by Merle Ann Loman | Dec 22, 2008 | iiii Winter/Snow
Not only do we love a good snow pack in the mountains for next year’s fishing, we enjoy recreating in it. These photos are from a hike on December 20. We are off
for our first cross country ski this afternoon. It has been snowing for 24 hours and now that our office work is done for the day, we are heading out for that much anticipated ski!
Skiing was great! Temp was about 12 degrees C. and no wind. See the slideshow below.
by Merle Ann Loman | Dec 19, 2008 | hunting/fauna/flora, iii Fall
On I-15 between Salt Lake City, Utah and Butte, Montana there is a small town. Take the Lima exit and go to Dell, Montana. You will see a unique cafe, the Calf-A, in an old, brick schoolhouse with the menu on the blackboard. I hear from the locals that the population of Dell “depends on the time of day.”
Michael McCoy talks about the Calf-A in his travel guide, Montana – Off the Beaten Path – A Guide to Unique Places. He says,”The old building it is housed in was a school from 1903 until 1963, with an average enrollment of twenty kids, and then opened as a restaurant in 1978. Its walls, shelves, and bare pine floor are blanketed with memorabilia, fur-bearing trout, piles of old Life magazines, vintage rifles, an old piano with yellowed sheet music, rocks and fossils, a bedpan banjo, well-worn school desks, pull-down maps, spurs, kerosene lanterns, a ceramic water cooler, and a whole lot more.”
The photo is of Ted Lowe in front of the Calf-A. Jack and Ted were in the area for five days in mid-December hunting elk during the extended season. The wind was howling and the temperature hovered at 27 degrees below zero. They hunted, but had no success. The conditions were brutal for humans. The saw lots of elk, but just couldn’t get to them without freezing, sometimes they couldn’t even get the old Dodge started! When they did, they came home.
The Calf-A is also called Yesterday’s Cafe or Yesterday’s Calf-A. Click here
for the Travel Montana website and more information.
by Merle Ann Loman | Dec 18, 2008 | Bitterroot, iiii Winter/Snow
Bear Creek is on the west side of the Bitteroot Valley near Victor. This week temperatures were about zero during the day and minus 16 during the night. We have plenty of water from the previous rains and now it is turning to ice. It is beautiful, but where are all the fish to go?
Click here to read a paper titled Role of Stream Ice on Fall and Winter Movements and Habitat Use by Bull Trout and Cutthroat Trout in Montana Headwater Streams.
An excerpt from the Conclusion: Complex mixes of habitat are needed to maintain suitable fall and winter habitat for stream resident bull trout and westslope cutthroat trout populations. Beaver ponds, deep pools, and submerged cover of large woody debris (LWD), boulders, and undercut banks are important components of this mix. Bull trout appear particularly susceptible to loss of habitat complexity. In the Bitterroot River drainage, bull trout are rare in watersheds with a high degree of disturbance (Clancy 1993) and without LWD or pools (Rich 1996). Shallow, wide streams not only lack suitable winter cover, but also promote subsurface ice formation (Chisholm et al. 1987; Brown et al. 1994). In degraded areas, activities that moderate fluctuations in winter stream temperature (i.e., riparian vegetation restoration) and that create deep water habitats (i.e., beaver reintroduction) may help alleviate poor winter habitat conditions.
It is a scientific paper, a dry read, but if you are interested in trout habitat, you will find it very informative, yet there is still much to learn about ice and trout survival.
After I created this post, I remembered a photo I had taken on Sweathouse Creek in November. This is from the property that butts against Forest Service near the trailhead for Sweathouse Creek.
There is a county bridge (actually culverts topped with road gravel) across Sweathouse right here. These people just bought the chunk of land that is on both sides of the creek. They can access all of their land by the county bridge, but they wanted their own bridge. They got permission to build it. In the process, they are reaming out an area of the creek where they will are building a winding road and footings and a bridge.
You are seeing some of the woody debris and plant material that they have removed. I find it horrific that they did this. After reading the paper above, I am more disturbed about it. Just my opinion.
by Merle Ann Loman | Dec 17, 2008 | Friends, iii Fall, Other
Jeff Rogers lives in Victor, Montana and fishes with us regularly.
Note from Billy:
Hey Merle!
I told my great buddy Jeff Rogers I would send these to you. They are shots of him at a secret spot in Canada this past Sept. fishing for steelhead with his dad. Looks like I have probably been “bested” by him, for life, in the flyrod category. Please tell Jack “hi” and Merry Christmas to you and yours! ………Billy Burk
Billy, thanks for sending these photos in.
by Merle Ann Loman | Dec 7, 2008 | iiii Winter/Snow
To see all my “Elk Blogs” click on the “elk” hotlink in the “Labels” area at the footer of this blog entry or on the Label section on the right sidebar.
It is December in Montana. Deer and elk hunting season is closed except for a few districts that have been extended, the closest for us being south near Dillon, MT. Click here for a Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks link.
The strange thing is how warm it has been. We have had moisture, but in the form of rain except for some snow at high elevations.
Instead of cross country skiing, Jack and I are still hiking for fitness and recreation. I am uploading a few photos/slideshows of game we are seeing on our hikes.
We see elk mostly on the way to our hike. They have lost security in the mountains (new roads, new construction, much hunting pressure) and oddly seek security in the open, private pastures and ranches. Good for viewing, not so good for hunting. I imagine they eat a lot of grass and hay the ranchers probably need… There are about 9 spike bulls in this group. This means they have no brow tines and are young, not mature bulls.
Mature bulls stay away from cows and calves most of the year. During calving season, the cows are scattered widely in small groups. I see them on my hikes in the mountain drainages above these ranches. That is when thermal cover and security from the forest (not the open fields) is important to these elk. Once the spotted calves are able to walk, the females will then assemble into larger groups. It is common to see 30, even close to 100 elk in herds near here from July until calving season. Elk are shy and very suspicious of human beings unless accustomed to them since birth as in the case of this herd. They are still suspicous and wiley, but know they are relatively safe near ranches.
Click here for a great Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation article.
For larger views, click on “View Album.”
Click here for information about Downey Woodpeckers.
for our first cross country ski this afternoon. It has been snowing for 24 hours and now that our office work is done for the day, we are heading out for that much anticipated ski!
