Shan
02-21-2008, 01:18 PM
So I was walking to work Tuesday from campus, and there's a crowd forming near first dam. They are watching an elk struggle in the icy waters.
My office overlooks the dam and my coworkers notified police and the forest service. Then over 1 hour later the Fish and Wildlife showed up with a boat to break the ice. By that time the elk was in the water so long he didn't even try to swim through the opening in the ice. The boat was circling and that elk was FOLLOWING the boat! Then when the boat was close enough, the elk put his head/chin in the rear of the boat! It was like "Get me out of here!"
So the F&W guys grabbed his antlers and held him close to the side of the boat then took off while holding his head out of the water. They motored over to the other side of the dam, but by that time the elk was in the water over 2 hours. The elk could not stand up at all, and was visibly shaking from cold, and made no qualms about 5 humans touching him. The men even rolled him over on his side, hobbled his feet, then got him on a tarp, pulled him up to a trailer, cut off his antlers, then took him to Millville where F&W are feeding a herd there. They were able to take his temp (it was 80 degrees, 100 is normal).
Pretty cool to see people get that close.
Then on Saturday up at Maple Grove hot Springs, we were xc skiing on the road behind their house and saw a mountain lion jump a deer! We first heard him "roar" and we all said, "What are kids doing up that gully? There's no trail," as it sounded like a person. Then 10 deer scattered and we saw the lion chase and jump one of them. The deer got away and saw us then hide in a hole in the ground.
Wildlife mania! No photos of that as it happened so quickly.
My office overlooks the dam and my coworkers notified police and the forest service. Then over 1 hour later the Fish and Wildlife showed up with a boat to break the ice. By that time the elk was in the water so long he didn't even try to swim through the opening in the ice. The boat was circling and that elk was FOLLOWING the boat! Then when the boat was close enough, the elk put his head/chin in the rear of the boat! It was like "Get me out of here!"
So the F&W guys grabbed his antlers and held him close to the side of the boat then took off while holding his head out of the water. They motored over to the other side of the dam, but by that time the elk was in the water over 2 hours. The elk could not stand up at all, and was visibly shaking from cold, and made no qualms about 5 humans touching him. The men even rolled him over on his side, hobbled his feet, then got him on a tarp, pulled him up to a trailer, cut off his antlers, then took him to Millville where F&W are feeding a herd there. They were able to take his temp (it was 80 degrees, 100 is normal).
Pretty cool to see people get that close.
Then on Saturday up at Maple Grove hot Springs, we were xc skiing on the road behind their house and saw a mountain lion jump a deer! We first heard him "roar" and we all said, "What are kids doing up that gully? There's no trail," as it sounded like a person. Then 10 deer scattered and we saw the lion chase and jump one of them. The deer got away and saw us then hide in a hole in the ground.
Wildlife mania! No photos of that as it happened so quickly.