Moose Droppings

Jay Miller the Bruins Enforcer from the 80’s and a fan favorite played the hero role the other day saving a man that was knocked overboard off his boat and left floating in the cold Atlantic.

Late Saturday afternoon, Mr. Miller was returning from a fishing trip off Nantucket on board his 38-foot Intrepid. The crew included his captain and a group of Exxon Mobil executives, major sponsors and supporters of the Genesis Fund.

The boat was about two and a half miles off State Beach, late and hustling back to Oak Bluffs Harbor, when one of the crew turned to Mr. Miller and said, “I see something white in the water, what is it?”

Mr. Miller slowed the boat and turned to investigate. “All of a sudden I saw a hand, almost like a wrist, just kind of flip out of the water,” Mr. Miller said in a telephone call yesterday. “And I said, ‘that’s a body.’”

Mr. Miller turned the helm over to his captain and told him to hurry as he prepared to help pull the man from the water. Mr. Miller and his crew managed to pull Charles A. Samuelson of Cohasset onto the boat’s swim platform and then into the boat. One of the men on board was an ex-EMT who administered first aid for hypothermia.

“We asked where his boat was and he pointed and said ‘my boat’s over there.’ And we saw a sail about four miles away.’”

Mr. Miller downplayed his actions by stating;

“It wasn’t anything spectacular, it was just picking a guy out of the water,” said Mr. Miller. “I happened to be the last one back. I’m not a hero. I was in the right spot, and so was he.”

Mr. Charles A. Samuelson, the man who was rescued recovered quickly and refused any further medical assistance when they reached the marina.

As a big Boston Bruins fan while researching this story I came across these old videos on You Tube of some of Mr. Miller’s memorable moments from when he wore the Black & Gold that I had to share with you. It brought back a lot of great memories of watching TV 38 & the Bruins game with my Dad back in the day when the Bruins were a bit more formidable. Hopefully those days will return at some point.

Martha’s Vineyard Times

Photo courtesy of NC Wildlife Commission

It is hard to believe that it has been almost a year since the sudden and untimely death of John Pechmann the Head of the North Carolina Wildlife Commission and noted conservationist;

Pechmann received the Gov.’s Award as North Carolina’s Conservationist of the Year in 2001. He helped to increase the state’s Wildlife Endowment Fund and expand efforts by the commission to restore and conserve wildlife habitat.

Well another honor has been bestowed on him in Canada where Ducks Unlimited Canada has dedicated a marsh in his memory.

“John understood that you need to make the investment in order for conservation to work. He certainly helped us to do that here in Cumberland County,” said Marc Gloutney of Ducks Unlimited Canada.

Two years ago Pechmann visited Cumberland County and saw the potential for conservation here. His commission had already donated $15,000 to Ducks Unlimited Canada but soon after their contribution soared to $50,000.

The commission in North Carolina and Ducks Unlimited Canada work together to help species that summer here in Canada and migrate south, to places like North Carolina, during the winter.

Amherst Daily

Here is what John Pechmann had to say during the December 2004 Commissioners Meeting in Raleigh where the North Carolina Wildlife Commission voted to double its support for DU Canada and wetland conservation & protecting important breeding grounds.

Wildlife Commission Chairman John Pechmann said the Commission’s investment will continue returning dividends to North Carolina many times over.
“Ducks Unlimited not only is leveraging the state’s contribution, but it’s also putting our dollars where they will do the most good for the continent’s, and North Carolina’s, waterfowl resource,” Pechmann said. “Waterfowl are a migratory resource that spend only part of their life cycle in North Carolina. It is critical that the Wildlife Commission do its part to conserve waterfowl for future generations, whether it’s on the wintering grounds in North Carolina or the breeding areas in Canada.”
The Wildlife Commission’s support of wetland and waterfowl habitat protection and restoration efforts in Canada dates back to 1969. Over the past 35 years, more than $340,000 of the Commission’s funds have been directed toward Canadian projects in Manitoba, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Prince Edward Island.
“Ducks Unlimited has proven over the last 67 years that it is the world leader in waterfowl and wetlands conservation,” Pechmann said.

Hats off to DU Canada this is a great honor in memory of a visionary and conservationist that Mr. Pechmann certainly was.

Steve Fidel, Deseret Morning News Jake Francom shows a pillow that was dragged away from his tent by a black bear early Saturday, a day before Sunday night’s fatal mauling in the same primitive area. Dark marks on the pillow are the bear’s paw prints.

What happened only hours before the Ives family arrived at a primitive campsite just a few miles up from the Timpanooke campgrounds is enough to wonder why the area was not closed? On Friday evening a group of friends were camping in the same spot when in the early hours of Saturday morning a black bear entered the campsite and attempted to grab one of the men through the tent.

Jake Francom, 26, camped with his girlfriend, his brother and two other friends Friday night in the same primitive area just above Timpanooke. The site is not a specific Forest Service campground and has no services.
He awoke when something outside the tent hit him in the head about 5:30 a.m. Saturday.
Thinking it was someone moving in the tent, he said, “Stop it.” But when he felt two more hard hits, he realized it was a bear.
Jake told his girlfriend to get out, yelling at a friend in another tent to grab his gun.
The bear ripped through the tent, taking a bite out of his pillow.
The men shot at the bear a few times. It walked away from the camp, then stopped to stare at the campers before it lumbered off.
The campers drove down the canyon and called their parents, who called police.
After hearing about Sunday’s fatality and having their sons’ experience characterized as a “tent-brushing,” the parents said they were frustrated and wondered why the area wasn’t closed.
“Why would they let another family up there?” mother Kathy Francom said. “All they had to do was shut a gate (to the campground) and that boy wouldn’t be gone.”
“It broke me down,” father Kurt Francom said of watching the news of the mauling early Monday. “It could have been my boy.”

Steve Fidel, Desert Morning News Collette Young shows the hole left in her tent during a bear attack early Saturday in American Fork Canyon. No one was injured.

Utah officials responded to the area with tracking dogs but with the dry conditions the dogs lost the trail. They posted warnings along with other signage to educate the public on being bear aware. Utah officials also have stated that they were unaware of all the details of the first attack until the information came out after the second fatal attack.

Although there have been 12 previous black bear mauling deaths in the last 7 years there have been none in the state of Utah. Utah has had some close calls but with good public education and a problem bear management system tragedy up to this point has been avoided.

I know hindsight is 20/20 so its hard to say if more should have been done on Saturday when the first encounter happened. Our thoughts and prayers go out to the Ives family with the tragic death of Samuel Evan Ives.

Deseret News
Daily Herald
Salt Lake Tribune

Late this morning Utah Wildlife & Forestry Personnel tracked a bear from the campsite with the aid of dogs & a helicopter killing the 300 lb male bear. The bear will have to be examined to determine for sure that it is the bear that killed the 11-year-old boy while he and his family was camping but officials are confident that this is the right bear.

Earlier Stories

11 Year Old Utah Boy Killed By a Bear
Utah Fatal Bear Attack Update

This is an update on a story I posted earlier this morning.

According to Salt Lake Tribune Utah trackers have caught up with the suspected bear in the fatal attack last night of an 11 year old boy camping with his family.

AMERICAN FORK CANYON - A suspected killer bear has been shot today, and rifle-toting wildlife officers and a pack of specially trained hounds are following the beast’s blood trail.
The black bear is believed to have ripped open a tent and carried off an 11-year-old boy in his sleeping bag at a campsite late last night in the Timpooneeke trail area of American Fork Canyon. About 7 a.m., a volunteer hunter with the search team shot what was believed to be the renegade bear in a tree; the animal ran off, leaving a blood trail behind near the northeast tip of Mount Timpanogos.

This paper is also reporting that there was an incident the night before where a bear took a swipe at a camper in a tent in the early hours of Sunday morning. Authorities dispatched to the area could not locate the bear. The camper did not suffer any injuries in that attack.

Updates as they become available

Breaking & sad news out of Utah where a family reported their 11 year old son missing and possible abducted. The family was camping in Timpanogos Wilderness Area when they discovered the boy missing and a large tear in his tent.

Mount Timpanogos Wilderness

* Established in 1984 through passage of the Utah Wilderness Act.
* 10,518 acres.

This area is located on the front range of the Wasatch Mountain Range, just south of the Lone Peak Wilderness. The Mount Timpanogos Wilderness offers abundant rugged terrain with waterfalls and summer wildflowers. The topography consists of glacial cirques and moraines (rocks formed into loose ridges by glacial activity) to the open slopes leading to the valley floor.

Below tree line are forests of aspen, Douglas fir, subalpine fir, limber pine, Gambel oak, maple, and chokecherry. Wildlife inhabiting the area include Rocky Mountain goats in the Emerald Lake region, as well as numerous mule deer and elk, moose, mountain lions, black bears, and several species of raptors.

The summit of Mount Timpanogos is 11,753 feet and is very popular hiking trail. The summit is accessed by two trailheads: Timpooneke and Aspen Grove.

Authorities quickly found blood and signs that lead them to belive that his attacker was a bear shortly after 1 am the boy’s body was recovered. I’ll have further updates on this story.

The late frost damaged a lot of crops in North Carolina and is part of the reason the mountains are having problems with bears. This will only get worse as the year goes on and when the white oaks fail to drop their acorns this fall many creatures will have to search out less favorable alternatives. If you have ever thought about growing a food plot or two this is certainly the year to do it the deer and turkeys among others will appreciate your effort. On some of the land I hunt we put in clover last year and this year we’ll add to those plots and hopefully create some bigger and more diverse plots. The QDM website has some great articles on food plots and is a good starting point if you’ve never planted some salad bars for wildlife.