The Monarch of the..........Marsh?!.........

It was exactly one year ago, on this day, that three of the Russian Mission Horsemen converged in a meadow on the Yukon Delta, under a comedy of circumstance, and killed the "Monarch of the Meadow".  (See post of same name from last year)  This year, we reunited and made another try to send September 18th into infamy.  It would be the same crew of Forde, John, and myself, only this time Forde was to be a triggerman, and I would be carrying the bow and filming.

We did not attempt this in the same meadow, however.  It was nearby, but this location was a new one to me.  That said, when we beached the boat on the water's edge, there sure was an awful lot of moose sign around....We quickly got underway walking in on the trail, seeing more and more moose sign at every turn....We jumped a couple of spruce chickens that nearly gave me a heart attack, and made me regret not having  a judo tipped arrow in my quiver...and still, I had to wonder if the voodoo would carry itself...

As we got very near the meadow we were headed for, we discovered a few rubs that were extremely fresh.  After remarking about them (and thinking that maybe we WOULD see the voodoo re-enacted), I snapped this photo of John and Forde heading further up the trail, rubs and busted trees at right:


Onward we went, the excitement still rising...and then we got to the edge of the meadow and discovered....that the meadow - was currently, in fact, a marsh.  Normally mostly dry, it now appeared to be sporting enough water to warrant hip waders at the least...

Undeterred, we sent Forde in.  Armed with a stick meant to measure his boot height against the water he was wading into, John and I bravely offered our encouragement to go until...well, until he couldn't anymore...and then we heard it.  That first sound that fires some synapse somewhere in your brain that says..."THAT'S a sound you need to pay attention to"....   And we listened.  And heard nothing.  In the distance, an owl hooted.  Then nothing.  Then, as we whispered back and forth about our water problem, I heard it again.  And so did John. (Not sure about Forde, only because he looked to be concentrating heavily on keeping his socks dry at the time...)  I can't remember if John called or not at this point....but he might have...at any rate...I remember Forde saying "Should I go or not?..."  and then all I saw was a flurry of motion from John and heard the fateful whisper, "It's a Bull!", "There he is!"...and then all Hell broke loose.  John scrambled to get set up with his call and gun and shooting sticks, I set down the bow and pack and went for the video camera in a fumbling, uncoordinated mess....and Forde left the water like he had seen an alligator.  Only surprisingly quietly.  As I pulled out the camera and began rolling...John and Forde got set up and John began a set of calls.  The bull was in clear view...but at the start, so were we.  As my mind was saying "He's not too far off to shoot for these guys with guns"....The bull, who had almost instantly established himself as a shooter, began to change his direction, rake a few willows, and turn as if he were coming to introduce himself.  Oh, happy time.  Immediately I was thinking, "Here we go"...

The bull came toward us, and then after crossing the 'pond', grunting his disapproval at our presence, and getting out of our sight in the thick stuff way out in front, he seemingly disappeared.  For roughly 25 minutes, all we were left with was the hooting of the owl in the distance.  We crept closer to where we thought the bull went, inching our way along the meadow.  Setting up again, John continued calling.  As we were trying to figure out what we were going to do next, I heard a stick...no, rather, a TREE, like the thickness of my leg, break, just across the 'pond' out of sight.  Seconds later, a pair of cows busted from the brush and came right towards us as John continued calling.  My ears were in overdrive, straining.  More branches being raked in the distance.  That owl was STILL hooting.  And now, sloshing in the water of eight long, ungainly moose legs.  Coming right at us.  The cows closed to 80 yards.  Then 60.  Soon it was 35-40.  But still no bull.  Only the thrashing of the trees, just out of sight, every time John raked the call across the limbs.  And that owl.  For nearly half an hour, we waited, and called, and whispered, and laughed, as the cows tried to make us out, and we tried to make out the bull.  But it wasn't to be.

The bull on the far side of the meadow, whether it was the original one or not, never showed itself. The only thing we would shoot this night would be some video.  Here is a very much un-perfect video clip of what happened.  At times, there is a lot of moving around, and the auto focus really messes with all the brush in the way, but so it goes when you are on a hunt.



For those with slow internet connections (like us, out here), or without Flash player, etc., or otherwise don't want to take the time for a video to upload, here are some pics of the bull taken from the video:
 









Maybe next time.... 

Fall Kako Camping Trip 2012

The weather this fall hasn't been good for anything....camping included. In fact, we were way behind pace by last week as we hadn't been out on a single school trip yet. Finally, last week we got enough of a break from mother nature that we planned a bunch of outings for the week. My group would be going to Kako and would consist of around 15 kids, me, and the chaperones from the village.

I had a lot planned....archery, moose hunting, spruce chicken hunting, duck hunting, beaver trapping, fish traps, and so on... gotta keep 'em busy :) We left on Wednesday afternoon, and would be returning Friday afternoon.

Archery turned out to be a big hit, as just about everyone participated at one time or another, and many of the students were waiting in line for their turn more often than not.




Some were inspired to have more fun shooting the bow than others :)


The first night a small crew went out with me and set two beaver castor mound sets.






We had fun trying to swamp the canoe - ers on the way....


It was declared that this year Kako would be a gun-free camp - except, of course, for chaperones :) and so all our spruce chicken hunting was with bows.

Some of the students were getting pretty good at shooting at birds from a moving boat:




And of course there was 'chicken' hunting to be had in camp as well as on the Kako two-track.


Notice the birds ahead of the kids on the left side:


The 'dumb' Spruce grouse offer great targets for spot and stalk.

A 'chicken' roasting on the fire.....Mmmmmmmmm




The first night dropped below freezing and only a hardy few were up and out of bed, ready and willing to go check our beaver sets. But those that were were rewarded, as, of course, that generally goes...







Though the beaver was mighty small (more like a muskrat) :) , the kids had fun, which is what matters.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again: Where else can you take a group of kids out into the woods for a few days with guns, bows, axes, and chainsaws - and not have an issue or an irate parent? Heck, we even chop our firewood right next to the archery range.... :) And yes, it only looks like she's pointing at them..


Overall, we had a great time with many successes. Can't wait for the next outing.....

The First Bird Outing of Fall 2012....

With all the foul weather we've had lately, it has been ugly to even think of getting out in the boat and going much of anywhere. Hearing tales of blowing gale winds, three foot rollers and pounding whitecaps on the river tends to do that. But, there are only so many days in September...that extraordinary time of Fall here in the bush, and you better use 'em...

And so, because of that "time's wasting" mentality, when John asked if I was going bird hunting with him and Forde and I said no....I started reconsidering. And it wasn't long until I was pulling on raingear and giving John a call back. We would be going to Gathonajuk (spelling is guaranteed to be WRONG) island, up river about 20 miles. This was the scene of last year's crazy bird hunt, and so, needless to say, I was excited. The ride even turned out to be nicer than I thought it would be, considering what it looked like outside. So, before too long, we pulled the boat up on shore of the island and started down the trail. This time there wasn't the deafening roar of wings as hundreds of birds took off like last year, however. In fact, a lot was different from last year. We quickly found out that the trail wasn't much of a trail at all - it was now a pond. Although we could see healthy groups of birds swimming right where we wanted to be, it was unreachable without at least hip waders - maybe chesties. So we went to the right and set up on the next likely looking mud pocket.

John started setting up the spread of dekes while I began attaching weights to those who needed 'em.


The action was pretty good as far as seeing birds....unfortunately the ones we saw were usually going somewhere else to land :). We did get a few in close enough though...but the strong winds also took some of them away from us when they fell out too far for Monk to get to.

Forde got some steel in to more than a couple, on his first 'official' bird outing.


On one volley where the ducks came in nicely, John and Forde each took one as I held my fire. The result was Monk grabbing John's duck, and then running down the beach to get Forde's, that he had chased down and..uhm...'anchored'. This is the action shot of the retrieval of the pair:


Towards the end of the evening, Two mallards came in, locked up, and dropped down right in front of us. Both birds were quickly put to bed. Monk brought the second one in as John waited with the first:


A shot of me heading back to the boat with the night's bag of five ducks. (Our collective bag, not 'my' bag....)


And finally, a shot of Forde, holding up a gaggle of ducks, and grinning as a cold-blooded killer should.

A fishy kind of summer.....

(More pics added, 3/12/13...) :)

Now that we are back home safe and sound in Russian Mission, and the school year is under way, I am beginning to get around to processing all the movies and photos from this summer and getting some of them on here. It was an epic summer of fisheries work indeed, working for the Idaho fish and game. I figured it would be a lot of fun, but it turned out to be even more than I had suspected. Though the snorkeling/redd count position ended up not being compatible with my availability, we got a fair share of high mountain lakes stuff in anyway. And that wasn't all.....

The summer started off for me with some Pelican counts on local reservoirs. The aim of this is to assess where the problems might be, if any, regarding predation of game fish by the pelicans.

(still have to download and add pelican pics here)

Next up in my first week on the new summer gig was a string of catfish electroshocking trips in the Snake river. That is a whole new kind of rodeo, drifting down the Snake sideways, skimming gravel bars, jetting in under overhanging branches and just as quickly jetting back out, in order to avoid hitting sweepers, etc...all while trying to net the shocked fish, which are supposed to be immobilized, but are often jumping, drifting with the current, or otherwise very much in various states of motion. As, of course, are you and the boat... A mess of fun. These fish were captured to be transplanted in ponds around the Boise and Nampa area. Here is a shot of the truck, waiting on one of the ramps with some channel cats in the tank already.



Another recurring job was to tag rainbows at the Nampa hatchery and stock them in various locations. Need to upload more pics of this as well... but in the meantime, one such stocking location was the Boise river on the Boise State campus, just in front of the practice facility...



One of the tasks that was most regular was night-time larval tows in both Brownlee and CJ Strike reservoirs. This consisted of using a net with a rectangular frame at the opening that has a pyramid-shaped-bag that tapers back to a reservoir canister made of PVC. The canister has holes in it which are covered with a very fine mesh (measured in microns), and this mesh lets out water but traps plankton and larval gamefish. This net is towed behind the boat at certain spots in the reservoirs (places where historical tows have been taken - in the name of scientific consistency) for a set amount of time and is always at the same depth, towed at the same speed, etc. The primary goal is to monitor the curve of yearly larval production of crappie and identify the peak takes place. This allows (as just one example of data use) water use and control measures of the reservoir to be conducted in the best way possible to accommodate these fish, which are a major draw to those using the reservoirs. Carrying out one of these tow surveys means starting at dark (9:45 - 10:00 PM), and usually last until 2:30-3:30 AM, which usually meant getting back home around 5 or 6 AM. Both reservoirs are over an hour from the IDFG office, so usually we were in for long nights. Anyways...

This is a pic taken at around 2 AM, with my phone, so not the best, but...it shows the net leaning up against the side of the boat. The tail end is draped back over the top in this pic.


So, upon finishing one of the tows, we end up (usually) with a bunch of plankton and hopefully some larval crappie in the canister. Here I had dumped a bunch of plankton into the screen filter for a pic:


Here is a shot of some plankton mixed in with some larval crappie, perch, and smallmouth.


And here is a LOADED canister!!!!


We had the chance to be good samaritans on one of these trips, and pulled a stranded boat back to the dock....


Another thoroughly enjoyable task for our crew was to help out with sturgeon surveys on CJ Strike reservoir. To sample these fish, we used gill nets, targeting the smaller juvenile sturgeon in order to mark them so that when they are recaptured later things like growth rates, age, etc can be monitored. Here's a shot out the back as we cruised through the res on the way to our gill netting site.


A friend that landed on the boat and got a little waterlogged...


A yellow perch in the net...and an ancient dinosaur fish too!!...


A good one along side the boat.


The best way to get a big sturgeon in the boat (for us): Tie a rope on his tail and hope that you can get a bag of net under him to lift him up with - they don't make landing nets THIS big... Also, sturgeon have sharp, bony pointed scales (called 'scoots') along their back and sides which contain points that will easily tear skin, and these scales are ganoid, just like sharks' ganoid scales - if you rub across them against the grain, the surfaces will slice and dice. Just grabbing a little one with your hands is dicey, as one tail thrash = blood.


Rob and Weston trying to keep the net under one as he rolled...


A little one in the tub...


A better look at the scoots along the back and sides...


Here I am holding one of manageable size..yet still more than capable of creating need for a bandaid....as a side note...sturgeon are NOT to be lifted free of the water in Idaho, as it can damage internal organs. These fish are lifted out of the water by us and those we were working with ONLY in order to get them to the work-up boat where important data will be taken. Utmost care must be given to these ancient, awe-inspiring fish. Pictures had to be taken on the way from our tub to the other boats' measuring nets.


Rob getting one to smile for the camera...


Here a sturgeon is in the measuring net, which also works as a blinder to calm them, as well as keeps them under water the whole time to relieve stress. This fish is a recapture that was caught earlier in life, and is being scanned.


One of my favorite pics of the summer: A prehistoric-looking seven-footer:




The most exciting one-day trip of the summer also involved electroshocking, but no catfish. During the last week before having to leave, we rafted the South Fork Boise river canyon. The only catch was, we were shocking as we went. The 'shock raft' setup is pictured here:

The blue booms are the arms for the hanging probes you see dangling in front there (on left). Electric current is supplied by the generator in back, sent along those booms and out the 'tentacles', where it is conducted by the water and creates current between the probes and the hanging cables you see coming off the sides of the raft. The result is a field of electricity around and below the raft. Fish caught in this field are shocked and stunned, and they (usually) float to the surface, where they are netted. Sometimes they are much more lively when hit with the current than they are supposed to be...and not so easy to net. This is amplified when you are rolling down a river that moves this much water, dodging rocks and class 3 rapids as you go. It can get exciting...

Here is the shock raft, with Joe rowing and Luke netting. This is a nice, mild stretch of river, but these pics do a fair job of showing what is supposed to be going on.


So as you can see, after the netter scoops up some incapacitated, but perfectly alright fish, he swings them around and drops them into the 'livewell' holding tank. This consists of an aerated metal tank placed in the center of the raft. The fish will be held in here until the given section of river transect is done, at which time shocking ceases and the 'chase raft' comes up from behind. The fish are then transferred to the chase boat for workup and data collection, and then released unharmed.


A shot looking forward from the chase raft. Quite a bit of burn area through the canyon.



Once a transect was done, the fish are moved, as I was saying, to this tub which is in the chase boat. From there, they are processed.


So here is the chase boat in action....I pull a fish out of the tub and place them into a cooler which has peppermint oil inside to anesthetize the fish. Once they relax, we measure length, weigh each one, and a third person records the data, all while noting species.




A nice healthy rainbow, feeling sleepy.....


Pete weighs a rainbow while Weston records...


An intermittent scenery shot... :)


Always scientific...but rarely serious.....


This was a fun little chute....


How about having this for your office, hmm?


Another 'office' shot, taken from the shock raft as we waited for the chase boat to catch up.



The highlight of the summer, for me, was getting the chance to hike up into the Baron Lakes region of the Sawtooth National Forest to conduct amphibian and lake surveys. I have posted this on the species list pages in much more detail, and so will just provide captions here for the most part. Basically, we were there to check for presence and success level of amphibians, primarily Long-toed salamanders among others, and also monitor lake water quality parmeters and presence of trout; i.e. success of stocking programs and potential for resuming/terminating a given lake from the stocking lists. Of course, if these protected salamanders are present, we do not want to introduce trout to compete with and EAT the salamanders. Also, if fish are not surviving in a given lake very well, we do not want to keep dumping resources (fish) into it - and inversely, if a lake is so healthy that natural reproduction is taking place, we can then stop stocking that lake and turn resources elsewhere...etc. Here are a smattering of the pics from the trip, in no particular order. For better explanations of what you are seeing, check out the species list post about the "Sawtooth Grand Slam".

A high-mountain Brookie from Baron lake.


A view of Baron lake from our camp.


An evening lake shot.


A sweeping view of several lakes from 10000 feet.


And the view a little further to the right...


Weston and Joe by our favorite lake of the trip.


And a solo of me, at same lake:


Looking down on Upper Bead lake. - sorry, this pic is a little washed out...


Upper Bead up close.


A nice Westslope Cutthroat (17") from Upper Bead.


A view of the descent down to Upper Bead from the bottom.


A sample of the terrain.


One of at least 6 doubles from Lower Bead lake.


A Westslope in spawning colors from Lower Bead.


Another Lower Bead Cutt.


A close up of a brightly colored Westslope Cutthroat male.





Sure is hard work...


There's a goat on the snow down there...


And here's two more shots as we crept up behind him on our way out of the basin:




A Golden trout on the way in.




Spectacular fish, these Goldens are, and by far my favorite trout.




A Grayling, caught from the same lake as the Goldens. That combination in the same lake at 9000 feet - it doesn't get any better in my book.




Yet another of the basins we ogled over on the trip. Ugly hiking, but worth every step.


Lower Baron lake.


Wildflowers in an old burn area.


A fat alpine Brookie.


Fish on!


A Columbia Spotted Frog....waving...


Proof of natural reproduction - a Brookie fry lurking in the shallows.


Lower Baron from a different angle.


A high mountain meadow, complete with a stream. And, there's trout in it......


I'd bet there's trout under those logs, too......AND that rock....


Luke, Weston, and Me at the boundary sign.


A close up of another Westslope, this one closer to a 'normal' color.


A pic from the moment of the strike...


An INSANELY colored Golden trout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Beautiful fish in a beautiful place.


Life on the trail...


That blob in the vertical trail at lower right is a string of four pack horses hauling much of our gear.


Yet another Grayling.


Paul and the horses up close.


A nice Golden.


The basin we came in through. All the way out and around that corner to the left a ways is the trailhead, about 8.5 miles from where this pic was taken. And this was still 2.5 miles from basecamp.


Mountain Goat checking us out....still losing his winter coat, looks like.


A sunset shot.


an abstract shot of the Golden/Grayling lake. Fishing among icebergs, we were.....


A view of another of the Baron lakes. That's Weston down there, arms raised...


All in all, it was a blast of a summer, and it was refreshing to work in a regional office that has their hands in so many different things.