Laramie Region
Monthly Summary
“Conserving Wildlife - Serving People”
DECEMBER 2014
Wyoming Game and Fish Department biologists and wardens took to the air throughout the Laramie Region in De-
cember for big game herd classifications.
Classifications are conducted by air and ground to obtain population data and to monitor herds of big game animals
such as mule deer, elk, moose and bighorn sheep. Information obtained from the classification is used to design future
hunting seasons and to manage herds toward population objectives. So far, the news has been good across the Laramie
Region.
Saratoga Game Warden Biff Burton says early results suggest mule deer fawn production and buck numbers in-
creased in the Platte Valley in 2014. Cheyenne Game Warden Shawn Blajszczak reports that mule deer classifications
indicated the Goshen Rim herd also had good fawn production. Wheatland Wildlife Biologist Martin Hicks was pleased to
discover the best mule deer fawn ratios observed in years. Hicks says hunters can look forward to seeing good buck
quantity and quality a few years from now.
Big game herd classifications
Laramie Wildlife Biologist Lee Knox and Game Warden Jackie Otto prepare to
take off. Otto was recently selected as the new North Gillette game warden.
Laramie Region Wildlife Coordinator Corey Class
and Saratoga Game Warden Biff Burton take a
break from classifying big game animals.
Buck numbers and quality should improve in next few years
Page 2
DECEMBER 2014
Game and Fish is proud to welcome a
new game warden in Laramie.
Game Warden Bill Brinegar replaces
Bill Haley, the South Laramie game war-
den who retired in August. Brinegar is a
native of Cheyenne and graduated from
East High School in 1994. He earned a
bachelor’s degree in Biology from Fresno
State in 2001.
After graduation he worked for the
California Fish and Game on the anadro-
mous fish crew on the San Joaquin River,
and later as a biologist for a private con-
sulting firm.
He returned to Wyoming in 2004
when he was hired as a game warden
trainee for the Wyoming Game and Fish
Department. Brinegar was stationed in
Green River for two years and was then
promoted to the Rawlins Warden District
in 2006, where he remained for eight
years.
Brinegar is delighted to be working in
Laramie and to finally be back home in
the southeast corner of the state. “I have
family in Cheyenne and I wanted to be a
game warden in an area where I grew up
hunting and fishing. I am very familiar
with the area. It is home,” he said.
While Brinegar had to hit the ground
running at the beginning of hunting sea-
son, he says he now has time to focus on
his goals for the region. “I want to work
on building and maintaining relation-
ships with the landowners and constitu-
ents in my region. A game warden is the
liaison between the department and
landowners. It’s a very important role,”
he said.
Brinegar believes in the responsibility
of providing quality opportunities for
sportsmen. He cares about doing what is
right for wildlife and sportsmen. “I appre-
ciate that my role as a game warden al-
lows me to get people to work together
to solve problems,” he said.
He lives in Laramie with his wife Kris-
tin, daughter Emily, and sons Owen and
Will.
Welcome to the Laramie Region
New South Laramie game warden
Sheep Mountain mule deer meeting The Laramie Region held a public meeting in December
to discuss management of the Sheep Mountain Mule Deer
Herd. Wildlife managers provided information about mule
deer nutritional needs and habitat enhancements; a review
of the current herd objective; and a preliminary discussion
on draft management recommendations for the herd.
Laramie Wildlife Biologist Lee Knox said the population
objective for the herd is 15,000 animals, but current popu-
lation estimates are just over 5,500. “The population objec-
tive of 15,000 animals may not be realistic for this herd,”
he said.
The Laramie Region will hold one more public meeting
to review a draft of the management recommendations.
This will be the final planning-stage meeting to identify in-
formation needs or bring up issues that the management
recommendations document doesn’t address. The date will
be determined in upcoming weeks.
To learn more about the Sheep Mountain Mule Deer
Initiative visit: http://wgfd.wyo.gov.
DECEMBER 2014 Page 3
Fish stocked in Cheyenne lakes
The Laramie fish crew stocked about 900 brood cull brown and brook trout in
Sloans Lake and Lake Absarraca in December. The fish were culled from the breed-
ing stock at Story Fish Hatchery. The brook trout are all four-year-old fish and aver-
age about one pound and about 14 inches. The brown trout are three to five years
old and also average a pound each and up to 14 inches in length. However, some of
the older fish are about 18 inches in length.
While checking fisher-
men at Wheatland #3,
Laramie Game Warden
Kelly Todd talked to a
man who said he had
no luck all day, and not
even a bite for that last
couple hours. Warden
Todd continued check-
ing other fishermen, and
everybody else seemed
to be catching fish. Sud-
denly there was a shout
and everyone looked to
see a large rainbow
trout being reeled in by
the man who said he
had no luck all day. The
trout was 24.5 inches
long and weighed about
five pounds.
Good things come to
those who wait… and wait
Photo by Kelly Todd
If you enjoy fishing for bass in the Laramie Region, then
2015 is your lucky year.
Size limits for bass have been liberalized on several
waters in southeastern Wyoming. Festo Lake and Hawk
Springs Reservoir have had the bass size limit removed
completely, and the 15-inch minimum size limit at Gray-
rocks Reservoir has been removed. Anglers at Grayrocks
can now keep three (3) bass, but only one can be over 12
inches in length.
Also new is a change that allows importation of live
baitfish (fathead minnows) into the state from approved
commercial hatcheries. This should increase the number
of live baitfish available to anglers.
Other changes include new laws allowing the use of
corn for bait and the use of artificial lighting devices while
fishing. The regulation will continue to prohibit the use of
artificial light when spear gunning for game fish.
The new fishing regulations booklet listing all changes
is now on the Game and Fish website wgfd.wyo.gov.
Printed copies are now available at license selling agents.
The new changes are highlighted throughout the booklet.
Some good changes to
fishing regulations
Page 4 DECEMBER 2014
New well drilled at Table Mountain WHMA
John’s Pump Service of Torrington completed drilling a new well at Table Mountain WHMA as part of the Water Delivery Enhancement System
project. The water from the well will help keep the Table Mountain ponds full. Once the well was completed, Wyrulec Company of Lingle installed
a three-phase electric line to power the well’s pumps. Photos by Jerry Cowles.
Hunting for elk
Forever Wild Families participants Caylee and
Jordan Martin went on an elk hunt with WGFD
employees Ian Tator and Mark Nelson (at right).
Goshen County hosted the 27th Annual 2-Shot Goose Hunt on Dec. 13. The
weather was cold and foggy that morning in Torrington, and the hunting was a bit
hit or miss. Only three out of 40 teams took four geese, and only six teams came
in with three geese. First place contestants were Seth Brush (at left) and Jarod
Bower (center), hunting on Bryan Greenwald’s land west of Lingle. The team took
four geese. Brush was also credited for killing the largest goose for the day,
which weighed in at 11.49 pounds. Also shown is guide Grant Harpstreith (at
right). Photo by Rob Hipp.
Goshen County 2-Shot Goose Hunt
DECEMBER 2014 Page 5
After pleading no contest to the charges of taking a mule deer during a
closed season and wrong species of deer, Cheyenne resident Kurt Rangitsch
was sentenced to two years revocation of hunting privileges, $3,000 in resti-
tution, $1,010 in fines, and six months unsupervised probation. Rangitsch
must also retake a hunter education class.
The case was initially reported by Wyoming Highway Patrol Trooper Gabriel
Testerman, who discovered a buck mule deer in the back of Rangitsch’s truck
and concluded it to be a possible violation.
Cheyenne Game Warden Shawn Blajszczak and Wheatland Game Warden
David Ellsworth determined that Rangitsch had shot a large mule deer buck
on Nov. 30, 2014, in deer hunt area 15 near La Grange. Rangitsch had a
deer area 15 type 3 license valid for white-tailed deer only. Rangitsch, who
had been hunting deer in Wyoming since 2002, said he thought the deer was
a white-tailed deer.
Special thanks to Trooper Testerman, Ken Brown with the district attor-
ney’s office, and Game and Fish Department’s Laramie Region Wildlife Inves-
tigator John Demaree for assistance in solving and prosecuting this case.
In other parts of the region, Medicine Bow Game Warden Jake Kettley con-
tacted two elk hunters off of Highway 487 after one had shot a cow elk. The hunters said they thought they were on the Shirley Basin HMA in
hunt area 7. They were cited for hunting in the wrong area as they were well into area 16.
Teamwork was the name of the game when HMAP Coordinator Kyle Berg, Access Coordinator Jason Sherwood, and Game Warden Jackie
Otto helped Warden Kettley with a case involving an individual from Casper who shot two cow elk on the McFarlane HMA. The man accessed
the HMA from a walk-in area that is only open for antelope hunting. The following day he drove into the HMA and went past a road closed
sign. He was issued citations for trespassing and driving past a road closed sign.
Access Coordinator Jason Sherwood also worked several cases this month, including one where a man’s elk spoiled while he was working
out of state, a man who accidentally harvested a spike elk on a cow-only hunt, and a bull elk that was found by Biologist Hicks after it was
shot during a cow-only season. The bull was shot on the Cross C Ranch adjacent to the Tunnel Road early in the morning of December 20.
The elk had been quartered and the meat was taken. Tips on anyone who harvested an elk in Area 7 that day or regarding suspicious vehi-
cles observed in the area that day would be appreciated.
Laramie Region law enforcement
Cheyenne Game Warden
Shawn Blajszczak received
a call about a poached
fawn white-tailed deer off
of Horse Creek Road north
of Iron Mountain on Dec.
13.
When Warden
Blajszczak arrived he dis-
covered a fawn white-tailed deer that was shot and left to
waste. The deer was shot in the head with a high pow-
ered rifle the previous day. Unfortunately, not much evi-
dence was found on scene.
Warden Blajszczak encourages anyone with knowl-
edge of this poaching or any other poaching to call the
stop poaching tip line at 1 (877) WGFD TIP, (1-877-934-
3847). Informants can choose to remain anonymous.
Stop Poaching December saw the beginning of a new bighorn sheep re-
search study the Tom Thorne/Beth Williams Wildlife Research
Center at Sybille. The focus of the study is to develop sheep-
side testing that can identify which sheep in a herd are chroni-
cally shedding respiratory pathogens.
If these sheep can be identified, removing them may im-
prove the overall health of the herd and improve lamb recruit-
ment. This is a collaborative study with Dr. Karen Fox of Colo-
rado Parks and Wildlife.
Mule deer buck poached by Cheyenne resident Kurt Rangitsch
Tips needed on white-tailed deer case
New bighorn sheep study
Two University of Wyoming
students assist in sam-
pling Travis, the resident
bighorn sheep ram at the
wildlife research center at
Sybille.
Wyoming Game and Fish Dept. Laramie Region Office
528 S. Adams St. Laramie, WY 82070
(307) 745-4046
wgfd.wyo.gov
This male sharp-shinned hawk (Accipiter
striatus) has been spotted near the Game
and Fish Department headquarters office in
Cheyenne in recent weeks. The sharp-
shinned hawk’s primary prey is small song-
birds such as sparrows and warblers. They
are agile fliers and easily speed through
dense vegetation to surprise their prey.
Sharp-shinned hawks are common in wood-
land areas and open lowlands throughout
the United States, southern and western
Canada, Mexico and Central America. North-
ern bird populations will migrate to the
South, but sharp-shinned hawks may be
present year-round in Wyoming.
Sharp-shinned hawk
Laramie Game
Warden Kelly
Todd snapped
this photo of a
nice flock of
wild turkeys on
a recent trip to
Hawk Springs.
Turkeys are
frequently seen
from U.S. 85 in
and around the
town.
A new test is being used to screen
blood samples for antibodies to
brucellosis.
The new test is called a RAP which
stands for Rapid Automated Presump-
tive test. It is a semi-automated test
that uses an antigen (killed Brucella
abortus bacteria) in a microtiter plate
in an instrument that scans each well
for agglutination. Agglutination occurs
when antibodies in the test serum
combine with antigen complexes that
can be seen with the naked eye. The
automated instrument is able to de-
tect these complexes at very low lev-
els making it much more sensitive than the old card test.
Although the RAP test has been used for some time in cattle and swine, it is
only now being routinely used for wildlife. As part of an effort to standardize
brucellosis testing in Idaho, Montana and Wyoming, the USDA/APHIS has
pushed this assay very hard on regional diagnostic laboratories. The RAP instru-
ment and the antigen were supplied free of charge to the WGFD. The RAP is now
the standard screening test for brucellosis, replacing the Card, Standard Plate
Test and the Rivanol tests.
Positive control serum samples are shown on
the right while test serum samples are shown
on the left. Test antigen is pink, giving the
assay its characteristic color.
New brucellosis test
BRRRR! Access Coordinator Jason Sherwood says shoveling snow is
all in a day’s work. He assisted with HMAP elk hunts in the
Laramie Peak area, and jumped in to lend a hand with vehi-
cles that became stuck or disabled during particularly bad
weather the weekend after Christmas. Medicine Bow Game
Warden Jake Kettley and HMAP Coordinator Kyle Berg also
joined in the wintry fun.
Regular visitors