An equestrienne's travel adventures around the planet, or, a traveller's equestrian adventures around the planet (occasionally on foot, sometimes chasing owls, almost always with The Raven). Just Ride - Anywhere!
January 2 2020 I’m thrilled to share with all of you the release of my latest e-book: Tales From The West: Four Seasons in the Owyhee Country.
It’s a collection of essays that take place in the present day Wild West: Southwest Idaho.
You’ll get a taste of four seasons of a unique outdoor life: with nature, animals, local history, and horse rides and hiking adventures in the Owyhee country. The photos accompanying each essay give you a visual glimpse of the area.
From experiencing wild thunderstorms, flash flood and wildfire, to horseback riding on cattle drives, among wild horses, along trails of old gold miners, and through a biblical swarm of Mormon crickets, to startling and entertaining encounters with cows, birds, rattlesnakes, and cougars, you’ll see that a life in the West nowadays isn’t that far removed from life as it was 150 years ago.
“In case you’re wondering, it’s the southwest corner of Idaho I’m talking about. It’s nearly 7700 square miles of high desert sagebrush, rabbit brush, the Owyhee mountains, pronghorns, deer, cows, and a few herds of wild horses.
If you’re charmed by the ways of the Old West, it’s easy, when you’re out riding a horse or hiking, to imagine you’re still part of that time period. Squint your eyes into the sunlight, and you’ll see the dust from the old cowboys chasing the cows or rounding up the broomtail horses.
Life in Owyhee means a life steeped in Western lore, Wild West adventures, horses, Ravens, and nature. It means beauty in every corner, under every rock, in every storm, spring, summer, fall, and winter.”
Tales From The West: Four Seasons in the Owyhee Country is available on Amazon as an e-book at:
Herding cows, herding cougars - it's all the same thing, right?
by
Merri Melde and Karen Steenhof
Wednesday
February 21 2018
Cougar
in my yard,was
the subject line of the email in my morning inbox, with an attached
photo of a young cougar curled up and snoozing under my friend's
camper under her barn roof.
O.M.G.
I've seen 5 cougars in my life, the last one being two years ago, just a quarter mile up our own crick. They seem to be my spirit
animal.
I'm
on my way! I
emailed back, throwing coat and hat over my P.J.s, grabbing camera
gear and coffee and roaring off down the road.
Karen
lives on the outside edge of a tiny development way outside a tiny
town in Owyhee County, SW Idaho. Read: on the edge of the wild. Very
low population. No children in the area. Often, in the spring and
summer, more cows than humans. A few horses, chickens, goats and
turkeys in the 'neighborhood.'
Karen
was eating her breakfast just before sunrise and looking out her
front window when she saw an animal pacing back and forth in front of
(and inside) her front gate. At first she thought it was the local
feral Siamese cat, but another glance revealed a much larger animal
with a much longer tail. She realized then it was a small cougar. The
young cat moved to a spot up against her barn.
Only
Karen and I would do something like this: Karen threw some frozen
mice under the camper in case the cougar was hungry, but it did not
seem interested. She opened the gate so the cat could escape if it
wanted to. Karen and her 95-year old mother could step out of the
tack room and observe the cat from about 15 feet away (keeping the
tack room door open in case a quick retreat was necessary). But the
kitty was not aggressive.
Karen
called her nearest neighbor to let her know that there was a cougar
in her yard. The neighbor reported that another neighbor farther down
the lane had seen a “big cat” near his chickens the night before
and had chased it with his ATV. Karen’s closest neighbor had locked
up her goats to protect them overnight.
When
I arrived, the young cougar was still curled up snoozing, sleepily
opening an eye or two at us while we gawked at it. A fence separated
us, but we could walk within 10 feet without bothering it. Karen had
done some Google research, and determined from the size of it, the
spots it had, and the still-blue eyes, that it was probably between
4-6 months old... probably closer to 6. It was old enough to have
been weaned but not old enough to be independent of its mother. Some
young kittens stay with their mother for as long as 2 years.
We
gawked and gasped and stood in awe watching this beautiful creature.
It wasn't a threat to anything, and Karen’s horses weren't at
all worried, so we left it.
A
dusting of snow from the night showed little tracks across her yard,
and back and forth at the driveway gate (as if the cougar wanted to
get out - we'll see later that they either couldn't, or did not want
to jump fences).* Before I headed back home, I looked at tracks
outside the place, and while there were no big cat tracks, many, many
little cat prints went up and down her long fence line to the BLM (as
if it or they wanted to get in).
I told Karen, "I bet you there's at least one more cub around."
I expected mama was around somewhere too, keeping an eye on things…
I sure kept my
eyes out for her!
Now
there are two,
was the subject line of my afternoon email. Karen and her mother had
been checking on the cougar periodically from the horses’ field
across the fence. When they went out shortly after lunch, they saw a
second, similar sized cougar stretched out underneath the camper.
Later
both kittens were curled up together up against the barn, basking in
the warm sun. Karen and her mother were almost certain that the
second cat had not been anywhere around there before. It must have
come in through the open gate to join its sibling while no one was
looking.
I
raced over again, and caught a glimpse of the two of them before
pulling in her driveway. Karen met me outside and we walked around to
look at them… and only one was laying there.
Since
adult male cougars are larger than females, we will, for the purpose
of this story, apply the same to these young-uns, and call them
Brother (the larger, and less wary one) and Sister (the smaller, more
wary one).**
My
motorized arrival was too much for Sister cougar cub. She had gotten
up and left, squeezed through a gap between the barn and the fence,
and started walking/trotting across the horse pasture away from the
barn. Brother was sitting up watching Sister leave, and finally
decided to get up and follow her, though he was in no hurry, as he'd
been having such a fine nap in the sun and was rather reluctant to
leave that spot.
Karen's
two older horses were entirely unconcerned with a cougar
slinking/walking/trotting away across their pasture. They wanted
cookies from us. Heck,
we see these guys all the time,
Simon nudged me looking for treats. I am guessing, that like some
young mammals, young cougars do not give off the same scent as adult
cougars do.
As
we watched, Sister scooted on to the corner of the paddock, and was
boxed in at the corner of the fence. Karen’s property is surrounded
by no-climb fence, and the next field is surrounded by hog wire
fencing - big enough for rabbits to squeeze through, but not cougars
(even young ones). Brother strolled after her, pausing several times
to look back at us and his cozy nap spot, Hmm,
nap spot, Sister, nap spot, Sister… guess I better go keep an eye
on Sister.
We
followed them both, as they moved from the horse pasture into Karen’s
1-acre pollinator garden - a Wildlife Habitat Improvement Project
(WHIP) designed for birds, bees, and butterflies - not cougars!
Within
20 feet of the corner of the WHIP garden we saw both cats, well
camouflaged in the waving golden grass. Brother just sat watching us,
while Sister was worried. We were too close for her comfort, and she
jumped up and ran along the long fence line away from us. Halfway
down was a gate; the next pasture was also all hog wire, but it was
right next to the BLM fence line. I said "Let's open that gate
and haze them into the next pasture." It had to be like herding
cows, right?
So
while Sister kept running along the fence line, leaping over
tumbleweeds and looking for a hole in the fence, and Brother just
waited in the corner, we walked to the gate and swung it open. We
swung back around wide to haze agitated Sister back up the fence line
and through the gate; then we swung back around Brother (who had been
bored-ly watching his silly Sister), and he strolled on to and
through the open gate.
Us
two Cougar Wranglers now had our two cougars in the last pasture
before the BLM… but there was no gate directly onto the BLM; the
cougars would have to be driven back down the long fence line to a
gate down at the far northeast end. Both cougars walked the short
west fence - Brother walked and Sister trotted, back and forth,
looking for a hole. She could have easily jumped the hog wire fence,
but I am sure Mother cougar had drilled into her, Don't
you EVER go jump a fence young lady, you hear me?
The
cubs moved to the southwest fence corner, and we figured, just like
cows, we'd use the fences to haze them toward the far northeast end
and the gate. Easy with Sister - she wanted nothing more than to be
far, far away from us. She took off down the south fence, looking and
hoping for a hole to squeeze through, leaping over tumbleweeds in her
way. Brother, bored, possibly embarrassed by drama queen Sister, laid
down in the corner. I
want my nap back.
Just like a tired calf on a cattle drive.
Well.
I tried hazing him like I would a cow. Edged closer, flapped my hat
and hollered at him, "Git up cat! Move it! Hep! Git up!"
Brother sat there looking at me. I looked back at him and edged
closer and flapped my hat. "Git up!" Brother pinned his
ears and hissed, No.
"OK!"
I backed up a step. "You can sit right there as long as you
want, you're the cougar!" The cougar cub was not big enough to
eat me, but he was, after all, a cougar.
Brother
went back to ignoring us, watching his silly Sister, and finally
decided, OK, he'd head off after Sister - who was still rather
agitated in that she'd gotten to a pile of prickly tumbleweeds in the
southeast corner of the fence, and couldn't figure out what to do
next.
We
pushed Brother down the long south fence line (letting him go at his
own pace), and when he got to the corner where Sister was confused,
he turned at the east fence, like a good cow, walked up it, swung out
around the inward-opening gate, and strolled right on out. Sister
just decided to hunker down into the tumbleweed corner and hide.
In
fact, as we were watching Brother walk out, we weren't sure where
Sister went. We walked back to the corner of the fence, but only saw
the pile of weeds. It wasn't till after Karen walked along the
outside of the fence line that she saw Sister hiding in the
tumbleweeds, and heard her growl and hiss when Karen got too close. I
crawled to the outside of the BLM fence and tossed a rock, then a
stick into the tumbleweeds to try to scare her out, but no, she
wasn't moving.
So
we left, hoping Sister would eventually find her way out the gate
that Brother had walked out - she'd watched him from her hidey-hole,
so you'd think she'd figure it out.
Karen’s
mother had been watching all the activity with binoculars from her
apartment above the barn. We joined her and watched the activities
continue.
Brother
walked on out the development's fence line onto the BLM, and then
turned back along the south fence line toward Sister's pasture.
Sister came out of tumbleweed hiding, and started trotting along the
correct east fence line – but just could not figure out how to
swing wide around the inward-opening gate to get out. She'd turn and
run back when she got to the gate. Back and forth she went, stopping
short of the gate, looking for a hole in or under the fence, putting
a paw on the fence, but she would not try jumping over. And we were
afraid if she did, she might get a leg hung up in it. "Shoot!"
we said. "Let's go back and swing that paddock gate outward and
try once more to haze her out."
Out
we went, with Brother now sitting patiently outside the BLM fence
watching the Sisterly shenanigans. I swear he had a sigh on his face.
We swung the gate outward - easy peasy exit now - and swung out wide
in the pasture to get around Sister and haze her out. When she saw
us, though, she dove back into her tumbleweed corner.
I
climbed the far fence and tried my best cow hazing technique. I took
off my coat, and as I approached the weed/cub corner, I started
flapping the coat loudly and hollering, "Git up cat! Mooooooove
it! Out!" and the cub miserably and scared-ly hunkered down
hoping she could just disappear. She would not budge. However, the
flapping finally did scare Karen’s 29-year old gelding. (Flapping
coats are much scarier than cougars, you know).
So
we gave up and left it to cougar fate - either Sister would figure it
out or she wouldn't.
Karen
and her mother continued to watch from the loft apartment. Not too
long after I had taken off, Sister cougar left her hiding place in
the tumbleweeds and headed back west to the hog-wire fence, where, as a last resort, she tried to go over it. She had
difficulty scrambling over it but seemed relieved to be back
on BLM land with her sibling. They strolled off together into the
sagebrush.
They,
and Mother cougar, haven't been seen since by us humans. We are
hoping that the mother is still alive and that she joined up with the
cubs later the same night. It was a once-in-a-lifetime experience for
all of us.
And
that, my friends is how you herd (or don't herd) cougar cubs. And you
can put that on my resume.
And
here's a video of us herding Brother cougar. Sister cougar is hiding
in the fence corner of the tumbleweeds where Brother stops near the
end
*According
to some Fish and Game people, they said lions
of any age don't like to climb fences, especially chain link,
although they were surprised the cubs didn't try to jump the fence.
**This
size difference does not necessarily apply to young cougar siblings.
It could have just been different growth rates.
***Yes.
The entire time we were outside, we were continuously alert for
Mother cougar. She could have been watching us from a hiding place
across the lane, or blending in with the golden grass on the
hillsides.
****Also,
Fish & Game peeps
thought the cubs had just been separated from the mother, and
predicted that if the mother was dead that the kittens would be back.
(So far they haven't been.)
The maw of the red canyon gapes: I enter. How can I not?
It is fall, cool and dry in the Owyhee high desert. I am alert for cougars and snakes… but the beauty of the canyon distracts me. Stuns me to muteness. I've hiked the upper part; I've walked along the rim; years ago I discovered eagles nests on one of the canyon's cliff walls. But I've never hiked through this lower part, with the dragon walls and monster monoliths and cathedral towers.
My sense of wonder is so overwhelmed that my other senses suffer, and when a willow bush explodes beside me, I explode too, in adrenaline. Five feet was all that separated me from a great horned owl, and I hadn't seen it. Good thing it was only an owl! But I am disappointed I didn't get a close-up shot of it.
I vow more alertness, checking ledges and overhanging walls, where cougars might lie observing, or where more owls might be perching, as I creep up the gorge.
The canyon in places squeezes together, twists in mazes, and widens into a massive garden oasis. Pretty autumn-colored poison oak decorates the passages.
The walls become a funnel in places when water runs swiftly in the spring, carving chutes and caves and leaving miniature sand beaches where detritus washes up.
In a hole in the wall 12 feet above the creek bed,
I spy feathers. It's an old owl nest!
But as I approach closer, and climb up to peer in it, I see it's pieces of a whole owl - this is the dining room of an owl-eater. Perhaps one of the golden eagles who rules this territory has ripped this great horned owl apart in this dining cave-with-a-view.
Ahead through the canyon walls, I hear and see an angry swooping and diving prairie falcon. I can't see what she's after but I'll bet it's the great horned owl that I disturbed. I try to tread quietly in the creek bed, (which is impossible for a human), try to creep around the corner to see the owl, when it's suddenly had enough of the falcon, and enough of the approaching crashing thrashing human, and it flies over my head back down the canyon, with the prairie falcon in pursuit. As I turn my gaze back up-canyon, a chimney cleft in the opposite wall catches my eye - and I see another great horned owl, staring down at me. He is perfectly camouflaged - I'm not sure how I even noticed him.
I continue on up the canyon, where it becomes very brushy. I could crawl through a tunnel of brush in the creek bed, but I think better of it. I don't sense the presence of cougars, but - what do I know? An owl almost had me for lunch. I opt to crawl up and around where I'm out in the open.
I see the eagle nest cliff ahead, and there comes a point where I have to either climb or cross the brushy creek bed - and I'm no climber. I pick my way carefully through the 6-foot-high sagebrush and willows, eyes and ears scanning everywhere. There is a sea of poison oak beneath the cliff, but if I pick my way carefully through, I should emerge the other side of the eagle cliff, and continue up the rest of the canyon that I've traversed before.
Still scanning cliff walls and brush, I study my path, carefully taking one step at a time through the tall and pretty red-leafed poison oak. Nearing the edge I say The Heck With It, and I sort of leap and run the last few steps to get it over with.
My mistake.
My last footfall lands in the golden sea of cheatgrass, six inches from one unsuspecting and suddenly very pissed off six-inch rattlesnake. She is golden, barely visible in the matching golden grass, and soundless, because she is too young to have even one rattle.
can you see it retreating?? me neither!
(I read later: "Rattler babies have venom, short fangs and are dangerous from birth. In fact, they are more pugnacious than the adults. Although unable to make a rattling sound, the youngsters throw themselves into a defensive pose and strike repeatedly when disturbed."*)
It is only - what? - fate? luck? - that this newborn rattler has not struck me. Again and again. We both leap back, the rattler rising tall and coiling and writhing and rattling a rattle-less tail, me recoiling and cursing, adrenaline raging, stepping back but not too far back without looking, because where there is one rattlesnake baby there could be more babies ("The female rattler may carry from four to 25 eggs, from which an average of nine or ten young are born live"*), not to mention the big rattlesnakes that created them.
The little rattlesnake slowly retreats - while still coiled and ready to strike - into taller grass, and I realize that with its perfect golden camouflage, I'll likely not see the next one, either.
I find my that nerve to continue up this canyon has suddenly vanished. I choose to retreat - back through the poison oak and golden grass (very carefully!) through the tall brush (cautiously!) and to climb up out of the canyon, and leave the rest of the canyon for another day.
Like a cold day in winter when rattlesnakes should be hibernating.
