Reptile & Amphibian Forums

national forests vs. refuges vs. parks???
i was in hyde county,nc 2 weeks ago ...iwas cutting through the refuge...luckily no animals...a" refuge ranger'...pursued me , pulled me over..asked if ni had snake hunting equipment in the truck..i said yes...he then had me stand with my hands on his truck hood, while 2 more f/w trucks came and searched the vehicle....i got a warning...it is illegal to have this equipment on the refuge!!!!...i've been going to hyde since '73...and never been stopped....does anyone know what's going on??????...i know national parks have this rule...is ti the same cross the board???

In general, government agencies limit the "take" of wildlife on a land unit with permissive laws. That is,they allow the take within limits, otherwise it is protected. Also, in general, National Forest and BLM are quite permissive, allowing logging, mining, hunting etc. State and National Wildlife Refuges less so, allowing some take but usually specific, i.e. allow take of waterfowl within the waterfowl season, allow angling, but other consumptive recreation (collecting herps) quite likely prohibited. Parks are very restrictive, especially National. They usually restrict all take, with exception of angling and even that is often more restrictive than State rules surrounding. Every herper should know what "take" means, generally, to take, pursue,catch, capture, kill or attempt to take , pursue,catch, capture or kill. Pretty broad, one can easily get into trouble just manipulating a photo subject...

Any National Wildlife Refuge owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) strictly prohibits anyone from capturing, taking, possessing, killing, etc, etc,....any NON GAME wildlife that is not in season according to that particular states laws and regulations. Often times these Federal Government owned lands ad additional laws to over-ride the state law. In other words, if the Department of the Interior has any involvement then it is best to leave everything alone! Trust me, I know from experience. The United States Dept. of Agriculture Forest Service (USDAFS) is a little more passive on collecting laws. They normally don't like anyone to possess anything from their lands, but if you can present a viable argument of why you should or want to aquire it, and do this BEFORE you collect it, then they are usually agreeable. Most state owned parks adhere to the local state laws. So if you have to possess a small game hunting license to capture snakes on private lands, like here in Mississippi, then the same applies for those state parks, unless otherwise noted.