A.opacum Habitat

With deer season in full swing here in Georgia, my son Ian and I went out to try our luck. We have been going to a COE area in central GA the last couple of seasons. The area we hunt is also excellent A.opacum habitat, so sometimes I'm not sure if I'm really deer hunting or salamander hunting (Ian claims it's the latter). Usually by November you can tip a dozen plus in a few minutes. But with the extreme drought we're experiencing here we definitely haven't been seeing as many and most of the nests we have found will probably not make it. All of the shallow depressions behind Ian should be full of water by now.


We did find a few clutches this day though. The log at the arrow actually had three. As you can see, even with some of our recent rains the depression hasn't a drop. We moved two to one of the few vernal pools in the area and brought one home. They hatched overnight after being placed in water, but with our busy schedule we decided it would be best to take them back and release them. 40+ more mouths is just too much!

neat

Cool finds. Too bad about the drought in Georgia though. Last spring when I was living there the Spotteds and Tigers never came out to breed in the vernal pools behind my old house. Maybe 2008 will be a better year.

Russ - excellent photos. I am hoping to repeat your results this weekend or the one after here in Texas. The aim is to not get shot in the process since I am not a hunter and just have an LPU permit. I'm going to have to pop by Cabelas some time in the next day or so and get some of that orange clothing that Ian is showing off so well.

Yep, I pretty much wear orange from early October until the end of January whether I'm hunting, fishing, hiking or just plain old herping.

awesome!, herping and hunting, what could be better?

usually i can only get herping in the first month or so of bow hunting, and by the time gun hunting comes around its about 20 degrees out