Posted: Thu Jan 31, 2008 3:05 pm Post subject: The SCABIES Way: To Bughunt Like A Ninja
i am going to put together a guide for bug hunting in the scabies certified fashion.... minimizing our negative impact (at least to the species of interest) to the habitats we are hunting
Eventually i would like a full picture guide also.
P.s. comments are welcome but i will end up deleting them when the thread is finished. if you see room for improvements PLEASE comment!
UNDER CONSTRUCTION
HOPEFULLY VERSION 0.0 WILL BE READY TODAY (Friday Feb1)
blast. didn't make it
--- The SCABIES Way:
. . . . . . . To Bughunt Like A Ninja ---
Ninjas... stealthy hunters who leave no trace of themselves but victims. While ninjas are traditionally assassins we are going to reinterpret them a little bit. In certain senses they epitomize what a scabies bughunter should be. Ninjas are EXTREMELY low impact on the environment around them. They can cross a field without stirring a single plant or stepping on a single twig. The can stalk a target with such cunning and skill that the target is dead (or in our case, captured) before they are even aware there is a person near them. And once a ninja is done with their work they leave without a trace.
Would that scabies were all ninjas _________________
Quote:
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
William S. Burroughs The Western Lands
Last edited by cacoseraph on Fri Feb 01, 2008 6:51 pm; edited 5 times in total
Hiking/Getting To Collection Area Stay On Trail
When at all possible, scabies should try to stay on trail. This helps areas to look nice for the people who come after us. Possibly more importantly, the less perturbations an area suffers, generally the better for all the bugs and other animals that are in that area.
If Not On Trail
Sometimes the areas we want to collect or prime habitat is not on the trail. SCABIES understands this. Additionally, in some areas there is just plain not going to be a trail to stay on. When walking off trail try to step *inbetween* plants.... not on them or over them. If you step on the plant it is probably going to die. If you step over the plant and can not see what is beyond it you run the risk of stepping on a rattlesnake!
Sometimes it is extremely difficult to avoid stepping on plants. SCABIES understands this... however, try to minimize the amount of damage you cause whenever possible. Small, delicate, and unusual plants should be avoided at all costs. Moss, ferns, lichens, and other slower growing plants should NEVER be stepped on! _________________
Quote:
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
William S. Burroughs The Western Lands
Last edited by cacoseraph on Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:57 pm; edited 12 times in total
Teasing
Teasing: a hunting style whereby a target organism is enticed from their burrow, retreat, scrape, or cover by various means. Teasing is typically accomplished with materials at hand. My favorite teasing tool is a nice stiff grass stalk. It is firm enough to be useful without being *too* much of a danger to the target animal. Teasing should be a prefered method of collection! It is extremely low impact on the environment and microhabitats and can yield positive results in a very short amount of time. High tech teasing methods might be possible (Nesh and his bee hum tuning fork, for instance). Teasing takes a little bit of skill and finesse... but one very nice thing is you can practice on your animals at home!
Flooding
Flooding: a hunting method whereby a target organism is convinced to vacate their burrow, hide, scrape, or cover by virtue of deluge. Provided there are no very weird circumstances this method is minimally dangerous for most target inverts. Mygalos and scorpions are under NO danger from downing while being flooded. Centipedes can probably get away from most water and seem quite resistant to drowning deaths (even when they are drowned they can come back sometimes!). Flooding has one large advantage and one large disadvantage (especially in SoCA!):
Advantage: very low impact method that sometimes gets bugs RUNNING out of their burrows!
Disadvantage: Generally there is little to no available surface water in most of the places SCABIES hunts. This means you have to carrying in any water you want to use to flood in addition to your drinking water and other supplies. A full pack for me, complete with water for myself and others (for gods sakes!! stop forgetting to bring water ppl! you are killing my back!), containers, tools, snacks, and flood water can run upwards of 40lbs!
n.b. it seems like some, if not all, trapdoor buildign species are at least +4 vs. flood attacks. i have had a very good bugsman tell me he has never gotten trapdoors to surface by flooding and has always had to dig. perhaps your water can be better spent elsewhere?
Flipping
Flipping: a hunting style involving flipping over various pieces of structure to find animals under cover, in scrapes, and in burrows found underneath. Flipping is a good method in a lot of habitats in SoCA due to most of our terrain being some form of desert or chaparral. Under the flipped structure is generally a moister, cooler microhabitat where the animals actually live. This brings up a very important point! After structure is flipped it MUST be returned to as close to its original configuration as possible. Generally, especially when dealing with natural structures, the placement of the structure is VERY important. Placement determines how much and what kind of microhabitat the structure will house. To date, scabies hunts have involved mostly flipping.
. . Flipping Rocks
Rocks have a moist underside because they are essentially sealed into the earth. When we flip rocks we break this seal. If not placed back extremely carefully the rock will no longer house the very microhabitat we need to find our bugs in! When flipped rocks should ALWAYS be "resocketed" after the underside of the rock and the pit are cleared of any animals that might get hurt when replacing the rock. Large rocks should only be flipped if the hunter can return it to the original position. Very large rocks (over 200lbs... less than a few cubic feet of granitic rock, say) should not be attempted as almost certainly they will be rocked back and forth and crush virtually everything under them. Trust me on this one!
. . Flipping Logs
In CA, at least, it is actually illegal to flip logs while herping. I am not sure of the implications of this for invertebrate collection. I do have some thoughts though... fallen trees and logs are some of the most important microhabitat in all of SoCA. there are a number of beetle species that lay eggs and/or have larva develop in logs. this is one of the ONLY places some animals can have part of their life cycle. And it is not any ol' log... an organism might only be able to use a single species or genus... or perhaps it needs to eat the decaying cambium or bark.
All this previous discussion leads to my point... we probably should not be flipping/rolling logs and fallen trees. IFF someone must flip or roll a log they MUST get help. The log should be rolled slowly and carefully, in a controlled manner. Notes (mental is fine) should be made of the lay and condition of any bark or other materials underneath the tree. Any rotten bark should not be stripped off... this absolutely destroys microhab that has been 0-20+ years in the making. If bark falls off it should be carefully rearranged to provide the layering of the prefilled log. If i see people casually raping logs too much they probably will not be welcome to hunt with me. There are definitely others who feel this way, too. If one flips or rolls a log it should be DIFFICULT to tell that anything happened to the log when all is said and done. There should be no displaced piles of underdecay or leaves or anything left over. The log should be resockted to within 5% of the original position.
Beating
Trapping
Trapping: the use of mechanisms and machines to indirectly catch target organisms. Aside from questions of legality (always hairy when dealing with bugs and the collecting thereof) there are moral questions one should consider before trapping. Once the trap is set, how often are you going to check it? Is it in a position where the sun can cook any catch? Is your trap able to catch non-target species? If so, what happens to them and the target species if they interact? How are you going to ensure that you recollect all your traps when you are done? It would be a fairly large scabies sin to leave traps out and unattended!
. . Pit Traps
In CA, pit traps are illegal to use to collect herps. It might be difficult to convince a ranger or other enforcement personnel that you are targetting inverts and not herps... plus, if it is possible for your traps to catch herps it might not even matter what you are targetting! short answer: do not use pittraps unless you can prove they are legal and not to be used for herps. how you can prove that... i don't know. so really short answer: do not use pit traps.
. . Cryptozoan Traps
Lighting
Lighting: multiple methods in which an "unfair" advantage is gained over our targets by using light to either detect or entice target organisms.
Again, it is illegal to "shine" herps but i can find no references for invertebrate collection.
. . Black Lights (Ultraviolet)
Scorpions flouresce under a certain portion of the ultraviolet spectrum. Depending on the wavelength emitted, species, and condition of specimen the flourescence can range from barely perceptible to quite bright. By getting the right angle, scorpions can be seen fairly far back in the burrows even when the hunter is still on the trail.
. . Stand Lights
Digging
Digging: a method of collection by virtue of excavation. this should be a last recourse as it is by FAR the most disruptive of the collection methods SCABIES uses. _________________
Quote:
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
William S. Burroughs The Western Lands
Last edited by cacoseraph on Mon Feb 25, 2008 2:11 pm; edited 12 times in total
COLLECTING INVERTEBRATES What To Take What NOT To Take How Many To Take
VERBOTTEN!!!!!! Littering
Honestly. I really feel like i don't even have to say anything. But, for the record... SCABIES is most certainly against littering... anytime, anywhere, anything. As far as i know we have been doing pretty good with this. Also, i (caco) tend to carry a variety of bags and containers on me when i am in the field. Any trash generated or found can be given to me and i will carry it out.
No Licenses/Permits
The ONLY herptile you can collect without a fishing license is RATTLESNAKES. All others are forbidden unless you BRING A LICENSE. We have been way too lax with this... if one person is collecting herps without a license the whole group can get into big trouble. It is an extremely rude thing to do.... and if i get a record from someone... well... i don't think both of us will be in scabies together for very much longer _________________
Quote:
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
William S. Burroughs The Western Lands
Last edited by cacoseraph on Fri Feb 01, 2008 1:57 pm; edited 1 time in total
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
There may be people who like centipedes. I have seen people handling tarantulas and scorpions, but never a centipede handler. I would regard such a person with deep suspicion...Now what sort of man or woman or monster would stroke a centipede on its underbelly "And here is my big good centipede." If such a man exists, I say kill him without more ado. He is a traitor to the human race.
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