Wild About Utah

Camping in the High Uintah’s is never easy. Due to the rugged landscape and high elevations, every trip offers its own unique adventure. On this occasion, my long-time hunting buddy and two labs, after a 4-mile hike with 2000 feet of vertical climb, were setting up tents in the dark with pelting graupel, lightning, and rain, at nearly 11,000 feet elevation. After getting the dogs and gear under a second rain fly we bring for just these occasions, we scrambled into our tent for a long, lightning-rattling type of Night.

The alarm began its rude song at 4 AM. We woke, worked on our gear, and made our way out of the tent to be greeted by the endless galaxies above. Those black mornings in the mountains, warming water for oatmeal and an instant cup of joe over a single burner portable stove, preparing to take off into the night, are cherished memories never forgotten.

We had our gear, guns, and dogs, and under the dim glow of headlights, started up the mountain towards the peak.

Sun barely began to illuminate shadowy surfaces when we reached our destination. We had come on this High Uintah adventure with two goals in mind, one being this. We had come to look for elk.

Elk are crepuscular, meaning they are most active in the morning and evening, so we needed the right vantage point at the right time of day. It wasn’t long after the east-facing hills slowly gained contrast and color that we started seeing elk. Nearly all of them enjoyed the steep slopes of the mountainsides, rather than valley bottoms. We watched as they meandered through the vegetation and lazily ate as they soaked in the morning rays. At about 9:00 AM, when most of the elk had found their way to timbered cover, it was time to pursue our next goal, which was why we had my two trusty dogs by my side.

As we slowly worked back down the bouldery slopes of the peak and the terrain turned to rocky plains with short willow, I prepared myself, my friend, and my dogs. I knew this was going to be our best chance, and it didn’t take long for my suspicions to be realized. My older and wiser black lab named Josi alerted me of strangers as we approached the first patch of shin-high willows. Her nose went down, her pace quickened, and her fast jerky movements gave me no doubt that it was time. And, like flashes of white lightning in a clear sky, they were in the air, flying this way and that, dogs chasing and yipping at tail feathers, shotguns raising and blasting. After the moment settled, only one of the elusive birds had been brought down and my younger lab, Blue, was proudly pouncing to bring back the mottled white and brown bird in his slobbery mouth.

The bird was a White-Tailed Ptarmigan, a prize upland bird that few hunters have ever seen. Biologists introduced about 50 of these birds to Utah in the mid-1970s as an experiment to see if they could establish a successful population, and the experiment was a success. Ever since, Utah’s High Uintah Mountains have been one of the only places in the lower 48 states where one has a reasonable chance to see the magical bird, a bird who loves the cold, high places, rocks, and willows.

The day continued, and although the fickle weather constantly changed from snow, to rain, to lightning, to blowing, to sun, and to graupel, we were successful in harvesting a few more birds from the majestic landscape.

As we finally made our way back toward camp, tired, wet, and carrying a few hard-earned birds, I found myself thinking less about what we had harvested and more about our experience. Hunting, to me, has been a way to experience nature more fully. It has taken me to wild places I would never otherwise have been, introduced me to natural phenomena I might have overlooked, and has helped me build relationships with people, places, and animals, that have positively shaped my life. There is something about spending a day trying to understand wild animals that changes my appreciation for the world, from the elk moving across the slopes, to the ptarmigan flashing through the alpine air; they all become part of the living landscape, and this may be what keeps calling me back; the opportunity to slow down, pay attention, and appreciate the remarkable beauty and wonder of a world that is so much bigger than myself.

This is Dr. Joseph Kozlowski, and I am wild about Utah!

Credits:

Images: Courtesy & Copyright Joseph Kozlowski, Photographer, Used by Permission
Featured Audio: J. Chase and K.W. Baldwin and lwdickens (freesound.org)
Text: Joseph Kozlowski, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University https://edithbowen.usu.edu/
Additional Reading Links: Joseph Kozlowski & Lyle Bingham

Additional Reading:

White-tailed PtarmiganLagopus leucura, All About Birds, The Cornell Lab of Ornithology, https://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/White-tailed_Ptarmigan/overview

Locating ptarmigans in the Uinta Mountains, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/ptarmigan