By MIKE CORN

mcorn@dailynews.net

LOGAN COUNTY -- Spotters found 15 but could only accomplish the golden task of capturing one young black-footed ferret born on the three Logan County ranches where the nation's most endangered mammal was reintroduced in December.

Four "families" of ferrets were spotted during a week of night-time excursions onto the reintroduction sites, ranch land owned by Bette and Larry Haverfield, Gordon Barnhardt and the Nature Conservancy.

Three of the families were spotted on the Haverfield-Barnhardt complex south of Russell Springs, while a fourth was seen over at TNC.

Calling any gathering of ferrets a family is something of a leap of faith, but not by much. Generally, black-footed ferrets are notoriously solitary animals, but a mother will stay with her kits until early fall when they venture off on their own.

While two adults were captured, only one kit, a male, was brought in for examination, that one on Friday morning at the Smoky Valley Ranch owned by TNC.

That ferret was transferred to a makeshift lab that was set up in the Haverfield garage, where a tracking chip was implanted.

All three animals had blood drawn, were examined for parasites and vaccinated for canine distemper, according to Dan Mulhearn, a wildlife biologist with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

While the night-time outings are the only way to find the nocturnal ferrets -- through the use of spotlights to illuminate their emerald-green eyes -- participants were delighted at what was found.

"I was extremely pleased finding the four families," Mulhearn said. "My ultimate goal was to try to document reproduction."

Finding just one family, he said, would have made him happy. Finding one on each of the three sites would have been great, he continued.

To find four, "these are outstanding results in my opinion," he said. "It shows they are surviving. It shows that the habitat is sufficient for them to survive and reproduce. I'm real happy."

The discovery of the families means for the first time in more than 50 years, the state can lay claim to wild-born black-footed ferrets on Kansas soil. Twenty-four adult ferrets were released in December.

While eight adults were spotted this spring in a preliminary survey to determine if any of the ferrets survived the winter, the ultimate test was to determine if any of the animals released were able to reproduce.

Last week's survey determined exactly that.

And while there officially were 15 animals spotted, it's likely several more still are out there. Those 15, Mulhearn said, is likely a minimum, considering the surveys took place during night-time hours, with the use of high-power spotlights and covered nearly 27,000 acres of ground.

Haverfield took one shift, starting Thursday night.

"We went all night, and at 5:45 ran into three ferrets," he said. "The way I get it, is when you run onto three, you can call it a family."

While ferrets were the primary focus of the surveys, Haverfield said the crews reported seeing plenty of swift foxes, badgers and other wildlife.

"It was all pretty good," he said.

Over at TNC's Smoky Valley Ranch, Rob Manes, the group's director of conservation, heralded the discovery of the ferrets.

"We documented 15 animals on the ground, minimum," he said. "It's a pretty monumental moment in the ecological history of Kansas to have the first Kansas-born black-footed ferrets in the last 50 years," he said.

Manes was thrilled with the results of the survey.

"I've been in this business 28 years, and I'd say it's one of the most important things I've been involved in," Manes said of the ferret reintroduction project.

Haverfield was just as excited, even though someone else in the truck he was in spotted them first.

"Someone had to tell me where they're at," he said. "I never saw them first. It was pretty exciting.

"I've got old eyes or something, because I never see them first."

While spotting the ferrets was a high point, the inability to trap them for vaccinations and implanting a tracking device, was something of a disappointment.

"That was a letdown when we didn't get them," Haverfield said. "A little high and then a letdown when we didn't get one."

Seeing several at a single time, however, was what boosted Haverfield.

"It was quite a deal seeing these three," he said. "I'd never seen anything like this before."