We hope you enjoy reading about the adventures of the Green River Region personnel as they work to Conserve Wildlife and Serve People!

Special points of interest:

DON’T HAVE A COMPUTER? EVERY REGIONAL OFFICE OF THE GAME AND

FISH HAS A COMPUTER AT THE FRONT COUNTER FOR PUBLIC USE

DON’T HAVE YOUR HUNTER SAFETY CERTIFICATE? CHECK FOR UPCOMING

COURSES ONLINE AT HTTP://WGFD.WYO.GOV

REGISTRATION OF NEW BLACK BEAR BAIT SITES BEGAN APRIL 1. BEAR

HUNTERS MAY GO TO THE G&F OFFICE CLOSEST TO THEIR BEAR HUNT AREA

TO REGISTER THEIR BAIT SITES.

ANNUAL DEER MORTALITY SURVEYS TAKE PLACE THE FIRST AND SECOND

SATURDAYS IN MAY. CONTACT LUCY WOLD FOR MORE INFORMATION AT

307-875-3225, EXTENSION 18607; VOLUNTEERS ARE NEEDED TO SURVEY

MULE DEER THAT DIED OVER THE RECENT WINTER.

SHED HORN AND ANTLER RESTIRCITON WEST OF CONTINENTAL DIVIDE RUNS

THROUGH AND INCLUDING APRIL 30.

Habitat is where it’s at! April 2015

Kemmerer resident and volunteer Norris Tratnik looks through binoculars at a brand new sage grouse lek (mating/strutting grounds). Kemmerer Game War-den Chris Baird discovered the lek in 2014 and went back with Tratnik to confirm the lek was active. Good news for sage grouse conservationists. (photo left) Tratnik and his wife Rosalie have been volunteer-ing their time to document and survey sage grouse for more than twenty years. Norris’s personal journals document sage grouse activity for more than 40 years. Thank you to Norris and Rosalie for their time and continued dedication to sage grouse conservation.

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Male sage grouse display on a lek Photo by Tom Christiansen

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Successful Living in Large Carnivore Seminar ~ Local Boy Scouts of America take part

Forty-six members of the public at-tended the 22nd annual Living in Large Car-nivore Seminar at the White Mountain Li-brary. Among the participants were boys rep-resenting local Boy Scouts of America packs– pack #4, pack #70 and pack #4.

Pinedale Large Carnivore Biologist Zach Turnbull (photo left, top) presented in-formation on mountain lion and wolves and answered many questions from the audience.

Statewide Bear-Wise Community Coor-dinator Dusty Lasseter presented information on black and grizzly bears. (photo left, center) Both men assisted seminar participants with how to properly use (inert) bear pepper spray, spraying the inert substance at a black bear silhouette target on the library lawn. (photo right, bottom)

The annual event offers participants the opportunity to learn about wolf, mountain lion, black and grizzly bear biology and how to properly react and not be in fear should they encounter either large carnivore. The venue is rotated around southwest Wyoming and a new town to present the information is chosen each year. For more information on how to live and recreate in bear, lion and wolf country visit the Game and Fish website at http://wgfd.wyo.gov

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Evanston Area Volunteers Clean Up Hunter Management Areas

Evanston Game Warden Nick Roberts

worked alongside 57 members of 307 Long Range

to clean up and remove over five tons of trash

from lands enrolled in Hunter Management Areas

(HMA) north of Evanston. A huge thank you to

those folks! (photo top, left)

The group also removed an entire 5th wheel

house trailer that had been abandoned on the Bear

River Divide HMA several years prior. “The trailer

was in such bad shape that it had to be cut into

pieces to be hauled away,” Roberts said. (photo

left, center) 307 Long Range is also planning an-

other cleanup day in May, along with members of

Sportsmen for Fish and Wildlife and the Game and

Fish.

Game Warden Roberts has removed some

15 truckloads of trash from the surrounding area

since February (photos, bottom). Game Warden

Roberts issued nine littering citations and three

warnings for littering in March. Landowners are

taking notice of the efforts to clean up these areas

and are very appreciative.

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Stop Poaching Updates ~ Big Game Migration Began Sooner This Year

Enforcement Happenings There are unsolved poaching cases in the Green River Region. If you have any informa-tion about any wildlife violation please contact your local game warden or the STOP Poaching

Hotline at: 1-877-WGFD-TIP (1-877-943-3847 )

You can also report a wildlife violation at the WGFD website

http://wgfd.wyo.gov

Baggs Game Warden Kim Olson encountered individuals Easter Weekend hunting for shed antlers in closed areas. “Shed antler or horn hunting is closed west of the Continental Divide and, if you are near Baggs, that means pretty much any area north of Baggs is closed to shed antler or horn hunting through April 30,” Olson said. “Areas such as the Sandhills, Wild Horse area and Cow Butte are closed to the collect-ing of shed antlers and horns. In order to hunt sheds legally, one needs to be north of mile-marker 12 on US Highway 789.” “An easy way to view the boundaries of the Continental Divide is simply looking at a Wyoming state highway map,” Olson said. “When in doubt, give the Green River Region Game and Fish Office a call at 1-800-843-8096 if you can’t get hold of your local game warden or biologist.”

Shed horn and antler gathering is pro-hibited on public lands west of the Continen-tal Divide between Jan. 1 and April 30. State lands are also off-limits to shed antler or horn gathering. Public lands in the Great Divide Basin are excluded from the regulation. The regulation has been in effect since 2009. The purpose of the regulation is to mini-mize harassment or disturbance of big game animals on their winter and spring ranges when animals are most vulnerable to stress, as well as potential displacement to less produc-tive habitats.

Wintering Wildlife Protection/Shed Antler Restriction

Green River biologists and game wardens participated in multiple open houses and a final public meeting to in-form hunters about 2015 hunting season proposals. (photo left) Mountain View Wildlife Biologist Jeff Short reported that at the four meetings he held people were mostly con-tent and there was not much controversy. “Many of the public feel, due to the favorable weather conditions we have been having, that big game herds are doing well. Which is true,” Short said. Short and other biologists and game wardens partici-pated in the University of Wyoming Cooperative Research mule deer capture in the Wyoming Range. (See story on page 5) They also participated with spring deer classifica-tion surveys in the Wyoming Range mule deer herd. Rocks Springs Daily Rocket Miner reporter Matt Naber came along to report on the study. (photo above) “Migration was very early this year due to the low snow pack,” Short said. “We observed good fawn numbers and deer looked very good for this time of year. Total num-bers looked good as well and they are on their way to sum-mer ranges.”

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Mule Deer Trapping Project Enters Second Phase in Wyoming Range

Researchers with University of Wyoming Cooperative Unit recently trapped Wyoming Range mule deer with help from GR and Pinedale Region Game and Fish employees. UW Researcher Kevin Monteith said the captures in March are the last capture event of phase I of the Wyoming Range Mule Deer Project, but also the first capture of phase II of the project. “Phase II of the project will focus on measuring survival and cause-specific mortality of mule deer fawns to quantify the rela-tive roles of habitat, nutrition, and predation on recruitment of young,” Monteith said. “It is a very important next step in better understanding factors underpinning the dynamics of this herd, and will explicitly address the controversial question of preda-tion. Moreover, it will continue to build on our knowledge of mule deer ecology in the region.” Key funders making the initiation of phase II possible are Wyoming Wildlife and Natural Resource Trust, Animal Damage Management Board, Muley Fanatic Foundation, and Wyoming Game and Fish Department.

Photo above, left: Evanston Game War-den Nick Roberts and volunteer Shaun Ridgeway (black coat) carry a deer re-cently lowered from a helicopter (photo top left) net to the working area where data is collected. Photo left: Thayne Wildlife Biologist Gary Fralick prepares to place a tracking collar on a doe mule deer. The deer are also weighed, measured for body fat, length and pregnancy rates.

Photo bottom far-left: Game and Fish Commissioner Charles Price (center) assists with get-ting a blood sample, while Cokeville Meadows Wildlife Refuge Manager Katie Theule (left of deer) assists Fralick and Ridgeway with collecting data. Photo left: UW Researcher Teal Wyckoff releases a recently col-lared deer. Thanks to everyone who helped!

Office managers Sheila Watts (left, back) and Regina Dickson (left, front) were very busy April Fool’s day with bear hunters registering new bait sites. Sheila and Regina completed 13 new bait site regis-trations in the first hour of business and that is no joke!

http://wgfd.wyo.gov Office Phone: 307-875-3223

Office Fax: 307-875-3242 Toll Free In-State 1-800-843-8096

~Critter Spotlight~ Greater sage-grouse

By Mark Zornes a.k.a. Leopold

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Conserving Wildlife-Serving People We are on the web! http://wgfd.wyo.gov stay connected

One of two open habitat grouse in Wyoming, the other being the much smaller sharp-tailed grouse (with which the sage-grouse has hybridized in rare occurrences).

Greater sage-grouse are North America’s largest grouse species, and the second largest grouse in the world (the Capercaillie of Eurasia is larger).

A bird tied solely to largely intact sagebrush habitats throughout its range. Wyoming has nearly 40% of all the greater sage-grouse in the world and the largest amount of intact habitats for this and other sage-brush dependent species. Sage-grouse numbers have declined throughout their range due to habitat loss.

Males and females attend leks, or strutting grounds, in the spring each year. Some leks in southwest Wyoming have well over 100 males in attendance on any given morning during the breeding season.

Hens nest in sagebrush habitats near leks and nest success is much higher in undisturbed habi-tats. Brood size is typically 6-8 to begin with, but declines throughout the summer season, as natural chick losses occur.