By KW

I’ve been looking for a lion hunter willing to allow me and photographer Ryan Soderlin tag along on a hunt.

We were hoping to do it soon. Especially if it snows today and tonight.

Anybody out there getting set to go?

Josh Cook take aim on a rabbit.

By KW

It’s in his blood.

Josh Cook just can’t help himself. He doesn’t want to, either.

The kid is drawn to hunting,  almost as much as he is drawn to ranching.

He’s in the right family for both.

Five-year-old Josh is the pride and joy of his grandma, Andrea Cook, a rancher and RCJ reporter, who with her rancher-taxidermist husband, Jerald, loves having the grandson on extended visits to their Cottonwood-area ranch.

I love looking at pictures of the Josh snapped by Andrea, especially when he’s doing something outdoors – like trailing cottontails with his bow in hand.

Bunnies beware!

Josh and his bow off on the trail of wild game.

By KW

Just about every successful mountain lion hunter I’ve interviewed said he eats what he shoots.

Cat chops anyone?

I haven’t quite made it over that eating-cat hump myself. So I’ve turned down offers of lion meat. Not that I think there’s anything wrong with hunting them, or eating them. I don’t.

Just not my thing.

But some people abhor the hunt, and warn of horrible consequences of eating lion meat. We got a couple of comments about that recently in one of our anonymous reader forums on the online Journal.

One said we should never eat meat-eaters, because of the health issues. Another said people who eat lion meat put themselves at risk for rabies and CWD.

Sounded goofy to me. But I ran it past John Kanta at the GF&P regional office in Rapid City. Here’s what he said:

“Those questions have been brought up in the past. We have done some testing on lions for CWD and all results were negative. All the research has documented that CWD will not cross the species barrier. In other words, CWD is a disease found in the cervid or deer family. As far as rabies goes, as long as the meat is properly cooked, it will kill bacteria and there is no danger.”

I’m  guessing Kanta would advise hunters to be cautious of  handling or consuming meat from lions that appeared deranged or ill.

Otherwise, it’s chow time.

A biker cruises past a “bug tree” along the trail in the Chuck Lien Family Park.

By KW

Rosie was confused by my singular interest in a ponderosa pine tree along the trail yesterday afternoon on the west side of M Hill.

With the pooch following close, I stepped off the trail and scrambled up a hill for a closer look at the tree.

I usually don’t pay individual ponderosa pines nearly that much attention.

But the red blotch on the trunk of the tree caught my eye during our hike. So did the pitch tubes – those frozen pimples of erupted sap created as the tree tries to evict the invading mountain pine beetles.

Clearly the tree along the trail tried many times with many beetles, but didn’t succeed. It has been marked for removal in a city program aimed at containing the spread of the relentless bugs, and limiting tree losses.

We’ll know in five or six years how successful it turns out to be.

Former RCJ photo chief Steve McEnroe captured this sad image in Wind Cave Park.

By KW

For most of us, such an act would be unthinable. Yet, it happens. It always happens, inexplicably.

A guy with a gun and an inclination toward idiocy takes aim and pulls the trigger. At something illegal.

That’s how two bull elk ended up dead in Wind Cave National Park earlier this week.

Here’s the perspective from the two guys who found the first of two bull elk apparently shot and left to rot.

The first, Steve McEnroe, is a sportsman and former photo chief for the Journal. He and his buddy, Leslie Zwicker, were out early on Tuesday, slow-cruising the park in search of photographs.

They found the one above, sadly enough. Then they reported the bull to Wind Cave staffers, who began an investigation and located another bull, not far away.

Both were close by NPS Road 5, a lovely little trail through the park, where the deer and the antelope – and the elk – really do play. Who takes advantage of such a situation? Who knows who they are? McEnroe knows who they’are not. They’re not sportsmen.

“There is certainly no sportsmanship involved,” McEnroe says. “These are protected animals and are tolerant of the approach of humans.”

It isn’t just the shooting, either. It’s the leaving. Beautiful bulls, shot and left to rot.

“As terrible as the act of poaching is, it’s even worse when it’s purely wanton,” McEnroe says. “There was no attempt to harvest any part of the elk we found.”

And Zwicker? Here’s what he had to say regarding “the ugly footprint of man:”

“It is my hope that they are found, prosecuted and receive the maximum in fines and penalties,” he says.

Wind Cave has a start in that effort by offering a $1,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of those responsible. People with information can call the state Turn In Poachers (TIPs) line at 1-888-683-7224.

McEnroe and Zwicker, in particular, are hoping someone makes that call.

Wintersteen’s beautiful brookie.

By KW

OK, first things first: Got your license?

Wintersteen does. He called to remind me to get mine, BEFORE I head out to fish.

It’s that time of year again – Feb. 1, time for the 2012 fishing license. As it is, GF&P gives us a month extra into the new year to get it done. It’s so simple to buy online that even I can do it. And have. And will.

So get it done, before that hook hits the water.

And speaking of hooks and water, Wintersteen apparently made good use of a couple of days off, nymphing his way to some nice trout at an unknown (even to me!) location.

Take a look at the fish – especially that beautiful, 15-inch brook trout – and you’ll understand why he’s so secretive about the spot (which I have yet to see!).

Not that I’m whining about it.

The 19-inch brown isn’t bad, either.

Turning a corner and heading down  on a trail at Hanson-Larsen Memorial Park.

By KW

We struck off cross-country, Rosie and I, up the steep hills of the Hanson-Larsen Memorial Park, heading north.

Sunday was a fine day for wandering the hills, we  took advantage.

We shared the park only with songbirds, rabbits deer and a scattering of mountain bikers. (The northern reaches are less peopled, generally, than the south half, near the parking lots.)

I know next to nothing about mountain biking. But the trail system at Hanson-Larsen seems pretty impressive to me. And it’s a great place to hike, about which I know a few things.

What a resource to have, right here in town.

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Jim McMahon  with a Rapid Creek rainbow taken last fall.

By KW

Shows you what I know.

I figured Jim McMahon was a shoe-in for reappointment to the state Game, Fish & Parks Commission. He’s Mr. Qualification, for just about anything.

So I figured McMahon had grown tired of fish and fowl business when I saw the news release last week from Gov. Dennis Daugaard that he was appointing Sioux Falls businessman Duane Sather to take McMahon’s spot. Turns out, McMahon asked for a reappointment but didn’t get it.

Surprised? I was. The guy is one of the best lawyers in South Dakota. He served as a deputy state attorney general and a U.S. attorney. He hunts and fishes. AND he fly fishes.

What’s not to like there? Well, nothing according to Tony Venhuizen, a senior advier to Daugaard, who said McMahon was a good commissioner and a good candidate for reappointment. But the governor decided to go with Sather, who had been recommended by a former GF&P commissioner.

Venhuizen didn’t name that former commissioner, but I have to ask: Tim Kessler, are you out there?

Sather has been very successful in the business community, and has in the past – like Kessler himself – owned a hunting preserve. Some might question whether that experience is appropriate for an urban sportsman representative on the commission, which is divided into rural landowner-urban sportsmen slots.

Maybe. We’ll see.

Being a cynic, I checked campaign contributions. Sather shared a bit of his wealth with Daugaard’s campaign effort, donating – between himself  and his wife – more than $11,000 to the governor’s candidate committee in the four years leading up to the 2010general election.

McMahon made the list, too, with $1,000. So they’re both DD donors, but at a different level.

Venhuizen said it’s not about the campaign cash by any means. And, indeed, $11,000 was a pebble on the long, wide gravel road of Daugaard donations. Venhuizen also  pointed to a number of other appointments involving people who gave little or nothing to the campaign.

 Sather brings a unique set of experiences, skills and perspectives to the commission, Venhuizen said.

I’m sure he does. And I have no reason to doubt that he’ll be a good commissioner.

But we’re letting a pretty good one go, too.

Jackson enjoys stringing beads and antler parts on a necklace string.

By KW

Jackson met the Outdoor Campus West yesterday.

I think they became friends.

And our 3 1/2-year-old grandson was just one of many – kids and adults – who met the GF&P outdoor learning center and liked what they saw and experienced. The staff of the Outdoor Campus in Sioux Falls joined the Outdoor Campus West folks here in Rapid City in hosting an exceptional day for the community. Especially kids.

Along with the regular – by Outdoor Campus standards, at least – assortment of displays and hands-on outdoor learning stations, there were opportunities to build necklaces out of natural parts, including antlers bits, create your own bird-feeding goodies, munch a Smore and catch a fish.

Fish were scarce, but smiles were everywhere.

If you weren’t having fun, you just weren’t trying.

Jackson rocks on in a hands-on display in the stoned surroundings of the aquarium.

An appropriately attired Caster Don was among the volunteer hosts.

Eleven-year-old Sean Hopper of Rapid City, waiting and hoping.

Bill Shattuck in the field (photo courtesy of Krull Lodge)

By KW

Bill Shattuck once told me that he didn’t feel much like he’d hunted unless he’d put in about five miles of boot leather before he bagged his birds.

He was talking about grouse, and those long, luxurious hikes across the sprawling Fort Pierre National Grasslands that Bill loved so much. But he was a pheasant man, too.

In those days, he was running Brittanies. And when I asked him once why he had two, he answered logically: “Because I can’t afford three.”

Bill later turned to Drathaars, and the different breed brought no change in his love for pointing dogs or the essential offering up of boot leather in search of upland birds. In fact, it seemed to get stronger.

He was a fine GF&P conservation officer, based on everything I saw and heard, and during his years as firearms-boating-safety coordinator was among the most candid on-the-record sources I’ve ever covered.

He was also as good a dog man as I have seen, close up.

He could tell a story with the best of them – even the master of the outdoor yarn, John Cooper. And nobody was better company in the field or over a cup of coffee than Bill Shattuck.

Bill died last week of a brain hemorrhage.  Condolences can be sent to: Judy Shattuck and Family, 200 N. Buchanan Ave., Pierre, S.D. 57501.

Word comes now that there will be a memorial service and dedication ceremony for Bill at the Krull Lodge near Harrold on May 26. His ashes will be scattered over his favorite draw, where his hunting dog, Heike, died years earlier.

A memorial fund has been set up in Bill’s name in lieu of flowers. Send donations to the North American grouse Partnership, 1670 N 1/2 Road, Fruita, Col. 81521.

We’ll miss you, Bill.