Laramie Region

Monthly Summary

“Conserving Wildlife - Serving People”

DECEMBER 2014

Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologists and wardens took to the air throughout the Laramie Region in De-

cember for big game herd classifications.

Classifications are conducted by air and ground to obtain population data and to monitor herds of big game animals

such as mule deer, elk, moose and bighorn sheep. Information obtained from the classification is used to design future

hunting seasons and to manage herds toward population objectives. So far, the news has been good across the Laramie

Region.

Saratoga Game Warden Biff Burton says early results suggest mule deer fawn production and buck numbers in-

creased in the Platte Valley in 2014. Cheyenne Game Warden Shawn Blajszczak reports that mule deer classifications

indicated the Goshen Rim herd also had good fawn production. Wheatland Wildlife Biologist Martin Hicks was pleased to

discover the best mule deer fawn ratios observed in years. Hicks says hunters can look forward to seeing good buck

quantity and quality a few years from now.

Big game herd classifications

Laramie Wildlife Biologist Lee Knox and Game Warden Jackie Otto prepare to

take off. Otto was recently selected as the new North Gillette game warden.

Laramie Region Wildlife Coordinator Corey Class

and Saratoga Game Warden Biff Burton take a

break from classifying big game animals.

Buck numbers and quality should improve in next few years

Page 2

DECEMBER 2014

Game and Fish is proud to welcome a

new game warden in Laramie.

Game Warden Bill Brinegar replaces

Bill Haley, the South Laramie game war-

den who retired in August. Brinegar is a

native of Cheyenne and graduated from

East High School in 1994. He earned a

bachelor’s degree in Biology from Fresno

State in 2001.

After graduation he worked for the

California Fish and Game on the anadro-

mous fish crew on the San Joaquin River,

and later as a biologist for a private con-

sulting firm.

He returned to Wyoming in 2004

when he was hired as a game warden

trainee for the Wyoming Game and Fish

Department. Brinegar was stationed in

Green River for two years and was then

promoted to the Rawlins Warden District

in 2006, where he remained for eight

years.

Brinegar is delighted to be working in

Laramie and to finally be back home in

the southeast corner of the state. “I have

family in Cheyenne and I wanted to be a

game warden in an area where I grew up

hunting and fishing. I am very familiar

with the area. It is home,” he said.

While Brinegar had to hit the ground

running at the beginning of hunting sea-

son, he says he now has time to focus on

his goals for the region. “I want to work

on building and maintaining relation-

ships with the landowners and constitu-

ents in my region. A game warden is the

liaison between the department and

landowners. It’s a very important role,”

he said.

Brinegar believes in the responsibility

of providing quality opportunities for

sportsmen. He cares about doing what is

right for wildlife and sportsmen. “I appre-

ciate that my role as a game warden al-

lows me to get people to work together

to solve problems,” he said.

He lives in Laramie with his wife Kris-

tin, daughter Emily, and sons Owen and

Will.

Welcome to the Laramie Region

New South Laramie game warden

Sheep Mountain mule deer meeting The Laramie Region held a public meeting in December

to discuss management of the Sheep Mountain Mule Deer

Herd. Wildlife managers provided information about mule

deer nutritional needs and habitat enhancements; a review

of the current herd objective; and a preliminary discussion

on draft management recommendations for the herd.

Laramie Wildlife Biologist Lee Knox said the population

objective for the herd is 15,000 animals, but current popu-

lation estimates are just over 5,500. “The population objec-

tive of 15,000 animals may not be realistic for this herd,”

he said.

The Laramie Region will hold one more public meeting

to review a draft of the management recommendations.

This will be the final planning-stage meeting to identify in-

formation needs or bring up issues that the management

recommendations document doesn’t address. The date will

be determined in upcoming weeks.

To learn more about the Sheep Mountain Mule Deer

Initiative visit: http://wgfd.wyo.gov.

DECEMBER 2014 Page 3

Fish stocked in Cheyenne lakes

The Laramie fish crew stocked about 900 brood cull brown and brook trout in

Sloans Lake and Lake Absarraca in December. The fish were culled from the breed-

ing stock at Story Fish Hatchery. The brook trout are all four-year-old fish and aver-

age about one pound and about 14 inches. The brown trout are three to five years

old and also average a pound each and up to 14 inches in length. However, some of

the older fish are about 18 inches in length.

While checking fisher-

men at Wheatland #3,

Laramie Game Warden

Kelly Todd talked to a

man who said he had

no luck all day, and not

even a bite for that last

couple hours. Warden

Todd continued check-

ing other fishermen, and

everybody else seemed

to be catching fish. Sud-

denly there was a shout

and everyone looked to

see a large rainbow

trout being reeled in by

the man who said he

had no luck all day. The

trout was 24.5 inches

long and weighed about

five pounds.

Good things come to

those who wait… and wait

Photo by Kelly Todd

If you enjoy fishing for bass in the Laramie Region, then

2015 is your lucky year.

Size limits for bass have been liberalized on several

waters in southeastern Wyoming. Festo Lake and Hawk

Springs Reservoir have had the bass size limit removed

completely, and the 15-inch minimum size limit at Gray-

rocks Reservoir has been removed. Anglers at Grayrocks

can now keep three (3) bass, but only one can be over 12

inches in length.

Also new is a change that allows importation of live

baitfish (fathead minnows) into the state from approved

commercial hatcheries. This should increase the number

of live baitfish available to anglers.

Other changes include new laws allowing the use of

corn for bait and the use of artificial lighting devices while

fishing. The regulation will continue to prohibit the use of

artificial light when spear gunning for game fish.

The new fishing regulations booklet listing all changes

is now on the Game and Fish website wgfd.wyo.gov.

Printed copies are now available at license selling agents.

The new changes are highlighted throughout the booklet.

Some good changes to

fishing regulations

Page 4 DECEMBER 2014

New well drilled at Table Mountain WHMA

John’s Pump Service of Torrington completed drilling a new well at Table Mountain WHMA as part of the Water Delivery Enhancement System

project. The water from the well will help keep the Table Mountain ponds full. Once the well was completed, Wyrulec Company of Lingle installed

a three-phase electric line to power the well’s pumps. Photos by Jerry Cowles.

Hunting for elk

Forever Wild Families participants Caylee and

Jordan Martin went on an elk hunt with WGFD

employees Ian Tator and Mark Nelson (at right).

Goshen County hosted the 27th Annual 2-Shot Goose Hunt on Dec. 13. The

weather was cold and foggy that morning in Torrington, and the hunting was a bit

hit or miss. Only three out of 40 teams took four geese, and only six teams came

in with three geese. First place contestants were Seth Brush (at left) and Jarod

Bower (center), hunting on Bryan Greenwald’s land west of Lingle. The team took

four geese. Brush was also credited for killing the largest goose for the day,

which weighed in at 11.49 pounds. Also shown is guide Grant Harpstreith (at

right). Photo by Rob Hipp.

Goshen County 2-Shot Goose Hunt

DECEMBER 2014 Page 5

After pleading no contest to the charges of taking a mule deer during a

closed season and wrong species of deer, Cheyenne resident Kurt Rangitsch

was sentenced to two years revocation of hunting privileges, $3,000 in resti-

tution, $1,010 in fines, and six months unsupervised probation. Rangitsch

must also retake a hunter education class.

The case was initially reported by Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Gabriel

Testerman, who discovered a buck mule deer in the back of Rangitsch’s truck

and concluded it to be a possible violation.

Cheyenne Game Warden Shawn Blajszczak and Wheatland Game Warden

David Ellsworth determined that Rangitsch had shot a large mule deer buck

on Nov. 30, 2014, in deer hunt area 15 near La Grange. Rangitsch had a

deer area 15 type 3 license valid for white-tailed deer only. Rangitsch, who

had been hunting deer in Wyoming since 2002, said he thought the deer was

a white-tailed deer.

Special thanks to Trooper Testerman, Ken Brown with the district attor-

ney’s office, and Game and Fish Department’s Laramie Region Wildlife Inves-

tigator John Demaree for assistance in solving and prosecuting this case.

In other parts of the region, Medicine Bow Game Warden Jake Kettley con-

tacted two elk hunters off of Highway 487 after one had shot a cow elk. The hunters said they thought they were on the Shirley Basin HMA in

hunt area 7. They were cited for hunting in the wrong area as they were well into area 16.

Teamwork was the name of the game when HMAP Coordinator Kyle Berg, Access Coordinator Jason Sherwood, and Game Warden Jackie

Otto helped Warden Kettley with a case involving an individual from Casper who shot two cow elk on the McFarlane HMA. The man accessed

the HMA from a walk-in area that is only open for antelope hunting. The following day he drove into the HMA and went past a road closed

sign. He was issued citations for trespassing and driving past a road closed sign.

Access Coordinator Jason Sherwood also worked several cases this month, including one where a man’s elk spoiled while he was working

out of state, a man who accidentally harvested a spike elk on a cow-only hunt, and a bull elk that was found by Biologist Hicks after it was

shot during a cow-only season. The bull was shot on the Cross C Ranch adjacent to the Tunnel Road early in the morning of December 20.

The elk had been quartered and the meat was taken. Tips on anyone who harvested an elk in Area 7 that day or regarding suspicious vehi-

cles observed in the area that day would be appreciated.

Laramie Region law enforcement

Cheyenne Game Warden

Shawn Blajszczak received

a call about a poached

fawn white-tailed deer off

of Horse Creek Road north

of Iron Mountain on Dec.

13.

When Warden

Blajszczak arrived he dis-

covered a fawn white-tailed deer that was shot and left to

waste. The deer was shot in the head with a high pow-

ered rifle the previous day. Unfortunately, not much evi-

dence was found on scene.

Warden Blajszczak encourages anyone with knowl-

edge of this poaching or any other poaching to call the

stop poaching tip line at 1 (877) WGFD TIP, (1-877-934-

3847). Informants can choose to remain anonymous.

Stop Poaching December saw the beginning of a new bighorn sheep re-

search study the Tom Thorne/Beth Williams Wildlife Research

Center at Sybille. The focus of the study is to develop sheep-

side testing that can identify which sheep in a herd are chroni-

cally shedding respiratory pathogens.

If these sheep can be identified, removing them may im-

prove the overall health of the herd and improve lamb recruit-

ment. This is a collaborative study with Dr. Karen Fox of Colo-

rado Parks and Wildlife.

Mule deer buck poached by Cheyenne resident Kurt Rangitsch

Tips needed on white-tailed deer case

New bighorn sheep study

Two University of Wyoming

students assist in sam-

pling Travis, the resident

bighorn sheep ram at the

wildlife research center at

Sybille.

Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. Laramie Region Office

528 S. Adams St. Laramie, WY 82070

(307) 745-4046

wgfd.wyo.gov

This male sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter

striatus) has been spotted near the Game

and Fish Department headquarters office in

Cheyenne in recent weeks. The sharp-

shinned hawk’s primary prey is small song-

birds such as sparrows and warblers. They

are agile fliers and easily speed through

dense vegetation to surprise their prey.

Sharp-shinned hawks are common in wood-

land areas and open lowlands throughout

the United States, southern and western

Canada, Mexico and Central America. North-

ern bird populations will migrate to the

South, but sharp-shinned hawks may be

present year-round in Wyoming.

Sharp-shinned hawk

Laramie Game

Warden Kelly

Todd snapped

this photo of a

nice flock of

wild turkeys on

a recent trip to

Hawk Springs.

Turkeys are

frequently seen

from U.S. 85 in

and around the

town.

A new test is being used to screen

blood samples for antibodies to

brucellosis.

The new test is called a RAP which

stands for Rapid Automated Presump-

tive test. It is a semi-automated test

that uses an antigen (killed Brucella

abortus bacteria) in a microtiter plate

in an instrument that scans each well

for agglutination. Agglutination occurs

when antibodies in the test serum

combine with antigen complexes that

can be seen with the naked eye. The

automated instrument is able to de-

tect these complexes at very low lev-

els making it much more sensitive than the old card test.

Although the RAP test has been used for some time in cattle and swine, it is

only now being routinely used for wildlife. As part of an effort to standardize

brucellosis testing in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, the USDA/APHIS has

pushed this assay very hard on regional diagnostic laboratories. The RAP instru-

ment and the antigen were supplied free of charge to the WGFD. The RAP is now

the standard screening test for brucellosis, replacing the Card, Standard Plate

Test and the Rivanol tests.

Positive control serum samples are shown on

the right while test serum samples are shown

on the left. Test antigen is pink, giving the

assay its characteristic color.

New brucellosis test

BRRRR! Access Coordinator Jason Sherwood says shoveling snow is

all in a day’s work. He assisted with HMAP elk hunts in the

Laramie Peak area, and jumped in to lend a hand with vehi-

cles that became stuck or disabled during particularly bad

weather the weekend after Christmas. Medicine Bow Game

Warden Jake Kettley and HMAP Coordinator Kyle Berg also

joined in the wintry fun.

Regular visitors