South Dakota Game,
Fish and Parks News
Remember to Sign Up for Project
WILD Training
CUSTER, S.D – Registration is filling up for the April 27-29
professional development opportunity for teachers in Custer State
Park. The workshop will provide training and materials for
projects WILD and Learning Tree, two national, award-winning
curricula designed to teach about natural resources and
conservation.
“Space is limited to 18 at this workshop and those slots are
filling up, so I encourage anyone who is considering attending to
sign up soon,” said Chad Tussing, education services coordinator
for the S.D. Game, Fish and Parks Department.
The content of the workshop is targeted primarily at elementary
and middle school teachers, but everyone is welcome. To sign up,
contact Bradley Block, chief of interpretation at Custer State
Park, at (605) 255-4828 or
brad.block@state.sd.us.
“We have a lot of great hands-on educational activities planned,
both indoors and out, that will make this training one not to be
missed,” Tussing said.
The cost of the workshop is $65. The workshop fee covers meals and
lodging within Custer State Park. There is no charge for the
workshop materials and training. College credit from the
University of Sioux Falls is available for an additional $40.
A Day in The Life of Lowell Schmitz,
GFP Big Game Biologist
By Chris Hull
GFP Communications & Outreach Specialist
We’ve all experienced “one of those days.” A day that starts out
perfectly and nothing can go wrong. No matter how many objects
you juggle, they all stay in the air and you look like a
professional vaudeville entertainer while executing your plan.
Everyone applauds and pats you on the back, hailing your
excellence. Today was one of those days.
The ringleader, in this case, was Game, Fish and Parks Wildlife
Biologist Dr. Lowell Schmitz. Lowell was busily juggling elk, a
helicopter, several GFP employees, local law enforcement, local
landowners and the weather. He did it with a professional, bouncy
confidence and seemingly endless amounts of energy and fun.
Juggling a helicopter and a herd of elk paints a strange picture,
so I need to back up and explain. Lowell was leading a study on
elk in the Black Hills. The gist of the study was to capture and
collar elk so he could track their seasonal movements and better
understand where elk went, why they went there and get an even
better handle on elk numbers in South Dakota.
I
had tried to hook up with Lowell and his crew on an earlier date,
but like many of my trips to the field, we got weathered out.
Leaving Pierre at 4 a.m., I trekked to Sturgis to take part in a
day of elk work. Just short of Sturgis, I saw a semi tanker tipped
over in the ditch due to high winds. I was pretty sure at that
time we weren’t going to be doing too much work with a helicopter
that day, but Lowell was still optimistic.
“We’re going to give it a shot,” he said, waiting for the chopper
to appear above a wooded ridge. The helicopter came into sight,
bouncing like a bronco out of the chute. Just then we got the
word from the pilot: “No chance, Lowell.”
Dejected, I returned to Pierre with the promise that Lowell would
stay in touch and I would get to watch this operation firsthand.
Lowell is a man of his word, and this would be the day. Blue
skies, a little snow on the ground, and no wind in the forecast
all led to the operation going full bore.
The operation had been working elk in an area just east of Custer
State Park. They had collared 26 elk in that area over the span of
four days. They had managed to collar five bulls and 21 cows. They
were focusing mainly on cows because they tend to remain in
herds.
Lowell and his crew had obtained 11 GPS collars for this study,
one which allows him to get an “any time” reading on the animal
without going out in the field and spending hours trekking up and
down some rugged country trying to pinpoint them with the
traditional VHF collars. South Dakota GFP staff frequently uses
GPS collars in tracking mountain lions, but this was going to be a
first for elk.
Lowell’s crew had now moved to the Vannocker Canyon area and was
targeting a herd near the Fort Meade National Cemetery south of
Sturgis. Several GFP employees had been keeping tabs on the herd
and had talked to local landowners about elk.
“We worked closely with many landowners not only in this area, but
down south, too,” Lowell said. “The conservation officers and Chad
Sebade (GFP Region 1 wildlife damage specialist) made a ton of
calls and visits to landowners. The cooperation of landowners and
the work these guys did is really what’s driving this project.”
As
the sun came up, we heard the helicopter long before we saw it. In
fact, we saw a large herd of elk before we ever saw the chopper.
The elk jogged from a steep draw out into an open snowy meadow.
“Showtime,” Lowell said excitedly as he busily got collars and
crew ready.
The helicopter’s role in the capture and collar is that of an
ultramodern-day cowboy and horse. The helicopter moves the elk
into a meadow where they can safely be worked. It will then cut an
elk from the pack by flying closely to the herd. Once and elk is
separated, it is the job of the “mugger,” or co-pilot, to get
ready to either shoot the critter with a net gun or a dart. On
this day, the crew was using darts.
The helicopter culled a cow and the mugger put the dart right on
the money. This sounds simple enough, but keep in mind the elk are
moving at a good clip and the helicopter is flying pretty darn
close to the ground.
The helicopter then backed off and let the dart take effect. The
darts are loaded with two drugs, one slows the animal’s
respiration and the other is a sedative. Within two minutes, the
cow began showing signs of the dart working.
At
this point, the mugger and Lowell began to approach the animal.
Waiting patiently, the mugger, Phil Johnston, slowly began to
close the gap between himself and the cow. Suddenly Phil was
rushing toward the cow, and with the skill of an NFL linebacker
grabbed the animal and got her on the ground. Lowell was right
behind, putting a hood on the elk and helping secure the legs to
make sure the elk didn’t injure itself or anyone else.
The rest of the crew quietly approached the cow and went to work.
The group quickly checked the animal’s respiration, checked to see
if she was carrying a calf, and took body measurements for future
study. A GPS collar was fitted around her neck and tested to make
sure it was in working order. A reversal drug was then given to
her, the hood and leg ties were removed and we backed up to give
the cow some room.
After about 30 seconds, the cow stood up and curiously wobbled
toward the group. She chirped at us several times, trying to
figure out who we were and what we were doing. She slowly
wandered off several times, only to return and “talk” to the
group. Eventually her curiosity must have been satisfied because
she wandered off up the hill.
The entire operation, from when the cow hit the ground, to when
she wandered off was less than ten minutes. It was impressive
work.
I
watched the crew work seven elk, six cows and a bull. All work was
done with an attention to detail that would make even the
strictest Marine sergeant proud.
Lowell – while seeming to write in a notebook, talk on a radio and
a cell phone, and give marching orders at the same time – was
apologetic. “Hey if I bark an order at you, I’m sorry. I get
pretty wrapped up and excited during this kind of stuff.”
It
was pretty easy to see why. When we did get a moment of down time
I got Lowell to quit juggling and talk for a few minutes.
“In talking with our staff and a lot of landowners, I decided we
needed to be able to have hard data on what, exactly, these elk
were doing,” Lowell said. “Operations like this have an inherent
danger to animals and people, but I felt that if we did good
groundwork, we could do a good job and keep the animals as safe as
possible and keep the public, the landowners and our staff safe
and happy too. Plus, how often is a person able to get this close
to live elk?
“I’ve been with the department for six years, and this is one of
the best projects I’ve been involved with. The input from the
public, the new data we will be getting, the sight of these elk
ranging across the meadows and the helicopter work makes it pretty
amazing.”
Lowell has been out tracking movements of some of the collared elk
and has already come up with some interesting information.
“A
bull that we collared about a week ago has already moved 14
miles,” Schmitz said. “And a few cows that we collared from that
same area have moved approximately nine miles. That’s pretty
amazing. We weren’t sure that the elk moved that much in the
winter.”
Over a three-week period the crew worked, weather permitting, to
capture and collar 49 elk. Although the information on elk
locations won’t be made public--especially during hunting
seasons--it should provide for better hunting.
“The information we gather will help us see where elk are during
the hunting seasons and allow us to get the right number of tags
in the right hunting zones,” he said.
I
left the crew working on elk No. 8. As I headed toward I-90, I
thought back to perfect days and all the preparation and planning
that go into them. Lowell may not be a contender for “American
Idol”—I’ve never heard him sing, so I don’t know that for
sure--but in this instance he can take a bow. He and his crew
deserve it.
