The work day started at 07:00. A nonresident calling, who had heard about our elk dying. Worried that the two elk he and his son harvested last fall in the same area might not be fit to eat.

Well, now. That is a concern that hadn't occurred to me. Not that we should be worried about such things, since whatever is happening to our elk is happening fast, within the past three weeks or so, and does not appear to be contagious. So yeah, I felt confident in telling him his elk meat was okay. But we should have guessed that someone would be worried about it.

Lots of other calls today, as I stayed home to get some environmental comments done that were already a day overdue. (But no bitching from the boss or anyone else... they understood.) Calls came fast and furious in the morning, from neighbors planning elk flights (I go up Friday morning), ranchers concerned there might be risk to their stock, a hunter asking about antelope hunting (How wonderful! A conversation that isn't about elk.), two calls about companies drilling gas wells next to strutting grounds and wanting to drill into the strutting season (Hey, how come company A can frac and test their wells in one week, and you guys need two?), and a call from a local reporter.

Have known the reporter for years, and I hope I wasn't too candid. She usually slides over my off-the-cuff remarks and sticks to the meat of the issues, but you never know until it's in print.

In another call, the warden heading up the field searches admitted "I gave you guys too much ground to cover yesterday."

Yep. Could have told him that. Once he got out there on his own with an ATV, he realized how hard it was to get around with all that snow still on top of the ridge.

I didn't ask if he still dreams about dying elk. Our outfit's vet confessed they were entering his.

And wife caught me on a newscast from your metropolis. Fortunately it was just video, and somebody else did the audio.

Moonrise last September...