Going in search of late-night poacher
A rifle shot boomed through the night. It echoed in the stillness for seconds. Then all went quiet.
This had all the signs of a poacher doing his dirty work, out to kill wildlife illegally for his personal gain, regardless of potential penalties, ethics or harm.
The next morning, we set out to search for damage.
This was on a preserve managed by the Pacific Forest Trust of San Francisco. The Forest Trust manages its lands for forest health and fire safety, preservation of springs and meadows, wildlife abundance and other benefits. Constance
Best, co-founder of the trust, invited me to track the game trails on one of its large tracts in Northern California.
The rifle shot at night turned the trip into a detective mystery.
I first called the Department of Fish and Wildlife’s poacher hotline, (888) 334-2258, to report the event. A game warden said he could not respond unless there was an eyewitness to a kill in progress. He suggested posting a motion-activated wildlife camera along remote entry roads so that the license plate number of the poacher could be captured while he was illegally entering the property. That would be a good first step to identifying a suspect.
So with no game warden available, out we went. Tracking wildlife is always exciting. The most likely spots to find wildlife are where game trails pass from breaks in the forest to meadows with small creeks or springs. You often can find where the animals feed, drink and bed down and, in turn, can determine their routes between those locations.
We saw tracks and scat for bear, deer, fox and mountain lion, plus a badger hole.
Then, with the luck of being at the right place at the right time, we sighted a big blacktailed buck deer with a huge rack, 4x4, wide and towering, for just a few seconds as it walked away from the edge of a weedy/grassy field and into forest.
Then we checked a wildlife cam, positioned along a wildlife corridor. It was like looking into a magic crystal ball. The cam had taken a photo of a black bear that had just rolled through at a distance of less than 10 feet.
There was no evidence of a kill. The final score was bear 1, deer 1, poacher 0.
Fly-casting prodigy
The story of Maxine McCormick, San Francisco’s 12-year-old fly-casting prodigy, continues to be told across America after she became the youngest gold medal winner at a world-class sporting event in history. Sixty-nine of the world’s best fly-fishing casters from 15 countries competed for medals in Estonia.
McCormick returned last week to start the eighth grade, pitch for her middle school team in a softball game Friday, and also asked her dad, Glenn McCormick, who won a bronze, to take her fishing more. “I’ll try to make that happen,” he said.
Meanwhile, they have a few celebration trips planned to Joe’s Ice Cream on Geary for the classic ice cream sundaes, complete with whipped cream and cherry on top. “She’s a little embarrassed by all the attention,” Glenn McCormick said.
“She beat all the men over there,” he said. “They were stunned. They couldn’t believe it, and neither can I.”
The U.S. team, made up of four members of the San Francisco and Oakland Casting Club after the national finals in Kentucky, dominated the world competition: Maxine McCormick: Gold medal, trout accuracy, women’s division; bronze medal, salmon distance, women’s division. Chris Korich: Gold medal, trout accuracy, men’s division. Donna O’Sullivan: Silver medal, spey distance from platform, women’s division; silver medal, spey distance from water, women’s division. Glenn McCormick: Bronze medal, trout accuracy, men’s division.
Yellow jackets and more
In a return to “the scene of the crime,” a friend wanted to see where I was nailed by a swarm of yellow jackets after stepping on a hive in the ground. Turned out I was off by a few feet and planted my size 13s on them again, and out they came; got nailed about 30 times between the two encounters. By the number of letters I’ve received, there must be something of an epidemic this summer: Tahoe swarms: “Have you heard about the yellow jackets up at Tahoe? Way more of them than usual, and they've become a big problem at beaches, campsites . ... They’re really pesky right now and (according to El Dorado Vector Control) are expected to persist through the end of September.” — Dan Miller
Like a machine gun: “Yellow jackets live in the ground and sting repeatedly.” — Morgan Muir. (Right, a predatory wasp.) Escape route: If you are attacked by stinging insects, I have heard that you should run in a zigzag pattern.” — Patrick Hickox. (That didn’t work!) Field remedies: Carry a tube of SSssting-Stop, advises Jocasta Mettling. Scrape the area with a credit card and apply sun cream, says Claire-Laure Belt. The old Boy Scout remedy, a mudpack, does the trick, and so does Ancient Healing Salve, wrote in Willie Gilbert. I’ve tried witch hazel, and later, anti-itch cream.
Sightings
El Niño leftover: A bonito, the little tuna-like sport fish common off Los Angeles, was caught by accident in the Alameda Estuary near Jack London Square, confirmed Bill Disbrow. This is only the third confirmed bonito in the bay. Finning sharks: In the cove at Tiburon, just offshore Peet’s Coffee, Dale Louise Evje sighted the rare event of a half dozen leopard sharks, all 4 to 5 feet long, finning in the shallows during a low tide. Baby owls: Outside of Santa Rosa, Ed Pascoe was alerted to a pair of baby great horned owls by his son, Zachary, who was then able to get close enough for photos without disturbing them. Bald eagles: A bald eagle enjoyed a long, easy glide over San Pablo Reservoir in El Sobrante, hunting for trout, and was reported by several, first by Christina Ricci . ... At Carquinez Strait, Joel Greger also sighted a bald eagle, gliding, hovering and sailing. Surprise fox: After hearing a “yelp-bark-hiss,” Brian Weirum looked out in the western Marin foothills and sighted a gray fox emerging through a hole in a fence 20 feet away. “We looked at each other for some time. He even made a little growl before turning around and disappearing back through the fence. Alas, no camera.” Daily fox: “I live in Healdsburg and fox sightings are an everyday occurrence. I live in a residential neighborhood and was treated to one wandering through my backyard. I don’t know how it got in or out since I have a 7-foot fence totally surrounding my property.” — Jerry Levine
Q&A
Q: What do you think would be the best weekend to see the fall colors peaking? — Barry Lazarus A: The first round of brilliant fall colors will probably arrive in mid-September in the canyons east of the Sierra crest in the high country above 7,000 feet elevations; from Oct. 1 to 15 in the Sierra from 5,000 to 8,000 feet; from Oct. 15 to 30 in subalpine areas, 2,500 to 5,000 feet; roughly Nov. 1 through 20 in the Bay Area.