Tuesday, January 11, 2011


Welcome to Ewing-Snell Historic Ranch, my new home away from home. We have solar power, a propane generator, cold showers (he he he) and a wonderful wood stove! Despite the cold temperatures (-15 with a bone-chilling wind) and lack of TV, radio, internet or phone service (sorry, no land-line either), we are adjusting quite well! And what a beautiful setting...we are about 30 miles north of the town of Lovell, Wyoming, across the Montana border...truly in the boondocks and loving every minute of it! I had hoped on making more posts with the promise of satellite internet at the homestead, but as of yet, this is the first day I have had internet access except for a few flash messages to my husband and family to let them know I was alive and well. Apparently, we should be getting internet access soon (the IT guys comes tomorrow to check things out), so keep your fingers crossed everyone! As for the rest of my updates, see pictures: 1) the drive up from Utah was mostly on pure ice, 8 hours total 2) Bighorn Canyon, my new backyard...10 minutes from my house 3) the landscape is rugged! My advisor and the gal in charge (Lindsey Blake) checking out the landscape.

So far we have fully moved in and settled, purchased the bare necessities (toaster oven and tea kettle), gone through all equipment and packed the capture packs, met with all the big-wigs, and are prepping for one last training day tomorrow to go over target practice with the dart gun and tree climbing. I'll keep you posted on our adventure as things progress!

Monday, January 3, 2011

Well, the time has come! Bayne and I have been packing "Big White" with what seems like entirely too much gear for our 4 month excursion up north, to take on the cats of the Bighorn Mountains! Our main goal is to help deploy 5 GPS collars on adult cougars so graduate student Linsey Blake (Utah State University) can look at cougar predation on bighorn sheep.

Aside from some initial tracking training (ages 4 months to 1 year), treeing of house cats, and a few interactions with a live cougar from the comfort of his leash, this is going to be Bayne's first introduction to the art of the chase...we'll see how he does! I'm a bit worried he lacks enough independence to stay on the trail, so that is something we will be focusing on during this capture stint. I'm hoping he gets inspired from other hounds on the project and will pick it up fast.

I don't know what kind of access I'll have, but I'm looking forward to posting pics and info once we get settled in and start capture work. Please let me know of special requests! I look forward to keeping you posted and hope you enjoy the ride as much as I'm sure I will!