Not my board line

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jb000
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Joined: July 26th, 2018, 3:54 pm

Not my board line

Post by jb000 »

I recently found some board lines in SoCal on Google Maps. I have no idea who placed the boards or how often they are flipped by others. Would it be unethical for me to go to these sites and flip boards that aren't mine? If I were to go, I would be very respectful to the boards and the surrounding habitat.
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Porter
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

🤐
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Porter
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

If you’re truly worried about disrespecting this person’s board line. I have the coolest suggestion in the world… Screen shoot the board line and post it to this thread. (Removing the Lat and long) and ask the person to PM you. They may just join up with you for the day :beer:
Jimi
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Jimi »

Would it be unethical
I (sort of) applaud your presented sense of decency, at the same time as kind of laughing at your framing of the situation. Either:
  • the boards are on private land owned by those who laid them out, or
  • the boards are on private land owned by someone else (who may or - far more likely - may not have given permission for the boards to be placed there), or
  • the boards have been placed on public land (again, either with or without permission for the boards to be placed there). A very low-odds possibility is, the boards are there legally as part of some monitoring or research project, in which case you'd be an ass to mess with them. In all likelihood, they were put there without permission (i.e., illegally dumped).

Clear enough? Now,
  • In the first case, the so very least likely case, you need to discover the owner (just go to the County Recorder website) and ask permission.
  • In the second case, if permission wasn't granted, if you ask to get onto the land, you've set up the trespasser-vandal for detection and prosecution. Or, you trespass, and risk detection & prosecution for trespassing - and maybe whatever else they can make stick.
  • In the third case, you're looking at what is now public trash, and a crime scene. Nobody can legally f*ck with you for touching public trash. Almost all of the public would appreciate you loading it in a truck and taking it to the dump. All except one or two guys. Who are probably the most likely guys you'd run into out there. You might also run into a cop with jurisdiction over the property, who might just try to stick you with the violation.

If I were to go, I would be very respectful to the boards and the surrounding habitat.
Sounds nice. But does it actually mean anything, in the real world, outside of your skull?



Seems to me like there's just something you want to do. All you really need to ask yourself (and NOT US) is, are you willing to pay the price - to yourself, to the board-setter, to the landowner, and to "the man" - of doing it? Seriously - make that judgment. What do you stand to gain? What do you stand to lose? Easiest route would to just forget those boards, dude. Any other course of action has a pretty damn big cone of uncertainty flaring out from it.

Stepping back some - life is simpler when you establish a personal code, and live by it. Accept the consequences if your code leads to conflict, and don't whine like a bitch when it goes sideways. But a good code is a good code. Your subject line says it all -
not your board line
Assuming you have one - does your personal code say "your stuff is actually my stuff"? Dirtbag life, man. Dirtbag life. Trouble, sooner or later.

Good luck, take care.
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BillMcGighan
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Re: Not my board line

Post by BillMcGighan »

You're a good herping person for even asking this question.

Jimi pretty much hit the nail on the head.


When forming your personal morality, I'd like to add two things to consider:

1. If you are harvesting, and not just observing, consider that someone else put in many hours and sweat putting the boards out.

2. In some states (I don't know about CA) and on some federal land, you may find a board line with tags indicated that it is part of a formal study by a University group or other Government group. You may find yourself more responsible to leave these be.

Again, just for consideration..... It's ultimately your choice. :)
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Porter
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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mark buck
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Re: Not my board line

Post by mark buck »

To put it simply... yes, its unethical to flip through someone's board-line.
That's probably not the answer you wanted to hear but I'm just being honest.

That said, almost nothing in field herping is black and white... hence all the long replies above, and the one your about to get haha. I'm not gonna sit here and tell you I've never flipped through someone else's line, because that would be a lie. But after I started setting out my own boards(2nd year in the field), I realized how much effort goes into setting up/maintaining a simple line, and I stopped visiting other people's sites out of respect to them. In order to truly understand the frustration behind this topic, you just have to experience it first hand. It's a horrible feeling to set up a board-line, wait a full year(sometimes 2) for the boards to set, then finally visit your site when conditions are good and there's trails to all your boards/everything's been flipped.

You also have to understand that the more times a board is flipped in a season, the less likely it is to harbor snakes. Snakes don't want to hang around under a board that's flipped up from over their heads every weekend LOL. So every time you go out and flip this person's boards, your hurting their chances of seeing whatever it is their targeting.

Then again, it's also the responsibility of the board-line creator to keep his boards hidden. Using smaller boards can prevent your lines from being discovered on google maps. With today's technology, laying out a big 4x8 in a field is almost like sending out an invitation for a bunch of yahoos to come flip it LOL.

My recommendation to you is to find a "dump site" to flip through(not a deliberately set up "board-line"). There's lots of them around SoCal and sometimes they are even more productive than traditional "board-lines". This way you get your fix flipping serpents and don't piss anybody off in the process :)

PS: My experience with this stuff is pretty limited, there's others on this forum with 30+ years of board-line experience. Some of them have even written books on the topic! Like Brian Hubbs, he wrote a book, its called "Common Kingsnakes"... go buy it! :lol:

And finally here's a few pictures to remind you that setting up board-lines is a lot of damn work! :thumb:

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jb000
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Re: Not my board line

Post by jb000 »

I appreciate all of the insight.

I have also spent hours setting up board lines and I know how tedious it can be which is why I try to be considerate.

The boards I found are all on public land so I think it should be fine to access them. Besides I would only go to these board lines once because I have to drive somewhat far.
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Porter
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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Re: Not my board line

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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

There’s only one true 100% morally correct ethical method of field Herping… In situ photography. Otherwise you’re all bad guys :lol: :lol: :lol:

…And road cruising. That takes it even a step farther because you’re Saving an animal’s life in the process
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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jb000
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Re: Not my board line

Post by jb000 »

Wow I guess I really got you thinking :D . I was merely looking for yes or no answers but your response was quite elaborate. I read your posts but I’m not the one to respond to it all.

Anyway, thanks for the input. I have concluded that going to one of the flip sites I scoped out won’t do much harm to anyone if I only go once, maybe twice.
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Porter
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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

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Re: Not my board line

Post by Porter »

So like I suggested before… The most respectful thing you can do is to post a screenshot of the Google Earth board line. Remove the GPS. And ask permission to go there. Only a person who knows the board line will know where it is. So you ask them to tell you where it is by giving you the latitude and longitude in the p.m. Then you know for sure they’re not bullshitting you.. Then you ask them, is it OK for me to go to your board line? That’s the coolest thing you could do
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