Hardware Ranch

Hardware Ranch: Elk Herd at Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Elk Herd at Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
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Hardware Wildlife Management Area (WMA) provides refuge for hundreds of elk who congregate each December and hunker down for the duration of the winter.

Hardware Ranch: Riding Out to Feed the Elk Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer
Riding Out to Feed the Elk
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Elk Merge on Dropped Hay Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Elk Merge on Dropped Hay
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Preparing to Push the Bale Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Preparing to Push the Bale
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Elk Fed, Riding Back Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Elk Fed, Riding Back
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Thoughts to Paper Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Thoughts to Paper
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

Documenting the Experience Hardware Ranch Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer Documenting the Experience
Hardware Ranch
Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer

In 2008, Hardware Education Director Marni Lee and I established a service-learning partnership. Since then, I have ventured up northern Utah’s Blacksmith Fork Canyon with about a thousand 5th and 6th graders—a half-dozen students at a time—to spend the day with DWR biologists and managers. Each morning, we feed roughly 5,000 pounds of hay to wintering elk (about ten pounds of hay per head) and we learn first-hand the details of how biologists monitor and manage wildlife and wildlife habitat.

We typically see bulls sparring or cows boxing over who gets first dibs on the freshly tossed hay. We often observe bald eagles and sometimes golden eagles. We’ve discovered flattened dried-out snakes in the hay bales who were scooped up into the baler the previous summer. We’ve helped relocate wild turkeys. We’ve examined an elk fetus after a cow elk was hit by a vehicle and miscarried on the road. We’ve seen coyote and cougar tracks. We’ve encountered moose, porcupines, beaver, ermine weasels, and snowshoe hares. Many impromptu anatomy lessons have occurred upon discovering deer carcasses—something that always fascinates students. We’ve watched biologists tranquilize wildlife, helped them humanely trap elk so they can test them for disease, measure back fat, and attach GPS tracking collars—all of which enable them to gather data that informs wildlife management decisions.

Throughout the day (and back in the classroom), math, science, and language arts curriculum standards are woven into the experience. This is my kind of school. “Mister Nool’s Schewell,” as one student wrote with a giggle.

Depending on conditions, after lunch we hike, snowshoe, or cross-country ski to various overlooks where students sit down, pull out their field journals, and write. I never check their notebooks for writing conventions—there is plenty of time to polish spelling and grammar in the classroom. The goal here is to capture the magic of mountains.

Here are few recent samples of Edith Bowen Laboratory School 5th graders’ writings recorded in the wild, with the wind in background:

Harper:
“Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be sitting on the top of a mountain with the sun smiling warmly up above on your face and the birds ‘chirpling’ happily with the polka-dotty mountains?”

Macey:
“Hardware Ranch Hike: As I write, I bathe in the sun. I hear the pages turning and I see the lime-green rock and the evergreen trees battling the white snow. As the birds chirp, the breeze makes my hair flow. The light sprinkle of snow gets rushed by the wind. I get a little chilly but the view makes up for it. The gentle curves of the mountain covered in the snow, the dark green mountains surrounding me, and the moss-coved rocks that feel like a pillow.”

Boston:
“Today we went to Hardware Ranch. We went on a great hike to the top of a mountain. I am writing these words on the top of that mountain. The wind up here is whooshing through my ears. On this hike I have collected two things. A hawk feather and an elk tooth.
This fieldtrip to Hardware Ranch was a really great fieldtrip. I hope you get to come here too.”

Mike:
“I have experienced breathtaking views before and I have seen phenomenal creatures, but I’ve never seen so many different kinds on the same day. I could live here. It’s so peaceful. The wind is paralyzing. If you haven’t come here yet, you have to do it now. This place is for wildlife lovers, nature lovers, and if you’re like me, love both. Either way this place is spectacular. I wish that I could stay.”

I do too.

I am Eric Newell,
I am Harper Famer,
I am Macey Hill,
I am Boston Winn,
I am Mike Brandley,
and we are wild about writing in the wild country.

Credits:
Images: Courtesy & Copyright Eric Newell, Photographer. Used with permission of the photographer, students and parents
Featured Audio: Courtesy & © Kevin Colver https://wildstore.wildsanctuary.com/, Courtesy & © Friend Weller, https://www.upr.org/people/friend-weller, Courtesy & Copyright © Anderson, Howe, Wakeman
Thank you Eric Newell for recording the student audio clips
Text: Eric Newell, Edith Bowen Laboratory School, Utah State University
Additional Reading: Eric Newell

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah Pieces by Eric Newell

Link to Hardware WMA website and information about sleigh rides:

Haviland’s Old West Adventures will offer horse-drawn sleigh and wagon rides* through the elk herd on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays from Dec. 6 through Feb. 9. Rides start at 10 a.m. and end at 4:30 p.m. each day. Each ride lasts about 40 minutes. Follow the link for more information, including rates:
https://wildlife.utah.gov/hardware-visit.html

Anderson, Michael, DWR, USU partner to get fifth-graders excited about science, writing, KSL-TV, January 15, 2016, https://www.ksl.com/article/38150310/dwr-usu-partner-to-get-fifth-graders-excited-about-science-writing

Hardware Ranch field experience video (2008), https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x46T5jt-CDI

Edith Bowen Laboratory School, edithbowen.usu.edu
Follow us on Instagram and Facebook:
@edithbowenlaboratoryschool
Facebook, Edith Bowen Laboratory School

Mount Logan Middle School Discovery Program (2008-2016), MountLoganDiscovery.org

What is Brucellosis? https://wildlife.utah.gov/brucellosis.html

Gurrister, Tom, Utah elk test clean of brucellosis, unlike Idaho and Wyoming, Gephardt Daily, March 15, 2024, https://gephardtdaily.com/local/utah-elk-test-clean-of-brucellosis-unlike-idaho-and-wyoming-2/

Flying Mule Deer

Flying Mule Deer: Helicopter Crew Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer
Helicopter Crew
Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer

Mule Deer Incoming Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer Mule Deer Incoming
Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer

Mule Deer Incoming Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer Mule Deer Incoming
Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer

Helicopter Carrying Mule Deer Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer Helicopter Carrying Mule Deer
Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer

Mule Deer Health Check Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer Mule Deer Health Check
Courtesy & © Mary Heers, Photographer

For the mule deer at Hardware Ranch, last Nov 30 was anything but ho-hum.

In the early morning light, the Division of Wildlife Resources was gathering in the parking lot at the Ranch. The plan for the day was to capture eight mule deer for a quick medical checkup on the overall health of the herd.

For this, they needed the help of come helicopter cowboys.

Right on cue, we heard the thunk, thunk, thunk of an incoming helicopter. A team of three men hopped out. After a quick parley, they were off

A bit like calf ropers at a rodeo, the helicopter cowboys would stop a running deer in its tracks by shooting a tangle net over it. Hopping off the helicopter, one cowboy (also known as “the mugger”) would wrestle the deer onto its side and tie its feet together. The mugger then slid the deer onto a sling, and to keep it calm, kindly secured a cover over its eyes.

The helicopter then lifted the sling, flew the deer through the air, and set it down gently in front of the waiting crew at the ranch.

The crew sprang into action. Four men raced over to the deer, slid it onto a rope stretcher, and carried it to a hanging scale.

“76 pounds’” the researcher called out. A graduate student with a clipboard wrote it down.

Next stop: a white folding table. The crew surrounded the deer, brandishing some familiar tools. They took the deer’s temperature, a blood sample, a hair sample. One man whipped out a yellow measuring tape that looked exactly like the one in my grandmother’s sewing basket.

Then they looked into the deer’s mouth.

“Three years,” the researcher said with absolute certainty.

“How did you know that?” I couldn’t help asking.

“Easy,” he said. But he admitted that after five years, you can only be sure of a deer’s age if you look at the tooth under a microscope and count the rings, just like counting rings on a tree.

Then I spotted something I’d never seen before- a black box that measured the depth of fat on the deer’s rump A very well fed deer will head into winter with 1 inch (25 mm) of fat reserves. A deer with less that 9mm will probably not make it through a hard winter. This herd was coming off a very dry summer, a genuine cause for worry. But today it was all good news. The fall rains had greened up the hillsides in time for the deer to plump up.

And then it was done. The deer was carried to the perimeter of the parking lot and released. As it bounced up the hillside to rejoin the herd, I was reminded of the time when I was coming down the slopes off the Wellsville ridgeline, and had sat down to rest. Suddenly three does poked their heads through the dense undergrowth. We took a long curious look at each other.

I remember thinking how beautiful they were, with their long, elegant ears. But they also looked vulnerable. Coyotes, cougars and cars will continue to take a heavy toll on mule deer. New challenges will crop up. But this day last November, it was all good news for the health of the herd at Hardware Ranch. And all cheers for the Division of Wildlife Resources for a job well done.

This is Mary Heers and I’m Wild About Utah.

Credits:
Photos: Courtesy & Copyright © Mary Heers
Featured Audio: Courtesy & Copyright © Friend Weller, Utah Public Radio upr.org
Text: Mary Heers, https://cca.usu.edu/files/awards/art-and-mary-heers-citation.pdf
Additional Reading: Lyle Bingham, https://bridgerlandaudubon.org/

Additional Reading

Wild About Utah, Mary Heers’ Wild About Utah Postings

Why the DWR captures deer, other big game animals with helicopters each winter, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, State of Utah, February 21, 2020, https://wildlife.utah.gov/news/utah-wildlife-news/864-why-dwr-captures-deer-big-game-animals-helicopters.html

Episode 8: Flying deer, Wild Podcast, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, State of Utah, May 19, 2020, https://wildlife.utah.gov/wild-podcast/927-flying-deer.html

Mule Deer, Utah Species, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, Department of Natural Resources, State of Utah, https://fieldguide.wildlife.utah.gov/?species=odocoileus%20hemionus

Boal, Jed, DWR Uses Helicopter To Catch Deer For Tracking Program, KSL TV, November 18, 2019, https://www.ksl.com/article/46676706/dwr-uses-helicopter-to-catch-deer-for-tracking-program

DWR transports mule deer by helicopter [To Antelope Island], KSTU Fox 13 Utah, Nov 22, 2019, https://youtu.be/D8rhMCuexz8


Securing Utah’s Moose Population

Moose with radio collar Courtesy & Copyright Sam Robertson, Photographer
Moose with radio collar
Alces alces
Courtesy & Copyright Sam Robertson, Photographer
Historically, the settlers and hunters of Utah didn’t find moose when they were exploring the state.
It wasn’t’ until 1906-07 when the first recorded moose sighting occurred in Utah.

Ironically, at this same time the population of Shiras moose also known as Wyoming moose (the subspecies found in Utah today) was dangerously close to extinction due to overhunting.

Settlers in nearby states had preferred hunting moose because the large animal was easy to catch, and was an efficient way to obtain a few hundred pounds of sweet venison.

To prevent their extinction, western states discontinued moose hunting for a time. Until 1950, hunters agreed to hunt other deer species to provide time for the moose population to replenish.
Searching for moose became a challenging spectators sport.

Moose are active during the day and loners most of the year (except mothers with their young) and since they prefer habitat where they can easily hide – finding one was a rare occasion.

By 1957, Utah’s moose had a resident herd in the Uinta mountains and the population continued to grow.
Dan MacNulty, associate professor in the Department of Wildland Resources in the Quinney College of Natural Resource at USU has been studying the state’s moose. He explains, “Utah’s moose population reached an estimated high of over 3,500 in 2005. The population subsequently declined to a current estimate of 2,600 moose. The reasons for this drop were unclear.”

To determine the factors causing the fluctuation in the moose population, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources (DWR) joined with MacNulty’s research lab to investigate the drivers of moose population growth. MacNulty says, “The first priority of the research was to determine the current status of the moose population. Is it increasing, decreasing or stable?”

Moose Cow & Calf with radio collars Courtesy & Copyright Sam Robertson, Photographer
Moose Cow & Calf with radio collars
Courtesy & Copyright Sam Robertson, Photographer
To do this, the researchers collared 120 female adult moose in two established herds – 60 in the Wasatch Mountains and another 60 in the North Slope of the Uinta Range.

Female moose are the best indicators of the health of the herd. The females provide the data to determine the health of both the adults and calves. By tracking them, the research team can see the number of females that calve, the number of calves who survive their first winter to join the population, and the survival rate of the adults during the four-year project.

When the first year of data was gathered they found in both herds, 80-90 percent of the collared females survived. Kent Hersey, Big Game Project Leader for DWR adds, “Compared to other moose herds, Utah moose tend to have average or below average survival rates.”

Joel S. Ruprecht, USU graduate student in MacNulty’s lab discovered one reason this may be occurring. He found the maternal fat stores of the female directly impact the reproductive and survival success in Shiras moose.
When midwinter fat stores of the expecting moose were measured Ruprecht found it predicted whether the female moose would successfully give birth to her young and also whether her young would live long enough to become a healthy long-term member of the herd.

If a solution for the population drop could be to increase nutrition levels of the mothers, then DWR may be able to improve habitat conditions for adult moose and increase their health, which would in turn increase calving rates.
DWR plans to use these research findings to help stabilize Utah’s moose population.
The results may have come at an ideal time since the state’s 7-year Statewide Moose Management Plan expires later this year.

This is Shauna Leavitt for Wild About Utah

Credits:
Photos: All photos copyright and courtesy of Sam Robinson.
Text: Shauna Leavitt, Utah Cooperative Fish and Wildlife Research Unit, Quinney College of Natural Resources, Utah State University

Additional Reading

Moose, Alces apces, compiled by Anthony Bell, Vertebrate Zoology Collections Assistant, Utah Museum of Natural History, https://nhmu.utah.edu/sites/default/files/attachments/Alces%20alces.pdf

Moose entering water, Jeff Rice, Western Soundscape Archive; University of Utah, https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=1117822

Moose in Utah, Jason Pietrzak, Wild About Utah, Bridgerland Audubon Society/Utah Public Radio, 30 Sept 2008, https://wildaboututah.org/moose-in-utah/

Moose, Wild Aware Utah, Hogle Zoo & Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://www.wildawareutah.org/utah-wildlife-information/moose/

Utah Moose Statewide Management Program, Utah Division of Wildlife Resources, https://wildlife.utah.gov/hunting/biggame/pdf/moose_plan.pdf