Usually, we don’t handle or move young animals because their mothers can smell our scent and become afraid of their offspring. In this case, we chose to move any fawns we found. We knew if they weren’t moved, they would certainly be killed by the swathers.

Are you tired of waiting for the ice to melt at your nearest fishing spot? You don’t have to wait! Many water bodies open up in the next few weeks. Here is a list of my ten favorite springtime fishing destinations.

Did I choose catfish or did they choose me? It seems like wherever life takes me, I find catfish. At age 8, my very first fish was a two-pound channel catfish. I landed it on a Snoopy fishing pole at a pond on my grandfather’s farm in Missouri.

You can catch catfish throughout the year, but they are a popular summertime fish. They thrive in warm water and will bite on even the hottest days. Surprisingly, catfishing is also great just after ice-out on many of Utah’s lakes. This is when catfish swim along the windblown shores, gorging on the carcasses of weaker fish that died over the winter.

As a biologist, most of my interaction with wildlife has been limited to tadpoles — at least until last year. In January, I decided to try hunting for the first time. I wrapped up my last Hunter Education course and asked a coworker, John, if I could go chukar hunting with him over the weekend.

“Just get in there! Keep your head low. And remember to watch out for horns, hooves, elbows and flying pronghorn.” Everyone had advice.
“What have I gotten myself into?” I wondered. I was standing behind Elison, a local hunter and volunteer. This was his tenth pronghorn roundup, and he was just as excited as ever. This was my first roundup, and I was beginning to…

For my first field job I worked as a wildlife tech for a grad student in Northern New York. We were studying a threatened turtle species called the Blanding turtle. It was my job to wade through the swamps and see if I could catch them. One day I was working an area that didn’t have…

In my years with the DWR, there’s one day that really stands out. It was a warm spring morning at Pioneer Park Pond, and the Ogden Senior Citizen Center dropped by for an outing. The seniors enjoyed themselves as they always did, visiting with each other in the outdoors. At about that time, I saw a kid down at the pond catching…