# Suggestions for Cali trip please



## widowkeeper (Apr 12, 2014)

I will be traveling through Cali in late June early July I still have about a weeks worth of stops to plan . We will be stoping at jtree Yosemite and doing the drive up the coast on hwy1  I would love to have a couple specific stops to see tarantulas / scorpions


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## Le Wasp (Apr 12, 2014)

Sounds like a good trip.  I've never had much luck finding tarantulas around Joshua Tree (saw one in a burrow on Ryan Mountain), but I saw loads of tarantula hawks there, so there must be a lot in the area.  I wish I had taken better notes, but I remember going on a field trip to Twentynine Palms (town next to Joshua Tree) where I found some giant hairy desert scorpions.

If you go far enough north, any area around Henry Coe State Park (https://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF...7471986&ei=xYlJU41Oo9LIAaL1gNgJ&ved=0CLsBEPwS) is good for finding tarantulas.  Those mountains swarm with wandering male tarantulas every fall.  (They have an event called Tarantula Fest at the park)


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## skippydude (Apr 13, 2014)

It's will be too late for then, for our spring time mating season in the Sierras, when all the horny males are wandering the streets


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## Smokehound714 (Apr 14, 2014)

They can be easily found outside of the migration.  Just gotta know where to find them, and what to look for..  Early in the year, their burrows are sealed until it heats up (They're active now.).


  You can generally lure them out with a small stick, it's pretty epic when you find a nice burrow and lure out a huge female.  I can find aphonopelma joshua.

  Mating season begins in fall, not spring, though there are a few late bloomers in spring still wandering about.

  This is a hunting trip, so national and state parks are off-limits.  We can, however poke around the outside of the park boundaries in most cases, which is how i can obtain A. joshua.


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## skippydude (Apr 14, 2014)

skippydude said:


> It's will be too late for then, for our spring time mating season in the Sierras, when all the horny males are wandering the streets


My bad, you'll be early for the Sep-Oct mating season. 
 Like Smokehound says you can find them year round if you don't mind disturbing their burrows


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## Smokehound714 (Apr 14, 2014)

skippydude said:


> My bad, you'll be early for the Sep-Oct mating season.
> Like Smokehound says you can find them year round if you don't mind disturbing their burrows


luring them out actually tends to be less stressful on them.  No digging or flooding required.

 They simply dart out thinking it's food.  If they're hungry enough, they'll chase it. 

  You can catch desert hairy scorps this way, too, though they're better at sensing you.


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## Le Wasp (Apr 18, 2014)

Ah, that's always fun to do with tarantulas!  I've had the best successes when using a small spray of grasses and gently spinning it to get little vibrations near their burrow's entrance.  I've never tried it for scorpions though; that sounds like something to try out.


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## Smokehound714 (Apr 19, 2014)

haha sometimes you can use a big ole stick, and they'll try to kill it, and crawl all over it.


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## widowkeeper (May 8, 2014)

Smokehound714 said:


> They can be easily found outside of the migration.  Just gotta know where to find them, and what to look for..  Early in the year, their burrows are sealed until it heats up (They're active now.).
> 
> 
> You can generally lure them out with a small stick, it's pretty epic when you find a nice burrow and lure out a huge female.  I can find aphonopelma joshua.
> ...


I will be in jtree around the  30th of june, we had a lot of fun there last year. this time around I would like to spend more time looking for tarantulas and a Joshua is on the top of my list. I will only be there 2 days befor we move on so any info you can offer would be great


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