How do I catch beetles for the first time

[orangestag]

Hi, I recently found out that there are reddish-brown beetles (which is a boring name for a cool bug) living in Gettysburg PA and I wanted to catch one so I went out in the forest in my neighborhood but found nothing. I only went for an hour but still I had no idea where to look so I just kicked over a punch of sticks and fallen trees but saw no beetles. I was hoping to catch one to show my friend (he doesn’t believe they live here) and thought it’d be fun to keep them as pets. So is there a way to lure them out in the open? Also do their pincers hurt? And I have cats but a good cage would keep them out right? Sorry for all the questions but I’ve never even held a beetle before, speaking of which how do you do that?

[Ratmosphere]

You can buy light traps to lure them at night.

If not, search for rotting tree stumps/fallen rotting trees. 

Pinchers could hurt depending on your pain threshold. Really not bad at all in my experience. 

If you have an enclosure in a different room away from your cats, you should be fine. 

To hold the beetle, just pick it up. Their claws might be a bit strong and stick to your skin. From here you can blow on the beetle and gently pull to get them to release. 

[orangestag]

Thanks for the advice, but how do I search in the fallen trees? Inside of them or on top? I tried the first time picking up as many as I could from a pile but didn’t see anything under them. Also what is a good light trap (that’s not too expensive).

[orangestag]

And when you say light trap do you mean the white sheet with a light shining on it because I can’t stay in the woods in the middle of the night.