Where to capture a specimen?

[jamesd]

Apparently, (in Australia atleast) it is wrong to collect a specimen in a state forest, national park, researve etc., so where can someone possibly catch species that are generally found in forested areas?
(I hear permits are available to collectors, but don't know how, let along the conditions to get one).

Without forested areas what are you left with? Desert, city and suburbs. Not everything can be found in these places.

I've always been a supporter of forest protection, but this is a bit frusterating. Every tree has a fence around it.

[lucanidae25]

Well come to Australia and that's all I can say. I go to Asia to collect and it's much more easier, bigger and better looking beetles. ;D

[what]

In the USA thankfully most national forests are open to collecting as are most BLM or similar lands... Private landowners are not always helpful unless you have some kind of credentials (which I do not) but can give you access to some of the most pristine habitat to search.

And finally, something I have a lot of success with is hunting in urban "fragments" of habitat. These usually only support small populations of any species that are from the area but I have found areas full of somewhat uncommon species. You just have to spend a lot of time finding the areas, finding legal access, and finally exploring the areas...often times finding nothing of interest. :/

[starlightcriminal]

I find roadsides very useful. They are usually disturbed which encourages weedy flowering plants, often there is roadkill or rain puddles which also draw different insects and if there is a cool place that is off-limits, there is usually an adjacent road that takes you there which is abutting the property on some side and has insects found in the neighboring areas you can't collect on with the pre-existing bait mentioned. A lot of business will let me collect on their property too as long as I stay out of the way and ask nicely. People are more receptive than you would think, especially if you show them something neat that you found afterwards. I have a good report with a bunch of local businesses that I frequent, some of them even have some staff that unexpectedly started to trap bugs for me. Even people I work with find odd things around their yards and bring them to me. Sometimes just letting people know what you are doing will give you pleasant surprises. Not everyone hates butterfly collectors.

One thing that works to my advantage compared to what you report is that 1. I live in a part of my state which is heavily wooded so there is forest everywhere even though it isn't all virgin and 2. I don't live in Australia, which I understand makes things extremely complicated.

[jackblack]

For collection in Australia you need to contact the federal environment dept canberra , tell them what you want to do and they may give you a permit to collect a limited number of insects not protected species though , a lot of bush in Australia and it`s not all protected .
But best bet is find a landowner who will allow you to collect.
I`m going to allow the odd collector to come to my place but there will be a fee for collection , I own 80acres of undisturbed lowland rainforest regarded as rare and have many species , I have permits to export approx 400+ species at this stage and will offer guided collection tours.