That's an apparently an appalling first hand story! Right?
Kevin Spencer
rriparia@xxxxxxxxxxx
Klamath Falls, OR
On Wed, Apr 1, 2015 at 10:36 AM, Russ Namitz wrote:
Hey all~
As Jimmy (James) Billstine alluded, the weather for our BOREAL OWL
search above Diamond Lake was unpleasant. What Jimmy purposely failed
to mention was that we did have an incredible wolf sighting that
evening! However, due to the sensitive nature surrounding wolves in
Oregon, I wanted to contact local wildlife agencies before releasing any
details.
We started at sunset, owling for any species we could find along the
various backroads between Lemolo Lake and Cinnamon Butte. It was just
too windy. Plus I think birds sensed the drop in barometric pressure
and the imminent bad weather and thus, were disinclined to acquiesce to
any type of solicitation.
At 2130 (9:30 pm) we drove up to Cinnamon Butte and continued up NF-100
to about 6000' where a fallen tree blocked the road. The snow was
getting pretty deep anyway, so we donned our snowshoes and started
hiking the road east in hope of getting up to 7000' and reaching the
Pacific Crest Trail. We stopped every 10 minutes or so and played a
BOREAL OWL song.
After slogging uphill for over an hour, through spitting rain and then
snow, with blisters growing bigger with each new step, I heard a sound
off to my right. I hollered at Jimmy, "Hey!" He stopped. It was
quiet. The snow crunched underfoot as I shifted my feet. And then, a
small owl "chirped" from the right. We waited and waited. Nothing. We
decided to take a quick break since we were stopped. I walked up to
road a few yards. Jimmy got out his bag of Teriyaki beef jerky. I
heard snow crunching and saw that Jimmy was walking towards me. I told
him to turn off his light and that we could see well enough in the
moonlight. He did. We had just started crunching through snow again
when I heard the scuffle of rain gear and heard his sharp exclamation!
I looked and saw this huge wolf there in the moonlight, standing next to
Jimmy. In less than a second, the wolf snapped up the bag of Teriyaki
beef jerky and disappeared into the woods. We were both in shock! Wow!
A wolf? It had to be OR-7 or belong to his Rogue Pack.
http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp
<http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
<http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
<http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
Understandably, I was a little freaked out, but I asked him if he was ok
and did he need help getting up (snow shoes can be awkward). He said he
was fine and started to get up, accidentally bumping his iPod and
starting the BOREAL OWL song again. After the 2nd song, I felt a WHAP!
in the back of the head. That had to have been an owl, but my headlamp
had fallen off. Meanwhile, Jimmy is still fumbling to get to his iPod.
WHAP! again to the back of the head. Immediately the bird began to
scream and pop its bill in agitation. It came down on me a third time
with thrashing of wings and talons. Jimmy finally got the iPod turned
off. By the time we got our flashlights turned on, the little owl was
gone. Shortly after, it started to dump snow on us. We couldn't say
for sure what species of little owl it was, but it had all the fury of
a Tengmalm Viking. We still had an hour's trodge to get back to the
truck. We started heading back, elated & frustrated, dreaming of warm,
dry clothes and slipping off those blister-causing boots.
<http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
<http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
Be careful out there, <http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
Russ Namitz <http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
Medford, OR <http://dfw.state.or.us/Wolves/AKWA/rogue.asp>
