Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I went to Alpine, Texas a couple of times ever summer from the early 90's to about 2001, got a motel room for a week, stopped at that little store near Pizza Hut at the East of town for a small game permit and walked the road cuts to the West, 10 mile hill and all the cuts heading South to the desert. It took two responses to an earlier inquiry of mine about changes for hunters and a reality check to realize WE CAN'T DO THAT ANY MORE? $hit if this don't piss me off........rather belatedly..........considering yous guys probably never took a hiatus like I did. I am two weeks into planning a trip next spring explaining to the guys in the family why they should go with me explaining how comforting it is to see law enforcement near the border and explaining that when I was arrested in the Gap in 1999 the P&W guys were real nice even though they wrote me up. I did this to quell any resistance to going with me and now I find that probable cause includes collecting or having anything reptilian in the vehicle? I hope to heck the local businesses are raising Hell about this. Unfortunately Texas legislators probably won't listen to out of staters so I hope Texan's seeing more big brother interference will do what it takes to get this overturned. Hopefully a new law allowing collecting will deal with road collecting at the same time and give us a better permit. WHEN DID THE BAN GO INTO EFFECT, WHAT YEAR?...........and yes that was a yell so anyone reading this rant will see the question.

DUDE!!!!!!!!!!........

Went into effect in 2007. We're working on it-even have our own organization, Herpetological Conservation Unlimited.
-----
Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Any relation to Mike, God rest his soul? I realize your last name is common but I thought I would ask. Is it looking like the ban will be overturned?

No relation to the late Mike.

If the ban remains, it won't be for lack of effort on our part.
-----
Brad Chambers
WWW.HCU-TX.ORG

Breeder of:
Green Tree Pythons
Pastel, Pinstripe, FIRE, Piebald, Clown, Lavender Albino, Leucistic, and Spider Ball Pythons
Striped Colombian Boa Constrictors
Kenyan, Rufescens, and Conicus Sand Boas
Red Phase Western Hognose Snakes
Spider Western Hognose Snakes
Albino Western Hognose Snakes
Locality Trans-Pecos Mexican Hognose Snakes
Southern Hognose Snakes
Eastern Hognose Snakes
Tricolor Hognose Snakes
Hypo Checkered Garter Snakes
Eastern Blackneck Garter Snakes
Stillwater Hypo Bullsnakes
Patternless Bullsnakes
S. GA Eastern Kingsnakes
Locality Desert Kingsnakes
Albino Desert Kingsnakes
Hypo Desert Kingsnakes
Mexican Black Kingsnakes
Desert Phase and Striped Desert California Kingsnakes
Locality Mexican Milksnakes
Spotted Mexican Milksnakes
Tangerine Mexican Milksnakes
Locality Alterna
Abbott Okeetee Cornsnakes
Mexican Baird's Ratsnakes
Cape Housesnakes
Tangerine Albino African Fat -Tailed Geckos
Locality Spotted Turtles

Gotcha......haha!

Ive been following this sad state of affairs for awhile. Do the business owners really feel a hit from the lack of herpers coming to their hotels and restaurants? Ive never been there so I was curious.If you had their support and got the numbers of folks complaining to their local reps you might get some leverage. My fear is the usual "we cant do anything about it" syndrom and you end up having proxies picking up the torch for those too lazy or timid to do it for themselves. This rarely has the same effect than if they were the ones causing the hub bub themselves on a local level. Who is the individual that has this anti-herp axe to grind? Did somebody piss him off or is this just misplaced activism?