03/26/08

SILETZ FISH TRAP:

NOTE: Bill needs volunteer help for the Siletz trap for April 2, 4, 9, 11, 16, & 23. Please help Bill fill these dates.

First stop after getting a fresh oxygen tank and gas for the truck for Kevin Bastian and I was Palmer Creek. No fish but the beavers have been busy so much cleaning to do. Proceeded to Siletz with periods of very heavy and hail snow. The accumulation of snow on the road was getting pretty thick and we considered aborting the mission before it started to let up. There were 3 fish in the trap, 1 wild pair and 1 clipped buck. We had a serious malfunction of the fish bucket/winch and were not able to transport the fish to the Alsea hatchery as planned. After several radio discussions about the problem we then proceed to Bohannan where we released one wild hen upstream. I'm not sure what has to be done to repair the winch and cable but they were going to go back up today to assess the problem.

We saw 7 elk at the intersection of Roads 1000 and Beaver Creek. At about the 5 mile post of Beaver Creek Rd. we then spotted 30 plus elk but were not able to get an accurate count because of the distance and trees blocking our view. All Elk appeared to be cows. I'm not sure exactly when the bulls drop their antlers but perhaps they have already done so. See you for the tour this morning.

Frank