I had the funnest day, out in the woods, in my life. I don't know if it gets any better than this. I have been an AHE hunter for the past 5 years, and it has given me opportunities that most would jump at, but few will ever experience, and this was certainly one of them.

Every five years the WDFW requires AHE graduates to complete another 12 hours of projects, so I called the Bios at region 6 to see what projects they had available. I got in touch with a bio who is a family friend, Max, and he said there was an upcoming elk project. We would be darting elk, taking some readings like temp, blood samples, and then applying radio collars to a number of cows, and maybe some bulls. I said "count me in".

Our goal for today was to dart and collar 7 cows, and if we had a chance, dart a few bulls. We successfully achieved our goals.

Lets start off with a few of the tools. The most important tool we had was this.

A Bell Jet Ranger III. The pilot was great, and put on an awesome show for us as we waited our turn to process the elk. He would fly over head, at about 200 feet or so, scanning the clearcuts for elk. Once the dart team located some “subjects”, he would drop down for the sh-ooter to make a shot, then head back up to steer the darted “subject” away from the jack firs and deep timber by corralling them into the open.

These are a few shots some of the other tools we used.

These are the two 32 gauge, yes, 32 gauge rifles the sh-ooters used.


Here are some of the pre-loaded darts, and assorted gear.


This is a shot of cow#5 with a dart still attached.


For some of the elk, we had a special “pill”. The next time you think ibuprofen are hard to swallow, remember this.


This is a “pill” being “swallowed” with assistance. The pill is actually placed in the rumen so the elk can’t regurgitate it.


I had a chance to be in on three separate elk processings. We took the temperature (you don’t want to know where), usually about 100.8 degrees F, measured the girth of the animal around the chest (this cow was the biggest at 171cm), collected a sample of blood and stool, checked cows for pregnancy, administered shots of antibiotics and vitamin B to combat the stress of the darting process, placed a radio collar on them, and a few other things. We had two researchers with us who had this ultrasound device loaded into a full size backpack. They used it to measure the fat content and overall condition of the elk.

Continued next post...

Here is a shot of a group we took cow #7 and bull #3 from.


Most of the larger bulls had dropped their horns, with some starting to show some growth. The spikes still had their horns on. The previous day one spike was darted, but in the process dropped both horns between the dart and release.


We used two different drugs to revive the elk, actually, those with proper training did.


Within about 30 to 60 seconds, the elk would "become VERY alert", realizing that they now had control of their bodies, and jump up with little warning.


Within a few steps, they had regained their footing and stood there wondering, "Hey, why the anal probe?!?!?"

The cow in the first post decided to wake up before we gave her the reversal, probably due to her "Boone & Crocket" size, but we were able to bring her back down to the ground safely, and she went on her merry way.

Here is a few shot of one of our other patients for the day.

For those who remember, it was like being a walk on cast member for Mutual of Omaha's Wild Kingdom. Unfortunately, or not , while Marlin was safely observing the process from the helicopter, I played the part of Jim wrestling the elk down in the reprod.

For those who have thought about joining the AHE program, this is what you are missing. The teamwork and professionalism exhibited by the WDFW staff and volunteers was amazing to watch. We even had a few enforcement officers who helped out with various stages of the project. I had a great opportunity to bend the ear of a WDFW Bio for most of the day, learnig lots about the elk I hunt, the season setting process, and many other things that if I told you, I'd have to hunt you down and ............ well, you know.

I don't have to do another project for another five years, but I can tell you that I will be involved in future "elk rodeos" in the near future. It is a huge amount of work, with the adrenaline hits like a regular elk hunt, but you get to do it many times in one day.

One final note, there was no mortality from today's operation, and all elk were immediately released after revival. There was no transporting involved.

Andy

Dogfish, Sounds like an adventure! It seems like that fish and game always has these elk roundups close to calving time and I have wondered what kind of effect it has on that and how do they pick the best time for the "roundup"? I'm not being negative about it just curious and wondered if you new since you were involved. Tks Scott

Dogfish, I would like to go through the AHE program. Can you tell me who would be the person to talk to about getting started? I work for the DNR in Olympia in the natural resource building where the WDFW is also, so if you happen to know the name of who to talk to, I can track them down sometime next week on my lunch break. I would appreciate it. If you like you can email me... bdan68@msn.com

P.S. Good job on the catch and release elk hunt!

Good post.

Scott,

The explanation I received on the timing was this. It is very easy for the biologists to determine if a cow is pregnant during this time of the year. This results in reduced handling time and lower chances of mortality. The longer the animals are "under" and are being handled, the more stress they go through. There is only one very good way to get very good data, and that requires a "hands on" inspection.

On average, most elk herds see a mortality rate of 50% in bulls, and 10-12% for cows, on an annual basis, all factors considered. We were in touch with 10 animals today, but I saw over 100. The folks who spent more time in the chopper saw MANY more.

It is necessary for the WDFW to get a number of subjects to take samples from in a study to get a good baseline of data. If they only took information from one spike bull, or a yearling cow out of the numbers of elk seen by our group today, the data would be flawed.

I always hear about folks complaining about the WDFW, and the data they collect, but I was there in person today. There were old and young cows, evidenced by their girth measurements, old and young bulls, and elk from a wide range of habitats. I was sweating, and the folks from the WDFW were too. These folks really care about the animals, and take into consideration the issues surrounding the different user groups. I asked some pretty hard nosed questions today, and I got some veyr good responses that I had not thought about.

I would highly suggest volunteering with the WDFW on projects in your area. Get involved. There were folks there today who were involved in RMEF and DU, as well.

I appreciate your question, and would be happy to answer others, but I can only answer from my experience.

Hairy Ape,

I would look up the WDFW website and check out the tab under "hunter education". You should be able to get a local contact number from there. One piece of advice on the written test, read EVERYTHING in the packect they give you. Passing the program won't make you a better hunter. Getting involved in different projects will, as you will gain knowledge you never would receive just hunting. Becoming a better hunter is a journey, not a destination.

Andy

What a great day it looks like you had!

Last winter I took part in a Swan capture, draw blood, weigh, band, radio coller, measure, feather sample and a few others.
It was an awesome day, knowing that you are out there helping for something good.

Kudos Dogfish for getting involved. Like he said there are many volunteer oportunities out there and you do not have to be in the AHE program to take part..

I took part in the Cle-Elum cougar project. Man that was a blast. We only darted one, but we did all our tracking by truck/on foot.

Looks like that Elk Proj. was awesome.

Curtis

Andy, I have no need to become a better hunter. It is the volunteering that I'm interested in. Thanks for the advice. I'll go in there and talk to somebody about it on Monday.

Posted volunteer opporturnities within the WDFW per their website.


http://www.wa.gov/wdfw/volunter/vol-3.htm


Federal volunteer opportunities all over the state.

http://volunteer.gov/gov/uisearch.cfm?states=wa

Hairy Ape,

I didn't mean to imply anything, and I'm sorry if I offended you. I have run into a number of folks who have a negative view of the program and my statement was directed more towards them, not you. Basically, I have tried to learn more about the animals I hunt to better understand them. There are many opportunities out there for volunteering, as DB pointed out. I hope to see you out there!

Andy

Dog, No offense taken whatsoever. Why would anybody have a negative view of the AHE program? Must be those people that have a negative view about everything, and whine constantly about anything the WDFW does.

Great post. However, I have no idea what an AHE hunter is. Sorry - bird hunter here. Thanks for any background info.

Back Eddy

Advanced Hunter Education.

http://www.clearlight.com/hunting/page3.html