Looking to collect hair samples from a variety of hooved mammals in a variety of terrains. Relatively small tufts would be fine. My background is in ornithology not mammalogy. Any suggestions would be welcome.
Find a game trail - mountain goats will use the same trail between ridges, mountain sheep too. You might get some hair shed naturally, but a stick with barbed wire should work. We have often talked about the latter - never tried it - but I see know reason why it won't work.
Deer are a little more ubiquitous in their habitat use, but I would also target game trails.
Also, if it is a trail used be a many animals, you'll get a lot of different individuals sampled.
What is it exactly you are after?
I am planning on testing hair for environmental contaminants. We'll probably have to get some hair samples from known animals so that we can identify the hairs from traps.
Okay, well during the moult they are getting rid of their winter coats and you'l get a lot shed naturally which should work for this.
Goats do leave a lot of hair. I've collected that. There's also a gun that shoots a hollow tipped dart which I believe is intended to get actual tissue, but most of the time appeared to get only hair. But if it's hair you're after, that works well. Not a huge range, but it works. Doesn't seem to faze the goats hardly at all.
You will need a permit for the gun AND I would recommend against it unless you really know what you are doing. Plus, as Brian said, during the moult you'll find hair everywhere goats are.
Good points, Aaron. And the gun is heavy. Simpler is (almost) always better. If you can get away with just hair traps, that's likely more preferable.
Molt sound like it would work well if we can get relatively clean hair. When do they generally moult? We'll be doing the research on populations in Colorado.
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