So one of the things I had hoped to do more of while I’m here is get out in nature more – try and become more “hearty” when it comes to all the animals and bugs in nature and become more comfortable outside! So far, between the crazy “dust bowl” and drought conditions (blowing dirt around so I can’t breathe), the spring allergens (again – can’t breathe very well when my nose is running), and now the cold temperatures and SNOW (which although cold, took care of the first two problems!!)….needless to say, I haven’t started exploring the outdoors (yet)!!
In addition, I’ve heard some very interesting stories about the wildlife that comes close to the lodge! Rattlesnakes for one….they like to hide in the “cattle grate” in the driveway between the lodge and the administration building (which I have to go across each day when I work the morning shift to get the mail….yikes!!). Fortunately, there’s a “walking gate” to go through so I don’t have to cross the cattle grate – and my supervisor (Elise) said it’s not a good idea to walk across those anyway because one day her foot slipped and her boot (and thus her foot) got stuck in the slot (just the right width for a human foot to get stuck sideways)!! So even close to the lodge, watch out for rattlesnakes…. yikes!!
In addition, they’ve had bears IN the lodge (which makes sense because that’s where the food is kept)….but these bears even came UPSTAIRS (where my room is) – and ate the heads off the stuffed turkeys in the conference room down the hall (yikes!!!). Apparently, bears' sense of smell is 10 times that of a human, so even though the turkeys had been killed and stuffed, they must have smelled enough like a turkey for the bears to think it was still food (although in hindsight, that might have been something the Guides told me to tease me because they think I'm a gullible city girl)!!! These bears were smart enough (and maybe desperate enough?) to open the lever-type door handles – all of which have now been changed to the round knob kind which will hopefully keep them out of the building!!
Apparently, the bears don't normally come into the lodge (thank goodness!!), but they must have been getting desperate because of the drought conditions. So here’s where the information on maintaining a balanced eco-system on the ranch can be applied (more of which I’m learning about every time I talk to one of the full-time employees and Guides). The Ranch has a number of streams and lakes that it stocks every year with fish for our fishing guests. Normally, the lakes maintain a certain depth (naturally filled by the rains, snow, and “run-off” from the snow) and thus, they maintain a certain cool temperature. But what happens when there’s not enough water filling those lakes? You got it….the temperature rises and the fish die en masse! So this year, the ranch isn’t stocking as many fish in the lakes and thus we are limiting the number of fishing guests.
Because a lot of the fish died last summer and the bears were able to eat those, the Ranch didn’t have any problem with bears coming close to the lodge. This summer, however, we can expect to see some bears VERY close to the lodge because they won’t have the fish from the lakes to dine on, so they'll be looking for food from us! AND, did ‘ya know….bears are mostly vegetarians? They chew on branches, leaves, berries, etc. and only eat meat when those things are not easily available – or to supplement their basically vegetarian diet (like right before winter when they are stocking up for their “big sleep”)!! (At least this is my basic understanding thus far…if it’s wrong, let me know, but I think that’s what I heard the Ranch’s biologist say the other night at dinner.)
I don’t know about you, but I find this information FASCINATING because it never occurred to me that this is how nature works….if the eco-system isn’t balanced and animals aren’t able to find the food they normally eat, they start searching around for whatever smells like food….and I just don’t want that food to be ME while I’m out hiking in the woods!!
So here’s another interesting tidbit about maintaining a balanced eco-system on the ranch. As I mentioned before, they have one of the last groups of “genetically-pure” bison on this ranch. What happened is that YEARS ago when some rancher in Texas noticed the bison were dying off, he started breeding them with cows. So most of the bison in the United States now have some cow genetics mixed in with their bison genetics – and even if it’s just 1% they’re not considered “genetically pure” bison. So one of the things they do on this ranch is tracking and research on this group of bison (i.e. tracking the bison, their eating and mating habits, etc.) and keeping them away from the “non-genetically pure” bison on another part of the ranch.
Now according to Randy (the “bison guy” on the ranch), the reason they want to keep the pure genetics is because bison have been around (they think) since pre-historic times…. and they have an amazing ability to forage for their food and adapt to the imbalances within the eco-system unlike many other animals (like cows). For example, last year almost 90% of the bison “naturally aborted” the offspring they were carrying because of the drought conditions. However this year, it looks like all of the pregnant bison will produce an offspring (which makes me wonder if intuitively they "know” that enough rain will come to provide food and water for the additional offspring?....only time will tell on that one!!)
Now for those of you reading this that are more familiar with the way things work in nature, you might be thinking, “duh….we knew that already!” But for me, much of this is new and interesting because I’m just a city gal who grew up thinking milk came from the grocery store – and NOT, to the chagrin of my farm-raised parents, from a cow!!
Well it’s off to work in a few mintues….the LAST of a 10-day stretch!! I don’t think I’ll have to work that many days in a row from now on, it was just the way the schedule fell with all the training, etc. prior to the arrival of the first group of Turkey hunters! And next week (after my two days off), I get to look forward to that 5:30am shift (ugh!!). Then again, who knows?!?!.... maybe I’ll decide I LIKE being a “ranch girl” (in lieu of being a “farm girl”) who wakes up with the cows (or the bison in this case) assuming, of course that I don't get eaten by any wildlife!! (Ha!) More later……
In addition, I’ve heard some very interesting stories about the wildlife that comes close to the lodge! Rattlesnakes for one….they like to hide in the “cattle grate” in the driveway between the lodge and the administration building (which I have to go across each day when I work the morning shift to get the mail….yikes!!). Fortunately, there’s a “walking gate” to go through so I don’t have to cross the cattle grate – and my supervisor (Elise) said it’s not a good idea to walk across those anyway because one day her foot slipped and her boot (and thus her foot) got stuck in the slot (just the right width for a human foot to get stuck sideways)!! So even close to the lodge, watch out for rattlesnakes…. yikes!!
In addition, they’ve had bears IN the lodge (which makes sense because that’s where the food is kept)….but these bears even came UPSTAIRS (where my room is) – and ate the heads off the stuffed turkeys in the conference room down the hall (yikes!!!). Apparently, bears' sense of smell is 10 times that of a human, so even though the turkeys had been killed and stuffed, they must have smelled enough like a turkey for the bears to think it was still food (although in hindsight, that might have been something the Guides told me to tease me because they think I'm a gullible city girl)!!! These bears were smart enough (and maybe desperate enough?) to open the lever-type door handles – all of which have now been changed to the round knob kind which will hopefully keep them out of the building!!
Apparently, the bears don't normally come into the lodge (thank goodness!!), but they must have been getting desperate because of the drought conditions. So here’s where the information on maintaining a balanced eco-system on the ranch can be applied (more of which I’m learning about every time I talk to one of the full-time employees and Guides). The Ranch has a number of streams and lakes that it stocks every year with fish for our fishing guests. Normally, the lakes maintain a certain depth (naturally filled by the rains, snow, and “run-off” from the snow) and thus, they maintain a certain cool temperature. But what happens when there’s not enough water filling those lakes? You got it….the temperature rises and the fish die en masse! So this year, the ranch isn’t stocking as many fish in the lakes and thus we are limiting the number of fishing guests.
Because a lot of the fish died last summer and the bears were able to eat those, the Ranch didn’t have any problem with bears coming close to the lodge. This summer, however, we can expect to see some bears VERY close to the lodge because they won’t have the fish from the lakes to dine on, so they'll be looking for food from us! AND, did ‘ya know….bears are mostly vegetarians? They chew on branches, leaves, berries, etc. and only eat meat when those things are not easily available – or to supplement their basically vegetarian diet (like right before winter when they are stocking up for their “big sleep”)!! (At least this is my basic understanding thus far…if it’s wrong, let me know, but I think that’s what I heard the Ranch’s biologist say the other night at dinner.)
I don’t know about you, but I find this information FASCINATING because it never occurred to me that this is how nature works….if the eco-system isn’t balanced and animals aren’t able to find the food they normally eat, they start searching around for whatever smells like food….and I just don’t want that food to be ME while I’m out hiking in the woods!!
So here’s another interesting tidbit about maintaining a balanced eco-system on the ranch. As I mentioned before, they have one of the last groups of “genetically-pure” bison on this ranch. What happened is that YEARS ago when some rancher in Texas noticed the bison were dying off, he started breeding them with cows. So most of the bison in the United States now have some cow genetics mixed in with their bison genetics – and even if it’s just 1% they’re not considered “genetically pure” bison. So one of the things they do on this ranch is tracking and research on this group of bison (i.e. tracking the bison, their eating and mating habits, etc.) and keeping them away from the “non-genetically pure” bison on another part of the ranch.
Now according to Randy (the “bison guy” on the ranch), the reason they want to keep the pure genetics is because bison have been around (they think) since pre-historic times…. and they have an amazing ability to forage for their food and adapt to the imbalances within the eco-system unlike many other animals (like cows). For example, last year almost 90% of the bison “naturally aborted” the offspring they were carrying because of the drought conditions. However this year, it looks like all of the pregnant bison will produce an offspring (which makes me wonder if intuitively they "know” that enough rain will come to provide food and water for the additional offspring?....only time will tell on that one!!)
Now for those of you reading this that are more familiar with the way things work in nature, you might be thinking, “duh….we knew that already!” But for me, much of this is new and interesting because I’m just a city gal who grew up thinking milk came from the grocery store – and NOT, to the chagrin of my farm-raised parents, from a cow!!
Well it’s off to work in a few mintues….the LAST of a 10-day stretch!! I don’t think I’ll have to work that many days in a row from now on, it was just the way the schedule fell with all the training, etc. prior to the arrival of the first group of Turkey hunters! And next week (after my two days off), I get to look forward to that 5:30am shift (ugh!!). Then again, who knows?!?!.... maybe I’ll decide I LIKE being a “ranch girl” (in lieu of being a “farm girl”) who wakes up with the cows (or the bison in this case) assuming, of course that I don't get eaten by any wildlife!! (Ha!) More later……
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