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Collecting and Pinning Specimens

This is the sheet setup I use to collect. I took tent  poles from a dome tent and made the pole. I took a sheet and sowed a band along the edge for the tent pole to pass. I use two of the metal posts that are used for an electric fence. I put the poles in the ground and then place the sheet over the poles. This gives it rigidity. I have two 15 watt fluorescent bulbs that I bought from Bio-Quip that I hook to a gel cell battery or a jump start battery. I place the extra sheet on the ground to keep moths and beetles from falling into the grass. I have some kill jars that I use to dispatch the insects. I put them into stamp envelopes and place them into the freezer when I get home. This ensures that they are dead and keeps them from drying out till I get them pinned.
This is another simpler method that involves tying a rope between two trees and hanging a sheet over the rope ( use clothes pins to keep the sheet attached to the rope). Let the bottom of the sheet stretch out the front for a catch basin.
Beetle Trap Container placed at ground level which allows beetles to fall in but then can't climb back out.
Berlese Funnel
Dragonfly Netting Nets with long handles, better if non-white colored netting and then work along streams, rivers and lakes. Specimens captured can be placed in stamp envelopes and processed later.
Malaise Trap Insects fly into the trap, go to the top and then fly into a catch container. A container is also placed on the ground and catches insects that fall.
Pan Trap Simple trap. Can be any kind of bowl, placed at ground level with alcohol in it for a killing agent.
Pill Bottle Capture Using pill bottles or small containers to capture insects on flowers or other plants.
Sweep Netting Just as it's name implies, you sweep a net through vegetation and then check the net to see what you have captured. A heavier net than a typical butterfly net is recommended if you are sweeping bushes instead of flowers and grasses.