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[BWSmith]

I am heading up a Gopher Tortoise Survey for General Coffee State Park on October 16 and 17. This is a great opportunity for you to get some experience performing herpetological surveys. We will be camping at the park over the weekend and performing the survey in the mornings afternoons. This entails walking a designated section of the park and logging each burrow and its status (active, abandoned, etc.), catching any tortoises we come across and recording their data (size, weight), marking them (or logging preexisting marks), and releasing them. Don't be fooled, these guys can be fast and if they are near a hole, it takes some experience to get them before they dive underground. We will also be on the lookout for any other animals of interest such as Eastern Indigos, Eastern Diamondback Rattlesnakes, Coral Snakes, Southern pine Snakes, etc.

Night is all yours. Go herping, have a fire, night hike, whatever. This will require a great deal of hiking through the park, so i do not want children go on the survey. Not everyone has to go on the actual surveys if you just want to camp and hang out. But I would like at least one person from each group (family, couple, etc.) to help in the field.

Prior experience with herpetological surveys is ideal. Field experience is preferable. But everyone is welcome. We need every set of eyes and hands we can get.

It should be a lot of fun and a memorable experience (nice and cool too). I will try to get us good accomidations, but there may still be camping fees etc.

Rules:
- NO wildlife can be removed from the park
- I am responsible for the group, so keep the partying at night acceptable
- NO bringing animals back to camp
- Only those with a great deal of experience with wild venomous are to come near any hots we come across. One of the experienced ones will be close by.
- No children on the actual survey. It is alot of walking and there are venomous present. If you have an older child you would like to participate, email or PM me.
- Only myself or another authorized person is allowed to notch the shells for identification.
- There will be equipment to carry.
- When dealing with park personnel, be courteous.


If you cannot make it to this one, I will be scheduling more later depending on how this one goes. Hopefully we can get a good turnout. After all, how often do you have permission to legally catch endangered species?

There is still PLENTY of time, but I need a final headcount and how many will be participating by the end of September. Since I set the date, if there is a big show or something that weekend let me know and I can reschedule if conflicts are brought to me soon enough.