At 5:00PM on September 1, 2014 Mike Fiedor had a dream come true. He was successful in bagging a bighorn sheep in Hunt Area 12. The four hour wait for the ram to present a good shot had come to an end. The shot was good and the ram was down. What makes this event so unique is Mike Fiedor is legally blind.

On December 5, 2011 the Sheridan resident had eye surgery for diabetic retinopathy. As a result of the surgery, Fiedor lost the eyesight in his right eye and his vision in his left eye is 20-500; making him legally blind. This major setback did not deter Fiedor’s zest for hunting; he knew he had to find a way to continue his lifelong love of hunting. Fiedor had friends and relatives willing to help make Fiedor’s dreams of continuing hunting a reality. Fiedor applied for and received a Companion Permit from the Wyo-ming Game and Fish Department. A Companion Permit allows another person to aim the firearm at the quarry and when a signal is communicated the licensed hunter pulls the trigger. In Fiedor’s case, it is a countdown; 3, 2, 1—on 1 Fiedor pulls the trigger.

Mike Fiedor’s story should be an inspiration to all hunters. No matter what challenges come up in your life, you have to move forward and take on those challenges!

Wyoming Game and Fish Department

Sheridan Region

September 2014 Newsletter

Sheridan Region

Regional Wildlife Supervisor:

Joe Gilbert

Regional Fisheries Supervisor:

Paul Mavrakis

Office Managers:

Lori Roe

Katherine Boyles

Shared position:

Wendy Balkenbush

Stephine Bomar

Game Wardens:

Dayton: Dustin Shorma

Sheridan: Bruce Scigliano

Buffalo: Jim Seeman

Kaycee: Grant Gerharter

N. Gillette: Teal Joseph

S. Gillette: Dustin Kirsch

Moorcroft: J.D. Davis

Investigator: Scott Adell

Public Information Specialist:

Bud Stewart

Wildlife Biologists :

Wildlife Management Coordinator:

Lynn Jahnke

Sheridan: Tim Thomas

Buffalo: Dan Thiele

Gillette: Erika Peckham

Terrestrial Habitat: Todd Caltrider

Fish Biologists:

Bill Bradshaw

Andrew Nikirk

Aquatic Habitat: Travis Cundy

Habitat and Access Coordinator:

Seth Roseberry

Aquatic Invasive Species:

Greg Downey

Story Fish Hatchery:

Superintendent: Steve Diekema

Assistant Supr: Jared Smith

Culturist: Jennifer Meineke

Sheridan Bird Farm:

Coordinator: Darrell Meineke

Technicians: Kurt Heiser

Nate Brown

Legally Blind Hunter Bags Dandy Ram

Sheridan resident Mike Fiedor with his Hunt Area 12 bighorn ram he bagged on September 1, 2014.

On September 30th, 750 seven to nine inch tiger musky were stocked into Healy Reservoir northeast of Buffalo. This is the third year the northern pike X muskellunge hybrid has been stocked in Healy. Some of the tiger musky stocked in 2012 have surpassed the 30 inch minimum size limit required for the fish to be kept by anglers. The tiger musky have been introduced into Healy to feed on yellow perch. The Sheridan Fish Management Crew’s goal is to reduce the numbers of stunted perch, thereby increasing the average size; which would make the perch more desirable to anglers.

Sheridan Region Monthly Newsletter September 2014

Fish Culturist Adam Leiferman releases tiger musky into Healy

Reservoir.

Tiger Musky Stocked in Healy Reservoir

Moorcroft Game Warden John D. Davis (on right) accepts his 25 years of service plaque from Sheridan Regional Wildlife Supervisor Joe Gilbert.

At a recent Wildlife Division Regional meeting Moorcroft Game Warden John D. Davis was recognized for his 25 years of service to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department. Davis has been a game warden in Moorcroft for 19 years. He started his Game and Fish career in 1989 in the Sheridan Region doing boating en-forcement work on Lake DeSmet and Keyhole Reservoir. Davis fed elk during the winter of 1989-90 before going to Laramie as an Enforce-ment Aid for the summer and fall of 1990. Davis was promoted to the Kaycee game warden posi-tion on November 1, 1990. He then transferred to Moorcroft on September 1, 1995 and has been stationed there since that date.

John D Marks a Quarter Century with Game and Fish

A recently stocked tiger musky takes refuge in some aquatic

vegetation along the shore at Healy Reservoir (Adam Leifer-

man photo)

Sheridan Regional Game and Fish em-ployees Tim Thomas (Sheridan Wildlife Biolo-gist), Seth Roseberry (Habitat and Access Coor-dinator) and Bud Stewart (Public Information Specialist) presented programs to several groups of Sheridan High School students en-rolled in the Biology/Ecology Class. Thomas and Roseberry showed the students how to lay out transects and do elk pellet counts. They also talked about elk management and the De-partment’s Wildlife Habitat Management Areas. Stewart talked about mammal tracks and ex-plained the habitat needs of mammals in the Welch BLM property, north of Sheridan, along the Tongue River.

The students also learned about riparian and upland vegetation, terrestrial and aquatic in-sects, birds, and how all these things fit into the food web.

Sheridan Region Monthly Newsletter

September 2014

Game & Fish Employees Interact With Sheridan High School Biology Class

Habitat and Access Coordinator Seth Roseberry explains how to lay out an elk pellet count transect.

Upstate New York Hunter Has a Love For Wyoming’s Hunting Opportunities

A love for the hunt and being able to spend time with family and friends; that is what has brought Chandler Oakes back to Wyoming and his favorite hunting spot—the Ed O. Taylor Wildlife Habitat Manage-ment Area (WMHA). When Buffalo Wildlife Biologist Dan Thiele stopped by the Oakes family camp this fall, Mr. Oakes told Thiele this year was the 50th trip he has made to the Ed. O Taylor WMHA to go hunting. Mr. Oakes went on to say he spent a year or so hunting the Black Hills and one year he hunted near Baggs, the rest have been to the Ed O. Taylor WMHA west of Kaycee.

Mr. Oakes, now 86 years old, told Thiele he has spent more than a year of his life hunting in Wyoming.

Chandler Oakes (third from left with walking stick) poses with family during their hunt to the Ed O. Taylor Wildlife Habitat Management Area west of Kaycee.

Sheridan Region Monthly Newsletter

September 2014

Fish Management Crew Completes Fall Sampling on Lake DeSmet and North Tongue

The Sheridan Fish Management Crew samples the North Tongue River.

Snake River Cutthroat captured while sampling the North Tongue.

The North Tongue River west of Burgess Junction continues to produce quality angling for cutthroat trout. Population estimates for fish greater than six inches average about 1,200 fish/mile. Cutthroats up to 16 inches were captured.

Fall netting at Lake DeSmet indicated the stocking of the fall variety, or sometimes called Wigwam rainbow trout, has produced an abundant population of 16-18 inch rainbow trout that are in very good shape.

Also caught in the netting effort were several large brown trout (photo at left) with the largest reaching nearly 12 lbs.

Oops!!!

Kaycee Game Warden Grant Gerharter checked an antelope hunter near the border of Hunt Areas 73 (season opens September 15) and 21 (season opens October 15). The hunter had purchased a new GPS unit after receiving a trespassing violation in 2013. On this occasion the hunter had taken an antelope in Hunt Area 21 with a Hunt Area 73 tag. When Gerharter approached the hunter he quickly informed Gerharter he was on public land, but forgot to check which hunt area he was hunting!

North Gillette Game Warden Teal Joseph assisted the Campbell County Sheriff’s Office in searching for missing hunters off of Elk Creek Road on September 12. The hunters were found unharmed, but they had been hunting on Campbell County Walk-In Area (WIA) No. 10 all day. This particular WIA does not open until October 1, so unfortunately, the hunters’ day went from bad to worse when Joseph cited them for hunting in the WIA before it was open.