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Cowboy Heaven Consulting, LLC |
Past Month's Moccasin Telegraph
March 2002
| 3/28/02 | As mentioned in the previous entry, this month has been the wintriest
March in Montana in years. That’s good, in that the mountain snowpack has improved
fairly dramatically in most areas, although we’re still far from out of the woods as
far as drought goes. More annoying has been the bitter cold temperatures plaguing much of
the state. Single-digit readings on either side of the zero mark have been common a lot of
mornings, and only in recent days has the mercury crept up very far into the forties for
daytime highs. Still, although the weather isn’t really displaying much sign of
spring, the animals are going about their business right on schedule. We’ve seen a
few bluebirds in recent days, and the elk are dropping their antlers. Looking for shed antlers offers one of the earliest reasons to get out hiking that we know of, and is a great excuse to get out and start getting back in shape, after too much winter inactivity. Of course, we’re not advocating harassing or stressing animals with low energy reserves after a long winter, but if you utilize a little common sense that can be easily avoided. Besides, disregarding the last month, the winter has been quite mild and the animals are in good shape. It’s those years when winter arrives with a vengeance in October that the animals are hurting by late winter, and even slight additional stress at that point can be fatal. A lot of elk, in particular, are utilizing the state-owned Wildlife Management Areas
this time of year, and those are close to human use until May 15 A couple of recent outings have resulted in sightings of thousands of elk, deer, birds, a grudgingly miniscule weight loss considering the effort expended, and remarkably even a mild sunburn. Last Friday was the nicest day I’ve spent outdoors since last fall, with sunshine, no wind, and temperatures near 50. From what I’ve seen, about half the elk still have their antlers, although they’ll be dropping them within the next couple of weeks. Shed antlers used to be worth quite a bit of money, in large part because of the market
for their medicinal use in the Orient. A ban has been placed on |
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| 3/18/02 | February showed us some tantalizing hints of the spring to come, but so
far March has been downright wintry. The Native Americans that inhabited this part of the
world called this month the "Starvation Moon". I’d think this
particular March would have been a bleak month indeed to be living in a teepee and
depending on hunting success for survival. The natives weren’t particularly mobile in
the winter months, and by this late stage of the winter, game would be scarce for miles
around an encampment. Especially on the Hi-Line in northern Montana, the weather has been
brutal lately; with sustained high winds, snowfall, and bitter cold. We’ve had less
of all that here in southwest Montana, but it’s been far from balmy. We’ve yet
to sink back into the sub-zero range very far, but many mornings have been in the single
digits, and days when the thermometer got above freezing have been rare. By this point in
the winter, I’m finding it a tad discouraging to look out in the morning and see the
ice haze that indicates bitter cold. I can only imagine the emotions that sight
would produce staring out of a cold teepee with an empty belly. In spite of that, some of the earliest migrants from their wintering grounds in more hospitable climes are arriving right on schedule. The Gallatin Valley currently has bald eagles in abundance. You can scarcely drive anywhere without seeing several perched in trees. On the warmer days, such as they’ve been, a few gophers have been poking through the snow, where they are easy pickings for raptors. Still, food sources have to be scarce in comparison to the comparatively mild weather of the last few late winters. Last evening we were watching a pair of eagles perched in a nearby tree; one mature and the other still wearing the mottled feathers of a sub-adult. Their feathers were puffed up until they looked nearly rotund, but I’ll bet their appetites were far from sated. A magpie, who has undoubtedly spent the winter in the neighborhood, was flitting about their perch, undoubtedly expressing his displeasure with the newly arrived competition for a limited food supply. The magpie is more omnivorous, though, and right now I’d surmise his comfort level is higher than that of the eagles. We even saw a pair of eagles feeding on a road-killed deer the other day. In the Starvation Moon, you take it where you can get it. Eagle numbers are up dramatically in recent years, which some attribute to the banning of pesticides like DDT. I’m sure that is a factor, but the more I learn about wildlife biology, the less credence I give to simple answers. Wildlife populations ebb and fall due to an incredibly complex set of inter-related factors, and I’ve noticed professional biologists rarely endorse a single factor as being the reason for population shifts. This was underscored during a recent discussion of sage grouse, whose populations have plummeted over much of the west in recent years. In eastern Montana, sage grouse are holding their own, but here in the southwest part of the state, and over the rest of their native range in western states, particularly Idaho and Nevada, their numbers have become perilously low. Word has it they’re heading for listing as an endangered species, which has immense ramifications for public land management, especially BLM lands where much of the historic sage grouse habitat lies. Unfortunately, sage grouse are not exactly a glamour species, and wildlife management agencies don’t have a lot of hard data on them. This was underscored at a recent presentation to the Gallatin Wildlife Association by Ben Connard, a Forest Service wildlife biologist. Sage grouse that used to summer in the Centennial valley, in the vicinity of Red Rock Lakes National Wildlife Refuge, crossed the Centennial range to winter in Idaho. Much of their habitat there has been plowed up for potato farms, though, with predictable consequences for the birds. Also, extensive fires in Nevada and southern Idaho have destroyed much of the native sage, and the range has suffered a widespread invasion of cheatgrass, a nearly worthless plant that I have extensive bitter experience with from my own farming days. Another factor often blamed for the decline in sage grouse numbers is cattle grazing. In spite of the seemingly endless expanses of sagebrush desert, critical habitat for the birds is at least seasonally concentrated on what passes for riparian areas in this dry country. Of course, the cows are fond of those areas too, and if not restricted will graze those areas down to putting green height. If sage grouse are listed as an endangered species, one probable outcome will be the elimination of grazing on public land. While I’ve witnessed numerous abuses of public range by cattle, and would like to see it reduced or eliminated in some areas, it’s unarguable that a properly administered rest-rotation grazing system can benefit range quality, as well as the wildlife that depend on it. That strikes me as a win-win scenario for all involved, and eliminating it altogether would be an unnecessary over-reaction.. To get back to my original point here, though, Connard pointed out that while much of the outcry about declining sage grouse numbers points to agricultural practices, their research shows eagles may have as much to do with it as anything. Sage grouse are big, conspicuous birds, and prime targets for eagles. The Gallatin Wildlife Association has participated as volunteer labor in sage grouse radio collaring projects, and we’ve found numerous sage grouse remains consisting of a pile of feathers, a head, feet, and little else. With no predator tracks such as coyote or fox in the vicinity, eagles are the likely culprit. So, what are we to do? Ban eagles? Not likely…. This semi-rambling discourse certainly doesn’t offer any solutions, just an observation that comments from activists on both sides of these issues need to be taken with a big grain of salt if they’re offering simple solutions to wildlife issues. On that note, I’m attending a meeting tonight on Montana’s proposed Wolf Recovery Plan. That should be interesting…. |
(generally speaking, some are opening
on May 1 this year). If you want to get the jump on shed antler hunting, though, there are
a number of spots on public land not affected by seasonal closures where you can find a
concentration of wintering elk. And of course, you’re wondering where those spots
are…. Well, hey, we’re not going to post that here for the world to see! Get
real!! We do have an article about shed antler hunting in our subscriber section, though,
so if you’re interested that’s something to consider. 
antler export, though, so the price has
dropped considerably. There’s still considerable demand for their use in decorative
items like chandeliers and lamps, though. That’s the ostensible reason I look for
them, although if I consider the staggering amount of calories I’ve expended per
antler found, I would be far ahead to just buy my decorations downtown. Just wouldn’t
be the same, though, somehow….An elk antler is a beautiful and fascinating thing, and
it’s a small miracle that they can produce and then discard such a remarkable mass of
bone every year.