Field Reports

WILDLIFE

High-strung moose

In one of those only-in-Alaska stories, a trophy-sized bull moose was accidentally strung up in a power line under construction southeast of Fairbanks.

The moose, apparently on the fight during mating season two weeks ago, tangled its antlers in electrical wire before workers farther down the line winched the wires tight.

The moose was suspended 50 feet high when workers, recognizing something was wrong, backtracked and found it.

The bull, weighing 1,200 pounds with antlers spanning 62 inches, was alive when it was lowered to the ground but was later killed when officials from the Alaska Department of Fish and Game decided it wouldn’t survive.

Fairbanks Daily News-Miner

FISHERIES

Lake drawdown topic

A proposal that could require summer drawdown of Lake Roosevelt to boost downstream fisheries will be one of numerous topics covered at the three-day annual conference sponsored by the Lake Roosevelt Forum Nov. 15-17 at the Davenport Hotel in Spokane.

Experts and administrators from the tribes to the EPA will make presentations throughout each day on tapes that include hydro operations, fisheries management, recreation activities and sediment contamination cleanup.

For conference sessions, updates and registration fees, go to the Web at www.lrf.org/conf or call 535-7084.

Rich Landers

FISHERIES

Carcasses in Tucannon

About 300 spring chinook salmon carcasses were returned after hatchery spawning to southeast Washington’s Tucannon River last week to provide food for aquatic insects and other stream life that in turn are consumed by juvenile salmon and steelhead.

“It’s the way wild fish recycle naturally,” said Michael Gallinat, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Dayton, noting that hatchery carcass distribution has been used to enhance nutrients in state waters for several years.

Steve Gwinn of the Tri-State Steelheaders said volunteers from the local non-profit group distributed the salmon carcasses upstream from Sheep Creek.

Rich Landers

Hunting

Raider of the last elk

Actor Harrison Ford, 62, is defying efforts to thin an elk herd that lives near his Wyoming ranch.

“Ford doesn’t want any hunting to take place on his property,” says John Kelly, the actor’s ranch manager. “He told me that if I caught anyone to turn them in.”

State officials hope for hunters to kill about 700 of the 5,100 elk to help preserve the Snake River’s cottonwood habitat on, to save stores of hay and to protect local cattle from potential diseases.

Signs along the border of Ford’s property warn hunters away and create a private elk refuge.

Associated Press

BIG GAME

Deer collisions costly

About 150 people die each year in 1.5 million traffic accidents involving collisions with deer, an insurance industry report says, putting the damage at $1.1 billion.

The study relied on federal and state records as well as academic studies on the issue.

Highway reflectors, high-pitched whistles, signs and other methods to prevent collisions show mixed results, the report says.

Wire reports

HUNTING

Thief gooses hunter

Goose decoys worth $800 were stolen from the back of a pickup parked in front of the 65-year-old victim’s North Spokane residence last weekend.

The Spokane County Sheriff’s Department said the 60 decoys disappeared from the truck in the 1000 block of West Rolland after 2 p.m. Oct. 22.

Rich Landers