Oh for cryin' out loud...I don't keep them, and the ones in Wyoming, which is where I was if you'd read the post, are not the same species. I catch them because I can, and I enjoy looking at them...is that all right with you?
Correct action according to who? You?
I was at 6000' elevation hiking out of my favorite river canyon and there laying at my feet was this fossil looking up at me. An ancient ocean/lake/river with animals that had been covered over by dirt at 6000' above sea level, imagine that. The rock in the area is quite fractured from the mountains moving during an earthquake or from me hiking in and out so many times, either way the fossil layer has been exposed and one rolls down every now and then and is spotted and enjoyed. Oh, that spot of yellow on it was NOT there when I found it and yes it is a piece of gold that was found elsewhere.
This is a picture of my ride with the country I prospect in in the background. Way down at the bottom of the canyon is a nice flowing river where I prospect. The finding is not always easy however the being in there is sure good for the soul as the country is just beautiful to behold. Every now and then and when I've worked really hard I come up with something like this 
that makes my jaw drop open or like this 
and either one just makes me happy to be alive and 'out there' exploring.
I see the occasional, mostly broken, pieces of arrowheads, and spear points, or the occasional scraper. I've also been finding a few old, blackpowder cartridges. I don't metal-detect over there, just prospecting. I'm prospecting for diamonds. That primarily involves finding Kimberlite-indicator minerals, like this pyrope garnet that is sitting on an anthill.
There's a lot of great rocks in that country.....it's a rockhound's paradise, for sure.
There are just too few targets in that country. Finding anything of value would be like a needle in a haystack. Mostly it is simply used for grazing, hunting, and mineral mining...lots of trona in that country...maybe the largest deposits in the world. There is getting to be a little bit of interest in diamonds, but so far nothing has been found that's worth any commercial development. Some of the gravel is river gravel, some is just erosion debris from the Uinta Mountains. Some of the rock looks dark, and igneous, so maybe there are a few volcanic uplifts contributing to the gravel, too. Lots of semi-translucent, dark brown chalcedony quartz. The geology varies an enormous amount,
Glad it helped. Supposedly there's an area of New Mexico that has diamonds. If you are prospecting that area you should also watch for Chrome diopside in the anthills. It looks like emerald, but is usually in long, narrow slivers, though occasionally in square, flat crystals. It only stays intact for about 3/4 miles from the source. Both pyrope garnet and ch. diopside are Kimberlite indicators.
I know some of the reduced numbers are due to collecting and selling the little buggers. The ones you guys have down there are more popular...they have large spikes at the collar. The ones up here don't. The reason they were put under protection in the first place, was due to collecting and selling to pet shops. I'm sure that still goes on, despite the laws. I'm sure you guys in Texas still have ants? That's the main food source for Horned Lizards.
hvacker....one thing I forgot to mention...some of the anthills are as much as 50 years old. I caution everybody I meet that there's no advantage to digging them up. The gems are good as indicators, but are too small to have any real value, and if there are gems in the area, there will be some right at the surface of the anthill.
