notes from the field

And then we left

Sun, 7 Mar 2010 21:03:22 -0500

7 Mar – Sometime this morning, the thought occurred to the alphas of Middle Pack. It was time to check on that moose they’d wounded nine days ago near Little Todd Harbor. With ravens waiting on thei

Warm, hazy winds

Sat, 6 Mar 2010 17:10:11 -0500

4 Mar – With each passing day, the sun hangs in the sky a little longer. Each afternoon, the snow becomes soft and wet. Snow fleas fill every footstep. By morning the snow is crusted again. Middle

A new friend and food

Fri, 5 Mar 2010 17:31:47 -0500

1 Mar – Sometime in the past day or two while we were grounded, CHP abandoned their kill site just north of Daisy Farm. I hiked in. All that remained of a 900 pound moose was a jaw bone, one should

Snarling and cowering

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 19:04:57 -0500

25 Feb – Middle Pack finally gave up guarding the calf carcass that Romeo had killed. They traveled NE to within a mile of Florence Bay, where they discovered a depression in the snow on top of a bea

Romeo’s big adventure

Wed, 24 Feb 2010 21:09:43 -0500

20 Feb – Teeth, hooves, blood, bruises, adrenalin, exhaustion. Romeo killed a moose. Very likely, this is the first moose he’d ever killed. He’d seen his parents, the alpha pair of Chippewa Harbor

On the move

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:45:56 -0500

17 Feb – Wind. 18 Feb – We woke early, hoping for a good long day, and left Windigo at 8am. After some difficulty locating any wolves, we realized the right telemetry antenna was not working at all.

Counting moose

Wed, 17 Feb 2010 08:51:28 -0500

12 Feb – The air was still and clouds obscured the sun – perfect conditions for counting moose. To cover each moose survey plot thoroughly, we typically fly nine overlapping circles which allows us

Samples to data

Fri, 12 Feb 2010 17:32:28 -0500

9 Feb – The wind blew too hard to fly the Flagship. However the exchange flight, with Leah on board, arrived from Ely. She’ll spend most of the next couple weeks processing the samples that we’ve be

Waiting for death

Mon, 8 Feb 2010 14:27:28 -0500

6 Feb – Two days ago Middle Pack left their wounded moose, cruised the forests for 18-miles, and within 24 hours they’d returned to that poor, old moose. The wolves returned only to pass by, as thoug

Meeting on Siskiwit Lake

Sun, 7 Feb 2010 16:56:47 -0500

4 Feb – Throughout the night and into the morning, most of Middle Pack traveled south across the Grace Creek drainage, over Red Oak Ridge, and on through the swamps south of Feldtmann Lake. Unable to

Working for a meal

Tue, 2 Feb 2010 19:00:22 -0500

1 Feb – Middle Pack spent most of the day milling about an area near Grace Creek overlook. They gnawed on the hide of a calf – it was all that remained of this calf that they had killed sometime la

Back in business

Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:34:18 -0500

28 Jan – day’s end the Flagship had passed her test flight. 29 Jan – Rolf and I stood on the ice, looking skyward. Patches of blue opened and closed as snow-laden clouds pushed themselves across t

What does a moose think?

Wed, 27 Jan 2010 21:09:42 -0500

24 Jan – Half or maybe ¾ of an inch of dreary rain fell during the late morning and early afternoon. It drizzled the rest of the time. The Harbor was covered in about 2 inches of water. 25 Jan – Br

If you try it, you might like it

Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:27:39 -0500

21 Jan – We waited all day, anxiously. We waited for good news that the flagship had been repaired. That news never came. 22 Jan – Number of days without the flagship: 4. Number of days I’ve been

Not as it first appeared

Thu, 21 Jan 2010 07:48:15 -0500

18 Jan – It was good that we woke before dark and took flight at first light. What began as thick, heavy clouds became snow. Within two hours we were back at the bunkhouse drinking hot cocoa.

First flight

Sun, 17 Jan 2010 20:41:32 -0500

15 Jan – Passing time in Ely is fine, but we’re all anxious for Isle Royale. The weather has been poor and time crept for three days. Today’s forecast was no better. To our surprise, weather sta

End of a dynasty?

Fri, 21 Dec 2007 16:11:49 -0500

This is the last time the alpha female of East Pack was seen alive - it was late February 2009. We found her carcass in the spring of 2009. She died in her den while giving birth to eight pups. All