Tag: ranchers

Tule Elk

Bull Tule Elk; Point Reyes National Seashore

This is a photo of a bull tule elk feeding at sunset.

A bull tule elk feeds at sunset.

This photo was taken during the last few minutes of daylight in 2019.  It was a sunny day with no fog.  This bull is one of the over 400 elk that are kept locked up inside a 2,600 acre enclosure.  There are no perennial streams in the enclosure.  The elk are dependent on old farm ponds that were dug decades ago before the Park Service bought the ranches.  Unfortunately, these ponds dry up in drought years.  About 250 elk died during the drought several years ago.  Perennial streams exist not far outside the enclosure.

You may be wondering why they are kept penned up.  It’s so the elk won’t bother the ranchers who live with their 6,000 cattle and sheep on about 25,000 acres of park land and do so at about half the rental rates for ranch lands outside the park.

When the Seashore was asked why the Park Service didn’t do anything to save the elk during the drought, the Park Service said that it was Park Service policy to let nature take its course.  But in nature there are no eight-foot tall woven-wire elk-proof fences.

Bobcat, Tule Elk

Recent Trip to Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of a cow elk with with a protruding cheek.
Cow Elk with Protruding Cheek, Point Reyes National Seashore

I drove out to Point Reyes a few days go.  I saw this cow elk on the D Ranch.  I wondered what caused that protrusion of her cheek.  Tumor?  Abscess?  A big wad of cud that would do a baseball player proud?    She seemed normal in other respects.   She has ear tags so she is an old gal.  I think the Park Service last put ear tags on elk in 1999.  That would make her 15 or more.

From what I’ve read lately, elk are a controversial subject among some of the ranchers who don’t want them eating any of the food the cows eat in the ranching areas.  I don’t know the details, but apparently this controversy has caused the Park Service to start preparing a management plan for the pastoral zone.

I also saw a few bobcats and coyotes that day.  Here’s a bobcat that caught a gopher while I was photographing him.

Close-up photo of a bobcat.
Bobcat, Point Reyes National Seashore

Like the elk, he seemed to qualify as a senior citizen. I got a few photos of him with his mouth open and his lower canines seemed pretty worn down.  He was a handsome old guy though.

Photo of a bobcat yawning.
Bobcat with Worn Out Teeth

As you can see, there doesn’t appear to be much of any lower right canine left.  For that matter, I don’t see any incisors on the bottom either.  This photo doesn’t show the complete area where the lower left canine should be because the lower lip is in the way somewhat, but if it were normal I think we’d see at least the top half of it.

Osprey

Baling Twine, Point Reyes National Seashore

Photo of some discarded baling twine which is dangerous to wildlife.
Dangerous to Wildlife

A few days ago I wrote about the dangers of baling twine to ospreys.  This is what it looks like up close.  I found it on the edge of the road on the way to the turnoff for Chimney Rock.  I picked it up to properly dispose of it, but I took some photos first.  It’s made of plastic and seems light as a feather.  Given that it is used and has been coiled up, someone probably picked it up from a field and intended to dispose of it properly, but lost if from the back of a truck.  It looks like there are about three or four separate pieces of twine.

It was interesting that I found it yesterday morning because I planned to go out Limantour Road to check on something and on the way I intended to check on some osprey nests in a canyon that runs up to the road.   The two nests I had in mind were there and there was an osprey in each nest when I arrived.  I spotted a nest farther out that also had an osprey in it.  The osprey in the closest nest took off shortly after I parked my car in the little pull out.

Photo of an osprey nest in Point Reyes National Seashore
No Baling Twine

This is the closest nest.  It’s about 75 to 100 yards from where I parked.  The other nests are even farther away.   There didn’t seem to be any young in the nests.  I didn’t see any baling twine in them either, which was good.  The nests are not very close to the ranching areas of Point Reyes which lessens the chance that twine would get into them.  Plus,  I assume the Park Service has made an effort to educate the ranchers to the potential dangers of leaving twine in the fields if they didn’t know of the dangers already.

Update:  after I drafted this post I went out to my car and pulled the stuff apart.  There were five equal lengths.  Each was roughly 20 feet long.  It cuts easily using  a scissors.  It was very hard to cut with a box cutter.  I gathered each piece so it was four strands wide and then cut it across five times so I ended up with roughly foot-long strands.  It didn’t take long.  I then put all the pieces into a medium size plastic bag which I tied at the top.  The bag could have held several times more twine.  If the bag winds up on the top of a landfill it shouldn’t pose a potential risk.  I think if I were a rancher and had lots to get rid of I’d maybe skip the cutting and put it in large bags that were sealed closed.  There may be ways to re-cycle it as well.

If you come across any of this stuff please pick it up and dispose of it properly.