Week 11- Gone Huntin'

Warning: I was working at a Hunter Check Station this weekend so I have included some pictures of animals that hunters shot. If this makes you uncomfortable don't read past Friday.

Monday 3rd November-

We had our last cat dissection lab today where we examined the digestive and respiration tracts. It was really interesting to look at lungs and a kidney under the microscope. It's amazing how many blood vessels are in the kidney. We were comparing our cat's systems to that of a shark so I took some shark skin (which feels like sandpaper) and looked at it under the microscope too. It was so cool, it looked like tiny claws coming out of the skin. That evening we went bowling at Five Alleys bowling, which was amazing value at $1 each a game and $2 for shoes. It's been years since I was bowling so I was pretty awful :P . Shannen on the other hand was really good. She won the first game and Kate won the 2nd. Shannen decided to show me how to bowl properly and then I went on and won the game, beating her by 1 point! :P I was shocked at how many other people were bowling on a Monday night, all the lanes were busy. After bowling Shannen, James, Kate and I headed to Walmart to try our luck at the claw machines. I won a Redskins teddy bear, Kate won Gandalf and James won a red gorilla. We had a great night and decided to go again next week.

A cat's kidney

Tuesday 4th November-

It was election day so we had college off. I have a Mammalogy exam tomorrow morning so I spent the day studying rather than relaxing. Our exam will be on trophic cascades, keystone species, niches, hibernation, heat adaptations and domestication.

Wednesday 5th November-

My exam went well, a long question came up on hibernation and I'd studied that well so think I'll get on grand. That evening I had to do my assignment for Wildlife Habitats. We have to write a proposal for a research project in the Northern Great Plains and Prairie Pothole Region. I found it pretty hard to do because I'm not familiar at all with that area or what kind of conservation projects take place there. The second Jurassic Park movie was on so Shannen and I watched some of it when we'd our assignments finished. 

Thursday 6th November-

Did the usual work, class and then work again. Happy I won't have such an early start next semester because I chose mostly morning  classes and afternoon shifts. Jurassic Park 3 was on so we watched that. Deja Vu was on after and since I'd never seen it and even though I was wreaked I decided to watch it. It was quite good but not worth being so tired the next day.

Friday 7th November-
Happy Birthday Nicole!

About 14 people out of 40 showed up for my 8am Mammalogy class which was on sleep patterns. Guess everyone else decided to study sleep in bed :P To treat those who came our lecturer showed us the cutest video of a porcupine who thinks he's a puppy. Look it up on YouTube for guaranteed awhs :D . We had group work for our Vertebrate Design bird project out at the Field Station until 5pm. We analyzed the videos we made of our bird taking off and landing. It's really cool to see bird flight in slow motion. After our lab we packed and headed south to Darby where Shannen and I volunteered for our Hunter Check station class. We will be working with Montana Fish and Wildlife Services to count and assess the ages of game that hunters catch in the Bitterroot Forest area. We arrived and the Mountain Spirit Inn at 7.30. We went to the check in office and met the lovely couple who run the inn. They were delighted to hear we were from Ireland and told us all about the local area, including about the wildlife. The man told us about a time he went hunting and three wolves jumped onto the trail in front of him. It seems they are very common here along with mountain lions and of course deer. Our room is so cute, it looks like a cottage crossed with a motel. We have a huge king sized bed and a little kitchenette. We spent the rest of the night learning how to tell how old deer are.

Me doing science :P

Saturday 8th November-
We arrived at the Hunter Check Station at 10 am and met the people who run it, Becky and Mark, and another UM student Dylan. Becky and Mark gave us a run down of what we would be doing which was mostly counting hunters. There were two lanes; one for hunters with game (success lane) and one for those without game (loser lane). Shannen, Dylan and myself took turns going up to unsuccessful hunters to find out what section they had been hunting in and if they had seen bears, wolves or mountain lions. Most were friendly and cooperative but we got a few old grumps, annoyed they hadn't got anything. Our first success of the morning was a bull elk with some very unusual antlers. He had a sort of a club antler, which Mark explained could have been caused by bad genetics or he could have fallen when the antler was developing, either way it was good to get him out of the gene pool. When an animal comes in our job was to find out where exactly it was shot,  how many points it had on it's antlers if it's male and to age it. In order to age a deer you must slit its lip and spread the jaws so that you can see the molars. The condition of the third molar allows you to age the deer. You can tell how old an elk is by their ivories or canine teeth. It's important to collect all this data as it allows the Montana Fish and Wildlife Department to compile population demographics on various species. Our day continued like this with a steady flow of unsuccessful hunters and the occasional successful. When an out of state hunter would pass through we would just check that their hunting permit was in order. We saw a huge bull elk come up from Nevada where they have better quality grazing and grow huge. We sat outside for most of the day because it was so sunny and spent our time decimating the local bee population,who insisted on landing on us at any opportunity. The game warden came for a while and when a truck drove past with people who were obviously hunting he would chase them and make them turn and come back to the check station - the drive of shame. It's illegal to not stop at a check station if you have been hunting, even if you didn't catch anything. After nightfall we sat inside the mobile home where there was heating. A young man pulled up in the success lane and what did he have only a black bear! I thought it was pretty big but apparently it was under a year old. I won't put up a picture because there was blood and I wouldn't like to make people feel uncomfortable. Some people are upset when they see a large predator get shot. I do too but I understand that when a hunter pays for a hunting permit that money then goes towards conservation and management efforts to ensure the growth and future of those animals. We finished up at 19.30 with a total number of 12 successful hunters from our district and Shannen and I headed to Darby for dinner. We ate at a place called Blue Joint which had the nicest chips (fries) I think I've ever had. I had a Swiss cheese and mushroom beef burger which was delicious and almost too big to finish. We headed back to the Mountain Spirit Inn and watched The Hangover. I was shocked to see that I'd even got a bit sunburned on my chest! Only the Irish could get sunburned in Montana in November! :P

The Elk bull with a club antler

The Check Station lanes

The bull Elk from Nevada

Not a bad place to work!

 

Sunday 8th November-
We got up extra early today because we thought it would take time to check out, which it did not. We were at the check station for 9.30 and met the two new UM students who would be with us today, Carly and Mary. The weather was much worse today as there were storms blowing in from the north and the west. There was no sitting outside today and instead we huddled inside the camper. There were fewer hunters stopping in today and we worked much faster and it was pouring rain. During the afternoon we heard that there were traffic delays south of us because of fallen trees. This held up hunters and caused them to all arrive at the check station at the same time. Shannen worked through the unsuccessful lane while the rest of us documented the kills. Becky's husband and daughter arrived to help out during the rush, which lasted around half an hour. That evening we were allowed to leave after 6pm as the weather was getting worse. We said goodby to Becky and Mark who'd been so helpful all weekend and headed off. Shannen and I stopped in Hamilton for dinner and got back to Missoula just after 8pm. Kate the lifesaver covered my shift in the Foodzoo so I didn't have to worry about that. We relaxed for the rest of the night.

Aging a deer

A mule deer buck

An Elk bull

Thanks for reading this week's blog. I had a good week and experienced rural Montana life. I learned a lot from working at the Check Station and would recommend it as a class for anyone to take. - Fiona