Clear and cold. -12F at 7am.
A little hazy near the mountains, but the wind is calm. That should be good for another trapping attempts down in Spring Gulch. The way we have to set up is the net launcher facing the wind, which you really never want to do. It is always best to shoot downwind, because the net really gets blown off course by the wind.
Jon and I went down to Spring Gulch at about 9:30 and the ranchers were still there feeding the cows, so we decided to wait a little for them to finish. After the ranchers were done and the cows fed for a little while, we herded them into the side pen and roped them off, set up the launcher, and put some more bait out. Well, as you could guess, an hour later when the ravens started to come in, the cows got out. So, we herded them again, tied them off better and grabbed a cup of coffee. And again, they got out when the birds were coming in. I had about had it, when I remembered that our broken trap (the cows broke it a few weeks back) was sitting out to the side. Jon and I grabbed a panel from that and tied to cows off with that. That should hold 'em....
Luckily, it did. About 75-100 ravens started making there way into the trapping area. After a few spooks, the group finally made it into the site. I figured there were about 40 ravens directly within range and another 50 or so just behind. There was no way we could handle the remainder, so I shot the net off. 25 RAVENS CAUGHT!!!
We banded and took blood form all the birds, and released them by 4pm. Thanks Jon, Rose, and Steve for your help banding. All birds tested had blood lead levels below 2.5 ug/dL (really low).
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