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On one of my trips to the Black Hills, our plan was to fly over an area to locate the
approximately 10 mountain lions we had successfully radio- collared. At the time, we
were using conventional VHF (very high frequency) radio collars and thus had to
be near the collar to receive the signal, via antenna and programmable receiver.
Because mountain lions are constantly on the move (except when consuming a
large kill or courting a female), we used aerial telemetry to find them on a weekly
basis. The locations where we found the animals were used to assess survival, gener-
ate home ranges, and estimate the mountain lion population size.
On that trip, we met up with our pi lot, known at the time as “Rodeo Bob,” with
whom we had contracted to conduct the flights, at the Rapid City Airport. I sat in the
back of the plane so that my gradu ate student could use the telemetry receiver to
find the radio- collared lions. The method involved listening for the signal (frequency)
of a lion collar and essentially making an X flight over the estimated location while
gauging the intensity of the signal (fig. 4.1). Where the flights crossed (the X) would
be the estimated location of the animal. We also placed collars in random locations in
the Black Hills to quantify the error of these estimates.
All was going well, in that we had found a few of the lions and had been in the air
for about a half hour when I became a bit queasy from the circular pattern of the flight.
I have always tended to become carsick; it happened on trips when I was young and
on carnival rides at the local fair. Luckily, Bob had provided a “barf bag” to take care
of my needs, and because of my gray appearance, he asked whether we should head
back to the airport. I deci ded to put up with my distress, assuming that we would be
airborne no more than another hour. I was most interested in ensuring that we
collected the data on the lions, because of the cost of flights. Unfortunately for me,
we remained in the air for another two hours. When we arrived back it the airport, I
CHAPTER 4