My freind Thomas and I went herp hunting planning. We found some boards and sheets of metal and placed them where we though snakes would go and hide. We did have a bad run in with some paint ballers they would shhot like 2 feet in front of us and then shoot at the stuff we were moving. So we yelled at 'em and kinda ticked 'em off but they couldnt yell back b/c they were paint balling in an area with no littering signs and there was paintall boxes and paint ***** ever where. And the area is a next to a regional park and the paint ***** shot over there too. In march were gonna go back and get our herps!!

Sounds like fun

Over here in the UK, ALL reptiles are protected and we can get a pretty hefty fine for collecting.

Having said that, we do only have a few species.

You will have to keep us updated on what you find, with photos of course !

we are not going to take them for pets we are going to do feild observation. Weighing, measureing, all that jazz

I see, thats sounds good.

Having said that, again, over here we are not permitted to think for ourselves, and even to disturb some species is an offence !

Still, thats our nanny state for you I guess

In VA you can have 5of each speices

What is the reason for catching, measuring and weighing wild animals?

i would say that without this kind of research, how would we as a herping community know how our charges are doing in comparison to wild species.

Also, it gives a good idea of how the wild species are doing with regard to habitat and survival rates

What research is this for and for whom?
I personally do catch & rescue and never stress any animal more than necessary. If I were to volunteer and take information and samples it would be time wasted as no one is looking for this info and would upset the animal without due cause.

I dont know, and to be honest, it matters not to anyone here I guess.

You may not be interested, but the OP may have a reason thats important to him.

each to his own, we all have different things we do or think acceptable.