Helicopter Capture Compilation

[theat]

Thanks for sharing @theat. Always enjoy your gopro videos!! Was that you jumping onto the mountain goats back?
That had to be pretty intense!!

No, I was the one filming that one. That was my former coworker from Wyoming. He is one of the toughest guys I know and also an incredible shot.

I've jumped out of the helicopter onto the backs of running animals quite a few times. The most memorable one was a cow elk just north of the Jarbridge Mountains. Usually it would end up with me either immediately knocking them down with my sudden weight on them, or I would run along side them leaning over their back trying to grab the opposite side front leg to knock them over. This cow had a net on her but only one of the front legs was hung up in the net wrapped around her head. When I landed on her back she bucked a couple times and when my feet landed on the ground, one of them ended up in the net. Another couple bucks later, my feet went out from under me and off she went with me in tow. Thankfully she only made it about 50 yards before also getting tripped up in the net.

 

[DFS]

No, I was the one filming that one. That was my former coworker from Wyoming. He is one of the toughest guys I know and also an incredible shot.

I've jumped out of the helicopter onto the backs of running animals quite a few times. The most memorable one was a cow elk just north of the Jarbridge Mountains. Usually it would end up with me either immediately knocking them down with my sudden weight on them, or I would run along side them leaning over their back trying to grab the opposite side front leg to knock them over. This cow had a net on her but only one of the front legs was hung up in the net wrapped around her head. When I landed on her back she bucked a couple times and when my feet landed on the ground, one of them ended up in the net. Another couple bucks later, my feet went out from under me and off she went with me in tow. Thankfully she only made it about 50 yards before also getting tripped up in the net.

Your story’s are fascinating. I couldn’t even imagine.

 

[Southern Elk]

You fellows would make good steer wrestlers.

 

[Little Big Man MT Chris]

Fascinating to watch , thanks for posting, watching the cows in slo-mo pile up was wild. Gives a different perspective on the size and power of those animals when they go down in a sprint.

My brother flew helicopters for the Air force for 18 years doing combat rescue, I sent him the link looking forward to his comments on your pilots you go a chance to work with.
Cool stuff

 

[theat]

That stuff is incredible thanks for sharing @theat.

How'd you get into something like that? I'm sure you've covered it but it's not everyday you see a job opening like that on Indeed.

I had a lot of previous experience with helicopters while working in the wildfire biz. After that I ended up working for the state department primarily doing survey work along the western US/Canada border. In Alaska and a lot of the mountainous parts of the NW, getting to survey sites along the border would be impractical/impossible without a helicopter. We contracted work with quite a few different helicopter companies, but in Alaska we always used the company that I ended up working for doing the wildlife capture work. Other than a couple of Canadian pilots we had worked with, those capture pilots were on a whole different level. I got to be friends with one of those pilots. He really had no choice in the matter since we were mostly working out of tent or remote work shack camps and were stuck with each other for months on end. He showed me some of his capture videos and I talked him into talking the owner of the company into giving me a shot.

I don't think you will ever see a job posting for a mugger or gunner position. Its a pretty tough nut to crack and you pretty much have to be recommended by someone in the industry. It is also definitely not for everyone. Over the years that I was part of it, I got to work with quite a few guys that thought they were pretty tough. Not many of them made it a week. Not to say I'm particularly tough...more of a combination of hard headedness and a lack of self preservation.

 

[kansasdad]

@theat

Do the muggers wear pads/flak jackets for protection?

Pretty special moments when the animals were netted and the POV was shown from a ground camera. That really emphasizes the ground speed for me, more than the helo view.

Once down and immobilized, are you then responsible for blood draws, nasal swabbing, hair/skin samples, etc?

 

[EYJONAS!]

I had a lot of previous experience with helicopters while working in the wildfire biz. After that I ended up working for the state department primarily doing survey work along the western US/Canada border. In Alaska and a lot of the mountainous parts of the NW, getting to survey sites along the border would be impractical/impossible without a helicopter. We contracted work with quite a few different helicopter companies, but in Alaska we always used the company that I ended up working for doing the wildlife capture work. Other than a couple of Canadian pilots we had worked with, those capture pilots were on a whole different level. I got to be friends with one of those pilots. He really had no choice in the matter since we were mostly working out of tent or remote work shack camps and were stuck with each other for months on end. He showed me some of his capture videos and I talked him into talking the owner of the company into giving me a shot.

I don't think you will ever see a job posting for a mugger or gunner position. Its a pretty tough nut to crack and you pretty much have to be recommended by someone in the industry. It is also definitely not for everyone. Over the years that I was part of it, I got to work with quite a few guys that thought they were pretty tough. Not many of them made it a week. Not to say I'm particularly tough...more of a combination of hard headedness and a lack of self preservation.

Pretty remarkable to say the least. That's awesome man thanks for sharing those shots and video.

 

[kansasdad]

@theat

Does the pilot have a co-pilot to watch for terrain issues so he can concentrate on the animal pursuit, or must he do both?

 

[The Hedgehog]

It is also definitely not for everyone.

 

[Visiting Hunter]

I had a lot of previous experience with helicopters while working in the wildfire biz. After that I ended up working for the state department primarily doing survey work along the western US/Canada border. In Alaska and a lot of the mountainous parts of the NW, getting to survey sites along the border would be impractical/impossible without a helicopter. We contracted work with quite a few different helicopter companies, but in Alaska we always used the company that I ended up working for doing the wildlife capture work. Other than a couple of Canadian pilots we had worked with, those capture pilots were on a whole different level. I got to be friends with one of those pilots. He really had no choice in the matter since we were mostly working out of tent or remote work shack camps and were stuck with each other for months on end. He showed me some of his capture videos and I talked him into talking the owner of the company into giving me a shot.

I don't think you will ever see a job posting for a mugger or gunner position. Its a pretty tough nut to crack and you pretty much have to be recommended by someone in the industry. It is also definitely not for everyone. Over the years that I was part of it, I got to work with quite a few guys that thought they were pretty tough. Not many of them made it a week. Not to say I'm particularly tough...more of a combination of hard headedness and a lack of self preservation.

I just don't have the brains to care about my joints that much, lifes only lived once. Id rather have a exciting one. And your on top of that. I'd be in it for the adrenalin largly.. You have definitely rewarded the work of conservation by being hard headed, and your lack of self preservation. Thank you.

this is by far one of the coolest videos I have ever seen, and just gives a blip of the experiences you had. Just made me realize how lame my career choice was.

 

[theat]

@theat

Do the muggers wear pads/flak jackets for protection?

Pretty special moments when the animals were netted and the POV was shown from a ground camera. That really emphasizes the ground speed for me, more than the helo view.

Once down and immobilized, are you then responsible for blood draws, nasal swabbing, hair/skin samples, etc?

We didn't wear anything more than just warm clothes and a flight helmet. My flight helmet came in handy a bunch of times.

The biggest defense against getting kicked or otherwise hurt by the animals is your brain. Being around them a bunch you get pretty good at anticipating a freakout or them trying to kick you. This is really important with big animals like elk. When you have them down and you are untangling the net, your fingers are often in-between the net and the elk. If you don't notice them tense up and pull your hands out of the way before they kick, you might just loose a finger. I know of guys that lost one, but the worst I have seen was the pic below. Not my finger thankfully!


The wildlife can tell if you are excited or worked up and that freaks them out, so being calm and moving quickly but smooth helps keep them calm. Putting yourself in the safest position in relation to the animals legs is really important and gets to be second nature.


I'd say that the work ups on about 80% of the capture projects I worked were done by us. Occasionally we would sling them out to a crew of biologists or very rarely fly the biologists out to the catch site.

Each project had its own goals. Occasionally it was as simple as putting on a collar and writing down a bit of info or removing an old collar. Usually it involved a lot more sample and data collection such as blood, fecal, hair, tissue, weight, body condition, and an age estimate. Sheep and mountain goats also often included a foreleg measurement, tonsil and nasal swabs.

 

[theat]

@theat

Does the pilot have a co-pilot to watch for terrain issues so he can concentrate on the animal pursuit, or must he do both?

Nope, they are on their own. The rest of us would let the pilot know if we saw anything like a power line that we thought they might not have seen yet.

Sometimes they would have us call out main and tail rotor clearance when they were trying to get the helicopter down into a hole in the trees close enough to the ground for someone to jump off.

 

[recon6036]

Hi, my name is Theat, and I have balls of Steel

 

[theat]

A couple more short clips with some bighorn sheep. The second one has a bit of uninteresting flying around before the good part starts at about 45 sec in.

 

[Mtnhunter1]

Seems like those sheep have had some experience with helicopters. Very Cool!

 

[Derek44]

A couple more short clips with some bighorn sheep. The second one has a bit of uninteresting flying around before the good part starts at about 45 sec in.

Holy %*#?€

That had to be close rotor clearance against that bluff. That was incredible

 

[mtmuley]

Thanks so much theat. Incredible. Will be watching this as long as you take it. mtmuley

 

[theat]

Nothing as exciting as the other videos, but figured some of you might be interested. This was catching newly born elk calves as part of the Bitterroot predator/prey study that concluded several years ago.

 

[theat]

Seems like those sheep have had some experience with helicopters. Very Cool!

Eagles are one of the primary predators of young sheep in lots of areas. They figure out pretty quick that an eagle can't get at them if they are in a cave or next to a vertical face. I think that they just naturally assume its the same with helicopters. Myself or one of my coworkers often had to get dropped off in some precarious terrain to chase them out of a spot like the one in the video.

 

[isu22andy]

Talk about some next level scouting ha ! Want to trade Onyx pins ? Lol