Antelope Strategies

For Pre-Rut And Rut

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Hunting antelope, pre-rut, revolves around finding their active habitat and taking advantage of natural animal behavior as they mosey around. The only guarantee during the pre-rut is that antelope will eventually need to head towards water and, hopefully, you are there or along the path to that location. During the rut, antelope behavior can be more erratic and setting up in a general intersection or far from the roads will prove to be an effective place to hunt. Patience and well-planned stalks are the name of the game during both times of the year; however, I typically see more bucks during the rut season, especially if it happens during a popular rifle hunt when hunting pressure can be high. Hunt hard and use goHUNT Filtering 2.0 to find units with high success rates and you should be able to employ any of these strategies this fall.

States Set 2023 Columbia River Summer/ Fall Salmon And Steelhead Seasons

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This year’s adult fall Chinook forecast of 554,000 fish is smaller than last year’s actual return. The 2023 Columbia River coho return is forecasted at 595,300 adults, which is similar to last year’s actual return. Chinook and coho retention seasons start Aug. 1 and vary by river section. This year’s regulations include additional measures, such as mark-selective (adipose fin-clipped only) retention rules for Chinook in the Buoy 10 fishery and salmonid angling closures upstream of west Puget Island when Chinook retention is prohibited. These are intended to help manage fishery impacts to ESA-listed stocks and to increase the stability of the planned season structure.

If accurate, the preseason forecast of 67,800 fish would be the lowest return for upriver summer steelhead since counting started at Bonneville Dam in 1938. In recognition of the expected low abundance, anglers will see extremely conservative retention regulations again in 2023, similar to recent years. Hatchery steelhead retention will be allowed June 16 to July 31 from the Astoria-Megler Bridge upstream to The Dalles Dam and June 16 through Aug. 31 from The Dalles Dam upstream to the Highway 395 Bridge in Pasco, WA with a reduced bag limit of one fish. After retention of summer steelhead closes in each area, it is expected to remain closed through at least the end of the year.

Once that arrow hits home and the bull is on the ground, a whole new challenge begins. You must mentally and physically be ready to take your own photographs, break down the bull for packing and then pack several hundred pounds of meat out of some rough country. This could happen late in the afternoon or evening after a long brutal day.

Are you physically capable of doing the tasks necessary to get that elk to the truck? Physical and mental preparation cannot be stressed enough, but the satisfaction of going it alone and making it happen is a feeling like no other.

“The summer steelhead forecast this year, especially for B-Index steelhead destined for the Clearwater and Salmon rivers in Idaho, is bleak and I’d encourage everyone to do what they can to avoid them once the area-specific retention seasons close,” said Tucker Jones, ODFW Ocean Salmon and Columbia River Program Manager. (For more information on summer steelhead returns and management in the Columbia River Basin visit https://myodfw.com/articles/ steelhead-management-columbia-snake-river-basins). Protective regulations will also include Thermal Angling Sanctuaries in Eagle Creek, Herman Creek, and the Deschutes River as well as in the Columbia River near the mouths of these tributaries (see the website for maps and detailed descriptions of these sanctuary areas).

For more information about Columbia River fishing seasons, visit ODFW’s online fishing reports at https://myodfw.com/ recreation-report/fishing-report/columbia-zone. Summer and fall season regulations will also be posted at this link before the season begins.

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