Hilderbran.

Any hunting from a public road may create a potential traffic hazard and safety concern.

If this is a concern, I would like to see the data supporting this assertion. Please make available # of accidents resulting from "hunting from a public road" by herpers from 2001-2006. Also, please make available the # of traffic citations issued to herpers during the act of hunting from a public road over the same time period. If TPWD cannot come up with hard data - numbers (and they cannot) then this cannot be used to justify this legislation.

House Bill 2414 HCS, prohibits the hunting of a wild animal or wild bird from the public road or rights of way. The bill does not apply to the trapping of a raptor for educational or sporting purposes as provided by Chapter 49, Texas Parks and Wildlife Code. An offense will be a Parks and Wildlife Code Class C misdemeanor.

I must ask why raptors have been excluded from this legislation while recreational herpers have not. Is it simply because Falconers have a stronger lobby or they are friends with someone influential? By excluding falconers but including herpers, this new legislation is unfairly discriminatory.

Much of nongame wildlife collection on public roads and rights of way is for commercial purposes. This bill would stop this aspect of nongame collection on public roads and rights of way.

TPWD Wildlife Diversity has collected data on commercial reptile and amphibian collection since 1998. Please request from them the data to support this contention. Ask them how many nongame commercial collectors there are in the state, how many of them collect from roadways, and what are the numbers of these nongame animals that are collected from roadways. They may be able to tell you something about the numbers of collectors, but they have no data to support the claim that "much of the nongame wildlife collection on public roads . . . is for commercial purposes" - the data that TPWD requires to be reported only asks for "County of Collection", and does not specify whether or not the animals were collected from roadways. Therefore this assertion must be regarded as unsubstantiated.

This bill would create a wildlife sanctuary where collection would be prohibited.

On Texas highways, last year I found 134 road killed snakes alone (not counting lizards, turtles, frogs, and salamanders). In 2005, I found 271 road killed snakes and in 2004 I found 253 road killed snakes. These data alone clearly illustrate that Texas highways are in no way, shape, or form, a "wildlife sanctuary".

Troy

make sure Austin gets to read YOUR response. You are much more eloquent than I when it comes to these matters.

I faxed the above text (modified just a bit) to Hildebran, Isett, and Gallego's offices. There's only so much faxing I can get away with on the school's fax machine.

Since I already phoned and talked to folks with Local & Consent, I didn't fax to them. I also figured that all they needed to know was that the bill wasn't widely supported, not the critique of TPWD.

Troy