LMAO-I still have it!!!!

haha!! Great story Mike. Glad you still "got it". Never admit today's pain to them. They will worship you forever!

I did that once at age 30 . I met this 22 year old UCLA graduate. He was the star of the mens volleyball team. This guy wanted chuckwallas. BAD. He wanted them from a specific place. He'd been there a couple times and never found any. I said, give me $150 and I guarantee you'll catch some chucks. I had no clue why he wasn't seeing them. Everything he said was correct. We planned a trip. He drove. We slept under the stars on a beautiful late April evening. Woke up in the morning ate some breakfast. I grabbed a coke and sat on the picnic benches waiting for the chucks to wake up.

He was all excited and wanted to go hunting. I said "why? they ain't awake yet. Just relax, we'll go get them when they wake up".

He was having none of it.

By 8:30 he was checking rock piles (correctly I might add) but not finding chucks. They weren't up yet. He got tired, it was approaching 95 out. He came back to camp, grabbed some water and at that exact moment I saw my first chuck. About 100 yards from camp in the opposite direction from where he went. I said "OK, they are waking up, let's go get them".

He looked at me like I had three heads. "It's too hot, they wont be out today. You lose $150".

haha!!

"Nope, let's go get that one right there" pointing to #1 chuck of the day. We got there, it was a pair this "athlete" (dude had a washboard stomach) was literally falling apart in front of me. I bagged the pair and handed him the pillowcase. The adrenalin got me going, he wanted two pairs. I saw another pair a couple hundred feet UP the mountain. I said "I ain't doing it alone, you gotta go with, or you pay up now and you go home with one pair".

Whining and crying he climbed the hill. We teamed up and grabbed that pair. We rested with our waters and enjoyed the scenery. From up high we could see HUNDREDS of chucks all over the mountain. The puss then climbed down the hill to wait by the truck while I went shopping. After an hour or so I found a pair for myself. A very young pair with little color. He thought I was crazy to take "ugly ones". They colored up the next spring and laid eggs. I never heard what his old and colorful animals did for him.

By the time I made it to the truck it was noon and the thermometer said 104 and I could see the chucks were beginning to feed. My companion was a complete mess. I had to drive his truck home. Cost him $60 in gasoline and a $150 guide fee to get 4 lizards.

Said he never wanted to hunt lizards again. lol If ya can't take the heat, don't bother hunting chuckwallas!

Here is a specimen from the same mountains owned by a good friend. Do you see the attraction?

Scott,great story and an awesome lizard-the colors "POP"!

I was co-founder/co-owner of www.amazonreptile.com for 11 years. Before that I was self-unemployed selling herps I produced in my backyard. 2010 I sold out and put it all behind me. Now I just share useless knowledge.

Mike, I can't walk 24 miles non-stop, ever! You a better man than I ever was.