Twin Lakes/Swanson BLM Experiences?

[DOUBLELUNG]

I did notice significantly more "mole" or "gopher" sign (burrows), then I see in my own neck of the shrub steppe "woods".

I don't really know what rodent makes all these dirt mounds, with no open hole.  I've never see a rodent  coming up out of one.  I often see "trails" where a rodent burrow has disrupted the surface for several lineal feet, without breaking through. Could one of you educate me on what critter makes such dens?

The soil at Swanson Lakes is very fine.  It is the loess that arrived borne by the wind. Ever step right on top of exposed dirt mound (burrow) to "leave a footprint"? I did that once this week and my foot sank in the powdery soil a full 9", down the dirt-filled burrow! The dirt was up my pant leg and over the tops of my boot.   I didn't do that again. "Normally", perhaps after rain, the dirt is quite firm, but not when it is freshly dug!

Ivar, I can't speak to the mounds, but the critter you are inquiring about is the northern pocket gopher, Thomomys talpoides.  They live underground, unlike other rodents that forage on the surface and rest in burrows.  The dirt mounds you see are their diggings from below, they push the excess soil up from below.  The trails are called cores, and are formed in the winter under snow, when they mix up their subterranean lifestyle with a subnivian one.  You will only see the cores in areas with persistent crusted snow in the winter.  Scientists are mixed on whether the subnivian burrows are dug purely as a place to move dirt into, when pushing up mounds from below is precluded by snowcover; or if subnivian burrows are dug for feeding purposes too.

[hunterbuilder]

We hunted the Swanson Lake wildlife area for deer in 2003. We scouted it in September and saw a ton of deer in the wildlife area and thought we had it made come October. We set up camp, and then had to move it  . We had set up on an abandoned skid road and the area manager came by and told us we had to move. We were allowed to camp within so many feet (50-100' i think) of the county road since it's the county right of way. So it wasn't too far of a move. I scouted the day before opener mostly glassing and didn't see any deer. We had permission to hunt some private property up on the breaks to Roosevelt so the rest of the party hunted there on opener. I hunted on the wildlife area all opening day putting on many boot miles and lots of glassing and not one deer. We heard of 1 or 2 bucks taken on opening day from the manager. I hunted on the private property the next day and got a small 4pt about 15minutes after daylight. The only deer we ended up seeing in the wildlife area were a couple of does crossing the headlights at night. We figured most of the deer move out to the winter wheat once it greens up and leave the wildlife area.
The first pic is first camp. Then second camp. Then my buck.

[hunterbuilder]

Sorry, I just noticed this was originally posted in the varmit section. Well, we did see and hear quite a few coyotes as well, and one of the guys in our group got one near camp.

[Straight Shooter]

Great info and thank you for sharing your pics.

[elkaholic]

There can be lots of deer  in that area, however once the Blaze Orange rolls into town, deer dissapear quick.  Tryed it once with Miles and well he was almost shot by some idiot taking 500 yards shots, so we went back to the woods!

[ivarhusa]

Julie, the site manager did say that the modern firearms guys were not nearly as success as the archery crowd.  That's all the deer 411 I have.

[Vrmthntr]

I coyotes hunt out there alot.  There is a lot of coyotes, but they are very call shy.  While home on leave over Christmas, my son and I spent almost every day for two weeks running around out there.  The main roads are somewhat maintained but all the the rest were snowed in, we covered alot of miles on snow shoes.  Lot of tracks in the snow and saw a lot of dogs.  We did manage to kill a couple.  If you can get out during the week you wont see alot of people, on the weekends you will see more as usual.  I've hunted all over the management area and the BLM land to the south. 
I also spend alot of time down by Sprague/Revere area.  There is some BLM land down there but also alot of private land.  Have seen a lot of dogs down in that country also.  Alot of the land down there has the "ask for permission" signs posted.  Did some hunting on private land and have managed a few dogs down there also.  Will be done with this deployment in Sept and will be out there again!!! 

[Straight Shooter]

I coyotes hunt out there alot.  There is a lot of coyotes, but they are very call shy.  While home on leave over Christmas, my son and I spent almost every day for two weeks running around out there.  The main roads are somewhat maintained but all the the rest were snowed in, we covered alot of miles on snow shoes.  Lot of tracks in the snow and saw a lot of dogs.  We did manage to kill a couple.  If you can get out during the week you wont see alot of people, on the weekends you will see more as usual.  I've hunted all over the management area and the BLM land to the south. 
I also spend alot of time down by Sprague/Revere area.  There is some BLM land down there but also alot of private land.  Have seen a lot of dogs down in that country also.  Alot of the land down there has the "ask for permission" signs posted.  Did some hunting on private land and have managed a few dogs down there also.  Will be done with this deployment in Sept and will be out there again!!! 

Thanks for passing on the info.  Thank you for your service and get home safe.

[JB]

I hunted there earlier in the spring. Great area, the staff was very helpful. Got a few coyotes to howl back to me at dusk but they busted out of the area quickly. Camped on the BLM land which was nice. The coyotes were all out that night as it was a full moon. The closest I got to one was 600+ yards. I was glassing a hill about a mile or so away and saw two sitting there looking at our camp. Needless to say I didn't bag anything that weekend. They are definately there, just very shy.

[Blacklab]

Would also like to give thanks to Ivar for the info and right up. Been lookin at gettin out some where out east just didn't know where or when. Sounds like great fun just 5hrs is a good drive so not sure if I'll make anytime soon. But really appriecate your info 

[509er]

My brothers and I used to hunt the area a lot a few years ago.  Had good success on coyotes and took 10 bucks in 4 years.  Quit hunting the area 3 years ago, gets way too crowded and turns into a war zone certain times of the year.  But the guys cutting the fence and riding quads on the BLM land was the deal breaker.     Never had much success calling in coyotes but developed a technique for jump shooting them that worked out well.  A lot of land to hunt, but it gets a lot of pressure.  Dogs are well educated up there.