Out and About

I set a new personal record finding elk antlers this week. Unfortunately, it is my record for the smallest matched elk set I have ever found. I put a few miles on the old boots to find these girly-man sized sheds, but it is still better than getting skunked.

I also spent a couple nights this week looking for black-footed ferrets. It makes for a very very long night when you aren't seeing anything. Finally, on Friday night, one of my coworkers saw and trapped a ferret, and I figured I better get my photo with the little endangered weasel. I had been spotlighting all night and this photo was taken at 5:01 am, you can pretty much tell from the look on my face.

Love/Hate Relationship

Before I started working for the Fish and Game the idea of spending lots of time in airplanes and helicopters looking for animals and seeing the country from the air sounded awesome! How cool to be able to see everything from above, right?

Fast forward to the present, and I would rather get a cavity drilled sans nitrous than fly in a plane or helicopter. More than once while flying I have thought about how much better I would feel if I just opened the door and jumped out. That thought passed through my mind again last Tuesday morning while counting antelope, just before I did my best to fill the barf bag.

I love seeing the lay of the land from the air, it gives you a perspective of the landscape you just can't get from the ground. I have seen things from the air that many people will never be able to see. Every once in a while in between the bouts of nausea, Dramamine induced dizziness and the suite of nasty side effects from the Scopolamine, I absolutely love being able to take it all in from the sky.

Hardware Ranch Utah, can you see all the elk?

Zoomed in on the computer in Paint, and counted all the dots to make an even 500 elk in Rich County, Utah. There was no way I was going to get an accurate count from a moving airplane. You gotta love digital cameras.

Sometimes the man-made scenery isn't half bad from the air either.

To List, or Not to List? That is the Question

This is a Greater Sage Grouse male strutting. Male birds congregate on traditional strutting grounds (called a lek) every spring and do this mating display to attract potential mates. Sage Grouse live in the western US in areas with lots of sagebrush. Due to factors like weeds, predators, poor cattle grazing practices, and increased oil and gas development in sage grouse habitats their populations are declining. There is legal petition being reviewed by the federal government to list the Greater Sage Grouse as an endangered species. If these birds are listed, it will have huge impacts on what activities can take place on our federal lands in the west. Sage grouse could be to cattle grazing and energy extraction what the spotted owl was to logging in the Pacific Northwest. There is a huge list of potential negative impacts to rural economies.



If listing sage grouse as en endangered species led to more responsible energy extraction practices and improved livestock grazing techniques, I think it could be a good thing. However, the track record of the Endangered Species Act and the environmental groups that use it as a tool to promote their own agendas is not encouraging. There are many extreme environmental groups with anti-cattle, anti-oil and gas, anti-use of any kind agendas that would file numerous lawsuits and protests against any activity they have a moral objection to. These groups suffer from a sever case of environmental extremist tunnel vision, and are far more interested in stopping livestock grazing on public grounds that they are in actually saving sage grouse. They will use the Greater Sage Grouse, like they have other endangered species, as a tool to stop activities they disagree with. There is strong evidence that properly managed cattle grazing and healthy sage grouse populations are compatible, but these groups will not allow any challenges to their rigid anti-cow dogmas.


The official decision from the US Fish and Wildlife Service is expected in December.

My Little Babe

My Little Babe loves to get right in the middle of the action when it comes to hunting. I guess taking her along since she was just a toddler has paid off. I shot a couple grouse in Logan Canyon with her when she was 2 years old. I was cleaning the birds and she said "look Dad you have sauce on your hands".

She graduated from this naivety, to a morbid sense of curiosity that led to a routine of poking and prodding of all the dead animals I bring home. Both her and her brother started to cry when I cut the tongue out of my 2006 Idaho deer. I removed the tongue so it wouldn't be hanging out in the photos, but the kids were so upset because they had been looking forward to poking the deer in the eye and tongue with a stick since the year before. Despite the disappointment, Preslie still had me take a couple photos together with her and the deer, and even made me take one of just her with the buck.

Preslie is a good little carnivore, and loves to eat wild game. She devours deer and elk steak and usually eats more than Tristie. Preslie has eaten deer, elk, pheasant, forest grouse, wild turkey, sage grouse, and loves trout. She yells at me if I try to practice "catch and release" fishing, and can't wait to get home and eat all the fish she catches. While I was field dressing a pheasant under her watch, she saw the breast and said "look at all the yummy meat Dad". Last fall when I brought home my Utah deer Preslie was so excited to help me cut up the meat. She sat with me at the table the whole time and even had her own knife to help. I had to take the knife away from her out of fear for both our safety, but she made me promise that I would let her butcher my deer all by herself when she is 7 years old. Sounds like a good deal to me. The funny thing is that her younger brother named "Hunter" doesn't seem nearly as interested in hunting or fishing. Maybe when he gets older?

She can't wait until she is 12 and gets to hunt big game for herself. I am almost as excited as she is. It is great to have a hunting buddy like my Little Babe.

Marty Moose

A coworker raised this baby moose after his mother was hit by a car. He fed him calf formula, took him for walks, and taught him which plants he should eat to help wean him. The moose really got attached and acted a lot more like a dog than a moose. When it was time to release him into the wild we were a little worried that his affinity for humans might cause problems. We released him on a large private ranch where he would have limited contact with people and moose hunters. Some of the guys hunting deer and elk on the ranch had interesting encounters when out of nowhere a moose would walk right up to them in the woods. One of the guides was pretty scared and thought he was being attacked when Marty came to sniff his backpack. Thankfully, ol' Marty the Moose never did cause any serious problems, and has integrated back into the wild.

Conservation Hero and Legend

Theodore Roosevelt was one of the original US conservationists. From preserving the first National Park to establishing the Forest Service and National Wildlife Refuge system he has always held wild creatures and the places they call home in high regard. Roosevelt was an avid hunter and outdoorsman, and an advocate for what he called "the strenuous life" which included spending time hunting in the wild to develop character and substance. He founded the Boone and Crockett Club a prominent international organization dedicated to wildlife conservation and hunting. Theodore Roosevelt, a great American president and champion of wildlife conservation.

Calcium + Phosphorus = Big Excitement

Who would think that finding a piece of calcium and phosphorous could get somebody so excited? There is just something about coming around a corner, or glancing under a bush and catching a glimpse of that familiar shape that makes your heart start beating. I always mean to take pictures before I pick them up, but usually get too caught up in the moment and forget. I do remember on occasion, but 9 times out of 10 it doesn't cross my mind until I have already picked it up.


The other day while conducting fawn mortality surveys I happened on a few of these and it made my day.