This would be legal, except it is not legal to roadcruise in Texas in the traditional sense.Biker Dave wrote:Just so I have it straight.
I buy the license and herp stamp online.
When roadcruising... Pull all the way off the road. Wear the vest. Do not remove animals from any portion of the pavement.
In the field.... No hooks or tongs in state parks.
Am I missing anything?
I actually do want to stay legal.
Dave
Assuming you are herping in the 1% of the state where this is possible/productive (small parts of the trans-pecos), you should:
1. Have your vest, license and stamp.
2. Drive to a roadcut, pull off the road.
3. Walk that cut looking for herps.
4. Drive to the next cut.
The gray area comes when you are driving between cuts and you come across a critter. You technically can't "look" for (i.e. hunt) herps on the road from your car (i.e. roadcruise). So what you do when you come across one on the road is up to you. Technically, if you waited until it crawled off the road without forcing it to move off the road you could photograph it on the right of way (wearing your vest and pulling completely off the road (i.e. not on the shoulder). I've always wondered how you or the game warden would establish whether you were "hunting" for herps when you noticed it.
This is the world we Texas herpers live in. Because the law is so poorly designed, most herpers simply work in the "cracks" of the law avoiding violation by technicality. And if they think they are in an area where the roadcruising rules aren't going to be enforced (i.e. 99% of the state), they roadcruise with impunity (guilty as charged). I don't think any of us like it.
Chris