Moosing the Hoback

So What Did You Do During Your Summer Break?!?

Back when I went to Laramie in search for a new home, I was introduced to a fellow University of Wyoming graduate student, Brendan, who was studying moose in Sublette Country.  Of course, I was really excited to meet him and learn more about his research.  I may have even stated I would volunteer to assist and help in the field if he ever needed.  So during summer training, I received a text message asking if I would be interested in coming to help him in the field during my summer break.  Since I am super in love with moose, I wonder what I would have said!?!

So Friday through Sunday morning, I drove down to the Hoback Basin area in Sublette County (approximately less than 2 hours south of Kelly) to help Brendan with his moose research.  I would be helping him retrieve GPS collars from mortalities that did not survive the winter.

Bone Remains From One of the Collared Moose Mortalities

As soon as I got to Bondurant, we dropped off my car, and we both travelled into the Bridger-Teton National Forest in search of the first dead moose.  Using radio telemetry is very exciting and also very frustrating - all at the same time. Sometimes your gps waypoints will be way off, and then the surrounding terrain can also bounce the signals and confuse you where the exact location of the transmitter would actually be.  It is like a gigantic and intense version of hide and seek & hot and cold.

All That Remains From This Moose
& We Never Found the Head

But when you find what you are looking for, it's worth it. We had to trump through high, prickly willow and some surging water to find the first moose. But when we did, it was really cool to see the remains and finally find the collar. This particular moose was interesting - since it had probably died mega early in the winter, since all the bones were scattered around the riparian willows.  Note that the skull was never found - only the mandible, vertebrae, some of the hooves and femurs were located. The collar was no where near the bones.

Mina, Our Trusty Sidekick
Gnawing On The Specimen
Way to Dig Your Teeth into Research!

Mina, Brendan's dog was super hilarious to hike and scout with - 1.) she loves ungulates, well chasing them. 2.) she's really into research aka. the bones (for a snack!).

The Collar From the Dead Moose

Our second moose was not so easy to find. In fact, we did not find it Friday afternoon.  Brendan went back after I had left, discovered the carcass, and retrieved the collar.  This was an example of when the way point is not exactly where you thought the signal was coming from and the fact that we thought it was on a ridge, when in fact the signal was bounding off the steep hill and was actually on the opposite side of the river amongst the willows.  Btu the view was wonderful and it was a great hike/scan of the terrain, and a great workout! haha.

A Beautiful View From Our Second GPS Search Area

Brendan Found It Across the River Hiding in the Willow

After the unsuccessful second moose collar, we both went to find a campsite in the Bridger-Teton National Forest. It was such an interesting experience trying to pinpoint a place to sleep for the night. We tried to make camp along one strip of land, however, trying to find prime property when there are a ton of mosquitos is quite impossible. Plus, adding to our frustration, other people trying to camp...or well in this case, using/preoccupying other campsites.

When we finally found a prime location, we were in the midst of setting up our cooking station, when this four-wheel ATV vehicle comes up to us with some hillybilly red-neck hunters (excuse my language and stereotyping) and they explain to us that they are using about 8-miles of that camping ground stretch for hunting...and we were like, 'oh, ok.... Can't we just camp here for one night?'  They proceed to explain, 'well, you can, however, you are camping about 500-ft from a bear-bait!  There are bear-baits at every other mile.'

A Bear-Bait?!? Is that even Legal in Wyoming?!??? Here comes another soapbox coming on...side note: I am sorry, but I think bear-baiting is silly. In fact, I think this is kind of like cheating for hunting. You're practically luring these beautiful creatures to a huge box of stinky fish, camping and sitting in your vehicles or stands, and then shooting them in a short-range. No offense, that is not hunting. That is just bringing your 'prey' to you. Let me also ask, are you going to even eat the animal? I would hope so. Because just killing the animal for a photo opp and a taxidermy on your wall is not sustainable.

Ok, I am done...done judging, done stereotyping, and done ranting about something I personally do not agree with. If you are reading this blog entry, I apologize for being so mean about this. To his, your own...if you do this, I am sure you have valid reasons why you do this and what you do after the fact. I would be very willing and open to learn more about this...so please enlighten me!

Anyways, so after we found out about the bear-baits, we packed up our gear and moved onto another location.  And after an hour of making sure we were out of bear-bait country and away from most of the mosquitos, we finally found another campsite that had plenty of wood for a fire, a musical background of Western Chorus Frogs, and open canopies for prime viewing of the moon!

The View We Woke Up To of the Gros Ventre & Sawtooth

The next day, we woke up to some incredibly beautiful views!  Prime views of the Gros Ventre mountains, the Sawtooths, and the Wind River Range. So pretty!!

On our way out of the campsite and for a morning of trying to creep up on a Momma Moose and calf, we were encountered by the same hillbillies on the ATVs. This time to warn us of something else that was not referring to bear-baiting. And with that, it was to inform us about a 'fugitive' from Idaho that was on the loose in the Hoback area. Apparently, they had seen him and wanted to let us know that the Sheriff and police had been combing the area the night before and this morning in search of this middle-aged man. Why were we not informed about this the night before?!? Kinda glad we didn't.....hmmm.

Gives me the creeps. Apparently, a man had stolen a vehicle in Idaho, travelled to Wyoming, crashed it in some incredibly muddy willows, got the vehicle stuck, and proceeded on foot into the depths of the Hoback. Police were now in search of this man and asking visitors or the Hoback to be on the lookout.

The sheriff even stopped us to chat with us about the fugitive, gave us a Q&A session, and showed us pictures of the creep. So crazy!

Holy moly!

En Route of Creeping on a Momma Moose & Calf

But this fugitive did not phase us enough to prevent us from enjoying our day in this beautiful place. We proceeded to try and find Momma moose and calf in a morning day hike. Being able to explore was great! And lots of great hiking to wake my muscles up from that long-winter and get back into hiking mode!

So Beautiful...I Can't Believe That People Wanted to Drill for Oil & Natural Gas Here!

Summit Posing!

Brendan & Mina Wanted to Try Too!

Larkspur

During the hike in search of her, we noticed that the signal sequence changed from a 'live' signal to a more frequent, quick signal - indicating a mortality. It was quite interesting. Hypotheses we made indicated maybe since we were in search of the moose in the middle of the hot afternoon, maybe the moose resorted to hiding amongst dense, tall, shaded vegetation. But that did not inquire that the mother moose would keep her neck and head still for more than 4-hours (which indicates that a moose is dead when the collar is not even nudged for more than 4-hours)...so with that, we were curious.

After narrowing the location, we attempted to get closer. However, while proceeding to try, we hear grunts and snarls from what we thought was a moose and definitely heard and saw movement in the vegetation. If in the case that the moose was alive, it is not appropriate to get close in case it feels threatened and proceeds to charge. Not a scenario, no one would want to get into, especially with a momma moose and calf!  Plus, I was not at all in the mood to use my Wilderness First Responder skills on my vacation! haha.

This search had intended to be maybe an hour or 2, ended up being more than 4-hours long. We were getting pretty tired, thirsty, and hungry.  So Brendan said he would come back to check this out later. After he discovered, after I had left, that the moose had died. Calf no where to be found. Interesting! He stated that the live frequency must'e been triggered by a scavenger when they were checking frequencies in the airplane, days before I arrived and they picked up a 'live' frequency rather than the true mortality signal.

Momma Moose Turned Out to Be a Mortality!

Upon returning to the car, we had to bushwhack through some really dense vegetation.  Did I mention that not only is the Hoback moose-country, but it's bear-country. While trying to get back to part of the trail, we started smelling something pretty musky...turning to Brendan, I ask, 'What is that smell? Why is it so familiar?' and he replies, 'That's a bear.'

Upon saying that four-letter word, we turn to our left, and Mina gets a little more hyper and see the vegetation get disturbed. Definitely a bear in our presence!  So we quickly continue to move through dense vegetation to escape the large creature...let me say how glad I was to bring along that $50 bear spray! Did not have to use it, but sure was worth the money to have it for a 'Just in Case scenario!'

Found a Rodent Mandible

That afternoon, we got permission from a private landowner to explore their property for another mortality collar. The other collars were all on public, BLM (Bureau of Land Management), land. This particular private landowner, was said to be a CEO or co-founder of Yahoo. The property was amazing! But being able to dredge through the flooded willows for the collar and moose paddles was pretty fun and definitely an experience. Also discovered, that his son is a student at the Journey's School, our independent school in Jackson. Small world this place is!

We did not find any moose paddles during our search...as well as finding out that the collar was actually not on the private landowner property, but on BLM land...across a wide, raging river. Typical! Brendan went back and sent me a photo of the mortality.

Mortality Found on a Private Landowner's Property

Two Types of Collars Used For Brendan's Research

The two days of helping Brendan was really awesome! Understanding his research was one great experience, helping with research was another awesome experience, and the opportunity to spend a few days in a beautiful place with a new friend from my new future home was awesome too!

Mina Was Tuckered Out
Must Have a Rough Life Running Around the Hoback...

After this weekend, I have a bigger appreciation and love for those four-legged mangy, moose!

TheChristyBel