MIKE AND JAN – ROCKLAND IDAHO, 1978-79

                                                                                                                                                                                    Jacove 8 Months

In March of 1978, Mike had sufficient credits hours at Utah State University to graduate with a bachelor degree in wildlife management and didn’t need to attend the spring quarter. He was offered a full-time job in working in Power, Bingham, and Oneida counties for the USDA, Wildlife Service program as a trapper/principal field agent. Mike and Jan had decided that as long as they could afford it and make ends meet, it would be best if Jan didn’t work and became a homemaker. They moved to American Falls, Idaho in a small apartment next to the police station. A few months late they moved to a small town about 15 miles south called Rockland which was more centrally located to the areas where Mike worked. They first rented a house in the center of town from Shirly Byington (a man) and paid $125 per month, but he sold it and they moved up East Fork Creek in a house owned by Monks. A couple of months later one of the Monk kids got married and needed the house, so Mike & Jan moved to the west side of town in Alvin Maus’ mother’s old house that had been vacant for sometime. They cleaned the yard, pruned the trees, planted a garden and fixed up some of the interior that was in disrepair. In return, Alvin gave the a few months rent free and pastured Mike’s big bay horseSam. The rent was $100 per month and Mike and Jan stayed there until they moved to Boise area in January, 1980. Rockland was 99.9% Mormon and had a population of about 300 people, and they were welcomed into the community with open arms.

One evening in the American Falls appartment, Mike was home tending Jacove while Jan was at Relief Society.  He decided to clean his .22 pistol. Thinking it was unloaded, he pointed it at the TV and shot it dead. Jan came home shortly after and Mike was as white as a ghost. He was able to repair it, but Jan has never let him live it down.

                 Jan and Jacove 1979

Mike & Jan made some good friends in Rockland and were active in church. Jan was called to the Primary as for the 11 year olds and Mike taught in Elders Quorum. Mike was only making about $8,000 per year. They ate a lot of venison during those times. To supplement their income he and Jan would go to the Sublet mountain range and cut and split firewood to sell. Since Jacove was an infant, Jan would provide morale support and company to Mike. He also shoed horses for some of the locals. During the summer they’d spend a few weekends at Sublet Reservoir and Indian Springs fishing for brown trout. They’d camp in the teepee tent and make tin foil or dutch oven dinners.

                                                                                                                                                                              Mike and Jacove 1979

Mike and Jan came up with Jacove’s name in Dubois while wordsmithing the last name of one of the ranching families in that area. When Jan said it, they both knew it was a good name for a daughter, unique -- and Jacove is unique to say the least. She was always smiling and could do nothing wrong in her dad’s eyes. He let her drive his truck when she was a year old. She only had a hold of the steering wheel, but she thought it was pretty neat. Jan would travel to American Falls every other week to buy groceries and things and on their way home she’d stop at the A&W to buy a burger and fries. Jacove got to where when they passed the overpass coming into town, she get all excited and ask her mother, “burger and fry, burger and fry?” She had just starting to walk and say a few words at the time. During her second Christmas, Jan had joined some of the sisters in the ward and was learning to make and paint ceramic figurines. She was in the kitchen painting when she heard a huge commotion. She ran into the living room and there was Jacove under the Christmas Tree that she had pulled over. Not only did it scare Jacove to death, but the fall had broken some old antique Christmas tree ornaments that had been passed down to Jan.

Mike’s work was basically a trapper, working with farmers and ranchers to keep wildlife (coyotes) from killing livestock. In the spring time the sheep would move out of the lambing sheds onto the desert west of Aberdeen, Idaho. At that time there were about 60,000 head of sheep that moved through this area on their way to the summer country on the forests. Whenever a livestock operator was losing sheep or cattle to predators, they called Mike and he would investigate the situation. If it was simple, he’d set traps or try to get the coyotes by calling (imitating a coyote or hurt prey and lure them within shooting range). If the killing was bad and he was unsuccessful in getting the offending coyotes, he would have the airplane (supercub) or helicopter come in to help. He’d serve as gunner for the aerial hunting operations in his area of responsibility. In the summer time, the sheep would move to forests and Mike would work mainly in Power and Oneida counties. Most of the sheep that were on the desert moved to other trapping districts further north and east so Mike only had about 10 bands sheep (15,000) that stayed in his area during the summer months. Most of his work was on horse back as the country was steep. The sheepherders at that time were mostly Bascos from Spain and liked to see Mike since he could converse with them in Spanish. They usually sent him home with a hindquarter of lamb or mutton.

       Mike & Rich Wonacott w/desert bucks

The desert west of Aberdeen was very unique and Mike fell in love with it. There is a big lava rift that stretches from the Craters of the Moon National Monument south to the edge of the Snake River near where Raft River enters in. Along the rift are large areas of lava flows that were created some 2,000 years ago. The flows are spotted with bitter brush and in a few areas, juniper trees and "parks", pockets of land the lave encircled but did not cover. There are large cracks and caverns throughout the flows. Mike discovered these flows to have a few deer that were of record class and spend a lot of time in the fall hunting them via tracking. These experiences will be told in a later section with all his hunting stories. The sheep would graze to the edge of the lava flows and coyotes were in abundance as the sage and lava provided ideal habitat.

                                                                                                                                                                              Helicopter Crash

The winter time was spent doing work in areas that has had problems with predation the summer before and Mike was unsuccessful at stopping the killing. His main objective was to remove coyotes from those problem areas before the sheep arrived the next spring and summer. To do this, Mike used a helicopter for aerial hunting quite extensively. This is a controversial method of management, but very effective and efficient. One time during the winter of 1979 Mike was aerial hunting along the Idaho/Utah border northwest of Snowville, UT. They were hunting in an area covered with juniper that was a particular bad predation area in the spring. They had spotted a coyote and were in the process of making a turn when the helicopter turbine engine quit. Because the aircraft was in the middle of a turn, a lot of it’s forward momentum was minimal and the pilot didn’t have much to work with on an auto-rotation (if a helicopter is flying at a high enough altitude and sufficient speed, it can use the rotation of the blades and momentum of the aircraft to rotate and land safely on the ground even if the engine quits). The helicopter started to drop (altitude at that time was about 200 feet above ground level) and the pilot had just enough forward momentum to get over a big tree, but lost everything else on the other side. The aircraft hit the ground and slid into another tree. The rotor blades cut the tree into pieces, cut off the tail boom and threw it about 100 feet, and came to rest. The pilot sustained some minor cuts on his hands, but that was the extent of any injuries. The crew walked about 1.5 miles to I-15, just south of the rest stop and got a ride to Snowville. The fuel truck driver had gotten worried because the aircraft was overdue and called the State Office in Boise.  The State Director called Jan to see if by chance we had flown home without telling the fuel truck.  Needless to say, Jan was stunned and worried sick.  The crew finally got to a phone and Jan got the call they were alright.  She had huge reservations about Mike continuing this line of work, but also knew it was what he lived for.  Within a few weeks he was back in the airplane.

Mike was also used as an assistant to the District Supervisor, Rich Wonacott. About twice per month he’d have to go to the Pocatello office and help prepare reports for the State Office. Mike and Rich became best of friends and spend may nights camped out in a teepee chasing deer and elk. Rich was a rascal and was always pulling a joke on someone or ready to trade something to anyone interested. Funny thing is he most always came away on the upper end. When Mike and Jan first met him he asked Mike if he needed a wrist watch. When Mike looked kind of quizzical, Rich pulled up his coat sleeve and there were at least 10 watches lined up on his arm. It reminded Mike of an old gypsy. Rich fell in love with Jacove and gave her a big teddy bear, and “bear” was the first word she spoke. Mike taught her how to howl like a coyote and Rich got the biggest kick out of her when she did it. Rich’s wife, Callene, was a Mormon converted in Montana, but Rich never was baptized even though he received the missionary discussions numerous times. Rich had a deep reverence for the Mormon faith and is probably why he took up with Mike.