MeadowLarking: This night hunt perfectly legal

By Cindy McIntyre, Fort Sill TribuneAugust 25, 2016

spotlight survey
(Photo Credit: U.S. Army) VIEW ORIGINAL

FORT SILL, Okla. (Aug. 25, 2016) -- The Natural Resources folks at Fort Sill like to keep tabs on how well the wildlife populations are doing, so they can determine hunting quotas, particularly for deer and elk.

One way they do this is to spend several long nights driving some pretty rugged terrain looking for glowing eyes. Those eyes belong to animals of many sorts, from spiders to elk.

These "Spotlight Surveys" cover eight nights on two separate weekends, and are accomplished with two modified Humvees filled with staff and volunteers searching with powerful spotlights. Although these trips were filled when I asked to go along, they graciously made room for me the evening of Aug. 19.

I rode in the open-air top section with John Clipp and his 11-year-old son John Jr., and Glen Wampler, Natural Resources administrator. Down below were the driver Walter Munsterman, Fort Sill biologist, and recorder Caleb Sharum, a Cameron University student who has volunteered numerous times.

Our survey area was the West Range, and we set out just after sunset. The Humvee crawled over rocks, down steep slopes, and through tall grass to find the game animals. The hand-held spotlight was powered by the vehicle, and Wampler and Clipp took turns scanning both sides of the road about 300 yards out. Occasionally we saw Soldiers training in areas nearby, identified by their ChemLights.

When someone called "eyes" we stopped, aimed the binoculars, and tried to determine whose eyes they were. Wampler had warned me that spider eyes glow, too, but I didn't realize how bright they were until several times I mistook them for those of a fawn hunkered in the tall grass. We also saw a single bright eye, which Wampler said was probably a poor-will. Those birds of the night have extremely large eyes to help catch night-flying insects, and because their eyes are on the sides of their heads, only one eye at a time is seen.

Thunderstorms kept up a near-constant lightning show to the northwest, at a safe distance, but provided some dramatic orange streaks of electricity and flashing clouds. To the east, the waning full moon rose, hiding first behind the clouds, then adding a gauzy bit of light to the darkness. It was almost cool enough for long sleeves, and the overall effect was magical.

Clipp, an Army retiree with 22 years of service and numerous medals, said this was a chance to bond with his son in a way he didn't get to with his older children by a previous marriage. Then, he was gone more than he was home due to his military duties, but now he can devote time to teaching his son how to hunt and fish.

"I want him to learn that being a hunter is more than just killing things," he said. "It's about being a conservationist. It's your responsibility to take care of the wildlife." Clipp showed photos of his son's successful hunt of turkeys and ducks, and said this will be his first year as an archery hunter.

Clipp has done the night surveys since 2007 while he was an instructor for 434th Brigade here. He wore Irish Setter snake boots because snakes are often out on the road at night. "They've saved me twice," he said, pointing to areas on his foot where rattlesnakes bit.

John Jr. kept up excited chatter as we bounced over rocks and stopped for glowing eyes. This was the second year he helped the men find night critters.

The sportsmen tallied dozens of deer and elk, and were particularly interested in the bucks and bulls. Most of the time I could distinguish details, too, but not as expertly as they could. We saw two armadillos, two porcupines (John Jr.'s first), an opossum, and a family of skunks in a training area. That was the only down side for me, since skunks are considered pests due to being vectors for rabies, and Wampler loaded up a shotgun and dispatched two of them.

While they were chasing skunks, I spotted a coyote. I knew they are killed, too, since they are responsible for killing fawns, and was glad Wampler didn't notice it. Before the trip began, Natural Resources biologist Chris Deurmyer, who was on the second Humvee, explained the reason they shoot coyotes.

"They have a huge impact on wildlife and livestock," he said, since they're apex predators. "The more wildlife we can raise, the more we have the ability to have longer seasons or opportunity for our Soldiers. When you control the predator populations it releases the other populations so they can thrive. It helps our older bucks recover from rut and helps deer fawns raise up. Coyotes have a job to do, but we don't want them to be too efficient on our wildlife populations."

He said they generally count from 100 to 200-plus deer from sunup to sundown. Elk are "hit or miss" and tend to travel in large herds, sometimes up to 70.

"When you get to them you have to count fast," said Deurmyer.

They want to know how many bucks, does and fawns are out there, and the age of the bucks.

"Is the population growing, decreasing, or is it static? he said. "A doe will typically have two fawns, but on average we'll count 20 to 40 percent fawn recruitment, so out of every 10 does there may be two to four fawns."

Coyote predation is a large reason. So is weather.

"Drought really hurt us in 2011," said Deurmyer. "They say it was the worst drought since 1921." Wildfires meant game animals were concentrated in smaller areas, making them easier targets for predators. "We'd go a whole night and count less than a handful of fawns in a whole night. That was terrible. We had a whole year when we didn't raise any deer. That has hurt us on a lot of levels. What didn't get raised in 2011 would be a five-year buck this year, where they really start being awesome."

This year's nourishing rains have been "phenomenal," he said. The management program helps assure healthy populations of game animals. "That's where we come up with the quota on the maximum number of what we need to take. That's the ceiling where we want to stop the harvest. That's so that you have a good population for the next year, and the year after."

The rain held off until about 2 a.m., and with the first drops we got out our rain gear and jackets.

Lightning briefly illuminated the entire landscape as we drove back to the Natural Resources compound. Both Humvees were parked in the garage and Wampler began tallying the two counts.

One night down. Seven more to go.