NorCal Big Bucks
A pair of large mule deer stand on a ridge overlooking the Tule Lake NWR near the boundary of the Lava Beds National Monument.
Bald Eagle perched in a tree inside the Lower Klamath National Wildlife Refuge.
It’s been tough for us to get out and explore so far this year. Finances have been a little thin and we both have been ill the last few weeks. [I even tested positive for the virus.] Fortunately, we have had the ability for some shorter day trips near base camp. We have lots to explore in Southern Oregon and Northern California without having to travel too far to do so.
Felling better, I ventured out on a Sunday drive. Visiting one of my favorite locations this time of the year, the Tule Lake and Lower Klamath Wildlife Refuges.
Once again, and probably for a while, there is little water in the refuges due to the ongoing drought. But I did start off my adventure near what little water remains at the NWR’s - the southeast side of the Tule Lake NWR.
On this trip, water-based wildlife remained scarce. By this time of the year and through the month of March, the area is usually teeming with waterfowl and raptors by now. The refuges hold the largest concentration of wintering Bald Eagles in the lower 48.
This year, it’s anything but typical.
The deer have usually moved out to dryer winter ranges, but to have stayed in the refuges and not migrated.
This past Sunday, I counted:
1 Coyote
11 Bald Eagles
15 Hawks
70 Deer
Seventy deer is a pretty good number and unusual for January. Normally the deer would have moved south into more traditional winter ranges by this time. Of those seventy, half were males with large racks of unshed antlers.
I have never been good at distinguishing the difference between hawk breeds - red tail and rough-legged. So my hawk count is a combined total.
What I did not see was even more astonishing. I did not see large flocks of Speckle Belly Geese, Tundra Swans, Wood Ducks, Merganzer, or Canadian Geese. Just a few scattered duck and geese and one decent group of Snow Geese. Because the waterfowl is not present in large numbers, neither are the preditors.
I finished my near 100-mile journey with a stop at “the old shovel,” an early 1900s model excavator that was used to create the canals of the Klamath Project and wildlife refuges. This old piece of heavy equipment must have some great stories to tell.
BONUS MATERIAL
Additional material such as our Relive videos and Gaia GPS tracks are available to our Patreon Family. For as little as $1/month help us tell the stories of our overlanding adventures and get special videos and our Gaia GPS tracks.
