Agents Tackle Mission Improbable

Picture a young bull moose, roped by his neck and lying on his side, zipping across the ice at Deer Lake

And a wild tom turkey, after fluffing up his feathers to make himself appear big and threatening to school children only a little larger than he, ignominiously taking a ride back to the Blue Mountains.

Getting the moose and turkey out of trouble a few days ago was all in a day’s work for agents of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Wildlife agents are those guys who ticket poachers and others who break the fish and game laws. Right? Sure, but they’re often called on to rescue wild birds and animals.

When they’re successful, they’re cheered. When something bad happens, they get jeered.

For some reason known only to himself, the young moose wandered out onto the ice at Deer Lake. Maybe he was looking for open water to get a drink or maybe he thought he could find some of the succulent aquatic plants moose like to eat during spring months.

Anyway, he crashed through rotten ice and began frantically trying to get back onto solid ice. Seeing his predicament, someone called department agents.

Rescuing wild animals that get themselves into trouble can be risky. Agents who responded to this call knew as soon as they saw the moose floundering in the icy water that they could get wet or worse.

Operation Moose was carried out by four agents.

Two volunteered to go out onto the rotten ice and try to throw a rope around the frantic animal’s neck. Knowing they could break through, they decided to skid a boat out onto the ice. If the ice cracked, they figured, they wouldn’t drown.

First, though, agents tied one end of the rope to the bumper of a department pickup. Then the agents who volunteered to lasso the moose worked their way close to the animal. One managed to throw a loop around the moose’s neck.

The two men tried unsuccessfully to pull the heavy, thrashing animal out of the water. After a while, however, by maneuvering around the animal, they hit the water with an oar. The frightened moose lunged up and got its chest over the edge of the ice.

At that moment, one of the agents signaled the agent in the pickup, who gunned the motor. The pickup roared up the road.

The moose, dragged by its neck, skidded across the ice so fast it didn’t have a chance to get onto its feet. The animal was so exhausted that it lay still for about a half hour. The agents considered putting a radio collar around the moose’s neck but decided it had already undergone too much stress.

Finally, the moose stood up, shook itself and nonchalantly walked away.

Operation Moose had taken 4 hours. Operation Tom Turkey took just as long.

As hunters and others who have spent time in turkey country know, the wild turkey population in Eastern Washington has exploded the past few years. There are flocks in areas where wildlife biologists thought turkeys would never live. The population is so big that hunters are looking forward to what could be the best turkey hunting season ever.

To wild turkeys, the Blue Mountains of southeast Washington are an ideal home. Some have even moved into Dayton, to the delight of the town’s residents.

The turkeys have been the talk of the town. Their every movement has been watched. Some residents have been feeding the birds, many of which have lost their fear of people.

One of the town’s three or four gobblers, however, began harassing and scaring school children. He didn’t attack any of the youngsters, but he strutted and made sure the kids knew he was boss.

But he had to go. Wildlife officials put out a net gun, lured the tom to the food and fired the net over him. Then they loaded him into a pickup truck and released him in the Blue Mountains, several miles from Dayton.

That gobbler, as well as the others befriended by Dayton residents, probably won’t survive the spring hunting season. The people who fed them signed their death warrants.

Although wild turkeys are dumb, they’re extremely wary and have eyesight so keen they can see the gleam of a hunter’s eyes at 200 yards. Bagging a big gobbler can be as difficult as killing a seven-point bull elk.

However, turkeys that lose their fear of people don’t last long during a hunting season. The tom that harassed the school children may become one of the first shot on opening day.

, DataTimes MEMO: You can contact Fenton Roskelley by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 3814.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Fenton Roskelley The Spokesman-Review