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Post by rayrard on Oct 22, 2020 22:55:25 GMT -8
I think the worst field disasters are relegated to the past where guys would collect a ton of specimens and have their ship sink or get wrecked and lose everything. I wonder if such a thing has happened in the modern era. I guess they got to actually collect them so at least they enjoyed that, but I couldn't get over losing all my specimens especially if I knew I collected new species.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 23, 2020 2:37:48 GMT -8
I think the worst field disasters are relegated to the past where guys would collect a ton of specimens and have their ship sink or get wrecked and lose everything. I wonder if such a thing has happened in the modern era. I guess they got to actually collect them so at least they enjoyed that, but I couldn't get over losing all my specimens especially if I knew I collected new species. Yes they are call “USFWS” and “loaning all your papered material to trustworthy entomologist” both of which I’ve covered in other threads.
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Post by Paul K on Oct 23, 2020 4:51:13 GMT -8
I think the worst field disasters are relegated to the past where guys would collect a ton of specimens and have their ship sink or get wrecked and lose everything. I wonder if such a thing has happened in the modern era. I guess they got to actually collect them so at least they enjoyed that, but I couldn't get over losing all my specimens especially if I knew I collected new species. Yes they are call “USFWS” and “loaning all your papered material to trustworthy entomologist” both of which I’ve covered in other threads. Exactly! I know one person he was collecting in French Guiana same time I was there and a year before that he also collected there and upon arrivle to US USFWS confiscate all his material due to lack of proper forms. Second time he did all according to US laws but took 3 months until he received his specimens.
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Post by eurytides on Oct 23, 2020 5:01:23 GMT -8
I think the worst field disasters are relegated to the past where guys would collect a ton of specimens and have their ship sink or get wrecked and lose everything. I wonder if such a thing has happened in the modern era. I guess they got to actually collect them so at least they enjoyed that, but I couldn't get over losing all my specimens especially if I knew I collected new species. I think the “worst” disaster is when one of these guys dies while on a collecting trip because they got sick or fell off a cliff or something. Of course, they wouldn’t be posting in this thread...
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mikeh
Full Member
Posts: 207
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Post by mikeh on Oct 23, 2020 9:37:01 GMT -8
I think the worst field disasters are relegated to the past where guys would collect a ton of specimens and have their ship sink or get wrecked and lose everything. I wonder if such a thing has happened in the modern era. I guess they got to actually collect them so at least they enjoyed that, but I couldn't get over losing all my specimens especially if I knew I collected new species. Something like this happened to me. After a four or five day camping/collecting trip with my family I stayed with my sister for a few days in her apartment in downtown Salt Lake. As I was packing up to leave I somehow left my specimen box on the curb instead of putting it in my car and once I realized it did not get packed someone had taken it. There were some pretty interesting bugs in there as well, some interesting longhorn beetles, the first Speyeria nokomis I ever netted and the only giant water bug I have ever caught. Some homeless guy made a haul that day.
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Post by wollastoni on Oct 24, 2020 7:09:28 GMT -8
I think the “worst” disaster is when one of these guys dies while on a collecting trip because they got sick or fell off a cliff or something. Of course, they wouldn’t be posting in this thread... I fully agree. In August 2009, I was in the New Guinean mountains of the Baliem Valley. One day, strong rains came in the middle of the afternoon and we had a one hour walk in a dangerous path to reach the nearest Papuan village of the Dani tribe. Putting my shoe on a slippery stone, I fell off about 2 meters, head first... I was lucky to finish my fall in a very dense bush and didn't break myself anything. Hurting myself severely at 2500m altitude in New Guinea would have been a nightmare and discovering the skills of Dani tribe surgeons was not a funny option ! It all happened in 2 seconds, sometimes you need the luck with you. I am sure that all field collectors in mountainous or jungle area have a story like this one.
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Post by 58chevy on Oct 24, 2020 7:30:26 GMT -8
When I was about 11 or 12 years old, my family went on vacation to Big Bend National Park. We spent one night at a motel in Marathon, TX. Next to the motel was a brightly lit gas station that was crawling with bugs, many of which were exotic and unfamiliar to me. I filled several jars and took them back to the motel room. I was very excited about my haul. The next morning we packed up and prepared to leave for Big Bend, but I had not yet packed my bug jars. My dad said we were going to stop for breakfast before leaving but we were going back to the motel afterwards to check out. I was hungry, so I decided to leave the jars in the room. After breakfast, we got on the road. I soon realized we were not heading back to the motel. My dad had decided to check out before breakfast, and he said we had gone too far to turn around. To this day I still dream about what was in those jars and all the unknown specimens I missed out on.
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Post by exoticimports on Oct 24, 2020 9:50:28 GMT -8
58chevy, that's a heartbreaking story. Similar to how I lost my brand new net- my error, Dad said we're not going back. I was upset for days, and every time I visit the location I'd left my net behind, I can still see it there, more than 40 years later. Anyway, I'd run out of glassine envelopes, so on a family trip to South Carolina I made triangles from wax paper. The summer heat melted the wax, and congealed it with the wings of my specimens. I won't tell you how old I was, it would be too embarassing and I should have known better. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Chuck
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Post by kevinkk on Oct 24, 2020 17:26:06 GMT -8
When I was about 11 or 12 years old, my family went on vacation to Big Bend National Park. We spent one night at a motel in Marathon, TX. Next to the motel was a brightly lit gas station that was crawling with bugs, many of which were exotic and unfamiliar to me. I filled several jars and took them back to the motel room. I was very excited about my haul. The next morning we packed up and prepared to leave for Big Bend, but I had not yet packed my bug jars. My dad said we were going to stop for breakfast before leaving but we were going back to the motel afterwards to check out. I was hungry, so I decided to leave the jars in the room. After breakfast, we got on the road. I soon realized we were not heading back to the motel. My dad had decided to check out before breakfast, and he said we had gone too far to turn around. To this day I still dream about what was in those jars and all the unknown specimens I missed out on. That's a little like my experience with the first and only giant water bug I captured on a road trip with Mom and Dad, I caught it, showed it to everyone, and said "I found this eating a small frog" Dad- "how are you going to find food like that? Get rid of it" I dumped the contents, water and all next to the car. Then he was mad about the mud. They supported my hobby, but not unconditionally. They did let me go to the Dominican Republic at 16. I loved Dad, but you know..
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 25, 2021 22:31:50 GMT -8
Not quite a field disaster, but on my way out to the east Mojave to do some early spring butterflying in 2015 I had the incident of a lifetime. I had had a rather large, spicy lunch at home and about 1/4 of the way out to my destination, around Rancho Cucamonga, I was feeling it down below. Traffic was a nightmare (this was a rush hour Friday as I recall) and I was not able to exit the freeway on the timing I would have preferred. By the time I managed to make it somewhere, anywhere to stop (a little Thai joint) and run in to use the toilet, a literal river of diarrhea was running down not only my shorts, but in drips and drops all over the floor of said eatery which was thankfully vacant at the time. When management discovered the lovely prize I am sure their hooting and hollering could be heard for miles around. They mopped up the floor outside the bathroom--I had to clean up inside. I had to throw out those shorts and briefs needless to say and somewhere, somehow, they found some pajama bottoms for me to wear outside of their establishment (that I still have to this day).
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 25, 2021 22:39:04 GMT -8
58chevy, that's a heartbreaking story. Similar to how I lost my brand new net- my error, Dad said we're not going back. I was upset for days, and every time I visit the location I'd left my net behind, I can still see it there, more than 40 years later. Anyway, I'd run out of glassine envelopes, so on a family trip to South Carolina I made triangles from wax paper. The summer heat melted the wax, and congealed it with the wings of my specimens. I won't tell you how old I was, it would be too embarassing and I should have known better. It seemed like a good idea at the time. Chuck I've done that... as an adult. Thankfully there were no casualties worse than Phyciodes mylitta. Edit: I've also lost my net--again, as an adult... twice... in the same summer. I had sepsis that spring which likely impacted my faculties some. After the first net loss, I had the luck of being able to catch gravid females of multiple butterfly species in one UT location with my bare hands or a small field container. I would be helpless in the face of a huge flight of Cercyonis sthenele masoni I unexpectedly happened upon, however. I've still not encountered that bug again.
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Post by papiliotheona on Apr 25, 2021 22:40:00 GMT -8
When I was about 11 or 12 years old, my family went on vacation to Big Bend National Park. We spent one night at a motel in Marathon, TX. Next to the motel was a brightly lit gas station that was crawling with bugs, many of which were exotic and unfamiliar to me. I filled several jars and took them back to the motel room. I was very excited about my haul. The next morning we packed up and prepared to leave for Big Bend, but I had not yet packed my bug jars. My dad said we were going to stop for breakfast before leaving but we were going back to the motel afterwards to check out. I was hungry, so I decided to leave the jars in the room. After breakfast, we got on the road. I soon realized we were not heading back to the motel. My dad had decided to check out before breakfast, and he said we had gone too far to turn around. To this day I still dream about what was in those jars and all the unknown specimens I missed out on. Wow, dude... I'm so sorry man... your dad was/is a special class of d-bag.
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Post by bandrow on Apr 26, 2021 20:07:46 GMT -8
When I was about 11 or 12 years old, my family went on vacation to Big Bend National Park. We spent one night at a motel in Marathon, TX. Next to the motel was a brightly lit gas station that was crawling with bugs, many of which were exotic and unfamiliar to me. I filled several jars and took them back to the motel room. I was very excited about my haul. The next morning we packed up and prepared to leave for Big Bend, but I had not yet packed my bug jars. My dad said we were going to stop for breakfast before leaving but we were going back to the motel afterwards to check out. I was hungry, so I decided to leave the jars in the room. After breakfast, we got on the road. I soon realized we were not heading back to the motel. My dad had decided to check out before breakfast, and he said we had gone too far to turn around. To this day I still dream about what was in those jars and all the unknown specimens I missed out on. I had a very similar experience back in 1990 - all of my own doing. We had spent 3 days in the Florida Keys and were camping at Manatee Springs on the way home. I had taken a variety of alcohol bottles from the Keys and combined them into one large sample in an opaque plastic white jar about the size of a mayo container. I was doing this at a picnic table, and when done, went to the back of the car, placed it on the bumper under the license plate, and began organizing equipment in the trunk. We finished packing up, and headed home. About 10 miles away, it suddenly hit me that I could not remember putting the jar in the trunk. We stopped and I checked - and to my horror - no jar!! I insisted on returning to look for it as it contained my entire catch from the Keys, and figured it probably fell off pretty soon after we started rolling, and a white jar should be easy to see along the road. About a mile from the campground, we began searching the roadside and got all the way back to the park without finding it. I refused to give up, and went all the way to the campsite, where I found a family setting up their tent. I asked if they'd seen a white jar, and the man said "yes - I threw it into the firepit". Again - horror. I walked over - and there it was - lid still on - no fire - and all my beetles safely inside. I figure I used up all the luck I would ever get from the insect gods all in one massive brainfart!! Cheers! Bandrow
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Post by exoticimports on Apr 27, 2021 11:16:00 GMT -8
Wow that was a heart stopping story. Lucky indeed!!
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Post by foxxdoc on May 5, 2021 9:59:21 GMT -8
Mountains of Northern Costa Rica, ; One of our collectors from our group fell and tumbled into one of these old volcanos. Couldn't get up or walk. One of our group was an English military physician and proclaimed our man had a broken femur. We unloaded a luggage tarp. down to our collector who had fallen and carried him up to the truck. in pain. needed a hospital. our truck driver with minimal English made it clear we shouldn' t go anywhere except to San Jose . 3 to 5 hour drive. Surgeon on duty a new addition to the country spoke no English and was learning Spanish Doc ordered X Rays. Our injured collector who was a Canadian had recently had a long stay in an Outback Australian Hospital from an infectious agent and was pretty gun shy about this hospital says " if I need a surgery get me on a plane to Miami !!!! "
X rays clear ; only a good bruise .
Best
Tom
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