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4/12/2007

A Day in The Life of Lowell Schmitz, GFP Big Game Biologist

By Chris Hull

GFP Communications & Outreach Specialist

We’ve all experienced “one of those days.” A day that starts out perfectly and nothing can go wrong.  No matter how many objects you juggle, they all stay in the air and you look like a professional vaudeville entertainer while executing your plan. Everyone applauds and pats you on the back, hailing your excellence. Today was one of those days.

The ringleader, in this case, was Game, Fish and Parks Wildlife Biologist Dr. Lowell Schmitz. Lowell was busily juggling elk, a helicopter, several GFP employees, local law enforcement, local landowners and the weather. He did it with a professional, bouncy confidence and seemingly endless amounts of energy and fun.

Juggling a helicopter and a herd of elk paints a strange picture, so I need to back up and explain. Lowell was leading a study on elk in the Black Hills. The gist of the study was to capture and collar elk so he could track their seasonal movements and better understand where elk went, why they went there and get an even better handle on elk numbers in South Dakota.

I had tried to hook up with Lowell and his crew on an earlier date, but like many of my trips to the field, we got weathered out.  Leaving Pierre at 4 a.m., I trekked to Sturgis to take part in a day of elk work. Just short of Sturgis, I saw a semi tanker tipped over in the ditch due to high winds.  I was pretty sure at that time we weren’t going to be doing too much work with a helicopter that day, but Lowell was still optimistic.

“We’re going to give it a shot,” he said, waiting for the chopper to appear above a wooded ridge.  The helicopter came into sight, bouncing like a bronco out of the chute.  Just then we got the word from the pilot: “No chance, Lowell.”

Dejected, I returned to Pierre with the promise that Lowell would stay in touch and I would get to watch this operation firsthand.

Lowell is a man of his word, and this would be the day. Blue skies, a little snow on the ground, and no wind in the forecast all led to the operation going full bore.

The operation had been working elk in an area just east of Custer State Park. They had collared 26 elk in that area over the span of four days. They had managed to collar five bulls and 21 cows. They were focusing mainly on cows because they tend to remain in herds. 

Lowell and his crew had obtained 11 GPS collars for this study, one which allows him to get an “any time” reading on the animal without going out in the field and spending hours trekking up and down some rugged country trying to pinpoint them with the traditional VHF collars. South Dakota GFP staff frequently uses GPS collars in tracking mountain lions, but this was going to be a first for elk.

Lowell’s crew had now moved to the Vannocker Canyon area and was targeting a herd near the Fort Meade National Cemetery south of Sturgis. Several GFP employees had been keeping tabs on the herd and had talked to local landowners about elk.

“We worked closely with many landowners not only in this area, but down south, too,” Lowell said. “The conservation officers and Chad Sebade (GFP Region 1 wildlife damage specialist) made a ton of calls and visits to landowners. The cooperation of landowners and the work these guys did is really what’s driving this project.”

As the sun came up, we heard the helicopter long before we saw it. In fact, we saw a large herd of elk before we ever saw the chopper. The elk jogged from a steep draw out into an open snowy meadow.

“Showtime,” Lowell said excitedly as he busily got collars and crew ready.

The helicopter’s role in the capture and collar is that of an ultramodern-day cowboy and horse. The helicopter moves the elk into a meadow where they can safely be worked. It will then cut an elk from the pack by flying closely to the herd. Once and elk is separated, it is the job of the “mugger,” or co-pilot, to get ready to either shoot the critter with a net gun or a dart. On this day, the crew was using darts. 

The helicopter culled a cow and the mugger put the dart right on the money. This sounds simple enough, but keep in mind the elk are moving at a good clip and the helicopter is flying pretty darn close to the ground. 

The helicopter then backed off and let the dart take effect. The darts are loaded with two drugs, one slows the animal’s respiration and the other is a sedative.  Within two minutes, the cow began showing signs of the dart working. 

At this point, the mugger and Lowell began to approach the animal. Waiting patiently, the mugger, Phil Johnston, slowly began to close the gap between himself and the cow.  Suddenly Phil was rushing toward the cow, and with the skill of an NFL linebacker grabbed the animal and got her on the ground. Lowell was right behind, putting a hood on the elk and helping secure the legs to make sure the elk didn’t injure itself or anyone else.

The rest of the crew quietly approached the cow and went to work. The group quickly checked the animal’s respiration, checked to see if she was carrying a calf, and took body measurements for future study. A GPS collar was fitted around her neck and tested to make sure it was in working order. A reversal drug was then given to her, the hood and leg ties were removed and we backed up to give the cow some room. 

After about 30 seconds, the cow stood up and curiously wobbled toward the group.  She chirped at us several times, trying to figure out who we were and what we were doing.  She slowly wandered off several times, only to return and “talk” to the group.  Eventually her curiosity must have been satisfied because she wandered off up the hill. 

The entire operation, from when the cow hit the ground, to when she wandered off was less than ten minutes.  It was impressive work. 

I watched the crew work seven elk, six cows and a bull. All work was done with an attention to detail that would make even the strictest Marine sergeant proud.

Lowell – while seeming to write in a notebook, talk on a radio and a cell phone, and give marching orders at the same time – was apologetic. “Hey if I bark an order at you, I’m sorry. I get pretty wrapped up and excited during this kind of stuff.”

It was pretty easy to see why. When we did get a moment of down time I got Lowell to quit juggling and talk for a few minutes.

“In talking with our staff and a lot of landowners, I decided we needed to be able to have hard data on what, exactly, these elk were doing,” Lowell said. “Operations like this have an inherent danger to animals and people, but I felt that if we did good groundwork, we could do a good job and keep the animals as safe as possible and keep the public, the landowners and our staff safe and happy too. Plus, how often is a person able to get this close to live elk?

“I’ve been with the department for six years, and this is one of the best projects I’ve been involved with. The input from the public, the new data we will be getting, the sight of these elk ranging across the meadows and the helicopter work makes it pretty amazing.”

Lowell has been out tracking movements of some of the collared elk and has already come up with some interesting information.

“A bull that we collared about a week ago has already moved 14 miles,” Schmitz said. “And a few cows that we collared from that same area have moved approximately nine miles. That’s pretty amazing. We weren’t sure that the elk moved that much in the winter.”

Over a three-week period the crew worked, weather permitting, to capture and collar 49 elk. Although the information on elk locations won’t be made public--especially during hunting seasons--it should provide for better hunting.

“The information we gather will help us see where elk are during the hunting seasons and allow us to get the right number of tags in the right hunting zones,” he said.

I left the crew working on elk No. 8.  As I headed toward I-90, I thought back to perfect days and all the preparation and planning that go into them. Lowell may not be a contender for “American Idol”—I’ve never heard him sing, so I don’t know that for sure--but in this instance he can take a bow. He and his crew deserve it.

--GFP--