Grand Canyon herping

[Scott Wahlberg]

Originally posted by C.m.pyrrhus
I was actually "caught" in the Gila sting here in AZ by the Game and Fish Dept. I seen a nice ,what looked to be a very healthy, fat gila in the road. So I pulled over and simply walked it off the road as I took some time to look at it. Got back in my car and went down the road. I was immediatly followed by a truck for about 4 miles and then pulled over, by the AZ G&F cops. Had an hour on the side of the road as they checked my car, took a lot of info from me and so on. Kinda of a pisser. I have always stopped for about every AOR herp and pulled them out of the road, and still will, but not the "out-of-place" heloderms. Turned out to be the exact gila that many other leggit herpers were pulled over for during the summer. Actually a beautiful gila none the less. Wished I grabbed some photos.

I heard about that sting on the www.reptilesofaz.com forum. Lots of pissed off people after that. You could always run the thing over on purpose to prove the point that what there doing is totally wrong. It seems like a form of entrappment to me. I know a guy who got caught taking a Heloderma out of Az and had quite a bit of explaining to do, did not work out very well for him.

[C.m.pyrrhus]

I did post there on that topic, as many others did. They have now joined with PARC on that site to make the issue on conservation available to more folks interested about it. Anyhow, I was extremely p!ssed as well. A lot of honest folks lost a fair amount of time so that the system and find ways at finding their budget requirments. I do believe the animals should be protected, but hell, there is a limit to wait is moral. Cops are not allowed to place such traps about to catch people in doing something bad (although they still do), and hell, I am sure the folks that are really out there to do illegal collections know better than to take without getting caught. Just a way to find folks who can be fined, which is what turns out to be the case. Mr. Johny Herper gets pulled over, does not get in trouble for the gila per se, but instead is found guilty of some other usless and meaningless law they can write a ticket for. Just a budget finder in disguise.

[SCReptiles]

Nolagurl, I spoke to my friend over the weekend, He is headed back to the grand cannon in June. If my work schedule will allow, I will probably head out with him.

[nolagurl]

I'll most likely be going in August as I'm probably taking summer classes.

[SCReptiles]

What are you studying?

[nolagurl]

I'm actually an English Major. Go figure. I wish I was a Bio major but it's too late to switch majors now.

[SCReptiles]

I started as a bio major, ended up graduating with a BS in education.