Artemis

Ella Willms was raised in a hunting family in Wyoming, and she's joined her dad in the field as long as she can remember. This fall was Ella's first year as a licensed hunter. She joins Artemis to tell us all about that experience, and how it feels different when you’re the one behind the gun.

2:30 Artemis 2021...SO MANY IDEAS. Florida spearfishing on the list! 

4:00 Imagine growing up in a family where the freezer is full of moose, elk, deer, pheasant, dove, antelope, etc.

5:30 Growing up in a hunting family, then turning 12, and becoming a licensed hunter yourself

6:00 "It's just really fun, I guess. We experience new things every time, and it's like a new adventure. It's never the same."

7:00 Hunting deer, encountering a sow bear and cubs clunking out of a tree

10:00 First hunt... so much going on! Bucks and does moving in and out, and keeping an eye on YOUR animal

12:30 Being behind the gun versus watching someone else's hunt

15:30 Deer tacos - a celebratory first meal! Bringing food to the table is a special feeling

18:00 "Hunts with dads are always fun"

19:00 Advice to parents? Be patient. Kids will take their shot when they're ready

24:00 Labradors at the beach: WHY DOES THIS WATER TASTE DIFFERENT?!

26:00 Does the satisfaction of a good shot ever go away?

27:00 If you're feeling generous and able to give this holiday season, please consider Artemis (artemis.nwf.org/donate) - all money generously given goes to supporting programs that connect sportswomen

In the last of our series with scientists from the Monteith Shop, we talk with Rachel Smiley and Brittany Wagler about their research understanding pneumonia in bighorn sheep herds. Several pneumonia pathogens are common across a handful of Wyoming herds, but some herds seem more susceptible than others to outbreak. Plus, you've heard of 'super-spreaders' in the Covid era... do sheep have the same kind of individuals? 

5:00 Vegetarian to hunter transition

8:00 Evolution as a hunter: With family, by yourself as your beliefs of ethical hunting change, then back to hunting with others again

9:30 Hunting with your sci-gal pals is pretty great! 

12:30 Bighorn sheep are susceptible to respiratory pneumonia, which can have an impact on population dynamics year to year. What are the environmental factors (habitat/nutrition/physiology) that influence pneumonia vulnerability?

13:30 Research questions: What's the energetic cost of a sheep getting pneumonia? Are antibodies passed to offspring? Are different herds affected differently?

15:00 Whiskey Basin herd in Wyoming had a big outbreak in the '90s, which led to a big, all-ages die-off of many members of the herd... they're STILL recovering. The Jackson herd has also had outbreaks, but recovery's been better. Why is that?

21:00 Collaring lambs vs. fawns... apples to oranges

22:00 So... how DO you collar a lamb? 

27:00 Pneumonia in bighorn sheep comes from contact with domestic sheep. Most of that contact has been eliminated, but about five pathogens persist

31:00 Same sheep herd, very different use of the same habitat... and we ask, does this influence pneumonia susceptibility? 

36:00 Different individuals can have odd behavior/migration patterns... what do they tell us about a population?

41:00 Ice bath?... enema?... it's all in the semantics

44:00 Most sheep herds have the same pathogens in them, but they don't always result in symptomatic pneumonia

47:00 You've heard about Covid super-spreaders... here's a take on how that plays out in bighorn sheep (which don't socially distance or wear masks)

50:00 Being an ungulate biologist requires a lot of the same skills as hunting... and optimism! You have to be a believer to know you can catch a sheep lamb in the wilderness

59:00 Minimizing disturbance in the backcountry is one of the best things you can do for sheep

1:04 Are we scientist/hunters, or scientist hunters? (Grammar save lives!)

1:11 Looking for a lamb... finding a cougar! And realize the lamb is in the cat's belly and its collar is in the cougar's cave

1:18 Need more Monteith Shop in your life? Find them online at UngulateCompendium.org, or on Instagram @Monteith.Shop... and find Artemis online in our Facebook group. We'd love to have you!

BONUS EPISODE: It's not every day we appropriate the identity of old, bearded white guys... but if we could be Santa (or Oprah) for a day, here's what we'd be stuffing under your tree. From electronic earplugs to a unique dressing tool called the Butt Out, we've got gift picks from Artemis host Marcia Brownlee, Artemis coordinator Ashley Chance, and Artemis ambassador Genevieve Villamizar. By no means a comprehensive list... but who doesn't benefit from learning what's in other folks' equipment quiver?

2:45 - Minimal approach to gear - one set of stuff that crosses all your hobbies outside

3:57 - "Buy the best you can with what you can afford"

5:36 - First gift of the season... electronic earplugs! Yes, it's a thing! Hearing damage is cumulative... every single shot does damage. Great for duck/upland hunters. 

8:25 - Also... buying used earplugs... what does this say about someone!? #tenacious

8:50 - Second gift of the season: A membership at the local shooting range is a total gem of a gift. You get to handle your firearm a lot, you get community, you get practice.

11:20 - Ladies and gentleman... THE INSPIRATION BURRITO

13:22 - An anus extraction contraption! (It's called the Butt Out Dressing Tool)

16:20 - Let's talk books: Jim Harrison's "The Road Home" or "A Hunter's Road" by Jim Fergus are great gifts

18:10 - Prois heated vest with a rechargeable battery pack... can you put a price on staying warm?

20:36 - A vacuumn-sealer! Game-changer in the kitchen

21:04 - Victorinox knives - super-sharp and not hugely expensive

23:20 - Funds feeling stretched? A hand-made coupon book is the bees' knees! You can offer two hours of processing... a single stiff pack-out for a friend... it's a symbol of the support and warmy-fuzziness of our hunting community

24:00- fishpond Piopod - a backcountry trash pack that packs around super easily. Who likes seeing fishing line on the river? (Also, who picks up that fishing line and finds it in their pocket days later?)

25:10 - Hunt to Eat... t-shirts, hoodies, kitchen gear, stickers! There's so much good stuff available from there. #huntergifttreasuretrove

Psst... you can also donate to Artemis! It's a great way to improve access to sporting for women and girls

-Want more? Join us online in Artemis's Facebook group. It's a great place to hang out and connect with other women!

-Holiday music was Jazzy Bells from Dee Yan-Key at FreeMusicArchive.org

This week on the podcast, epic wildlife stories (really, trust us on this one) with some heavy science. Energy development in the Wyoming Range affects how mule deer use the lands around them, effectively tightening their habitat -- but not in ways that are always obvious. Ungulate ecologist Sam Dwinnell of the Monteith Shop tells us about her research, plus more stories from the field. (So many good stories, everyone!)

2:30 On being a verified ungulate fanatic #jointheclub

3:00 Wyoming Wildlife Federation - hunting/angling conservation, from wildlife-friendly fences to policy (on Insta @WyomingWildlife)

7:00 Sam Dwinnell from "Deer 139"

8:30 She who has the mental presence to discharge bear spray in front of a charging moose! 

10:00 Managing mountain goats to protect bighorn sheep in the Grand Tetons

12:30 Am I being charged by a grizzly? Or a bull moose? 

14:30 After bear spray's been deployed, the smell is a wildlife attractant #ruhroh

18:00 Vignettes from an ungulate biologist: LOTS of time spent with big four-legged animals nearby, wondering which way they'll bolt

19:30 Snoring moose (sounds like growling)

22:00 Monteith Shop is a science lab at the University of Wyoming

24:00 Wyoming Range Mule Deer Project - looking at the effects of energy development on mule deer winter range, and also what regulates mule deer populations

27:00 A mother's life history/age/body condition influences fawn survival, regardless of predation events.

30:00 How does human behavior/disturbance affect wildlife? And how is that effect compounded in environments that change seasonally? 

33:00 Almost all mule deer populations in the Wyoming Range have co-existed alongside energy development their whole lives, yet they still avoid many of those development sites

34:00 How can we balance economic industry/the need for energy against wildlife needs? It starts with understanding the wildlife... how does energy development affect food resources? Do they have to move more, depleting their fat reserves?

36:00 Energy development functionally lowers the carrying capacity of mule deer habitat. The food is there, but deer avoid it. For every 1% of direct habitat loss, there's another 4-5% of indirect habitat loss

43:00 "Reclamation" is a work in progress. Does it look like there was never a well pad there? No. But the process is evolving for the better.

44:00 It takes a long time for disturbed habitats to recover... you can literally still see the wagon ruts of the Oregon Trail out there

48:00 Anecdote/observation vs. empirical evidence

51:00 Good, trusted science happens outside of the realm of advocacy

58:00 Science is never "done"... the more we learn, the more questions we have

1:02 Hunters study animals, too! The more time you spend with a species, the more intimate your relationship with it

1:10 Two sides of conservation: Sporting versus 'leave it alone'... so many shades of gray there #morethanfifty

1:15 Do we affect wildlife when we simply pass through their neck of the woods? An epic mule deer story from the Frank Church 

1:24 Find the Monteith Shop online at UngulateCompendium.org, or on Instagram at @monteith.shop

1:25 Join the discussion in the Artemis Facebook group, and follow us on Instagram @artemis_sportswomen

Mule deer can't avoid predator risk. And while it's natural to study how deer move in response to predator pressure... what would we learn if we collared predators and saw how they moved in response to prey abundance? Katey Huggler's research during her time at the Monteith Shop showed some interesting predator movement patterns around fawning. But when it comes to deer mortality, how much bite predators get of the pie depends on the year, and basically all the other ways mule deer can die. 

5:00 A childhood of hunting and trapping in northern Idaho was the perfect segue to a wildlife sciences degree from U of I

6:30 Switching systems from Wyoming mule deer to Idaho bighorn sheep

7:30 Deer and Elk Research Ecology Project - an effort to unravel the potentially competitive interactions between mule deer and elk

9:00 Trapping comes in handy when you're trying to understand coyote predation on mule deer fawns from the predator's side of the story

14:00 Predators... popular topic of discussion at the Wyoming State Legislature

15:00 Deer can't avoid predator risk

17:00 For mule deer, mitigating predation risk is all about terrain... and it's a risk that can't be eliminated. 

19:00 Here's an example: We know car accidents kill a lot of people, and yet we still drive around all the time to live/eat/work/play/etc. A mule deer's life is similar... they have to venture into cougar territory to make a living out there. Getting got is a risk that never goes away.

23:00 Sooo... kill all the predators, save all the mule deer for hunters? Hmm.

26:00 Trapping coyotes (and any canid, really) is hard. They're smart, savvy animals. Katy's study had 42 collared coyotes involved

30:00 Being a "mugger" on a heli crew

33:00 Yes, it can be hard on an individual animal to be trapped/handled/studied -- but the knowledge gleaned does so much to increase our understanding of the species as a whole

38:00 How it comes together: We have collared mule deer and collared coyotes... let's try to understand how coyotes are using their space in relation to female mule deer, and whether that changes during fawning

39:00 Coyotes more strongly selected for areas being used by female mule deer during the apex of fawning, and they exhibit complex movement patterns -- kind of like a searching behavior. Long story short: Coyotes totally change their behavior when a profitable food source (mule deer fawns) is available

41:00 But here's the thing... the coyote doesn't always win. Their take isn't excessive

47:00 Drought severely affected a number of study animals

51:00 Mule deer fawns... so much against them! And yet they persist

52:00 Hunters/trappers were the highest source of coyote mortality in the study's collared 'yotes... second biggest coyote-killer? Cougars

1:11 The joy(/utility) of finding coyote poop if you're trapping coyotes

1:12 "I am someone who takes coyote poop and puts it in a Lay's chip bag." 

Mule deer are remarkably faithful to the geographies they were raised in... until they're not. Ungulate ecologist Rhiannon Jakopak from the Monteith Shop joins us to talk about rogue individuals, migration fidelity, the rose petal hypothesis, and more. Plus, the emotions of harvesting your first animal (slash ANY animal). 

4:00 From vegetarianism to wildlife science to becoming a hunter with your sci-pals in tow

6:00 Taking a life... you process it while you're literally processing it. The complicated feelings are normal; they don't need to go away

12:00 Those hunting mentors who make you feel encouraged, not pressured

14:00 A first-time mule deer harvest: Watching an individual deer for weeks before getting a shot on it at 28 yards.... and just like that, a life is changed

17:00 Knowing your local mule deer as individuals... so much so that you recognize certain animals in friends' harvest photos

19:00 Transition from bow- to rifle-hunting... there's a different feel to the hunt

23:00 The Rose Petal Hypothesis - this idea that female deer establish home ranges that are adjacent to and overlapping those of the female parent and sisters in a manner that looks like the petals unfolding on a rose

24:00 Mule deer have high fidelity (faithfulness to preferred geographies) and philopatry (those places near where they were born/reared)

28:00 Because of high site fidelity/philopatry, mule deer are especially slow to fill habitat vacuums... if we inadvertently remove them from a landscape, it can take a long time for new deer to show up

31:00 Combining knowledge from the science world with the place-based experience of hunters, ranchers, and other intimate land users

32:00 Rogue deer do colonize new habitats! They completely buck the fidelity/philopatry pattern, especially with their winter range

36:00 The first year of an animal's life is crucial for establishing the behaviors that'll govern behavior later on - rogue deer go rogue as yearlings

39:00 Mule deer have generally low fawn survival... but they also typically have two fawns per year

41:00 Scientist #facepalm: when all 50 collared fawns in your study die

45:00 Why is it so fun to pick on bird people? Jokes aside, they have some SOLID science on taught vs. inherent migration

48:00 Do relatively common species lose their mystique for us? Heck no. Next time you see a deer on the side of the highway, ask yourself how many mountain ranges it crossed in the past year

52:00 Those big antlers on your buck? They're a symbol of an intelligent species on healthy, connected habitat... be reverent, everyone!

57:00 How do we tell compelling science stories?

1:02 We're in an unprecedented era of everyone caring how we communicate/reach each other

1:06 The good news: Everyone cares about mule deer. The bad news: We disagree what's going on with them

1:08 Scientists as arbiters of information for policymakers

1:13 UngulateCompendium.org - a place to get involved and be in the loop on new science; Also @Monteith.Shop on Insta

You've heard it before: "If we kill the animals with the biggest horns, aren't we selecting for smaller horns over time?" This week we take a deep dive into that question with ungulate biologist Tayler LaSharr in the third episode of our special series with The Monteith Shop. We'll also talk about her research into how mule deer behaviors are affected by harsh winter events.

2:30 Squirrels... the gateway drug to hunting?

4:00 A Wyoming antelope hunt with all the science gals, creeping in for that 150-yard shot

7:30 Autopsy is to human what Necropsy (NEE-kraap-see) is to animals

9:00 Antelope heart pastrami (!!!) - get the how-to right here

10:00 Jess's Wyoming tag line-up: Three antelope, three elk, three deer, and one bear

13:00 Research deep-dive: The effects of hunter harvest on horn size in sheep. It started with a paper that used Boone & Crockett data to assess changes in horn size over time

14:30 Bighorn sheep harvested by hunters anywhere are required to be checked into a Fish and Game station… which means there's a treasure trove of data on size/ages of in every state

16:00 Horn size is a function of age + nutrition + genetics

19:00 Mom's nutrition affects her son's antler size

21:00 Does the removal of big males (by hunter harvest) change a population's genetics over time? A lot of it has to do with the average age of rams being harvested in different years

23:00 Alberta harvests sheep by a different standard -- the four-fifths curl. When you have management scenarios where harvest is determined by horns and not age (the annuli), there is evidence that it leads to decreased horn size over time. For example, if a five-year-old grows fast and gets to that four-fifths curl before other individuals his age, he stands to be harvested sooner from his population and may not have adequate chance to breed and pass on his genetics

25:00 How do you age a bighorn sheep? 

27:00 One hedge against the overharvest of big-horned young animals is a conservative tag system... it's still a once-in-a-lifetime hunt in many states

29:00 "Evolution reverse" is this theory (/misunderstanding) that hunter harvest of big-horned animals selects out those traits in a population over time. In reality, it's way more complicated than that... management strategy plays a big role in how traits persist over time. Many factors are involved, and broad generalizations generally don't hold up all the time.

31:00 Changes in game management aren't often reflected in an animal population for years/decades

37:00 Rhiannon Jakopak's digest of Tayler's horn size work in layman's terms

38:00 Connecting sheep scientists with sheep hunters

40:00 The Wyoming Range Mule Deer Project  - a long-term study following deer individuals throughout their lives AND their offspring

42:00 Looking at the after-effect of harsh winters on mule deer. Differences in behavioral strategies? Migration routes? Reproductive strategies/mothering behavior? What allowed them to survive when other deer succumbed to winterkill?

48:00 Fish and Game departments have to balance immediate hunter desire against the long-term, ever-changing health/hardiness of game populations

57:00 The genesis of an ungulate biologist! 

59:00 Check out more of the Monteith shop at UngulateCompendium.org

This week we're surfing the green wave! Seasonal mule deer migration is based on food availability. Deer move across the landscape to maximize their access to high-quality food resources. This week we're joined by migration ecologist Ellen Aikens of the Monteith Shop to learn more about Wyoming's mule deer populations and how they're challenged by drought, climate change, and energy development.

3:00 - Artemis's first guest to connect from overseas! Plus, moving to Germany during the pandemic

6:30 - Animal research: A generally rewarding endeavor with LOTS of challenges

8:00 A new scientist asks her peers/mentors, What's one of the most important fields to be savvy in? "GIS/remote sensing" comes up again and again

11:00 GPS collars let us see where an individual animal is going, year after year -- it's a bonafide jackpot of data. This field is called "movement ecology"

12:30 Marcia's sage advice: "Do what you enjoy doing until you don't enjoy doing it anymore. Then go do something else."

13:30 Sampling the field April-August to survey which plants are available and when. Documenting the seasonal change from green to brown was revelatory! Plus, KNOWING the place.

17:00 Dynamics in plant growth and seasonal transition influence how animals move

18:00 To study mule deer you need to become versed in the world they live in

20:00 "The green wave" - this idea that for deer and other species, young/emergent plant species are the most nutritious growth. That stage is staggered across an elevational gradient -- and this is the 'green wave' -- moving to find that nutritious feed

22:00 Most mule deer move from a low-elevation winter range to a higher elevation spring/summer range. This is colloquially called 'surfing the green wave'

24:00 Migration isn't a continuous line from Point A to Point B. Mule deer spend about 90% of their time on migration at stopover sites, foraging and eating

27:00 What makes a good stopover? It totally depends. Elevation plays a big role. They're generally places that are more lush than the surrounding area.

30:00 Fall migration: A combination of fleeing cold/snow, plus finding the lushest feed given the season... the "residual greenness"

33:00 Drought has an effect on how well mule deer can surf the green wave, which is shorter; Energy development also affects that migration

35:00 Mule deer in the West have high fidelity to their migration routes

38:00 Mule deer DO move through energy development sites... but they're not able to use those areas to the degree they would if there was no resource development there

39:00 A high-quality study would collect data BEFORE an energy project, DURING it, and AFTER reclamation

45:00 Being migratory is key for mule deer in the Wyoming Range. There ARE resident deer populations, but it's a small fraction (<5%) of the whole. Surfing the green wave results in access to higher quality feed, which improves deer body condition and reproductive success

47:00 Drought/climate change/fire/invasive species stand to alter how the green wave moves across the landscape

55:00 Mapping migrations is crucial to understanding how they're impacted by development and other threats

58:00 Wyoming's governor signed an executive order that acknowledged migration corridors. Good science DOES inform policy.

1:02 Wyoming Migration Initiative has a great coffee table book, "Wild Migration: Atlas of Wyoming Ungulates"

1:07 Animal movements stand to change as green-up patterns change (elk are also green-wave surfers)

1:10 Norway, Italy, Germany, France... all these countries have good data on deer migration and changing green-up patterns (Want to nerd out even more? EuroDeer is a collaborative group of ungulate ecologists with great data. Check them out.)

1:12 Are there places where green-wave migration has stopped because of barriers we've inadvertently put up? Yes. We alter animal behavior all the time.

1:16 Reproductive behaviors are finely tuned to greenup-related movement

1:21 Find out more about the Monteith shop online at UngulateCompendium.org

Like what you heard today? Be a part of Artemis! 

This is the first in a special series Artemis is airing with the Monteith Shop, an ungulate research lab at the University of Wyoming. This week we're joined by Rebecca Levine, whose research is focused on understanding the thermal ecology of moose. More than half of southern moose populations in the Lower 48 are in decline. We talk parasite loads, chronic wasting disease, the mysterious moose of New Zealand's fjordlands, and what habitat a moose needs to stay cool.

4:00 When do you get to call yourself a 'hunter'?

5:00 In the southern half of moose's range, about half of populations are in decline

7:00 Why is heat stress so particular to moose versus other cervids? The skinny: They're big, they're dark, and they don't sweat.

10:00 How do moose find those spots to cool off in?

12:00 Collaring MOOSE... it's a PROCESS. But the video collars? SO COOL

15:00 Moose = tick paradise

16:00 Moose are intermingling with more ungulates that they ordinarily may not have overlapped with, which is one vector for parasite spread

18:00 Preg-checking a female moose

21:00 Twin prevalence in moose

24:00 Different subspecies of moose and their historic ranges... they're unique in that moose are circumpolar. They're in Russia, China, Canada, Alaska, etc.

28:00 Moose are relative newcomers to Wyoming/Utah/Colorado

32:00 Moose reach heat stress above 55 degrees... and they indulge in a number of behaviors to mitigate heat -- bedding down in marshes, traveling to higher altitudes, etc

36:00 Chronic wasting disease effects all cervids, including moose

37:00 Wyoming Chronic Disease Management plan

44:00 Bilingual fishing/game regs - Kansas just did this, and the results are great

46:00 Monteith Shop on Insta (@Monteith.shop)

47:00 Funding is a limiting resource on the production of high-quality science

47:40 Monteith Shop website, UngulateCompendium.org

52:00 Moose encounters in the Brooks Range... MONSTERS RISING FROM THE WILLOWS! Bear spray doesn't help you feel brave in that moment

53:00 "Don't run" is the general advice for wildlife encounters... EXCEPT with moose

54:00 National Park Service project to preserve big-horn sheep in Grand Teton National Park

55:00 Charismatic megafauna vs charismatic megafauna... eliminating mountain goats to preserve bighorn sheep

56:00 Three hours to go a mile in canyon/bog/swamp... great chance for a somewhat scary moose encounter! Also, that moment when your scientist friend hears something and says, "Hmm... that sounds like a large mammal."

59:00 Two cans of bear spray deployed... which totally got the target animal, but also the person in flight

1:01 Bear spray is oil-based, and thus very sticky

1:04 In 1910 moose were introduced into New Zealand's fjordlands. The population never really took off... the last sighting was in 1980, BUT, it's led to a Sasquatch type of fervor, with the occasional wingnut moose sighting in that area. #moosetrivia

1:06 Moose = swamp donkeys

Ashley Chance once caught more than 300 deer in three months as a part of a field tech crew. She joins Artemis as the group's coordinator in the Southeast after a career as a wildlife biologist. On this episode we hear about Ashely's graduate research - how mature bucks move in response to hunting pressure - what she has planned for Artemis, and why this work matters.

1:40 Conservation job perk? Going hunting with all three of your office mates

3:00 Artemis's staff doubled this fall! Meet Ashley Chance, the new Artemis coordinator in the Southeast

4:00 Springer spaniels in the field AND around the house... Boykin spaniels are a southern favorite because of their heat tolerance

6:30 Hitting a deer and putting it in your freezer, #fistpump

8:00 Working as a wildlife field tech, to Peace Corps in Africa, to a grad degree in Mississippi

10:00 Catching more than 300 deer in 3 months... #fieldtechgoals

12:00 When you realize you have more experience tackling deer than shooting them

14:00 How does hunting pressure impact mature buck movement in whitetail deer? 

16:00 Whitetail questions - Is it true that if you spook/flush a whitetail, and just hold tight and quiet, that it'll likely return?

19:00 Can you use movement as a proxy for individual personality types in deer? Go with us. You can learn everything you need to know about whitetail deer from the cast of Cheers

23:00 Does whitetail behavior in Mississippi transfer to, say, Rocky Mountain whitetail?

24:00 Any whitetail study in the Southeast generally calls for access from private landowners

25:00 Whitetail movement in Ashley's study was generally a function of animal density, hunter density and food availability

33:00 Your sense of smell in the field... it just comes alive in a way it doesn't in the urban world

37:00 Growing a community of women hunters: Even for women who were hunters before Artemis, there's an added magic to plugging into a community of women of like minds and hearts

39:00 The genesis story of Becca's Idaho women's turkey hunt

46:00 Public lands hunting in the Southeast... not at all like the West

48:00 Peace Corps experiences that stick with us... a willingness to be in uncomfortable situations, and to navigate relationships with people very different from us

53:00 Hits and Misses gets literal during hunting season #darnpheasants