Northwest Sportsman Magazine - October 2022

Volume 15 • Issue 1

PUBLISHER

James R. Baker

EDITOR

Andy “I just learned a ton from your response, thanks for covering the story and providing all of the background” Walgamott

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Dave Anderson, Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, Jeff Holmes, Rick Itami, Randy King, Rob Lyon, Buzz Ramsey, Mike Wright, Dave Workman

EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT

Jason Brooks

GENERAL MANAGER

John Rusnak

SALES MANAGER

Paul Yarnold

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Hanna Gagley, Mamie Griffin, Riland Risden, Mike Smith

DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Kelly Baker

OFFICE MANAGER

Katie Aumann

INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn

WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines

DIGITAL ASSISTANT Jon Ekse

ADVERTISING INQUIRIES ads@nwsportsmanmag.com

CORRESPONDENCE

Email letters, articles/queries, photos, etc., to awalgamott@media-inc.com, or to the mailing address below.

ON THE COVER

Jack Benson bagged this Eastern Washington mule deer buck, nicknamed “Hightower,” with his .243 in October 2020. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

nwsportsmanmag.com.

382-9220

332-1736

123 WELCOME TO FALLBACORE!

It’s been a good tuna season, and the best may be yet to come as the schools fatten up off the Northwest Coast into fall before storm season arrives. Jeff Holmes reviews this year’s fishery so far and why it has him considering skipping deer hunting on his favorite mountain to head to sea for albacore instead.

ALSO INSIDE

24 2022 WASHINGTON DEER PROSPECTS

The good news about a season like the Evergreen State’s 2021 deer hunt is that it only comes around so often. With that wreckage in the rearview mirror, Andy Walgamott sees some things to look forward to this fall in his annual state wide general season buck forecast.

135 MORE THAN JUST A CHINOOK SHOW

Thanks to tribal restoration and state supplementation efforts, coho are adding to the fall fun on the Mid-Columbia. Jeff Holmes takes a look at best bets from the Klickitat up past the Deschutes and Umatilla Rivers to Tri-Cities and into the Snake, plus top spots for late-season upriver brights.

143 THE JIG IS UPSTREAM

At the Clearwater-Snake confluence, jigging for fall Chinook can be productive, Spokane angler Rick Itami has found. He shares tips and tricks for those looking to try something besides the same old trolling.

149 A RETURN TO THE RONDE

After half a dozen down years in a row, the Grande Ronde River could see an uptick in steelhead numbers this fall. To be abundantly clear, it’s not a return to the good old days of 10 to 12 years ago, but flyrodders and gear anglers may appreciate Mike Wright’s reminder why this is such a legendary stream, and how to fish it in fall.

157 THE LONG ROD & THE DOUBLE BARREL Way down in extreme Southeast Oregon is a series of small rivers that form a big playground for Northwest sportsmen. The Owyhee and its three forks are home to plentiful chukar hunting and smallmouth bass fishing opportunities that drew Rob Lyon, who brought along his over-and-under shotgun and Japanese-style tenkara rod for an autumn adventure in the crevices of the vast Sagebrush Sea.

NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mail offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. Annual subscriptions are $39.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $59.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2022 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

(JEFF HOLMES)

95

BUZZ RAMSEY

Elk Hunting Advice And Strategies

If you follow Buzz on social media – he of the bottomless photo file of salmon and steelhead success – you know he keeps notes on his fishing trips. So it goes with his elk hunts. He dips into his wapiti-hunting diaries to share what works and what doesn’t for bulls.

COLUMNS

60 NORTHWEST PURSUITS Deer Camps I Have Known

This month marks the return to deer camp for tens of thousands of Washington and Oregon sportsmen, an annual pilgrimage to traditional and deeply meaningful locations that have hosted generations of hunters, countless harvests and excellent campfires. Jason shares his family’s camps and how they have evolved over the years.

71 ON TARGET 5 Tips That Might Make A Difference For Deer, Elk

“Sometimes, it can be the small details that contribute the most to your hunting success,” Dave W. notes. He offers wisdom gained from decades upon decades of chasing deer and elk in the Northwest.

79 BECOMING A HUNTER Last-minute Hunting Tips

If it’s your first big game season, Dave A. has you covered. A former hunting guide as well as a mentor for new hunters, he has advice that will make your season a more productive and comfortable one.

87 CHEF IN THE WILD Cheers To The Season, And The Stew

There’s a place in North Idaho known as the “Heath Hotel,” and for one family it’s base camp for deer season – and celebrating deer season. Sometimes a little too heartily. Chef Randy knows that all too well, as well as how a little leftover Guinness can actually make for a pretty damned fine venison stew.

103 GUN DOG Head To Western Oregon Timber For Upland Mix

It’s hard to top October’s all-around bird hunting opportunities, but this month will find Scott and his gun dogs heading for the Coast Range and Cascades in search of two kinds of grouse and a pair of quail species. He details how to hunt ’em.

16 Northwest Sportsman OCTOBER 2022 | nwsportsmanmag.com (BUZZ RAMSEY)

OREGON

CULVER

Culver Marine (541) 546-3354

www.culvermarine.com

EUGENE

Clemens Marina (541) 688-5483

www.clemensmarina.com

EUGENE Maxxum Marine (541) 686-3572

www.maxxummarine.com

FLORENCE

Y Marina (541) 590-3313

www.ymarinaboats.com

GLADSTONE

Clemens Marina (503) 655-0160

www.clemensmarina.com

PORTLAND

Sportcraft Marina, Inc. (503) 656-6484

www.sportcraftmarina.com

TROUTDALE

Clemens Marina (503) 492-7400

www.clemensmarina.com

WASHINGTON

BELLINGHAM

West Coast Marine Services (360) 676-8020 www.wcmarine.us

CHINOOK

Chinook Marine Repair, Inc. (800) 457-9459 • (360) 777-8361 www.chinookmarinerepair.com

EVERETT

Boat Country (425) 259-6126 www.boatcountry.com

MOUNT VERNON Tom-n-Jerry’s Boat Center, Inc. (360) 466-9955

www.tomnjerrys.net

PASCO Northwest Marine and Sport (509) 545-5586 www.nwmarineandsport.com

SEATTLE

Legacy Master Marine (206) 762-0741 www.lmmseattle.com

SPOKANE VALLEY

Spokane Valley Marine (509) 926-9513 www.spokanevalleymarine.com

TACOMA

King Salmon Marine, Inc. (253) 830-2962 www.kingsalmonsales.com

TACOMA

Tacoma Boat Sales & Service (253) 301-4013

www.tacomaboatsales.com

THE EDITOR’S NOTE

Mid-October’s annual drive to deer camp will be a bit longer for me this year. Actually, much longer. My family and I moved earlier this year from just north of Seattle and are still settling in here above Willamette Falls. It’s been – to put it extremely mildly – a whole lot of work on top of my day job. But I was snapped out of it all this afternoon when a neighbor from down the street unexpectedly gifted us a nice big coho. You bet I grilled him about the wheres and hows, confirming suspicions I had, and made some kayak fishing plans for as soon as I wrangle this issue onto the press. Then I filleted the salmon to share with the wonderful family who live next door to us and have been terrific in every way.

IT’S WEIRD MOVING so far from everything you’ve ever known. I’d assumed late summer and early fall would always find me out there paddling on Puget Sound for silvers, crabbing with friends in the San Juans, hunting the Okanogan with Dad and the crew. It’s sad and depressing and intriguing all at the same time.

While I’m a Washington native through and through – cut me and I bleed evergreen – my wily wife has spent over a decade and a half easing me into this move, scheduling many of our camping trips in Oregon, and of course every year we spend a week or two at her mom’s house in Newport. It’s been a great base for fishing and crabbing, and I’ve got a standing invite to hunt deer with other family members at their Central Oregon cabin. Next year for sure.

SPEAKING OF DEER, this issue features my annual Washington buck hunting prospects. Somehow this year’s edition went long – very long. The TL;DR version is succinctly summarized by Kyle Garrison, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife’s ungulate specialist:

“Generally speaking, whitetail deer hunters can expect tougher hunting than average due to reduced populations, especially in the Palouse, Blue Mountains and Selkirk Management Zones” of far Eastern Washington, he tells me. “Mule deer hunters shouldn’t expect too much deviation from last year – harvest was depressed in 2021 in several management zones but not to the extent of whitetail deer, likely a reflection of less severe impacts of hemorrhagic disease. Hunters pursuing ghosts of the forest, aka blacktail deer, can expect normal hunting prospects. The majority of management zones exhibit stable harvest trends, which indicate population stability.”

For the full Oregon buck and bull hunting forecast, see our blog, nwsportsmanmag.com/2022-oregon-deer-and-elk-hunting-prospects.

But for this next little bit before deer season arrives, my mind is switching back over to coho. See you out there on the water and then in the woods of our fantastic Northwest. –Andy Walgamott

Snow and sun on Liberty Bell above North Cascades Highway, the editor's favored route to and from deer camp over the decades. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

Evergreen State Deer Rebound?

By Andy Walgamott

The good news about a season like Washington’s 2021 deer hunt is that it only comes around so often, and with that wreckage in the rearview mirror – albeit still smoking somewhat – there are some things to look forward to this fall.

For starters, there’s absolutely nowhere to go but up (author knocks on wood, crosses all fingers and toes, rubs lucky wolf’s foot) after the Evergreen State’s lowest general-season harvest this entire millennium, just 22,881 bucks and does (24,318 deer when special permits are included), a total that was down 4,800 deer from 2020. No doubt an increasing predator guild is eating good in Bambi’s neighborhood, but last year’s nadir was actually largely fueled by big disease dieoffs that struck all three huntable species and dealt particularly harsh blows in two key hunting districts, the Palouse and Northeast Washington. They saw combined general and permit harvest drops of 2,300 and 850 deer, respectively.

But some 9,350 fewer riflemen, archers and muzzleloaders also hit the woods and fields last year. Whether it was 2020’s pandemic bump in hunter numbers calling in sick or sportsmen heeding the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s warning that 2021’s whitetail

outbreak was bigger than 2015’s and so they stayed home instead, or a bit of both, that likely played a role in the decline too. For example, even as I rail at deer camp about all the other $%@$%@# pumpkins on the mountain, I also know I need some extra folks out there just to stir up the bucks and send ’em toward my lair in the patch.

To help rebuild those hemorrhagicdisease-hit herds, WDFW has tweaked this year’s regulations a bit, moves that will continue to dampen harvest in the short term but benefit it in the future.

“In those impacted areas, mostly in Region 1 but also in Region 2, the Department reduced special permit opportunity for 2022, primarily to reduce mortality of antlerless deer and promote population recovery,” Kyle Garrison, the agency’s ungulate specialist, tells me. “With the reduction in antlerless harvest and a spring/summer with favorable conditions, we’re optimistic we’ll see populations rebound quickly. That said, we anticipate another year of overall depressed harvest due to the impacts of 2021’s outbreaks.”

Bottom line is that it’s going to take a couple years to rebuild flagtail numbers across the eastern tier of the state. But the region’s mule deer weren’t hit as hard and their populations are generally stable. What’s more, herds of the bigeared bounders in portions of Central

Washington’s 2022 deer hunt hits high gear this month as general rifle season – the most wellattended opportunity – opens across the state. Russ Hickman snapped this shot of son Jordan Hickman beginning the drag out with his Okanogan mule deer buck last October. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Washington’s harvest hit a new low mark in 2021, but there are good signs in some districts this fall.

Washington have bounced back from a tough winter some years ago and they came out of last fall with some pretty promising buck-to-doe ratios, including, surprisingly, in the wide-open counties of Adams, Douglas and Grant. And herds in Chelan, Klickitat and Okanogan Counties aren’t in bad shape either.

On the Westside, I’d put a nickel down that we’re building toward a very solid blacktail harvest, the kind that comes around every half dozen years or so. Even though some areas can suffer winter loss, recent snow seasons should not have affected this fall’s crop of bucks.

The caveat that’s keeping me from

putting even bigger money on 2022 is one coastal biologist’s theory that last year’s extreme heat may have elevated fawn mortalities among the young bucks set to power this season’s harvest. We’ll see how that plays out, but in the here and now, Washington deer chasers looking for tidbits about this season should read on.

“For pointers, I would really lean on the hunting prospects,” tips Garrison. (See wdfw .wa.gov/hunting/locations/prospects.) “Our biologists put a lot of work into summarizing all available information – most importantly, that ‘on the ground’ knowledge – to help hunters find success in the field.”

The following is an amalgamation of what those district biologists tell me and what they published in their annual fall hunting forecasts.

Whitetail will be more scarce across far Eastern Washington following last year’s big disease dieoffs that depressed the harvest sharply, particularly in the greater Palouse. (CHAD ZOLLER)

NORTHEAST WASHINGTON

It wasn’t a big surprise that last year’s deer harvest took a dip in the state’s upper righthand corner, given the big disease dieoff before and during the season, but the effects are going to linger into this fall.

“As expected, because of the largescale bluetongue/epizootic hemorrhagic disease outbreak last summer, the deer harvest will likely be down again this year,” wildlife biologist Annemarie Prince in Colville tells me. “I’m thinking probably close to last year’s harvest. We seem to be seeing good fawn numbers, but those fawns will need to make it through winter before we’ll see them contributing to the population. So I don’t think we’ll see that bounceback this season, but hopefully with a mild winter, we’ll see it start to

come back in the 2023 season.”

Prince’s official forecast is for a “belowaverage” harvest because two of the state’s perennial-best game management units for deer, Huckleberry and 49 Degrees North, were among the hardest hit by the two outbreaks, which are transmitted by gnats that occur around water sources in dry, hot summers and falls.

The 2021 season saw the lowest general rifle and overall general-season harvests – 2,835 and 3,544 – in WDFW’s District 1 in at least the last nine years, and by a wide margin. Another measure of how rough a season it was is that it took riflemen 24 days on average to harvest a deer, twice as long as 2015. To be fair, 2015 was an exceptional modern-day year here and across the state, but it’s still at least

three to four more days on average than recent seasons. Because the diseases hit bucks, does and fawns alike and does are the largest population in the herd, as well as its reproductive engine, it may take a few years for the population to rebuild. There are no antlerless permits for the region and no opportunities for youths, let alone senior or disabled hunters, to take a doe, except in the Mt. Spokane Unit.

Then there are the furry fangers. This is the state’s wolfiest country, and they’re just as hungry as cougars, coyotes, bears and bobcats. At an early August Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting, public officials from Northeast Washington spoke to high predator populations and low deer numbers. Stevens County Commissioner Wes McCart said he had seen just one deer

on his 170 acres this year, while in past years the tally was more like 300 or 400.

“We acknowledge that carnivores have some impact on ungulates,” Staci Lehman, a WDFW spokeswoman in Spokane, tells me, “and combined with all the other factors, it can add up to a drop in population numbers in some years, depending on what else is happening.”

Some of “the other factors” she points to include the aforementioned disease issues, plus wildfire and drought. And then there’s habitat loss; this landscape just isn’t what it was in the 1980s for whitetails as old farms and forests are converted to development.

“I also always try to reference collisions with automobiles,” Lehman adds, “because people don’t realize just how many deer are hit by cars.”

CWD MONITORING INCREASED

Even before last fall’s discovery of chronic wasting disease in four Idaho deer and an elk not far from the tristate border, Washington wildlife managers stepped up monitoring for the always-fatal condition, boosting the number of game check stations in the state’s northeast units and asking roadkill salvagers there to get their deer and elk tested too.

This year, that surveillance effort has been expanded to cover all of Region 1, from the Canadian border to Boggan’s and westward into the Columbia Basin.

“This means we are focusing our sampling efforts throughout this region, which includes operating additional hunter check stations in Southeastern Washington near the detection in Idaho,” Dr. Melia DeVivo, a WDFW ungulate research scientist, tells me.

To be clear, there have been no known cases of CWD in the Evergreen State, but the

infected Idaho animals came from the White Bird area south of Lewiston, only 40 air miles from where Washington, Idaho and Oregon come together, and there’s another cluster of whitetail cases in Libby, Montana, 70 miles as the crow flies from Newport.

New check station locations this year include Republic, Washtucna, Burbank, Walla Walla and Clarkston. It’s crucial to stop by, as early detection will allow for a more rapid response and, hopefully, containment. A University of Wyoming study DeVivo worked on estimated CWD shrank the size of one deer herd by 19 percent annually and that in 41 years the population would go extinct.

Forty-one years is within the lifetime of a deer hunter.

“We have also expanded our efforts to include adult elk and adult mule deer,” DeVivo adds. “So we are now collecting samples from any adult deer or elk in Region 1. We will continue to collect

samples statewide of any cervid that presents with suspicious signs of CWD.”

And there are new rules for bringing moose, elk, deer and caribou into Washington from anywhere, not just CWD states and provinces.

“This update helps protect our state’s cervids even better from inadvertently transporting high-risk parts such as brain and spinal cord into our state and potentially infecting other animals,” DeVivo explains. “Prior to this update, caribou were not on the list even though they are known to be infected and the rule only applied to places that have already detected CWD, which relied on other states and provinces to first detect CWD in their cervid populations. This was a reactive response rather than a proactive process, which it is now.”

For much more, see wdfw.wa.gov/ species-habitats/diseases/chronicwasting/surveillance-program. –AW

In the meanwhile, longterm daysper-kill data shows a mix of trends for the district’s units, from some beginning to require more time to bag a deer (Sherman, Aladdin, Selkirk) to others being essentially stable (Kelly Hill, Douglas, 49 Degrees North and Huckleberry). Something to track.

“Vegetation is still pretty green at the higher elevations,” bio Prince told me in late August, “but this heat has dried stuff up in the lower elevations. Despite that, I think deer harvested should be in good shape.”

PALOUSE AND SCABLANDS

The greater Palouse has zero wolves (or at least very few of them) but all of the Northeast’s disease issues, and then some. Indeed, it was the epicenter for EHD and bluetongue, and unsurprisingly last fall saw a very sharp harvest dropoff from Mt. Spokane to the Snake and westwards into the upper Channelled Scablands. General rifle and overall general season takes plummeted to 1,864 and 2,568, respectively, from 3,124 and 4,545 in 2020. Significantly more days were needed to harvest a deer – 20 percent more for multiweapons, 40 percent for bowmen, 50 percent for riflemen, 79 percent for smokepolers.

“If we get more wet springs and mild summers, like this year has been so far, then they will bounce back here in a couple years,” Michael Atamian, district biologist, tells me. “But if we get more drought and heat waves or hard winters, it will take longer for them to recover.”

Last year’s suspension of generalseason antlerless whitetail opportunity for all archery, muzzleloader, senior and disabled hunters continues this season “to reduce pressure on the does and let the population rebound a bit faster,” he states.

“Mule deer is a bit of a different story,” Atamian adds. “They are more resistant to EHD than whitetails and the postseason aerial survey population estimate was in line with previous years. However, fawn numbers were down, likely due to the severe drought reducing fawn survival. So buck numbers should be decent this year, but come 2023, when those 2021 fawns would have been coming of age (growing a third point), there likely will be a bit fewer to choose from.”

The district is pretty light on public lands and unfortunately a good-sized chunk of one of its bigger sections, the Revere Wildlife Area southwest of St. John, burned

in mid-August, Atamian points out. Best bet is to bone up on WDFW’s Private Lands Hunting Access Program (privatelands .wdfw.wa.gov). Some 146,000 acres of the region were enrolled in it as of this July, ranging from Feel Free To Hunt to Hunt By Written Permission and Hunt By Reservation farm, range and bottomlands.

BLUE MOUNTAINS

General deer harvest in the state’s southeast corner may tick back up “marginally” this fall, but it will also be doing so from a nine-year low. This district too was bitten by bluetongue and EHD, with normally resistant mule deer also succumbing. Biologist Paul Wik tells me 15 percent of 40 collared does in Walla Walla, Columbia and Garfield Counties died.

It’s the latest in a series of setbacks for muleys and whitetails in these parts, including a pair of tough winters, that has dragged general rifle and overall general harvests down from 2,471 and 2,956 deer, respectively, in 2013 to 1,393 and 1,797 last year. Loss of winter range in recent years due to lower Conservation Reserve Program enrollments is a cause of concern, but fires in the heart of the Blues – the Wenaha-

A stand of golden larches brightens a Northcentral Washington setting last year. Fall is simply the best season of all and the colors and crispness, not to mention the camaraderie, of October are no small reason why hunters so enjoy being afield this time of year. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Tucannon Wilderness and Lick Creek on the range’s eastern side – should benefit deer on their summer range, Wik reports.

“With back-to-back average to mild winters over 2019-22, we had been expecting to see improvements in deer populations across the district; however, drought conditions and hemorrhagic disease last year took a toll on some portions of the deer herd. The district saw increases in the number of days it took hunters to harvest a deer in almost all GMUs, with only the mountain GMUs showing stable or modest [harvest per unit effort] decreases, but this is likely due to lower hunter numbers,” Wik wrote in his hunting prospects. “Despite the effects of drought, fire and disease last season, we expect overwinter survival was very good, and are expecting deer harvest to marginally improve through the 2022 hunting season.”

If you can muddle through this fall, that

“very good” winter survival could translate into better hunting next year, as most of last year’s class of fawns become legal bucks, Wik tells me.

The best GMUs in terms of harvest and fewest days needed per kill are typically the ag-heavy, largely private units rimming the Blues – Prescott, Mayview and Peola –but tiny Grande Ronde, shimmed into the extreme southeast corner of the state south of the eponymous river and hosting a lot of public land, compares pretty well, at least in terms of days per buck – 15 last year.

OKANOGAN

Not to draw too much attention to where I’ve enjoyed deer hunting going back to the early 1990s, but Okanogan County escaped the worst of 2021’s disease outbreaks and managed to pull off a slightly aboveaverage harvest of 2,228 deer, 1,487 of those by riflemen. (In case you’re wondering, yours truly enjoyed a lovely tag taco). District biologist Scott Fitkin tells me this fall’s kill will be “similar to last year.”

“Improving postseason fawn:doe

ratios and probable higher-than-average estimated fawn recruitment in 2021 likely means a modest increase in 2.5-yearold buck availability in 2022,” he writes in his season forecast. “Last December’s observed mule deer buck:doe ratio of 20:100 indicates average buck carryover from last season. Total general season harvest and success rates are anticipated to be around the five-year average.”

For the record, that mean kill mark is 2,113 deer (mostly bucks) for all weapons categories, and looking at the longer term trend, harvest the past two years show that mule deer and whitetail herds are working back toward the levels seen right before those three big years in the mid-2010s, when we took from 2,700 to 3,600 deer.

On the one hand it makes sense that the district’s biggest unit, Okanogan East, serves up the largest harvest – an even 700 for all weapons types last year – but it’s also a function of a pretty good mix of private, state and federal lands, agriculture and timber, mule deer and whitetail. Just west of the Okanogan River, the Sinlahekin,

PICTURE

Wannacut and Pogue Units offer a similar scenario, then it grades more heavily into muleys and mostly public land to the west.

Speaking of, these deer roam and the U.S. Geological Survey’s UngulateMigrations of the Western United States, Volume 2, published earlier this year, provides some interesting details about the herd. Based on 128 radio-collared does, it found that the median start date for the fall movement to winter range was October 14 to 23 – which almost perfectly overlaps typical general rifle dates – and the animals spend a mean of 14 days on the trail, covering an average of 29 miles but as much as 65 miles as they descend from the Pasayten, Cascade Crest, Sawtooth Divide, the Tiffanies, even British Columbia’s Cathedral Park, to the Methow Valley. Bucks will be found in the heights and in the myriad regenerating burn scars until forage availability and snows drive them down toward the winter range. But the in-between ground always holds antlered muleys, and they’re not just 2½-year-old three-by-twos.

CHELAN-DOUGLAS

Deer herds and harvest have recovered in WDFW’s Wenatchee District from the harsh winter of 2016-17 and there’s no sign that this fall will see a reversal of that trend. The 2021 posthunt Chelan County buckto-doe ratio was 24:100 and the fawn-todoe count was 76:100, good news for this fall and next season west of the Upper Columbia. On the east side of the big river in Douglas Conty, the sex ratio was even better, 26 bucks per 100 does, well above the management goal of 15-19:100 for this generally open landscape.

“I do expect to see more hunters and greater harvest this fall in Chelan County and Douglas County than last year, but likely not quite as high as was experienced in 2020,” Emily Jeffries, the district biologist, tells me.

Perhaps buoyed by the pandemic, two falls ago saw general rifle and overall general harvests in both counties bump

Logan Braaten affixes his tag to a buck last season. Despite setting a new low mark with 2021’s harvest, tens of thousands of Washington residents and even a few from outside the state will hit the woods and hills of the Evergreen State this fall in hopes of filling their freezer with tasty venison. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

up to 1,387 and 1,876 deer, respectively, high marks back to 2015’s great season. Last year’s take was 1,198 and 1,800, perhaps more reflective of lower hunter numbers than a dropoff in deer numbers, as days per kill didn’t vary that much.

“The Entiat Unit in Chelan County and the Big Bend Unit in Douglas County once again produced the most harvest of the District 7 GMUs in 2021,” Jeffries reported in her season prospects. “Of these two

units, the productivity of Big Bend is perhaps more notable, as it routinely attracts significantly fewer hunters each year than several of the Chelan GMUs, yet outpaces these in harvest.”

Big Bend is capped by a remote but sprawling state wildlife area that some hunters boat into via the Columbia, while other public lands are sprinkled throughout the unit. In fact, for a primarily agricultural landscape, Douglas County as a whole hosts

more than its fair share of federal and state lands. And between it and Chelan County, things don’t look half bad.

“Given the mild winter, the cold, wet spring that marked the end of drought conditions, and lack of known disease events, biologists have no reason to believe that the 2022 deer harvest will continue last year’s decline,” states Jeffries about her district’s prospects.

Thanks to funding from the Department of the Interior to study migratory Western deer, she is also learning “interesting” things about Chelan County’s herd. In January 2020, does on two winter ranges along the Columbia were collared and that data has since been crunched.

“For one, the mule deer that winter in the Wenatchee Foothills south of Highway 2 and north of I-90 represent one population,” she tells me. “Approximately 90 percent of the does collared in the Chelan County

portion of this Wenatchee Mountains subherd are migratory and spend their summers in the Alpine Lakes Wilderness west of U.S. 97 and south of Highway 2. The does collared in the Burch Mountain/ Swakane area – part of the Chelan subherd, which extends from Highway 2 north to the south shore of Lake Chelan – are also primarily migratory, traveling west into higher elevations each spring.”

“For both subherds, the duration of fall migration averages about three weeks, with a median start date of October 25 and most deer arriving on winter range by mid-November. The average migration distance for does in both subherds was around 25 miles, but individuals traveled as few as 5.8 and as many as 50 miles. Does in both subherds exhibited extremely high site fidelity, following their individual migration pathways very closely both within and between years.”

That’s all well and good, and represents information that surely will help land, wildlife and transportation managers do a

better job, but what can you tell us about those does’ boyfriends, Emily?

“While only does were collared as part of this study and buck migratory behavior differs, there is enough overlap between the sexes that we can use these findings to surmise broad generalizations on where hunters should focus their efforts,” Jeffries tells me. “For instance, these findings suggest that in Chelan County, hunters will typically benefit from focusing on midelevation transitional range by the modern firearm season, while hunters may have better luck on low-elevation winter range closer to the banks of the Columbia by late archery season. Conversely, early archery, High Buck and even early muzzleloader hunters should focus on high-elevation summer range.”

“It’s important to note that these are general suggestions only, though,” she adds, “as fall mule deer migration is heavily influenced by snowfall and timing can vary from year to year depending on the weather. One key difference to note between the sexes is that does typically

choose to migrate through and winter in areas with the highest quality forage, regardless of proximity to roads and neighborhoods, while bucks – especially older age-classes – will stick to areas farther away from roads.”

COLUMBIA BASIN

As with Douglas County to the northwest, Beezley and Ritzville buck numbers after last season were higher than you’d expect for such expansive country – 28:100 and 23:100. The two most hunted units in the Columbia Basin also saw “good” fawnto-doe ratios (52 and 48) last year, per

biologist Sean Dougherty, leading him to forecast “another good year for mule deer hunting throughout the district.”

There’s more public land in this agrich region than there is to the east in the Palouse, and some WDFW wildlife areas are rated as fair to good for deer hunting (Lower Crab Creek and Sun Lakes in the former category, Banks Lake in the latter). There’s also 179,000 acres of private lands enrolled in the agency’s various access programs, largely Hunt By Written Permission ground in Adams County.

To the south, Kahlotus Unit biologist Jason Fidorra reports 19 bucks:100 does coming out of last season, a mark that’s within management goals, but belowaverage fawn numbers (58:100), probably

due to drought last year. With its mostly migratory herd, it’s a unit to keep your eye on if 1) you have a muzzleloader or multiseason tag, 2) an early winter has hit the upper Columbia Basin and 3) you’d prefer to spend Black Friday hunting instead of shopping.

SOUTHCENTRAL

Deer harvest in Yakima and Kittitas Counties continues to slink along at low levels. By and large the duo see some of the lowest success percentages in the state, just 2 or 3 percent in several units west of the city of Yakima, and 7 percent overall (the statewide average is 23 percent). But on the bright side, at least you won’t have a lot of competition!

“The 2022 harvest is hard to predict,” states district biologist Jeff Bernatowicz in his forecast. “Last winter was harder than most, but mortality on radio-collared deer from starvation was not high.”

Preliminary results from Muckleshoot Indian Tribe collar studies suggest that cougar predation and nutritional stress are impacting the local herd.

Best advice here is probably to avoid the main elk units and hit the Teanaway. It’s the district’s best in terms of deer harvest and success percentage (12 percent over the past three years on average), features plentiful public land and is known for producing bruisers from time to time.

COLUMBIA GORGE

The Columbia Gorge was one of the regions of the state that held the line during last year’s overall poor showing, with kill here relatively stable compared to 2020, and there are decent signs for 2022’s hunt.

“We did hold steady last fall and I expect that harvest will be similar this coming fall. I am crossing my fingers that maybe it will even be a little bit better!”

district biologist Stefanie Bergh tells me.

“The deer seemed to have survived that bizarre April snowstorm and the wet spring contributed to good forage conditions into the summer. We have mule deer in 388 and 382 that are radio-collared as part of the Secretarial Order 3362 migration and winter range project and they have had higher survival in 2022 than during the same time in 2021.”

Blacktail populations are considered to be more stable than other Washington deer species, but they have their ups and downs too. The former would be the case on the South Coast, Southwest Washington and east side of the Olympic Peninsula, while this year the latter is limited to the San Juan Islands, where this spike was bagged in 2020, due to a severe disease outbreak among an otherwise overplentiful population.

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

We’ll get to that migration study in a bit, but there has been a touch of AHD, or adenovirus hemorrhagic disease, reported in the Goldendale area, where the fatal condition was first confirmed in Washington back in 2017. In late August, Bergh said 18 deer were known to have succumbed, with other unreported mortalities likely.

As is typical for this country in late summer, a number of local timberland owners had closed their properties to public access due to high fire danger, Bergh points out, so check ahead.

And if you hunt in the vicinity of Glenwood and Conboy National Wildlife Refuge in the West Klickitat and Grayback Units, following a recent federal court ruling this area known as Tract D is now considered to be part of the Yakama Reservation. An email has been sent out to those who have hunted it in recent seasons, Bergh tells me, and the nut of it

states, “As with all landownerships and jurisdictions, hunting is a privilege and we remind you to please be respectful of landowners’ posted access requirements.

While there are no changes to the 202223 state hunting regulations within Tract D, please be extra cognizant that Tract D is within the Yakama Nation reservation. We are committed to working with Yakama Nation on long-term management of wildlife within the Tract D area and other geographic areas where we cooperatively manage wildlife with Yakama Nation.”

Now, about Secretarial Order 3362. It’s the same program as up in Chelan County and in 2020 DOI provided $300,000 to capture and collar 100 Klickitat mule deer does to better map their migration routes “prior to any future events that may adversely affect habitat quality or connectivity.” Bergh says work began in January 2021 and a quick glance at initial data suggests there may not be as distinct corridors as Emily Jeffries in Wenatchee is seeing, or as extensive as those mapped in the Methow, but it’s information to keep

an eye out for down the road if you hunt in Buzz Ramsey’s greater backyard.

COWLITZ BASIN

Deer populations west of the Cascades are far more stable than those to the east (with one big exception that I’ll get to in a bit) and in Southwest Washington, District 10 is a pretty steady producer of 2,000 bucks a fall for riflemen, and about 500 more for other user general season hunters.

“I’ll take the safe bet and predict that harvest will be very similar to years past,” biologist Eric Holman tells me. “This means that we’ll harvest about 2,500 blacktails again in 2022. The only real noticeable exception to this was the 2017 harvest, which dipped below the historic average following the very severe winter of 2016.”

One thing I really like about his hunting prospects is that he breaks down harvest by square mile, giving a density measure for the landscape’s deer productivity. Over the past five years, both the Winston and Coweeman Units have yielded better than a buck a section (1.01 and 1.15, respectively),

with Lincoln not far behind (.91). The first two are, of course, mostly dominated by Weyerhaeuser’s fee-access forests, but the third is home to three good-sized jags of state timberland. And if you’re looking for something a bit bigger than a spike or forked horn, Holman’s data shows that 50 percent of the blacktails taken in Stormking north of Randle are three point or better.

“For experienced hunters I’d suggest that they hunt areas that they are already familiar with,” he tips. “For those new to blacktails I’ll suggest checking out the Hunting Prospects (wdfw.wa.gov/ hunting/locations/prospects), choosing an area and then spending time there, possibly grouse hunting before the deer season to help learn the area.”

“For both groups I suggest persistence,” Holman tells me. “Blacktails are tough to hunt because of the secretive nature of the deer and the heavy cover that they inhabit, but there are deer there, so keep

TOP 20 2021 GENERAL RIFLE BUCK UNITS

Huckleberry, GMU 121: 943

Mount Spokane, GMU 124: 799 (+60 antlerless)

49 Degrees North, GMU 117: 513

Coweeman, GMU 550: 454

Sherman, GMU 101: 443

Skookumchuck, GMU 667: 407

Prescott, GMU 149: 397 (+13 antlerless)

Okanogan East, GMU 204: 387

Winston, GMU 520: 342

Olympic, GMU 621: 331

Washougal, GMU 568: 305

Ryderwood, GMU 530: 291

Battle Ground, GMU 564: 285 (+60 antlerless)

Mason, GMU 633: 280

Beezley, GMU 272: 267

East Klickitat, GMU 382, 267

Satsop, GMU 651: 255

Alladin, GMU 111: 250

Douglas, GMU 108: 245

Ritzville, GMU 284: 243

trying and give yourself plenty of chances for an opportunity to present itself.”

One other District 10 deer note: This summer, WDFW proposed downlisting Columbian whitetails from endangered to threatened. It won’t translate to hunting opportunity anytime soon, but Holman was pretty stoked by the recovery they’ve made, fueled largely by translocations from Lower Columbia islands to Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge that have doubled a population that once roamed as far north as the glacial outwash plains by Yelm.

“I’ve worked on them on some level since 1995 and it’s exciting to see them making some progress,” Holman tells me, speculating, “Maybe one day a special permit Columbian whitetail deer tag could be a reality in Washington.”

It’s not so far fetched, given that the population in Oregon around Roseburg was federally delisted in 2003 and has supported a limited hunt since 2005 (93 permits were issued this year).

SOUTH COAST

The game units of Grays Harbor and Pacific Counties were among the few last year that, er, bucked the statewide trend, with harvest actually increasing a few ticks. Records going back to at least 2008 suggest that that should continue this season, but June 2021’s extreme heat has biologist Anthony Novack a little bit concerned for this fall’s hunt.

“One big question mark is whether the heat dome that sat over Washington state last summer will have a carryover effect on the blacktail deer population into this year, and subsequent years,” he tells me. “We had 100-degree temperatures occurring right when all of those newly birthed fawns were on the ground. I see the possibility for that hot-weather event to have reduced the survival probabilities of the fawns born last year. Those male fawns born during the heat dome would be our newest cohort of spike deer this season. If the heat dome had an effect on fawn survival, then we might see a drop in total harvest due to fewer available spikes. Spike deer seem to make up 25 to 40 percent of the total harvest in many coastal units.”

With substantial numbers like those, the proof – or lack of it – will show up in

how many tags are notched this fall.

“Overall harvest has been pretty stable the last few years and general habitat conditions are good, since a large proportion of the district is managed for commercial timber,” Novack adds. “Anywhere the timber has been harvested within the past 10 years is usually producing a fair amount of forage for our local blacktail.”

It will come as no surprise, but Capitol Peak – with its high percentage of state land, plentiful clearcuts and lots of hunters – yielded this district’s best harvest density last year, just under a buck per square mile for riflemen and 1.4 bucks a section for all weapons types.

REST OF THE WESTSIDE

Circling back to where all this began, like much of far Eastern Washington, last year saw a pretty bad hemorrhagic disease outbreak among deer in the San Juan Islands and nearby Whidbey Island, this one AHD. Spread by deer-to-deer contact, it delivered a slobberknocker to 2021’s harvest – on Orcas, it shrank from 147 deer in 2020 to 11 last year; on San Juan, 138 down to 22; and on Lopez, 116 to 50. To be clear, the islands are not exactly deer destinations like Twisp or Colville, and from a biological perspective the dieoff may have helped realign the population with the landscape’s carrying capacity. But in the short term expect far fewer deer here.

Now back to the good news. Since 2001, blacktail harvest has generally increased in the Olympic and Coyle Units on the northeast and east sides of the Olympic Peninsula and last fall saw a sharp spike in the former to 413 deer, a high mark this millennium. The latter unit requires modern firearms hunters to use shotguns. On the other side of Hood Canal, the Kitsap and Mason Units show a similar slow but steady increase in harvest.

And finally, the mix of national, state and private timberlands to the west and northwest of Mt. Rainier was another part of Washington that saw more deer taken last season, with riflemen accounting for the bulk of that. Given past harvest levels, there could be room for continued growth in the kill.

Good luck wherever you hunt! NS

Happy birthday fish to me! That’s what Carissa Anderson might have said while celebrating another lap around the sun at Buoy 10 in midAugust. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Northcentral Washington’s Lake Conconully was host to some fabulous family fishing for Wes Frazier and Kurt Winterhalter and their Minnesota nieces and nephew/grandkids. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

READER PHOTOS

A Buoy 10/Ilwaco trip paid off with nice Chinook and albacore for Mike Bolt, who was loath to leave the fishy waters around the mouth of the Columbia. “It takes forever for this week to come and then it flies by when we’re down there!” he said of his vacation. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Jayce Wilder wasted little time making good on his 2022 elk tag, calling this Southwest Oregon bull in by himself to 52 yards in late August and sticking it with a double-lung shot. “Man, he has grown up to become quite the hunter,” says proud dad Troy. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Danika Campos enjoyed a successful day on the water during August’s Washington Tuna Classic out of Westport, with her crew just missing winning big fish top prizes. Proud mom Leticia sent the pic. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting products from Coast, send your full-resolution, original images with all the pertinent details – who’s in the pic; when and where they were; what they caught their fish on/weapon they used to bag the game; and any other details you’d like to reveal (the more, the merrier!) – to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for use in our print and Internet publications.

Jamie Mcleod and her pink Lami were back in action on the ocean off Astoria this summer, enjoying a stellar hatchery coho season. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Waitts Lake near Spokane yielded a pretty nice spring stringer for Jessica Faris and her dad. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Dudded up in their Curlew Lake raincoats on a rainy day, Austin Han and buddy Christian Bamber got in on some good if also moist rainbow fishing. Bamber’s trout was also a personal best, landed during what became “a chaotic fight” when they realized they forgot the net, forcing Austin to grab it with his hands. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

As daughter Norah admires the catch, Eric Alton shows off a 4.8-pound largemouth he caught out of Western Washington’s Lake Tapps over the summer. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

“Introducing a child to the outdoors isn’t exactly easy, but it doesn’t have to be hard either. It takes time, it takes patience, and most importantly, it takes snacks,” writes Brandon Jewett, whose daughter Jo sprang to action after he took a shot at this spring gobbler. “I’ll never forget the sound of her little voice – ‘You got him!’ – echoing through the forest. It was louder than the shot. She took off towards the bird, half-running, half-hopping, clapping, pointing, but never dropping her chips.” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS!

Jake Morrelli is the winner of our monthly Coast Fishing Photo Contest, thanks to this shot of he and his dad Gabe and a nice Chinook, caught in August off Sekiu. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

It’s all fathers and sons, all the time, this month!

Randy Hart Jr. is our monthly Coast Hunting Photo Contest winner, thanks to this pic of he and son Brennon and Randy’s Mt. Rainier-area archery bull. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

For your shot at winning a Coast knife and light, send your photos and pertinent (who, what, when, where) details to awalgamott@media-inc .com or Northwest Sportsman, 941 Powell Ave SW, Suite 120, Renton, WA 98057. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.

Shellfish Poacher Sees

‘What The Problem Is’

Shellfish swine appeared to be in some sort of contest this past summer for the most gluttonous overlimit, with two San Juan Islands shrimpers taking home the poo-colored prize for most piggish. They were caught with 1,225 spot shrimp, a tally that not only filled their daily bag, but the equivalent of 13 other shrimpers’ limits.

When Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Officers Andrew Stout and John Ludwig separated out the duo’s maximum legal haul of 80 prawns apiece and made a not-so-shrimpy pile with the rest of their spotties to show how far overboard they had gone, one apparently grasped the situation.

“I see what the problem is,” they said, according to WDFW.

You think?!?

Numerically, their overlimit topped cases from Hood Canal and elsewhere in the islands reported here in recent issues.

WHAT THE HELL’S the deal? How is it so hard to follow the rules? I mean, I’m not giving city slickers and rural residents alike who show up on the water apparently without realizing there are such things as “regulations” and “daily limits” and “license requirements” a free pass here.

But in this particular case, you don’t run around in a boat with four pots, a pot puller and a burning desire to get off the water asap and not have an inkling that there might be restrictions about how many you can keep. It speaks to a willful violation of the rules, and, who knows, perhaps a repeated one.

“‘Oh, I didn’t realize it,’” is one excuse WDFW Police spokeswoman Becky Elder says officers hear. “Come on, guys, you know you were overlimit.”

Maybe there’s just something about shellfish that people don’t seem to realize – or care – that the resource can in fact be impacted by taking too much of it.

Earlier this summer the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission scratched clams, oysters and crabs off the list of Free

By Andy Walgamott

Fishing Weekend goodies that the public doesn’t need a license to gather. That early June opportunity often lines up with some of the year’s lowest tides, attracting huge turnouts, and in one instance it saw the state’s entire intertidal clam share dug out of a Hood Canal beach in just two days.

As for whether we’re actually seeing more shellfish scofflawery of late, that’s hard to say, Elder says.

Maybe it’s Covid and more newbies on the water, or perhaps just more folks disregarding the rules – which, I’d say, is kind of a society-wide problem at the moment – or it could just be that WDFW has been able to field more officers of late – at last! hurray! – and that’s producing more cases for her to post.

Elder did say she had been making a point of highlighting shrimp overlimits, so maybe they’ve just always been there, kinda like backyard wildlife now more readily observable thanks to widespread use of trail cams that are on at all hours.

I’ve got a tiny medieval justice streak in me, so I asked her why not also put suspect names out there as a proactive deterrent to others. Elder said that WDFW actually isn’t allowed to or able to release identities before a case is finally resolved in court, unless it’s a big one with jailing or felonies

KUDOS

A pair of Washington game wardens were recognized this summer for saving five lives over the past year and a half. Department of Fish and Wildlife Officer Jason Schrader (left) was honored with four Life Saving Awards after responding to three unconscious people, including a 1-year-old, and getting them all breathing again, and helping cart a stroke victim out of the woods through deep snow on an improvised stretcher with a county deputy – all in the space of just eight months. Schrader was named WDFW Region 1 Officer of the year. And at Seattle’s Alki Beach, an unknown bystander who swam out to rescue a father who was struggling to stay afloat while trying to rescue his 6-year-old nonverbal autistic son turned out to be Officer Chris Hoffarth (right), who was off duty at the time. He helped to calm the child and get flotation devices to both before dragging the son to shore. The man and child survived and Schrader left the immediate scene but was eventually identified as the rescuer. While he “humbly played down his involvement,” online, fellow officers praised “his selfless act while off duty and for exemplifying our core values to ASPIRE (Accountability, Service, Professionalism, Integrity, Respect, Empathy).” Kudos to both men!

Washington game wardens with a serious San Juans shrimp overlimit. (WDFW)

involved, as it can sometimes come back and bite the agency in the ass on appeal.

As for seizing the boat and shrimping equipment, that comes with a issues too.

“I can show you evidence rooms where

we’ve got gear up and down … hundreds of thousands of fishing rods, crab pots, shrimp pots, vessels,” Elder said. “God forbid something happens to the vessel, which we have to pay for if it’s damaged.”

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

First, the Tacoma-area angler told the Washington game warden he had only been out on the water near Point Defiance that morning to break in his boat’s new motor and that he hadn’t fished. That didn’t quite square, however, with the downriggers and fishing gear in the boat, so he changed his story to say he’d only fished for a bit and hadn’t caught anything. That didn’t square with the fresh blood on his sweatshirt, but he again swore he got nary a nibble. True, the angler’s forward fish box was clean, but that didn’t square with the fresh blood in the back by the motor.

The now-sweating angler asked the officer if it was particularly warm out that morning, but it didn’t square with the cool weather that day. Given one more chance to come clean, the angler still maintained no fish were aboard. But that didn’t square when the officer opened a compartment to discover a wild Chinook that had undergone a rather recent surgery at the location of the adipose fin.

That earned the angler three citations – failure to submit catch for inspection, failure to record said catch and illegal retention of an off-limits fish. But in a roundabout way, the subsequent seizure and donation of the Chinook to a local food bank helped provide hungry local residents with the makings of a square and nutritious meal.

OFFICERS STOUT AND Ludwig had initially observed the two San Juan shellfishers from a distance as they yarded in four shrimp pots “without doing any sorting,” stashed their hoist and then headed back to port. The wardens intercepted them and found out the two hadn’t tallied their pull yet.

So the kindly officers helped them do just that by first making a pile with their combined legal limit of 160 prawns, and then put all the rest of the shrimp into another pile that grew and grew and grew. And grew some more until it took up a fair portion of the WDFW patrol boat’s deck.

“After seeing the overlimit, the fisherman’s response was, ‘I see what the problem is,’” WDFW reported on Facebook.

The overlimit shellfish were donated to other shrimpers who hadn’t harvested their legal share that day.

As for yon “I See What The Problem Is” and their partner, WDFW’s Elder had them marked down for first-degree misdemeanors, which are punishable by up to a $5,000 fine and a year in jail.

KOTR Coming Up On Hanford Reach

By Andy Walgamott

King of the Reach live-capture derby participants will be hoping to build on last year’s delivery of 603 wild fall Chinook to a local hatchery at the October 21-23 event on the free-flowing Columbia upstream of Tri-Cities.

A decade old now, the derby is a unique collaboration between the Grant County Public Utility District, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife and Coastal Conservation Association-Washington that aims to keep Priest Rapids Hatchery fall Chinook as genetically close to wild-spawning kings as possible.

It also offers prizes to the crews that catch and bring in the most fish. Last year that was Jason and Melissa Leonard's boat with 34, followed by Jason Bryan with 33, while 2020’s King of the Reach, John Plughoff, brought in 23. Participants keep their Chinook in aerated tanks until delivering them to collection points on shore or a shuttle boat picks them up, after which the fish are taken to the hatchery and spawned. Held after fishing season wraps up on the Hanford Reach, the event is limited to 80 boats and all slots had been filled at press time. For more, see ccawashington.org/kingofthereach.

A nice big wild fall Chinook collected during a past King of the Reach livecapture derby. (WDFW)

RECENT RESULTS

22nd Annual Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge, Lower Columbia, Aug. 17: Big Fish: Wayne Montee, 22.5-pound Chinook, $500 Fisherman’s Marine gift card; Captains prize, first place: Bob Walker, Calcutta Cooler and Maxima Line

GRWB STEP Annual Salmon Derby, Lower Umpqua, Sept. 3-5: First place: Ron Van Epps, 25.8-pound Chinook, $500

Edmonds Coho Derby, Central Puget Sound, Sept. 10: First place: Dan Golzynski, 8.33 pounds, $5,000; second: Jake Adams, 8.17 pounds, $2,500; third: Leroy Hornbeck, 8.07 pounds, $1,000

ONGOING AND UPCOMING EVENTS

Now through mid-October: Westport Charterboat Derbies, Pacific Ocean; charterwestport.com/fishing.html

Now through Oct. 31: WDFW 2022 Trout Derby, select lakes; wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/trout-derby

Oct. 21-23: King of the Reach Derby, Mid-Columbia’s Hanford Reach; ccawashington.org/kingofthereach

OUTDOOR

OCTOBER CALENDAR

1 Salmon, steelhead opener on numerous Oregon streams; Coho opener on Oregon Coast’s Siltcoos, Tahkenitch and Tenmile Lakes; Oregon razor clam opener on Clatsop County beaches north of Tillamook Head; Western Oregon and most Eastern Oregon controlled any legal weapon deer openers; Washington muzzleloader elk opener; Eastern Washington youth waterfowl hunting day; Eastern Washington quail, partridge openers

8 Oregon quail, pheasant, partridge, fall turkey, Zone 2 snipe and early duck, and High Desert and Blue Mountains Zones Canada and whitefronted goose openers

8-14 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches but may be cancelled due to marine toxin levels – info: wdfw.wa.gov

10 Idaho general any weapon deer and elk openers in many units

14-15 ODFW Steelhead Fishing 101 Workshop ($, register), Wallowa Wildlife Area – info: myodfw.com/workshops-and-events

15 Washington general rifle deer season opener; Last day of bottomfish retention off Washington Coast; Washington Goose Management Areas 1-5 early opener; Last day of Oregon recreational ocean crab season (bays open year-round)

15-23 Washington early general duck season dates

15-25 Youth three-point-minimum or antlerless whitetail deer hunt dates in select Southeast Washington units

15-30 Oregon Zone 1 early duck season dates

22 Eastern Washington pheasant opener

22-25/28 Youth, senior and disabled hunter whitetail season dates in select far Eastern Washington units (legal deer varies by unit)

22-30 Northwest Oregon Permit Goose Zone early season dates

24-30

Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches but may be cancelled due to marine toxin levels – info: see above

26 Washington duck season resumes

29 Eastern Washington rifle elk opener

31 Last day to fish many Washington lowland lakes listed in regulations

NOVEMBER

1 Mussel harvesting opens on Washington Coast beaches outside of Olympic National Park; Various trapping seasons open in Washington

3 Oregon Zone 1 duck season resumes

4 Last day to hunt deer with any legal weapon Western Oregon tag

5 Oregon West Cascade and Rocky Mountain elk second season openers; Oregon Zone 1 snipe opener; Western Washington rifle elk opener; Washington Goose Management Areas 3-5 reopener

5-6 Extended Western Oregon youth deer season

5-19 Northeast Washington late rifle whitetail season dates

6-13

Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches but may be cancelled due to marine toxin levels – info: see above

8 Oregon Southwest and Mid-Columbia Zones goose season resumes

12 Late bow deer opener in select Southwest Oregon units

12-15 Oregon Coast bull elk first season dates

15 Last day to hunt black bears in Washington; Start of Oregon Zone 1 second mourning dove season

17-20 Western Washington late rifle blacktail season dates in select units

19 Late bow deer opener in select Oregon Coast units; Oregon Northwest Permit Zone goose season resumes

19-25 Oregon Coast bull elk second season dates

22-28 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches but may be cancelled due to marine toxin levels – info: see above

23 Washington late bow, muzzleloader deer, elk openers in many units

25 Washington “Black Friday” trout stocking, select lake openers

25-26 Oregon Free Fishing Weekend

27 Last day of Oregon Zone 2 early duck and scaup season

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This month marks the return to deer camp for tens of thousands of Washington and Oregon sportsmen as rifle, any-legal-weapon and controlled seasons begin. It’s an annual pilgrimage to traditional and deeply meaningful locations that have hosted generations of hunters, countless harvests and excellent campfires. (JASON BROOKS)

Deer Camps

I Have Known

to be much better. But he promised to take me to the family deer camp for my first year, so we loaded the truck and made the drive.

NW PURSUITS

By Jason Brooks

Ihave vivid memories of when deer hunting started for me. It began with waking early in the morning and running downstairs to stare out the front window, hoping a deer would be hanging in the large pine tree outside my house.

Some years a deer would be there and other years my father would tell us stories about the one that got away during his annual trip to “deer camp.” It is why I look forward to opening weekend of deer season each year, and as the leaves start to turn when the evening chill is felt, those same memories flood my mind.

It is interesting what drives a hunter. Some say it is the chance to fill a freezer; others suggest it is chasing a mature buck.

But for most hunters it is the camaraderie of deer camp.

When I was finally deemed old enough to go to camp myself, I was 9 years old.

My father had been going to the same camp since he was a teenager, when his father began taking him to the annual rendezvous. My grandfather had been going to the exact same place for years prior; in fact, by the time I went to camp, the group of family and friends had been going there for over 50 years.

What I didn’t know at that time was it would be the one and only year I would go there. My grandfather had stopped going by then, as he was in his 80s and had “retired” from deer camp. My father had been invited to the high country the year before with some friends and since the hunting season back then was nearly a month long, he went during the second half of the season and found the hunting

DEER CAMP WAS near Republic, Washington, which is a small mining town that didn’t offer much at that time for “outsiders.” Making our way past town, we took a winding dirt road for what felt like hours before coming to a sharp bend. My dad pulled the truck to the side of the road and set up the camper. As much as I wanted to be in a tent like the stories I had heard so much about, we had gotten a camper that summer, so it was used for our shelter. Across the road was an old and overgrown logging road and in the wide spot was an old Army tent. This is where my uncles and distant cousins had their yearly camp, signified by a tree with several pairs of tennis shoes nailed to it. It was some sort of tradition to nail a shoe to the tree; I’m not sure why and at age 9 I didn’t ask, and still haven’t. But it is those small details in our memories that are part of the hunt.

The next day I hiked down that old logging road and shot a grouse. It was the only thing killed by our family that opening weekend.

The following year we moved deer camp to the high country, a stark contrast from that camper on the side of the road. Instead, we hiked 7 miles up a Forest Service trail that led to an old cabin. The cabin was privately owned but with a Forest Service lease and was the last “remote” lease in Washington. First built in 1932 by local men who worked for the Lake Chelan Apple Box Company, which owned the land before the Forest Service annexed it, this cabin was built as a hunting camp. Not only did mule deer roam the heights near it, but mountain goats lived in the

steep cliffs above the lake. As much as we wanted to stay in that cabin, the owner still hunted and it was a few years before my father was named caretaker of it and we got to use it.

Instead, we built a camp nearby using cheap but lightweight plastic tarps. Back then we had cotton sleeping bags, cotton T-shirts and blue Levi’s jeans made of cotton. I think the only thing that kept us alive were wool coats, large camp fires and youth. By all accounts we should have froze to death, but we didn’t and the memories of that deer camp were filled with frozen blue jeans being warmed over an open fire and sleeping on fresh-cut fir boughs.

This new camp yielded success because deer densities were better, especially bucks. Each year someone got something, though it would take me nearly six years

to finally get my first buck there. But once that happened it was like floodgates opened and success came each year after.

By then we had made our way to the cabin, as the owner now only came to it in the summer, in the warmer months when the trail was easier to hike, to relive his own deer camp memories. My father was named caretaker on the lease and we would use the cabin each fall until it burned down during a summer wildfire in 2017.

Both of my sons first experienced deer camp here, taking grouse with a .410 shotgun, much like how my first year went. Neither ever killed a deer up there when the cabin was still standing, but the memories will always be that of the rusted hinges on the door creaking when opened and hauling water up from the nearby spring.

IT WAS IN my younger days when I learned to hunt out of a camp hauled in on my back. Those first years in the mountains drove me further into the backcountry and soon I was heading into remote areas during Washington’s High Hunt. This early rifle and muzzleloader season is September 15-25 and gives hunters a chance to hunt mule deer and blacktails in their summer haunts, with the “possibility” of good weather.

Possibility is an important aspect of this hunt, as some years it was sunny and 70 degrees and some years it was snowing.

Deer camp morphed during this time from that cabin back to a tarp, but unlike when I was 10, the tarp now was silnylon and lightweight. The fir boughs were replaced by an air pad and the cotton sleeping bag turned into a bivvy

Among the hunting camps author Jason Brooks has known was this remote cabin high above Lake Chelan. It marked a switch from how his immediate family had hunted for a very long time – from setting up off of a logging road to packing into the backcountry – and significantly boosted their success. Sadly, the cabin burned in a wildfire several years ago. (JASON BROOKS)

COLUMN

These days Brooks and his sons carry their camp in their backpacks. Their high-tech clothing, tents and gear are matched by rifles “that are lighter and stronger than the steel-and-wood firearms our grandfathers carried.” (JASON BROOKS)

bag system with a lightweight, high-loft down bag.

Deer camp during this time of my life was nothing more than a place to sleep and run the small “pocket rocket” stove, with its blue butane flame, so as to heat water and pour it into some sort of freezedried meal. Mobility was the way to go and chasing after deer far away from the truck meant moving camp from far basin to even further basin. Heavy loads meant success and misery was part of it all. It is these memories of deer camp that I tend to forget – until it is too late and I find myself back in the alpine huddling under a tree during a midday rainstorm that is near freezing, thinking back to that old cabin and the smell of bacon on the cast iron wood stove hauled in by mules in

the early 1930s and thinking how nice it would be to be back there again.

THOSE DAYS OF hunting with lightweight gear have since changed with the popularity of backcountry hunting. Deer camp today is a combination of a base camp in a wall tent with a warm wood stove and a few days at a remote “spike camp” but using a hot tent. I am not sure who came up with the idea of using that same lightweight nylon material to make a floorless tepee and adding a titanium wood stove, but I feel like they must have grown up much like I did, holding frozen Levi’s over an open fire to thaw them out and realizing there had to be a better way.

Now my sons and I head deep into the backcountry and carry our “cabin” in our

backpacks, wearing high-tech clothing that is a combination of nylon, neoprene and wool, with boots that are tough and light. Even the rifles that sit upon our shoulders are made of new materials that are lighter and stronger than the steel-and-wood firearms our grandfathers carried.

Regardless of how deer camp has evolved over the years, one thing always remains the same and that is the making of the memories. Looking back over the decades and barely remembering the bad times, it is the deer in the large pine tree in our front yard that comes to mind most … when my dad would return from hunting and my brother and I would run downstairs in hopes that a buck would be hanging and that someday we too would go to “deer camp.” NS

Things change from hunting season to hunting season, so show up early to your deer or elk camp to do some recon. Note the background behind author Dave Workman’s tent because the last time he camped in that very spot (inset), in a different tent, the background was a whole lot greener. There was a forest fire and it changed a lot of things! (DAVE WORKMAN)

5 Tips That Might Make A Difference For Deer, Elk

ON TARGET

By Dave Workman

This is the month we’ve been waiting for, when all the range time, gear maintenance, scouting trips, map checking and planning will pay off.

Washington’s general statewide deer seasons kick off Saturday, October 15 and Eastside bull elk hunting begins October 29. Westside bulls come under the gun November 5. If you’re a believer in moon cycles and their

effect on hunting, the full moon arrives October 9 and by the 29th, the night sky will be dark. By November 5, the moon will be coming back to full again, but in Western Washington, experience dictates we might not be able to tell any difference because of seasonal cloud cover.

But there is more to hunting success than phases of the moon. Sometimes, it can be the small details that contribute the most to your hunting success; things many people overlook and others take for granted, and occasionally are completely

oblivious to that can make a difference. These things have helped me put meat in the cooler many times, and they might just make a difference for you.

FIND A GOOD stand and be there before the crack of dawn. If you’re hunting new territory, you should arrive a full day before the opener to allow plenty of time to reconnoiter. Find a busy game trail, check for fresh tracks, locate likely feeding and bedding areas and position your hunting spot somewhere in between.

A day of scouting allows you to memorize the terrain, even if you’ve hunted the area before. Things can change from one season to the next. Deer in the area know what the ground is like, and they have the advantage in that respect.

You must be able to see areas of travel. That is, be sure your stand allows a full 360-degree view, and make sure you’re

above any game trail you’re staking out. Be prepared to use your daypack as a rifle rest, and if you’ve got a lightweight bipod, make sure your stand/blind accommodates its use.

Be patient. Just when you think you’ve been sitting long enough and it’s time to move, stay put for another 15 to 30 minutes. If you spot movement, and it’s a doe, don’t be hasty. There may be a buck

ELK SEASONS ARRIVE

One cannot discount the predation factor in the Blue Mountains, so Washington hunters will definitely have to work to notch a tag. In the Yakima-Kittitas region, traditionally productive areas include Bethel Ridge, the Rattlesnake and Little Rattlesnake drainages, the Little Naches drainage (including Crow Creek all the way up toward Raven Roost), and Quartz Creek and on up to Quartz Mountain.

(Note: One can hunt the top of Quartz by driving in from Ellensburg following Manastash Creek up Road 3100, the last couple of miles being in pretty rough shape by late October, but any four-wheel drive should be able to handle it. Be sure and have a shotgun along for blue grouse.)

Don’t forget the Colockum north of Ellensburg. Hunt from Highway 97 east all the way toward those big canyons heading down to the Columbia River.

On the Westside, eastern Lewis and northern Skamania Counties are traditionally productive, as are the Willapa Hills, where harvest has been gradually rising over the last decade and a half. Don’t discount hunting the Olympic Peninsula, either. It can be tough going without good legs to carry you, and the country can be thick timber and clearcuts, but many people make it worthwhile. –DW

coming along in a bit, and this could take some time. The rut hasn’t started and bucks will be at the top of their game, moving slowly and remaining alert.

If you leave your stand and go on a still hunt then return to camp for lunch, be back there at least an hour before dusk and stay put while there is any available shooting light. Memorize the legal hunting hours.

Elk are more likely to use established game trails, I’ve found, than deer, though both animals are creatures of habit. Once in my youth, I was seated in some small trees just below a trail, watching a big meadow below when a band of elk (spooked by my uncle who was hunting several hundred yards away) came thundering past. They damn near ran me over, but they stuck to that path as if it were a highway. I’ve seen deer, on the other hand, jump every which direction if they’re spooked.

USE BINOCULARS RATHER than your riflescope. Whenever you look at something through a scope, you’re aiming a loaded gun at that object, whether it’s a stump, deer or human. I’ve had people scope me and it’s unnerving, not to mention dangerous and downright stupid.

Use binoculars! Workman has several good pairs, including these 8X models from (left) German Precision Optics and (right) Weaver. Both have helped put meat in the freezer. (DAVE WORKMAN)

DON’T FORGET TO VOTE!

Remember this month some important things, and don’t forget to vote in the November 8 election, as your gun and hunting rights are definitely at stake.

As you fill out your ballots, remember who is responsible for the continuing high cost of groceries and gas, even though the latter has been gradually declining for the past couple of months. You are still paying far more than you were when the current administration took over in 2021.

Congress passed a gun control law earlier this year, and the U.S. House – under Democrat control –passed a ban on so-called “assault weapons,” which are used in various calibers by increasing numbers of younger generation hunters.

Voting is a no-brainer. The ballot comes to your mailbox, you fill it out and return it. You don’t even have to put a stamp on the envelope. People too lazy to vote may deserve what they get, but the rest of us don’t. –DW

Keep the lenses clean. Have a soft dark cloth in a front pocket for this purpose so you’re not moving around a lot to retrieve a handkerchief from a hip pocket. Make sure it’s a dark or neutral color. Deer see movement same as we do, and they’re alert to anything that looks like a waving flag.

Having a good rangefinder with fresh batteries will come in handy too. I’ve got three, and they have never let me down. From your stand, locate various landmarks and range them so you will know how far of a shot might be necessary if a buck or bull comes into sight.

DON’T SMOKE, CHEW gum or use scented soap to wash up in camp. If the wind is wrong, wary bucks can smell all of that stuff and you may as well erect a neon sign. If you must have something in your mouth, try butterscotch hard candies.

And keep your mouth shut; be quiet. This applies even back at camp. Noise carries a long way. No blaring stereos, no loud partying around the campfire and hunting camp is no place to check the zero of your rifle.

Turn off your cell phone! If you’re hunting with partners and have two-way

radios, set a specific time in advance to communicate, and stick to it. Otherwise, leave the radio off as well.

I cannot count the number of times I’ve encountered someone smoking a cigarette or, even worse, a cigar, on a morning or evening hunt, and actually smelled them before I saw them. A deer can smell that smoke from an even longer distance.

Likewise, scented soap can be a giveaway. When I hunt, I use nothing but unscented soap to wash up in camp. Hunter’s Specialties has a line of soap called Scent-A-Way, and I’ve got a bottle in my truck and another one in my tote with my cooking gear. There are also odor eliminator sprays available. Meaning no disrespect, but you stink thanks to all the stuff you might use in your everyday “normal” life. This includes gasoline. Be careful to not spill gas on yourself while fueling up.

Oh, and don’t relieve yourself in a game trail. Nothing says “human” like a puddle of urine.

CHECK THE WEATHER forecast and dress accordingly. I’ve been caught in really rotten weather conditions, so I have a pair

This is a riflescope. It’s a gun sight. It is not a spotting scope or a substitute for a binocular. If you’re looking through it to study something, you’re aiming a loaded rifle at whatever it is. (DAVE WORKMAN)

of insulated gloves in my daypack and I wear good socks.

Layering is invariably a good idea. I’ve started many an opening day bundled up as if it were December, only to be down to a T-shirt by midafternoon. Be sure you can strap your coat/jacket to your pack when it’s time to shed some layers. (A bundled-up hunting parka makes an excellent substitute for a sandbag rest when it’s time to shoot!)

Have a good radio with fresh batteries in camp tuned to a weather channel or be sure to listen to the weather reports at top-of-the-hour newscasts. If you have reception, keep an eye on your phone. Weather this time of year has a nasty habit of changing overnight.

Pay attention to the sky. Weather forecasts have been wrong before. This is the Northwest, after all!

HUNT THE EDGES on the Westside, the ledges on the Eastside. If you’re in clearcut country on the Westside, hunt the edges of those clearcuts, and be at the upper end so you can watch downhill for movement.

Watch for deer where wild blackberry brush might be available, especially near good sources of water. Morning and evening, stay focused on those clearcuts for movement, and if you can locate busy game trails leading into and out of surrounding timber, concentrate on those avenues.

On the east slopes of the Cascades, mule deer will often be found bedding at the base of ledges near the ridgetops, where they can see a long distance. Don’t be fooled; they typically have more than one escape route.

If you spot a cluster of does, stay put and keep looking because there could be a buck or two bedding nearby. If the does move, keep watching since bucks will eventually get up and trail along.

In Northeast counties, where whitetails are predominant, there is plenty of public land with clearcuts, or timber around orchard or cropland areas. Deer work back and forth from cover to feeding areas. Again, look for deer trails with signs of heavy traffic and stay where you can watch them morning and evening. NS

Don’t stink. The author uses Hunter’s Specialties Scent A-Way soap for cleaning up in camp so he doesn’t smell up the countryside while hunting. (DAVE WORKMAN)

Last-minute Hunting Tips

Do not take a knife to a gun fight.

BECOMING A HUNTER

By Dave Anderson

Having spent a great deal of time out in the field, both on my own hunts and guiding them, I have seen and made plenty of mistakes. This includes everything from gear choices to judgment calls, and just being in a hurry. With rifle deer and elk seasons here or just about to begin across the Northwest, in this column I will touch on a few things that I have learned so that if needed, you can change your ways and experience a more successful and enjoyable hunt.

I KNOW MOST people will roll their eyes at this suggestion, but my number one piece of advice is to be quiet! Trying to pass the torch to the next generation of hunters, I hunt with a handful of new, younger people. I also hunt with folks who have been hunting their entire lives. It kills me when I am deep into an area and the former group of hunters are talking in their normal voices. Be quiet and whisper quietly. Our voices and our footsteps do not sound natural or like anything else in the woods.

When it comes to walking, do not step flat-footed. I suggest practicing and training yourself to walk quietly prior to the start of the season. You always want to start on the rear outside of your foot and roll your foot to being flat forward. This can make you stealthier in the field. However, if you are hunting elk early in the season, it may not matter how much noise you make chasing a rutting bull – this is an entirely different scenario.

Next, always watch your wind. I carry a Windicator bottle with me during every

With how far sound can travel, it’s amazing how noisy some hunters can be in the woods. Given the excellent hearing of deer and elk, it will pay to speak in whispers, silence your cellphones and watch where you step. (BEN HOWARD)

COLUMN

season. It does not matter whether you are hunting with a bow, muzzleloader or rifle, you should always be watching your wind. Wind is often more important to keep in mind than noise. Older, wiser game animals are going to be gone the minute they get a

whiff of us stinky humans.

When it comes to gear, your feet are one of the most important things you have while hunting and hiking the mountains. I suggest spending the most you can on quality footwear. I personally love Kenetrek

and Meindl boots. I have different boots for different seasons. I use noninsulated boots during the early season and switch to insulated boots for late seasons when the temperature is freezing or below freezing.

But buying a decent pair of boots does not necessarily keep you in the clear when it comes to protecting your feet. One of the best things you can do for your feet is wear a liner sock under your thicker insulated socks. By doing this, you provide another layer of protection against developing nasty blisters. I have seen people spend thousands of dollars on a guided hunt deep in the Idaho wilderness but decide to skimp on quality footwear and wear subpar boots with no idea of how to take care of their feet. They ended up developing blisters on day one. When that happens, I can assure you that you will be miserable the rest of your hunt, and it may also keep you from being able to perform at the level needed to harvest a big game animal. If you do find yourself getting a blister, it is always a good idea to apply some mole skin.

AS FOR PACKS, they’re another fantastic and key investment. I run Mystery Ranch backpacks and absolutely love them. I wear mine year-round, doing everything from preparing for my hunts by hiking local trails to the actual hunt itself. These packs fit great and carry heavy loads well. They do an excellent job at distributing weight properly. During the offseason, I use them to carry a 25- to 35-pound kettlebell weight during my daily hikes. I am always trying to keep my legs in good mountain shape.

Clothes that keep you warm, boots that keep your feet dry, a pack with enough room for essentials and packing game, and a rifle and bullets with enough power to put bucks and bulls down for the count without doing the same to your shoulder will make for a more successful hunting experience. (DAVE ANDERSON)

For hunting season, I pack everything I need for a day or two during a day hunt. I carry a first-aid kit, trauma pack, Ace bandage, headlamp, flashlight, extra batteries, Garmin inReach, GPS, battery pack to recharge devices, game bags, knives, Leatherman, rain gear, parachute cord, lightweight packable down puffy jacket and, most importantly, mountain money – toilet paper. I am a firm believer in having everything I need to take care of a big game animal with me once I harvest it. As I’ve stated here before, the last thing I want to do is go back 5 miles or more to

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my truck to pick up the tools necessary to pack out a deer or elk. First off, it is a waste of time; I would rather take care of the animal while I am there and make one solid trip with everything, if I am able to. A decent quality backpack that allows me to carry all the essentials I need and be able to pack out an animal makes it one of my top items during hunting season. There are several good brands out there, so do your research and find out what pack fits you best.

I ALSO SUGGEST buying the best clothing you can afford. I have a mix of both Sitka and Kuiu hunting clothing. These are in the upper price range, but I have found that both brands hold up well to wear and tear and are built with quality and durability in mind. I have a pair of Sitka Timberline pants that I have worn and used for fiveplus years. They are finally starting to show their age but have held up even as I have not been that easy on them while hunting in some rugged terrain. Also, having lightweight comfortable clothing is going

to make your hunt more enjoyable. You can afford to throw rain gear and a puffy jacket in your pack and not have your pack weigh 50 pounds. These lightweight clothes are also quiet and make it easier for you to traverse through the mountains and up and over logs and rocks.

Another important item that everyone should have is a good set of gaiters that go from your boots to above your calves. These help keep water out of your boots and save wear and tear on your lower pants as you go through brush and other obstacles. Nothing is worse than snagging your pants on a stick and tearing them or getting tripped up and injured.

My last piece of advice centers around finding a rifle. Yes, you should have settled this matter months ago, but find one that fits you properly and that you can still manage. Do not buy something that is uncomfortable and difficult to handle. What I mean by that is, there are some lighter calibers that are not going to kick as much as others. Unless you are a seasoned,

well-disciplined shooter, I would not suggest getting into hunting and buying a .300 Win. Mag. or larger. Starting out your hunting career flinching is not a clever way to begin. Missing is not the worst thing that can happen, but shooting beyond your effective range and wounding and losing that animal because of that is awful.

Practice, practice, practice and then practice more. I see and hear a lot of people talking about buying a gun to shoot long range without having any experience – this is crazy! I only have a handful of people in my circle who I know could confidently pull off a 500-plus-yard shot. I have also guided a few hunters over the years who brought a rifle to camp that scared the crap out of them – it ruined their hunt! Moral of the story: Purchase a rifle that you are comfortable with so that you can be safe, effective and ethical during your hunt.

I hope you can take some of these suggestions and use them this fall. Good luck to each and every one of you! NS

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greater Kitsap County

since the 1950s.

SLAUGHTER

Raising

animals?

Cheers To The Season, And The Stew

CHEF IN THE WILD

By Randy King

It was a huntingseason party at my aunt and uncle’s house – Hotel Heath, they called it. The beer was flowing past the lips of men who had hiked the hills, carried deer meat and lived for this time of year. They sat around the card table with a bottle of Crown, the lies getting bigger as the night went on. I was being allowed to drink for the first time with the men. I laughed and joked and felt like I was, finally, a part of the adult hunting group. All was right in the world.

Until the next day, when my head felt like a small stick of dynamite had gone off behind my left eye.

Oh, the party was great, but my rookie self overdid the consumption. I had missed the trucks leaving, waking on the bathroom floor instead. I was relegated to helping my “retired from hunting” uncle clean up that morning. Beer bottles and cigarette butts littered the den. So, nursing black coffee and water, I hauled a trash can around, picking up the hunters’ mess.

After a while I was called into the kitchen by my uncle Tim, a former restaurant/bar owner who knew I was a budding culinary enthusiast. He started talking about his plan for lunch that day – venison stew. All the hunters would be back for a midday break and he wanted to have a good thick meal waiting for them.

Tim had a can of dark beer I had never heard of. Left over from the night before, it was a Guinness, a porter – whatever that meant. My uncle cracked the can and poured me a little. I nearly wretched; not from the smell, more a physical reaction by my body yet again trying to get me to disavow booze.

The beer was dark in color, really dark. I had never seen anything like it. It looked

Hunting for deer out of the house of family members in North Idaho is a tradition for the King clan, and the author’s son Noah experienced what it’s all about last fall in harvesting this whitetail. (RANDY KING)

COOKING WITH BEER

OK, it is a little misleading to say that beer saved the world, but not by much. Before the invention of bread, we had the invention of beer in China nearly 9,000 years ago (some folks argue the dates, but suffice it to say it was a long time ago). In fact, some claim that beer is why writing was invented – they needed a way to transfer the recipe. Modern beer was first created in Germany after being brought over by the Romans from Egypt.

Historically, water sources were quite toxic to humans– we are not a clean species – but we kind of need the liquid to live. If you make beer out of the water, you can turn a toxic and deadly substance into a calorically dense drinkable liquid – one that also makes you happy. Win-win!

Other things that we can thank beer for? Pasteurization, invented to transport beer. Refrigeration, invented to make lagers. Automation in manufacturing; thank you, beer bottling plants (this is where Henry Ford got the idea, some say). In 2011 the Discovery Channel did a documentary on the topic; it is really good.

BEER AND WILD GAME COOKING

All beers are created different. Thank God!

Understanding flavors of beer types will help you cook with them and wild game. Here is a very brief primer on the topic.

Beer adds a lot of flavors to whatever you are cooking. From soups to fish and chips, beer can be the key to an awesome dish. Think of beer as you would wine – if you would not drink it (those tall, skinny cans come to mind), do not cook with it.

Beer can be divided in hundreds of ways, but two “big” buckets exist: ales and lagers. Ale have earthy flavors and heat on the grains is often used to get big bold flavors into the beer. Lagers use colder fermentation and often are lighter and drier in flavor. Both have a place in the kitchen.

Below is a far from exhaustive list of beers that can be used for cooking. I tried to keep this beer list to styles you can find at a gas station. Honestly, that made it more fun.

Brown ales: Think dark meat stews and long cooking times. This style of beer goes well with things that take a long time to cook since they are more balanced than other beers. Cheese soups are great with these. Think red meat like venison.

Pale ales, IPAs: Cooking with these can be great if done in moderation. They have a distinctive bitterness to them. Grilled

red meat is a place to start, maybe as a marinade. Or think fish and white-fleshed game animals like grouse and rabbit if you are cooking them in the beer.

Porters/stouts: Full of flavor! I use these on strong-flavored soups and stews. Bag a rutty old bull? Make stew with him and a porter. Think red meat with full flavor – mule deer, goose, duck, the classic Guinness venison stew (see below). Note: Consider adding some brown sugar to counterbalance the bitterness that might show up.

Pilsners: Light of body and crisp. Think fish batter, fish marinade or with roasted grouse. I use a lot of thyme and sage with this beer style; it tends to do very well. Consider using it for finger steak batter as well.

Amber lagers: BBQ in the house! I use these for slow barbecue and smoking. Light enough to stay out of the way but bold enough to still have punch. Think game birds and smoked cuts of meat.

Weisse beers (Hefeweizen): Clam bakes and mussels are awesome in an herby (basil, thyme, mint, garlic) boil. Same with white fish. They make great batters as well.

Note: Hops can downright ruin a dish.

I know some folks like those peel-theenamel-off-your-teeth IPAs, but cooking

Various styles of beer lend themselves to cooking game and fish. (SHUTTERSTOCK)

with those is super difficult. Just use something other than an egregiously hoppy IPA for cooking, please.

GUINNESS VENISON STEW

In 1759, when Ben Franklin was a spry 53 years old, the Guinness Brewing Company was founded. A few years later the nowinfamous “porter-stout” beer that we know and love was created and began to be shipped all over the world. It was often called a liquid meal due to the beer’s thickness and high calorie count. You just feel kind of full after having one.

So, naturally, making a stick-to-your-

like the bubbles fell instead of rose. Most of the beer in my life up to that point had been Coors Light. All I really knew were cheap American lagers. So this thick, foamy and dark substance was a total mystery. Then my uncle made venison stew with it.

It was a glorious hangover-curing concoction with bacon, venison, Guinness beer, carrots, potatoes, onions and broth. It was stick-to-your-ribs food, go-and-hike-

ribs stew is in order. Special thanks to son Noah King for this recipe. He has now made it several times, and this is his go-to version for the family.

½ stick butter, divided 1½ pounds ½-inch cubed venison 5 strips of bacon, sliced thin

4 cloves of garlic

1 diced onion

4 cups beef broth

24-ounce Guinness beer

2 tablespoons tomato paste Thyme, bay leaf

3 large carrots, diced

the-hills-some-more food. I went hunting that evening with the guys.

TWENTY-FIVE YEARS LATER my son Noah, who is just now 20, asked me to go to the store for him and buy beer. “No,” I politely said. He chuckled and explained that the beer was not for him, but for our dinner. He wanted to use it for a new recipe he had found and the whitetail doe he had just harvested. He wanted to share his

5 ribs of celery, diced 4 medium potatoes, diced Salt and pepper ¼ cup flour ½ cup water

Add half the butter to a large heavybottomed stew pot. Heat pot on medium until the butter is melted and clarified. Add half the cubed meat. Brown meat on all sides. Remove browned meat, place on a plate and reserve for later. Add the remaining butter to the pot. Brown the remaining meat. Remove the meat.

Add the bacon to the pot, cooking until crispy. Add the onion and garlic to the crispy bacon. Cook until onion is translucent, about three minutes.

Add all the browned meat back into the pot. Pour in the beef broth and beer. Use a wooden spoon and scrape the bottom of the stew pot to remove the “fond” – the tasty brown bits.

Add the tomato paste and herbs. Let simmer for one hour, covered. Check the tenderness of the meat. Depending on the cut and the age of the animal, you might need to simmer for an additional amount of time. Next add the carrots, celery and potatoes to the pot. Simmer on low until the potatoes are tender, about half an hour. Taste and season with salt and pepper.

The stew at this point will be “thin.” If you want a thick stew, combine ½ cup water with ¼ cup flour to make a slurry. Bring the stew to a boil and add the slurry slowly, stirring the whole time. Add enough slurry to thicken the soup the desired amount.

Serve with bread and cheddar cheese.

For more wild game recipes, see chefrandyking.com. –RK

deer with the family. The recipe was for Guinness stew.

It was my turn to laugh. The weekend prior, we had stayed at Hotel Heath to hunt and the same “retired from hunting” uncle told us what logging road to walk to find a deer. Noah almost missed the trucks leaving the house, for one reason or another.

I went to the store and bought him Guinness for his stew. NS

Noah King’s Guinness venison stew, featuring bacon, garlic, onion, potatoes, carrots and other vegetables, and various spices. (RANDY KING)

Elk Hunting Tips And Strategies

fter several seasons of only hunt ing deer, it looks like I will be chasing elk this fall. That has led me to review my elk hunting diaries, remember what worked (and didn’t) and sight in my .338 Ultra Mag, all of which helped generate the thoughts contained in this article.

Veteran hunters, especially success ful ones, understand elk habits and learn where the elk are likely to show, which is

Aespecially true for those who hunt the same area each and every year. After all, elk are not unlike other wildlife in that they fre quent the same areas and pathways to and from water and the best available forage.

As an example, I have three live traps baited around our home but it’s mostly one that catches the ground squirrels I’m determined to relocate. I’ve got five dif ferent game cameras set on our property but the mountain lions only seem to pass by one of them, despite me relocating the others many times. Elk are much the same.

Don’t let their size fool you; elk can be as quiet as an empty cardboard box and

avoid detection far better than a set of misplaced pickup keys. In fact, seasoned hunters often refer to elk as “the ghosts of the woods” for their stealth-like abili ties. It’s just amazing how they can make sure you won’t see them, even when you are getting close and have the wind in your favor. If you do spot a legal-to-tag elk, don’t hesitate, as it will likely put cov er and distance between you and it at the slightest hint that something is amiss.

SO HOW DO you find yourself an elk? First realize that the somewhat tame elk that you spotted last spring or summer are long

Elk are often found in unforgiving terrain, especially after hunting activity has driven them far from areas offering hunters less strenuous access. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Author Buzz Ramsey spotted this Oregon bull while glassing a facing ridge. While he notes that he had spent plenty of time honing his long-range shooting skills in advance of the 2010 hunt to make the 550-yard shot that put his elk down, these days he doesn’t advise trying shots of more than 250 yards. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

gone. Earlier hunting activity by muzzle loaders, archers and rifle deer hunters has already alerted elk to the human threat. In fact, elk (especially cows) only get more dif ficult to detect as the fall season progresses.

Try contacting the Department of Fish and Wildlife district office nearest your hunting location for information about where to look for elk. This can be especial ly important given the mostly dry summer across the region that may have changed the availability of water and prime forage. Although no one can tell you with certainty where to bag an elk, I’ve found state wildlife personnel helpful in pointing me to areas or watersheds that elk frequent during hunt ing season, and which direction they’re like

ly to travel if a big snow hits.

Serious elk hunters start their days well before first light, which is a good strategy since tracking studies show that elk move the most between 4 and 8 a.m. However, re search also confirms that elk normally move a half-mile or so every few hours during the middle of the day. This is mostly to feed, which might be due to their relatively small rumen. It causes them to eat frequently and take lots of breaks in between to digest their food while snoozing.

Not unlike a savvy mule deer buck, elk like quiet places near water that are locat ed above roads or human activity. If you startle a mature bull, unlike a cow or young male, he will almost always stop briefly to

size up the situation after initially moving 10 to 50 feet; after all, unless he catches your scent, he doesn’t yet know what you are. Unless you spot him first, this will like ly be your only chance at the bull because once he understands what you are, he will beeline away from you with the goal of traveling miles and hiding where he thinks you won’t look.

Also, and again just like a buck deer, a mature bull can hold tight and let you walk by if he thinks you haven’t spotted him. But be aware that if you make eye contact, he will disappear faster than the last Diet Coke at a Weight Watchers convention.

Elk use cover to hide from predators and will normally restrict their movement

A guided hunt for elk, especially one where horses and/or mules are used to get into the backcountry, is something Ramsey encourages every hunter to experience. And while no hunt, guided or not, can guarantee success, hunting with a professional, state-licensed outfitter can teach you a lot about hunting elk and up your chances at success, like the author enjoyed in Wyoming. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

to brush-covered draws, canyons and the back side of clearcuts away from roads. Keep in mind that elk almost never sky line themselves, instead moving along the sides of mountains, hills and canyons.

HUNTING PRESSURE CAN have a huge in fluence on elk movement. For example, if the hunting pressure is light, meaning there are a small number of hunters in the woods and no or few shots fired, dis turbed elk may only move over the next ridge or circle around when frightened.

Under heavy hunting pressure, and especially when accompanied by rifle fire, elk may run for miles before slowing down. For example, in one tracking study where there were shots fired, one elk covered 2 miles in 12 minutes. This is why hunter suc cess during the first few days of the season is often had by those watching known or suspected travel corridors.

Of course, most hunting pressure sub

sides after the first few days of the season. This is when the remaining elk settle into a more low-profile routine than normal. Your best chance during this time period might be to stand hunt during the first hour or two of daylight (when elk move the most) and later organize drives or slow hunts de signed to push fleeing elk to members of your party watching probable exits.

Your best opportunity to bag an elk will likely occur opening morning (this is when most hunters get their elk). If you are in an area where there is fresh elk sign and know other hunters will be working the area too, try taking a stand above a known traveling lane where elk might exit when pushed.

Elk are notorious for circling and exiting at the exact location where you first picked up their trail. If your hunting party is large enough, station a person on a stand down wind from where you first picked up their trail or have another member of your party follow behind you several hundred yards.

This strategy works the best in areas where there is reasonable cover.

Elk are very good at staying invisible to you by using cover to their advantage; for example, they will often cross from one can yon to the next by using a timbered finger draw or low saddle. In addition, they will travel the edge of clearcuts or other brushy corridors. All of these areas are places where taking a stand can lead to successfully am bushing elk pushed by other hunters.

When elk are rotating through large tracts of land in search of fresh forage, they can be very difficult to locate. Also, when hunted they will do their utmost to avoid contact with humans; for example, elk will often avoid crossing a road, choosing in stead to parallel roads traveled by hunters.

One way to find roaming bands of elk or those unwilling to cross roads is to hike off the road 200 to 400 yards, depending on terrain, and look for elk sign. Quickly exit if you don’t find an indication that elk have

HISTORY OF NORTH AMERICAN ELK

There are more elk roaming the woods of North America today than at any other time in the last 100-plus years. Wildlife biologists believe that over 1 million elk, perhaps as many as 1.2 million wapiti, currently inhabit our continent. Their re covery is a model of what can be done in the name of conservation.

Prior to the arrival of the first European settlers, experts believe over 10 million elk roamed North America, with animals ranging from coast to coast. However, by 1907, according to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, elk numbers had plummeted to 41,000 animals. Western settlement, habitat loss, unregulated hunting (meaning it was a free-for-all) and some ranchers in no mood to share their grass with elk were to blame for their dramatic decline.

Yellowstone National Park, established in 1872, was likely the reason elk num bers were saved from virtual obliteration, since it contained the only viable popula tion during those dark years of the late 1800s and early 1900s when elk had all but vanished from the landscape. In later years, Yellowstone elk as well as those from nearby Jackson Hole, Wyoming, were transplanted to many areas, including Eastern Washington and Northeast Oregon, where residents, realizing what they had lost, embraced their reintroduction.

As elk herds grew, states began to allow hunting to keep animal numbers in check and as a way to thank hunters for financing the costs associated with reintroducing elk to their state. For example, Colorado began to allow hunting in 1929; Arizona in 1935. Seasons were reinstated in Eastern Oregon in 1933 and Western Oregon in 1938. By 1985, 400,000 elk roamed the Western U.S., mostly on national forest land.

Elk numbers have continued to grow nationally, thanks in no small part to state and federal wildlife agencies and conservation groups like RMEF. According to Wildlife Informer, Oregon’s elk population is estimated to be around 130,000 animals, Wash ington has 60,000 and Idaho has roughly 120,000 elk roaming the state. –BR

been using the area. Drive a mile or two up the road and repeat the process until you start to find fresh tracks or droppings. I har vested my first elk, a cow, by employing this strategy combined with using a cow call to calm the nerves of the ever-wary elk.

If all else fails, pray for snow. Fresh snow makes tracking easy and will allow you to quickly determine where concentrations of elk are located. However, the person follow ing fresh tracks might be the least likely to spot elk. Success might be had by position ing other members of your party at possible escape routes well in advance of the elk be ing pushed. Areas to observe include adja cent canyons, the edges of nearby clearcuts and brush-covered draws – all in an effort to see and harvest the ghost of the woods. NS

Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is regarded as a trout, steelhead and salmon sport fishing authority and proficient lure and fishing rod designer. He has been honored into the Hall of Fame for the Association of Northwest Steelheaders and the national Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.

Head To Timber For Upland Mix

GUN DOGGIN’ 101

By Scott Haugen

October is here, the best month of the season if you’re a bird hunter with a gun dog. From doves to ducks, geese to crows, chukar to pheasant, turkey to snipe, there’s no shortage of thrilling hunts to be had.

One of my favorite hunts is heading into the forests in search of multiple species. In Western Oregon, where I live, I may find ruffed and blue grouse, and mountain and valley quail – sometimes all in the same day.

BOTH THE CASCADE and Coast Ranges hold all four upland gems. Typically, you’ll find valley quail at lower elevations, ruffed grouse from creek bottoms to the high peaks, and mountain quail and blue grouse from mid- to high elevations. Don’t be surprised to find valley quail above 2,500 feet, especially if newly logged units provide food and cover. It’s not uncommon to find both quail subspecies in the same place, especially as winter approaches and mountain quail drop in elevation.

Ruffed grouse are largely homebodies. They love lowland river and creek habitats, but also thrive in dense, 10- to 15-year-old Douglas fir. Prime ruffed habitat consists of thick cover bordering semiopen terrain with a nearby creek. These riparian zones also hold good valley quail.

The strain of blue grouse occupying lands from the Cascades to the coast is the sooty, while habitats east of the Cascades hold dusky grouse. Many sooty hunters begin their search at 2,500 feet. However, in recent years I’ve been seeing a lot of blues between 500 and 750 feet. It’s not uncommon to take

Mountain biking designated roads is a great way to cover ground and let your dog find less-pressured forest grouse and quail. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

blues and ruffs on the same ridge.

“In Western Oregon we’re finding sooty grouse prefer older stands of Douglas fir timber situated near clearcuts,” shares Kelly Walton, assistant game bird biologist for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “We’re also finding a surprising number of sooty grouse occupying very rugged terrain that’s been disturbed by landslides, logging, even wildfires. Where a disturbance creates an opening in steep country, and is near habitat that holds food, water and cover, we’re finding a good number of blues, but the big timber is key.”

“Blue grouse will occupy different habitats across their range based on food availability,” offers Walton. “Early in the season insects make up a large part of all the birds’ diets, so spend time in open

areas where bugs thrive, near habitats grouse and quail feel safe in.”

Mountain quail are also abundant but hard to locate as the season progresses.

“Both male and female mountain quail incubate a nest, and when they hatch, join as a family unit,” notes Walton. “They’ll even join other family units. These birds can hold so tight, like nothing I’ve ever seen.”

MOST HUNTERS DRIVE roads in search of birds, then turn their dogs loose. The edges of logging roads are places all four bird species can be found in the morning and evening, gathering food as well as grit.

Gated roads that allow nonmotorized access are some of my favorite habitats to hunt. I like taking off on a mountain bike, letting the dogs work ahead of me.

This is big country, so don’t expect to go out and shoot all four birds in a day, though it’s possible. With these birds it’s all about covering ground and that takes time.

If you’re fit to hike and your dogs can cover ground, focus efforts along old cat tracks – rudimentary roads that were punched into the forest to access logging sites. If put in near stands of mature timber and logged units, these crude roads can hold all four species of birds.

Ruffed grouse, valley quail and blue grouse hold well for a dog. Early in the season blue grouse hang close together as they feed. These are big birds that leave a lot of scent.

On these hunts, start early in the morning to beat the heat; evenings can also be productive. Your dogs can cover

Author Scott Haugen’s dogs work a slash pile in search of mountain quail. Until burned, these piles can create ideal habitat for both mountain and valley quail, especially if ground cover and forest are near. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

a lot of ground, so be sure to have plenty of fresh water. Make sure their toenails are trimmed with no rough edges, as the ground is rocky and hard and you don’t want to deal with split or torn nails.

Be sure the long hair between the toes and pads, as well as inside the ear canals, is trimmed because grass seeds can be prevalent if it’s dry out. Not until we get a series of hard rains will grass seeds subside, so it’s a good idea to bring a fine-toothed grooming brush, even scissors to cut out knotted fur.

If running on rock and dry dirt, check your dog’s pads to make sure they’re not split or worn too thin. Make sure your dog is in good shape and not overweight; if they are, don’t push too hard, for we all know a driven gun dog doesn’t know when to stop. NS

Editor’s note: Scott Haugen is a full-time writer. See his puppy training videos and learn more about his many books at scotthaugen.com and follow him on Instagram and Facebook.

A morning hunt produced a pair of mountain quail and a nice ruffed grouse for Haugen and his gun dogs in the Cascade Range. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

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Welcome To Fallbacore

By Jeff Holmes

Here in mid-September, tuna captains and anglers up and down the coast from Oregon to Alaska are still waiting eagerly for leading social media voices to tell us whether this is a good tuna year or not. Meanwhile, moving into autumn, we continue to bide our time filling up fish holds close to shore and canning and freezing vast amounts of tuna until Facebook experts make their determinations.

Kidding aside, tuna season 2022 has been outrageous and continues to be, with no stop in sight soon. Catches in Canada and Southeast Alaska have been bigger than ever, and Oregon and Washington are in tip-top form. Hopes are high for a strong October, one where we can fish deep into the month for slob albacore and other random pelagics that have shown up in this year’s catch so far, including yellowtail jacks, opah, mahi mahi and bluefin tuna. While exotics like these are occasional, it’s the huge schools of albacore pushing at times within 30 miles of shore that are the draw.

Albacore are not the giant cow yellowfin or bluefin some of us travel to catch or that we watch landed on TV, but they get plenty big, with the world record under dispute but surely

Captain Mitch Coleman holds a big, fat albacore I caught “walking the dog” with a topwater bait while F/V Bone was on “the slide” after hooking up two troll fish. The slide is the 30 to 60 seconds a tuna boat is still in motion after the captain cuts the engines and the crew grabs live bait rods in hopes troll-caught fish indicate a large, hungry school of albacore. Notice the angler hooked up over Coleman’s shoulder. Not pictured are three more anglers with deeply bent rods on the starboard rail. (JEFF HOLMES)

It’s been a good tuna season, and the best may be yet to come as fish fatten up off the Northwest Coast into fall.

topping 80 pounds. Our albacore are teenagers, and a fish topping 40 pounds is huge. Instead they average somewhere around 15 pounds when they arrive in our waters between late June and late July. Amazing travelers that span the Pacific, albacore are one of the most sustainable fish stocks and are lower in mercury and

other contaminants than other tuna, especially the teenage meat rockets that patrol the continental shelf off the Northwest Coast.

By the time October rolls around, albacore have gorged on Pacific saury, sardines, squid and shrimp, and put on several pounds. It’s not unusual to see a boat average of over 20 pounds a fish this month. On my most memorable day of ocean fishing ever out of a large sample set, I fished with Captain Ian Winder of All Rivers and Saltwater Charters (allriversguideservice.com) and filled up the boat on one bait stop without ever needing to troll. While schools of albacore rolled and porpoised all around the boat as far

A full tank of big, lively anchovies is an exciting sight for those of us who’ve felt the magic of a wide-open live-bait bite for albacore. On this latesummer day aboard Mark Coleman’s 42-foot luxury tuna vessel, F/V Integrity, these anchovies would give their lives as chum and lively baits in service of filling up the boat with a nice grade of albacore close to shore. Anchovies don’t live offshore in the bluewater and are commercially netted close to shore, but the tuna don’t seem to notice. (JEFF HOLMES)

as the eye could see during our entire time on the water, we wore out our arms and backs filling the fish holds with 50 mph tuna averaging well over 20 pounds apiece. Weather depending, this October is shaping up for fishing of this caliber.

THIS YEAR HAS been an exciting turnaround from the past couple years of tuna fishing out of Westport and other Northwest harbors, which have been tough with fish holding further offshore than normal. That meant longer runs and more time spent getting to and fro rather than hooking, gaffing and bleeding delicious albacore tuna. Fears of a repeat performance in 2022 were put to rest in late July when the season started with a bang, and the fishing has kept banging, with fish drawing within 30 miles of shore at times and plugged boats being the rule rather than the exception.

I got out in early August and late August this year, with a third trip planned for the first week of October. If conditions allow, I will make the manageable drive from Tri-Cities a fourth time to capitalize on more fat October tuna, and no matter where you live in the Pacific Northwest, you should too. I’ve abandoned deer and elk hunting plans on a few occasions in October to cash in on a sure thing on the tuna grounds. Six to eight October albacore yield more meat than almost all but the biggest bucks. I thought long and hard about a lucrative blackpowder mule deer hunt on a mountain I truly love, but this year’s bounty and memories from two amazing latesummer trips nixed the idea.

On my first 2022 trip in early August I met up with the Anglers Edge Sportfishing (anglersedgesportfishing .com) crew at 5:30 a.m. in the Westport Boat Basin for what we hoped would be a glassy ride offshore.

Secondary swells shot down that idea, but Captain Mitch Coleman nevertheless got us to the grounds in a little over two hours without breaking our spines. As he deployed a first troll rod to start the morning after seeing

Bill Cheser, owner of Anglers Edge Sportfishing, holds an albacore after a productive first bait stop on a late-summer day when we would plug the boat with 53 tuna for six anglers. Cheser’s tunaninja employees – Captain Coleman and deckhand extraordinaire Kyle Hoxie – plan to chase tuna as deep into October as the fish stick around or until ocean conditions shut it down. Some Octobers that’s late into the month. (JEFF HOLMES)

FISHING

a school of tuna on his Raymarine electronics, an albacore almost ripped it from his hands before he could put it in the holder. Unprepared for a bait stop, a half-green crew and three seasoned albacore anglers grabbed live bait rods for a first bait stop. Having fished for tuna quite a bit and with some amazingly athletic and practiced deck hands, I was sincerely amazed by the speed and dexterity of deckhand Kyle Hoxie, who baited rods and

directed the crew to their positions faster than I have ever seen. Despite supposedly not being ready and snapping off a troll fish – which often sends schools away to the depths – we translated that first bait stop into six fish and got back on the troll.

Hoxie and hands-on Captain Coleman kept the mood fun while delivering deft instruction to those who needed it as we searched for more fish, and it didn’t take long.

Three troll rods went off, two with small diving plugs and one trailing a traditional cedar plug lure behind an outrigger rod extended far to the starboard side of the boat. Three of us reeled in troll fish, converting them all, as Hoxie got the other three fishing bait. Coleman gaffed our fish, and Hoxie handed up bait rods, resulting in another strong bait stop of seven fish.

With 15 fish in the hold we were

BOOK NOW FOR SPRING 2023 BOTTOMFISH

When fall storms come – as they always do, usually late in October or early November – albacore will leave our coast. The waters off Westport and other fishing ports in Washington will lie dormant for sport anglers until the second-Saturdayin-March bottomfish opener.

To the south in Oregon, bottomfishing never closes, and opportunities exist in rare weather windows to fish the ocean in the late fall and winter.

But in the ocean off the coast of the Evergreen State, reefs and jetties reload with fish that will be snappy and ready to bite come the opener.

Consider booking trips now for spring rockfish and lingcod and the halibut openers that follow later in the spring. Getting on the books early for the halibut openers is an especially good idea since those seats will be hard to come by to nonexistent come springtime.

With ball crawls eliminated from Chuck E. Cheese and similar locales, a deck full of 53 dead, bled albacore is perhaps cleaner and as close as one gets to ball crawlin’ these days. Here Hoxie negotiates 53 tripping hazards as a crew of happy anglers prepare for Mitch Coleman to take a “meat shot” picture displaying a short day’s worth of carnage.

(JEFF HOLMES)

Taking my own advice, I booked a halibut trip with Anglers Edge Sportfishing the minute I heard they fish electric reels for the extremely deepwater fishing that occurs offshore for halibut and deepwater lingcod. I’ve manually wound fish up from 700 feet out of Westport, but it’s not a sporty experience I’m looking for when it comes to deep-water dropping for our tastiest fish. I want snow-white fish flesh, I want it to come easy, and I want to deep fry it and gorge on fish and chips and tartar sauce. –JH

off to a great start, but the next few troll fish resulted in only a fish or two per bait stop. Worries that the hot morning fishing was disappearing were squelched by an 18-fish bait stop, followed by a series of string stops that plugged the boat at 53 albacore and a glassy, 90-minute run back to the harbor. Hoxie loined and bagged all 53 fish on that short run,

putting me on the road earlier than I expected with eight and a half tuna on salted ice I bought from Merino’s seafood in Westport. They will also process and can your fish for you if you don’t want to do it yourself. Other than failing to keep it cold, there’s nothing more destructive to tuna meat than exposing it to freshwater – including ice made from freshwater

so I prioritize a stop at Merino’s for the same ice commercial boats rely on. I’m a diehard ARSC client, but this first tuna trip with Angler’s Edge Sportfishing split my loyalties and has me headed back for another trip on F/V Bone for October 2.

I ALSO BOOKED a late August trip on ARSC’s new flagship vessel, F/V Integrity, a 42-foot thing of beauty powered by 900 total horsepower of Yamaha Outboards. Equipped with a “gyro” system in the hull that lessens the roll of the boat and air-shock seats, Mark Coleman’s new boat is unlike any boat I’ve ever fished aboard, and I was excited to get underway.

Coleman is the Michael Corleone of the Westport tuna fleet, minus the crime and brother killing, and I’ve been fishing with him for years. The day before I got out, the tuna fleet had scored at barely over 30 miles from the dock, and all of the boats returned, plugged, before noon. Coleman’s boat slid over glassy water and had us on the successful grounds from the day before in barely over an hour. We trolled the same waters that had been packed with eager biters the previous day, only to troll for almost two hours without a bite. I had a great time asking a crew of older, high-ranking Tacoma cops questions about law enforcement challenges as we trolled and threw chum as we neared birds and floating logs, but none of the rods went off.

As I was learning the details of why West Coast urban areas’ homeless epidemics presented by far the biggest challenges to police, Coleman politely hollered to reel up the gear and that we were making a move. He rocketed north and ended up just over 40 miles offshore, stopping when we saw “jumpers” amidst huge schools of surfacing Pacific mackerel. We started with a bait stop and brought several tuna aboard before we started hooking undesirable mackerel. Coleman went on the troll and we soon scored troll fish, followed by several tuna on each of three stops.

This Seahawks-colored mahi mahi, or dorado, is emblematic of the occasional exotics to be caught off the Northwest Coast, a list that also includes yellowtail amberjacks, opah, bluefin tuna, mackerel – even striped marlin. Taylor Veary, son of one of this magazine’s original kayak columnists, Mark Veary, caught this rare mahi mahi in early September off Ilwaco while actually helping to clear lines during a tuna bait stop. (PACIFIC SALMON CHARTERS)

Deckhands for Anglers Edge Sportfishing, All Rivers and Saltwater Charters and other sporty six-pack operations show remarkable bravery, balance and knife skills as they loin out 40 to 50 tuna while boats rocket back to shore. Here ARSC deckhand and parttime captain Chance Clymer expertly wields knives as Mark Coleman’s three 300-horsepower Yamahas propel a tuna-rich crew of Tacoma cops back to port at 28 knots. (JEFF HOLMES)

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If you’ve never had home-canned tuna, you simply do not understand how good a tuna sandwich can be, nor any tuna dishes where canned tuna is part of the recipe. It’s special. I can all my bottom loins and the trim from my top loins and carefully wrap and freeze my trimmed top loins for searing and sushi. I use some of my belly meat to make my canned tuna even richer, and I can a small handful of bellies in half-pint jars for friends and mentors who believe it increases their Super Bait success on salmon. I don’t think it matters. (JEFF HOLMES)

It was our fifth stop of the day that converted a slow day into an epic day as we landed a total of 21 tuna on one bait stop. During that stop, tuna and mackerel boiled on the surface all around us, eating Pacific saury, along with a minke whale that also got in on the saury buffet. A slow start resulted in full holds and eight fish per angler on a gloriously sunny and flat day on the ocean. We were back at the dock early, when it looked previously like we might be grinding all day.

All of the six-pack operations that offer same-day express-style trips do very well and are good bets, but I am a firm believer and loyal fan of the Colemans, whether it’s Mark or Mitch at the helm, or the excellent people they surround themselves with. They are my choices for October tuna trips, but if you can get on any boat this October, I highly recommend it. If weather allows, this month the Northwest tuna grounds offer the best fishing of the year. NS

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More Than Just A Chinook Show

Coho are coming on strong in Mid-Columbia fall salmon fisheries, and this should be a good month to catch them and late upriver brights.

By Jeff Holmes

Sometimes it seems like no matter what they do, state salmon managers can’t catch a break from the angling community. The 2022 salmon bounty on the Columbia River is a classic example of this. No matter how knowledgeable or ignorant an angler is, he or she (usually he) thinks he or she knows better and that the biologists who control our seasons and make predictions are bumbling fools. Usually it’s the other way around, but truth be told, there are some salmon managers and also political decisions and pressures from on high in Olympia, Salem, and Washington DC that are super stupid. Similarly, federal laws our state managers must follow draw plenty of fire from anglers who think it’s merely the ignorance of biologists that lead to fisheries restrictions.

Take the almost-two-week closure of the Lower Columbia last month as a great example of this. It was entirely driven by state managers observing federal laws. Most of our salmon managers are anglers and good people, and it’s sometimes painful to watch them take constant crap on social media, at boat launches

Salmon fishing is far from done on the MidColumbia. Coho join in on the fall Chinook fun in waters that stretch from Drano Lake past the Deschutes and Umatilla Rivers to the Hanford Reach and into the Snake as far as Hells Canyon. Here, Chad Dawson fights a salmon at the Klickitat River mouth on an October day that would serve up limits of silvers and kings for a guided crew. (JERRY HAN)

and in sporting goods stores from folks who are typically well removed from the realities of navigating complicated federal and state laws, court decisions and lawsuit threats, highly altered ecosystems, largely unchecked guiding and increasingly lethal and numerous sport anglers.

All of these factors and many more make managing and predicting fish runs harder than ever.

I for one am super pleased that managers “screwed up” and completely misforecast salmon runs in 2022 and that way more spring, summer and fall Chinook

FISHING

have returned than predicted, along with record and near-record runs of sockeye and coho. I wish they had similarly screwed up forecasting steelhead returns. The springers, summers and sockeye are all zombies or dead at this point, but there are still plenty of bright fall Chinook and many more bright coho still available to salmon anglers above Bonneville. For those like me who plan to cash in on the 2022 bounty of salmon throughout October and even into November for coho, here is a short overview of where to go for both kings and coho. Make no mistake that the later in October we get the more fireengine-red salmon we will encounter, but enough fresh fish will continue to cross Bonneville throughout October to result in excellent to good fishing. This is especially true for coho.

KLICKITAT, UMATILLA, HANFORD REACH COHO

With over 75,000 coho over Bonneville at the midway point of September, we are trending to see well over 100,000 fish cross the dam this fall, an absurd number owed to excellent ocean conditions but also to expanded hatchery runs bolstered by inland tribes such as the Nez Perce, Yakamas and Umatillas, and also by nontribal managers under decree from legislators to make more orca food. Whatever. Bring on the coho! October will bring some of the best coho angling we have ever seen above Bonneville to several fisheries, some of which I won’t discuss since they are far upstream and since I am interested in chromers and think you should be too. One fishery I will skip that does account for plenty of chromers is Drano Lake, which should not be overlooked.

Without a doubt, the Klickitat is the crown jewel for coho above Bonneville, whether that’s in the river itself or in the wildly popular fishery at the mouth in its bottom half mile and in the Columbia. Enough fresh “B-run” coho will show here to keep the fishing going well into November,

Coho are an increasingly viable Mid-Columbia fall fishery, thanks to strong tribal restoration and state supplementation efforts. Austin Han caught this one near Tri-Cities two seasons ago. New production at Ringold Springs Hatchery in the Hanford Reach is adding to returns bound for Upper Columbia tributaries. (JERRY HAN)

but the Klickitat’s peak is definitely in October, and the freshest, chromiest fish will be found in the Columbia, especially the later into the month we get. Best accessed from Mayer State Park in Oregon or from an unimproved but solid launch in Lyle on the Washington side, the fishery at the mouth of the Klickitat produces

lots of limits of fish that average 6 to 9 pounds but with plenty of fish larger than that and some extending into the high teens.

A wide variety of tactics work here; I have had luck trolling plugs, trolling and casting spinners, twitching jigs and fishing eggs. Huge numbers of fish will lie on the several-hundred-yard-long

shelf just off of the channel marker where the Klick dumps into the Columbia, and many boats concentrate here. Don’t be afraid to go looking for fish away from the crowd here, especially downstream, but always note that there is a large concentration of coho off the shelf that go on and off the bite throughout the day. Fishing a good coon shrimp on a 3.5 bladed prawn spinner behind either a rotating or triangle flasher can be lethal here and results in bycatches of Chinook.

Fishing in the bottom half-mile of the Klickitat can be very good too, although it’s close quarters and can be crowded and competitive. Staying out in the Columbia is the best option for most, and it’s a relatively easy fishery to learn. Chrome fish continue to trickle into the mouth until late November, and fishing over a relatively small number of fish can still be excellent.

Over the last decade, the Umatilla Tribe and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife have done a solid job of establishing a large run of coho in the Umatilla River. It is plagued by low flows and access issues, but I have floated the river in a raft for coho in the past after securing access and

have caught fish.

To me, the real opportunity here is at the mouth of the river in the Columbia and in the first several hundred yards of the river. Fish here are often chrome and willing to bite. Throwing Vibrax spinners or fishing eggs under bobbers are both effective from shore, as is trolling small plugs, spinners and Super Baits in the Columbia at its mouth in the town of Umatilla. Bank options exist in Umatilla in the slow-moving water below the rapids downstream from Three-Mile Dam, but the mouth at the Columbia is best fished from a boat. Launches exist across the Columbia at Plymouth State Park or less than a mile upstream at the Umatilla Marina in Oregon.

Fishing is solid throughout the month of October, but does not hold up as well late into the fall like it does on the Klickitat.

A large return of coho is expected to return to the Hanford Reach this fall at the Ringold Hatchery, and TriCities anglers are chomping at the bit for these fish, which are the larger, later-returning B-run coho. This will be the second year of returns,

but more and larger (two-salt) fish are expected this year. Released notionally as food for southern resident killer whales, the coho will at least end up on some dinner tables.

Along with the standard trolling techniques employed on the Hanford Reach, anglers should carry twitching jigs and Vibrax and other casting spinners. Fishing slightly above Ringold, around the hatchery creek itself, and downstream of Ringold in the excellent eddies and slow-moving backwaters of the free-flowing Columbia are good ideas. Watch for surface action in these areas and be prepared to experiment to figure out this new run. A handful of anglers did quite well at Ringold last year, and this year is expected to be much better. Coho will also certainly be caught incidentally by Chinook anglers at Ringold in October, but actually targeting these fish might result in more chrome fish with better table fare as more and more Hanford Reach kings move into spawning colors and their flesh degrades throughout the month.

There are, of course, other opportunities for upriver coho – Icicle Creek, Idaho’s Clearwater River and

No doubt that the flesh of fall salmon degrades more rapidly than that of spring and summer fish, especially the later in October we get, but even several hundred miles above the ocean, Columbia coho and Chinook can still cut well this month. (JERRY HAN)

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FISHING

the Oregon side of the Grande Ronde River – and some of these might be great to try, but I’m suspicious of table fare the further upriver coho swim.

REACH, KLICK, DESCHUTES, SNAKE CHINOOK

The Hanford Reach is home to a huge, underpredicted run of fish to the gravel in the river and lesser but strong numbers to Ringold and Priest Rapids Hatcheries. Fresh kings will continue to return to the Reach throughout October, but with every day more kings are adorned with their spawning colors, with all of their energy and goodness leaving their flesh and going into their gonads. Still, plenty of great fishing/ catching opportunities exist in October, although the upper stretch of the Reach from Priest Rapids Dam to the old Hanford town site and wooden power lines closes at the end of fishing on October 15. Meanwhile, the river below the powerlines is

technically open for all salmon through December 31.

In terms of catch rates, the best at the Hanford Reach occur in October, but a lot of red and purple kings get retained by both private and guide boats during this time. I’ve also seen gorgeous, red-cutting kings well into October. Because of dam operations and reliably unreliable spikes in river level, be prepared to troll flashers and Super Baits in low water and to back down Magnum Warts, other plugs, Spin-N-Glos and bait, and other backtrolling presentations when velocities increase.

Fresh Chinook roll into the Klickitat throughout October, and targeting the deep water in the Columbia off of the shelf at the mouth of the river is a good idea. Troll downstream approximately 2.5 mph and upstream approximately 1.5 mph, using heavy leads to get rotating flasher and Super Bait combos within 4 to 6 feet of the bottom. Some

large and surprisingly bright fish are caught throughout the month here, especially earlier in October.

Upstream, the mouth of the Deschutes produces pretty well in the first two weeks of October using similar tactics, but focus on doing strictly a downstream troll. Like at the Klick mouth, chasing bottom with lures that puke bait is the best way to catch kings as water temps drop and salmon numbers thin.

The Snake River is home to increasing numbers of fall kings –the mid-September count at Lower Granite Dam was the most on record back to its creation in 1975 – and good fishing occurs at the Lyons Ferry Hatchery, in and around the Lewis and Clark Valley, and up into Hells Canyon. Anglers face the same challenges with declining table fare the later in the month it gets, but there are plenty of fall kings to catch in all of these places throughout October 2022. NS

The Jig Is Upstream

At the Clearwater-Snake confluence, jigging for fall Chinook can be productive.

By Rick Itami

For many boat fishermen, angling for fall Chinook in freshwater usually involves trolling various kinds of flashers or dodgers trailed by cut-plug herring or different types of lures. While I employ trolling myself with good success at times, another method which is far less common but can be just as effective is becoming my favorite way to catch kings this time of year: jigging lures off the river bottom.

I first witnessed this method when I lived in Vancouver in the late 1990s and fished on the Lower Columbia. While most of us in boats were trolling or anchored while fishing our lures off the bottom, one boat was free drifting off the mouth of the Sandy River. Two fellows were jigging what I later found out to be Buzz Bomb lures. They were hooking fall Chinook on almost every pass. But for some reason, I never gave it much thought for several years.

Then, in 2017, I had an epiphany while fishing the Clearwater River in Idaho. I witnessed two fellows tied up to a bridge and jigging Crippled Herring-like lures in 35 feet of water. They caught their two-fish limits in less than two hours, two days in a row. Not surprisingly, the pair were more successful than anyone else on the river using other techniques. That really inspired me to give this method a try.

I FOUND A variety of lures at Sportsman’s Warehouse and Cabela’s that seemed to look like those used by the two Clearwater anglers. Rigging up was simple. I spooled 50-poundtest braid onto my levelwind reel, attached a swivel to the end of the braid, added 3 feet of 20-pound-test

Author Rick Itami holds a fall Chinook he caught jigging a 4-ounce silver Cabela’s lure last month. Having forgotten his net in the truck, the Spokane-based angler summoned the help of a young kayaker named Henry who jumped into the boat and netted the salmon for him.

fluorocarbon leader and tied on the jigging lure. I use a medium-heavyaction 9-foot rod.

My first attempt at jigging occurred on a late-September day in 2017 while anchored in the confluence of the Clearwater and Snake Rivers in Lewiston. I had been fishing for

steelhead with coon shrimp below a float in 20 feet of water. When the steelhead bite went off as usual about 10 a.m., I took out my jigging rod and started jigging a 4-ounce silver and chartreuse lure just off the bottom. I would let the lure hit bottom, then reel up a turn or two and start briskly

(RICK ITAMI)

sweeping the rod 3 to 4 feet upward and then dropping the rod tip quickly down so that the lure would flutter down like a wounded minnow. Almost immediately, I started feeling bumps that I later discovered were fall Chinook trying to strike the dropping lure and missing slightly.

Within 10 minutes of starting the jigging technique, I had a solid hookup with a heavy fish that streaked off toward deeper water. After several runs that are typical of Chinook, my brother-in-law netted the 12-pound wild male, which we had to release back then. Within the next hour I had several other bumps and hookups. Folks in other boats anchored nearby were curious as to what kind of lure I was using, which I gladly shared with them. We quit at 1 p.m., having landed five Chinook, three of which were wild and had to be released.

WHAT I’VE LEARNED while jigging in the confluence is that when the fish are spread out, it’s better to drift with the current. The confluence is in the backwaters of Lower Granite Dam, located 30 miles downstream from Lewiston. The current is quite slow in the fall, usually 3 to 6 mph. While drifting, you must always watch your electronics and adjust the depth you are jigging with the shape of the bottom below you.

One of the negatives about jigging is that it can be tiresome for some. I

have some friends who can only jig 15 minutes at a time before wearing out. One way to lessen the fatigue is to use one hand as a fulcrum just above your reel and use your other hand to raise and lower the rod tip. This takes less muscle than using just one arm to do all the work.

Some fellow fishermen who are unsuccessful jigging for fall Chinook have motored over to me to ask what they were doing wrong. One observation I have shared with them is that often they are too gentle in raising and lowering their rod. I employ an aggressive sweeping move that seems to attract the fish to attack the lure. Also, some folks only jerk the rods up a foot or so, which is not enough. Again, I find the best success by moving the lure 3 to 4 feet up and down just above the bottom. One fellow said that he was told to always keep slight tension on the line as the lure drops so you can detect when a fish hits. I disagree because I think it kills the flutter action of the dropping lure, which seems to draw the fish’s attention better.

Also, to the extent possible, try to make sure your lure is directly below you as you are jigging. If you are drifting and the wind is blowing your boat around, I suggest using a bowmounted electric trolling motor to position your boat to keep your lure as vertical as possible.

Another positive about jigging is that it seems to work any time of the

day. While trolling success usually ends a couple hours after sunrise in our area, I have caught fall Chinook jigging from the dark of morning to sunset. The best thing about that is during the late afternoon when all of the trolling boats have left the water, you practically have the whole river to yourself, allowing you to drift areas that are too crowded earlier in the day.

LAST YEAR, THE Idaho Department of Fish and Game came up with what I think is a brilliant plan that helps assure broodstock targets are met while allowing sport fishermen a bigger bag limit, which includes unclipped fall Chinook. Beginning in August, IDFG starts trapping 60 percent of the fall Chinook for broodstock as they pass over Lower Granite. They purposely target larger fish to produce bigger adults in the future.

As IDFG gets closer to meeting broodstock goals, they drop the trapped percentage to 18 percent. One important item to remember is that these fish are trapped after the fish are counted in the viewing windows of the dam. When you look at the counts over Lower Granite, you should realize that 60 or 18 percent of those fish will be removed for broodstock purposes before they hit your fishing area.

Before this plan was implemented, sports fishermen were limited to clipped fall Chinook only. Under the new plan in 2022, you can harvest three adult fall Chinook, clipped or unclipped. Who ever heard of such a generous bag limit on kings in a river?

With hundreds of fish coming over Lower Granite each day this fall, by mid-September I had a good opportunity to compare trolling for fall Chinook versus jigging. To make a long story short, I was more successful jigging.

If you don’t mind a little work and are interested in trying something new that can be a productive way to catch fall Chinook, give jigging a try. When done right, it can put fish in the cooler! NS

Itami uses this assortment of jigs when targeting fall Chinook at the mouth of the Clearwater, where barbless hooks are required. (RICK ITAMI)

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A Return To The Ronde

By Mike Wright

Located in a rather remote and isolated corner of Southeast Washington and Northeast Oregon, the Grande Ronde River has long had a small but devoted following of hardcore anglers willing to endure the extremes of travel, weather, wind and rugged terrain in their search for hard-fighting steelhead. In the late

1980s and early ’90s this small cadre of devotees began to expand considerably.

As word got out that this rather small desert stream contained some true aquatic treasures, something akin to a gold rush began to take place. The vast majority of this “rush” was centered on the lower part of the river, which lies on the Washington side of the border.

Although it might be safe to assume these 2.5 miles above the Ronde’s

mouth at Heller Bar on the Snake River would provide enough distance to easily accommodate a sizeable number of fishermen, unfortunately this is not always the case. Access is decent, which makes the lower few miles very popular and it can be more than a little crowded at certain times of the year, particularly fall.

For those individuals seeking a little less companionship, floating the river

After a series of down years, the Grande Ronde River could see an uptick in steelhead returns this fall.

Hatchery and wild steelhead traditionally provide a good fishery on the lower Grande Ronde River just upstream of Hells Canyon, as well as through the rest of the system as they move upstream to spawning areas from fall into spring. (JOSH MILLS)

might be a good alternative. However, it should be pointed out that there are some areas where it is best to have considerable drift boat experience. One section in particular is an area apply referred to as Chicken-out Rapids, better known as the Narrows. In this section between Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife accesses at the bottom of Shumaker Grade and the river’s mouth, the Ronde in summer and fall squeezes down to the point where extended oars cannot be used. It’s best to rope through the Narrows.

Another consideration is the fact, that most of the floats cannot be completed in one day, so camping at least one night is required. One excellent float trip would be to put in at Boggan’s Oasis (under new ownership after the Vails retired earlier this year and back open after a big remodeling) along Highway 129 and work down toward the mouth, a run that takes two days. The advantage of this float is that shuttles and prepared lunches are available, making the trip a little more pleasant. But again, beware the

Narrows just above Joseph Creek.

SEVERAL GAME FISH species lurk in the Grande Ronde, but its summer steelhead are far and away the most targeted. The publication Best Fishing in America has listed the river as one of the very best steelhead destinations in the Northwest. It is also one of the very few streams where it is possible to catch steelhead on a dry fly.

The size of steelhead in the Grande Ronde is, on average, somewhat smaller than those in nearby Idaho streams that are home to B-runs. However, these A-runs more than make up for their comparative size with their outstanding fighting abilities. A few begin to appear in the river as early as August, but the bulk of the run arrives in September, October – when fall catches typically peak – and, depending on weather conditions, through November, before picking up again in late winter.

For many years the Grande Ronde system had very good and reliable runs – the 2009-10 season yielded

whopping hatchery harvests of 12,724 on the Washington side and 15,250 in Oregon – even when the nearby Snake and Salmon Rivers saw major declines. However, since around 2016 the Ronde has suffered through some rather poor returns as well, with harvests dropping to just 680 and 527 in Washington in 2018-19 and 201920, respectively, and 143 in Oregon in fall 2018, the last year stats were immediately available for that state.

It should be pointed out that 1) there are just times when there may be a reasonably decent number of fish in the river, but because of weather or water conditions you have to work a little harder to get them to accept your offering, and 2) steelhead runs are cyclical and may well bounce back as ocean conditions improve. Indeed, after a half-dozen poor years in a row, returns appear to be ticking back up. The count at Lower Granite, the upper dam on Washington’s Snake, was running a bit above the 10-year average as of mid-September and managers had upgraded A-run expectations from the

Josh Mills of the Wild Steelhead Coalition celebrates the acquisition of 7 acres along the lower Ronde. The organization and numerous fly fishing clubs put up $34,000 to purchase the land from an owner who had long leased it to the state but could have sold it off for development. WSC then donated it to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife last year. Also in 2021, former state Fish and Wildlife Commission member Larry Cassidy and his wife Marilou donated land at the base of Shumaker Grade for fishing and boating. (JOSH MILLS)

RONDE NOW SEES COHO RETURNS, FISHERIES

Nearly three decades ago now, the Nez Perce Tribe began reintroducing coho in Idaho’s Clearwater River. The species had been declared extinct in the Snake in the mid-1980s, but surplus eggs from Lower Columbia stocks were used to kickstart recovery and the restoration program has been highly successful.

So too it would appear on the Grande Ronde, where the species was extirpated by the early 1910s. A bit more than a century later, the tribe and Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife began releasing smolts into the Grande Ronde system’s Lostine River, near Enterprise, and that has led to coho fisheries opening the past two Octobers on a 7-mile stretch near Troy, just upstream of the Washington border. Catches haven’t been huge and the fish are pretty colored up so far above saltwater, but it supports restoration goals and provides another native species to target. –MW & NWS

forecast of 81,000 to just under 96,000. No doubt those are good signs for the Ronde and all rivers in the region the stock returns to, but to guard against shifting-baseline syndrome, it should be pointed out that since 1984 only five years will have seen less than 100,000 A-runs, all since 2018.

Although the Grande Ronde is best known for its outstanding fly fishing, lures and bait are allowed in most parts of the river. There are, however, sections with special gear regulations, along with a catch-and-release requirement in fall on the lower 2.5 miles before it enters the Snake. Also note that all tributaries (except those of the Wenaha River) from the mouth to the Oregon state line

are closed. It would probably be a wise decision to include a Washington state rules pamphlet with your fishing gear.

FOR THE FLYRODDER, the Grande Ronde is usually considered fishable when the water clarity rate is a foot or more, which typically isn’t an issue in fall. When fishing the river during this clear-water time, standard steelhead flies such as a General Practitioner, Spawning Purple, Skunk Butt and Intruder will work. When the water is murkier, brighter flies such as chartreuse marabous and Polar Shrimp are more effective.

The Ronde is generally a shallow river, making wade fishing available in most places. However, there are

areas where the rocks are extremely slick and many anglers end up taking an unplanned swim. Good-quality wading boots with nonslip soles would be highly recommended.

With its typical depths, a 6-, 7- or 8-weight rod with floating line and a 7- to 9-foot 1X or 2X leader would be a good setup. Another method to fish the river is with intermediate sink-tip lines and a short 3- to 4-foot leader. Try to keep the fly close to the bottom and let it swing across the current.

Thanks in no small part to Ed Ward and others, the use of a Spey rod has become popular on the Ronde. With a sizable amount of brush along the bank in many places, a roll cast and dead drifting through a run can save your flies and a great deal of aggravation.

As I mentioned, the Grande Ronde is one of the few streams in the Northwest where dry flies can be productive, and the section below the county road bridge near the mouth boasts some of the most classic steelhead water on the entire length of the river. That fact is also one of the worst-kept secrets in the Northwest and chances are very good that you will have company. In early fall, a caddis imitation is probably the most effective pattern to use.

Another excellent spot to try would be near the Cottonwood Creek acclimation ponds upstream of Boggan’s. This is an area where hatchery steelhead congregate on their way to their spawning grounds, both here and on the Oregon side. As with the lower 2.5 miles of the Ronde, it might be said that the “early bird gets the worm” is also applicable in this section.

ALTHOUGH BEST KNOWN for its steelhead fishing, the river also offers some outstanding trout fishing, primarily for rainbows, but there is a sizable population of bull trout, usually found in the upper portions of the river, primarily in Oregon. Bulls are a federally listed species, so they must be released immediately. One of the best times to fish for trout is in June when the salmonfly hatch takes place. Prolific callibaetis mayfly and caddis hatches

State biologist Kyle Bratcher holds one of the first coho in decades to return to the Grande Ronde River, made possible through a joint restoration effort by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife and the Nez Perce Tribe. (ODFW)

occur throughout the summer, making dry fly patterns such as a Purple Haze, Parachute Adams and an Elk Hair or Goddard Caddis very effective. Nymph patterns, such as a Pheasant Tail, Hare’s Ear, Prince and various Woolly Buggers, are also very productive. Toward fall, hoppers, ants, beetles and October caddis patterns have proven to catch fish. There is a great deal of feed in the river and the trout grow rapidly. Rainbows in the 18- to 20-inch range are rather common.

The Grande Ronde is also home to a large number of smallmouth. These bass usually take the same fly patterns as the trout, and they will readily take lures such as Mepps, Panther Martins, Rooster Tails and small hammered spoons. Bait is also highly effective, meaning worms, PowerBait, marshmallows and corn should all produce. Just remember to pinch your hook or hooks’ barbs.

REACH THE RONDE from Clarkston via State Route 129 past Asotin and Anatone. The highway crosses the river 6 miles north of the Oregon state line. From there, Grande Ronde River Road parallels the north side of the river to Troy. To reach the lower river, follow the Snake River Road south from Clarkston into Hells Canyon. The bottom of Shumaker Grade is reached via side roads out of Anatone.

Whether you are there to fish, to try whitewater rafting or just to enjoy the canyon country, the Grande Ronde River is an area you really should visit, fishing rod in hand. NS

The Long Rod & The Double Barrel

Tenkara fishing for bass and hunting chukar in Southeast Oregon.

By Rob Lyon

Iwas traversing the shoulder of the canyon slope across from camp and heading down to the springs when I heard two shots and stopped in my tracks.

That would be Steve working back down from the palisades. I hunkered in the sagebrush and scanned the horizon for birds.

“Incoming!” squawked my radio a moment later.

A long shot, of course, but you never knew when you might get lucky.

They came at a snappy glide, a flock of eight to 10 chukar, and landed just over the brow of the flank ahead. I hustled forward, keeping low. Odds were good they would leg it back uphill.

Sure enough, I spotted the lead bird at the same time he spotted me. He launched low and I got one shot off, nicking the top of the brush and hitting him square with a load of 6s, dropping him head over tail.

“Got him,” I let Steve know, as I put in a fresh shell and walked up to find my kill. “Saw your birds land and flushed a single. That makes four, correct?”

“Indeed, eating like kings again tonight. I’ll roast ’em in the Dutchie.”

“Roger that my friend, see you at the springs!”

Way down in extreme Southeast Oregon is a series of small streams that form a big playground for Northwest sportsmen. The Owyhee River and its three forks are home to plentiful chukar hunting and smallmouth bass fishing opportunities. (STEVE THOMSEN)

WE’D BEEN IN Southeast Oregon’s Owyhee River Canyon for the better part of a week hunting chukar and fly fishing for smallmouth bass. It was late fall and we had the place to ourselves. The river was running low and beautiful. We were upriver from Three Forks, where the major tributaries conjoined. While chukar involved a major effort at midday, fishing was how we relaxed at either end.

As for fishing, I’d brought a tenkara rod along. If this is the first you’ve heard of it, it’s becoming a thing in the US. The idea originated in Japan more than 400 years ago when fishermen on the mountain streams found it an effective method of catching the local fish. Since then it has taken on quite a following here in the States.

The idea is simplicity itself and harkens back to Tom Sawyer and his willow pole. A tenkara rod has no reel, you see, simply a fixed length of line. Instead of wearing out a fish with reel drag, a long, willowy rod is used. If you’ve ever thrilled at watching the pulse and dart of your rod with a fish at the other end, you’ll

like this. Your average tenkara rod is 12 feet long and takes pulse and dart to a whole new level!

Tenkara is best practiced on smaller waterbodies such as creeks and streams. The Owyhee, in the foothills above Three Forks, is ideal for tenkara fishing in the lower flows of autumn.

Running through the remote high desert of the Owyhee Mountains, a land of rock and sand, sagebrush and juniper, and miniature, mauvecolored canyons, the allure is as much the natural majesty and the solitude as it is the fishing and upland hunting. The stream where we were encamped rolls along at a gentle 75 cubic feet per second and the cool currents are a pleasure to wade in warm, Indian summer weather.

LATE LAST FALL, we had left the San Juan Islands looking to get high into the watershed, well above Owyhee Reservoir and its popular tailwater brown trout fishery. I spoke with Tim Davis, executive director of Friends of the Owyhee, just before we left the islands. Davis grew up in the

area and was a gold mine of intel on finding the right tracks to get us where we wanted to go. And I spoke with Ray Perkins, a former Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife regional manager, who dialed us in on the upper Owyhee fishery.

The high desert wilderness of the Owyhee River region is huge, stretching over 260,000 acres and comprising parts of Nevada, Idaho and Oregon. The plan was to travel south to where three primary tributaries form up into the mainstem Owyhee at a place called Three Forks. From there we would follow the sole grade leading off into the hinterland.

We had run the mainstream Owyhee in kayaks and canoes from Rome to Lesley Gulch on three separate occasions. Flowing at 150 cfs then, the river was a pleasure to fish, but we wanted even more rarified and miniaturized conditions, such that I considered to be ideal for tenkara work.

We also hoped to find the stream of our dreams to float next season: In other words, something absolutely pristine, smaller in scale and pretty much at the limit of what is (by our definition, at least) floatable at überlow water levels. Boaters float the tributaries well into the Nevada come spring, but the cool, wet days and muddy, rushing water held zero appeal for us. Not to mention, the upland season was still half a year away!

Once you know where you’re going and have it dialed in on your GPS, there is still the matter of execution. Getting down to riverside, or even driving on the red clay dirt roads that blanket the region, can be a driver’s worst nightmare. The soil is a slippery agglutinate that will have you out of commission in a heartbeat when wet. Travel prepared in a relevant rig with high clearance, tow rope, jack, shovel, chains, etc. Even in bone-dry weather you’ll have challenging road conditions from the myriad ruts and rocks and steep fourwheel-drive conditions. We drove the toughest offroad rig we could get our

The Owyhee is a long way from anywhere, and its upper end is even more remote. You’ll want to go well-prepared just in case this rugged landscape puts some holes in your plans. (STEVE THOMSEN)

hands on to attempt the steep, hellbaked grades and tracks leading into remote areas of the watershed. At one particularly dicey drop we came upon a not-so-old pickup abandoned beside the track. We joked about the wife’s reaction when he returned home sans rig.

SOLAR CHILL

Fishing and hunting partner

Steve Thomsen and I have brought along several types of, I’ll call it, e-gear on recent trips. E-conveyances, to be precise, as in e-bikes and e-kayaks. This time it was an e-cooler by GoSun. Works slick. No ice, more room, no soaked stuff. Steve had the solar panels along and we could have lasted indefinitely. Good idea for these desert spaces. –RL

WE ARRIVED IN good order with tenkara gear, fly rods and a couple of double-barrel 28-gauge Rugers. There are better populations of birds in the Owyhee Canyons than any of us had ever seen in other Northwest river canyons and we had hunted them all. We like to eat locally on these river trips, off what we can catch or shoot, and between panfried bass fillets and Dutch-oven chukar, we did eat very well.

One of the reasons we prefer the tribs to the mainstem is the scale of the experience. Downriver you have twice the flow of upriver and even that is considered extreme low flow for boating. What that means to the fisherman is that while you can wade in much of the mainstem section of the O, you can wade up the middle of the upper water in the upper canyon

and fish to both sides.

The tenkara concept is a clean, easyflowing style in optimum conditions. For me, it’s an extension of a style I developed guiding summer steelhead fishermen on the Deschutes. I even developed a cast I called the Tilt Cast to obviate the need to false cast and to keep the fly in the water, where it has a better chance of being eaten by a fish. I fished a short length of line on a one-hand rod and carried a wading staff in the other. After a shot of espresso before heading out, I was what we call a greyhound for the next three or four hours. Movement was everything, as the more water you covered, the more likely you were to find steelhead. I fish tenkara on the Owyhee similarly, wading steadily upriver and making exploratory casts as I go.

The tents of author Rob Lyon and his fishing and hunting partner’s camp dapple a riverside bar near Three Forks, not far from the Idaho state line. (STEVE THOMSEN)

Tenkara defines simplicity and is ideal for the active angler. Not only because he is less encumbered with equipment, but because he must move around by necessity to reach fish lies beyond the length of his fixed line. I run a line that stretches no further than from the tip of the rod to my hand with my arm outstretched. That way the casting is easy and when I swing a fish to hand it is an act of grace. No hand lining the last bit or, God forbid, dragging a flopping fish up onto the bank.

While tenkara fishing is largely a throwback to a simpler concept and less sophisticated equipment, it has merit in the modern world of fishing. I can see the value and the elegance of dealing straight up with rod line and fly and no mechanical devices. When our frontal cortex has fewer things to deal with, it can begin to relax. The business of constantly winding in and pulling out line from a reel, while it is a marvelous practical invention, can interfere with our simple presence on the water. Tenkara fishing utilizes only two tools. Add the reel and it increases by a third and is one more thing to deal with. If I can be on the water feeling deeply linked in to the

stream, the water and the fish – and if I’m lucky, the tug of a fish – I’m good. And if I can keep my chronically busy mind out of the picture, better still. Then it becomes more like the state of being that Zen doctrine calls positive samadhi, wherein man and action are one. The world needs more of that.

For more on this style of fishing, see both dragontailtenkara.com and tenkarausa.com.

Come fall and the water is low, the best holes are scattered and will take some hiking and wading up and down and across the water to find them. In good weather you can wade wet, ideal for a mix of hiking and wading that the canyon will require. We bring an inflatable kayak to cross back and forth. You can wade across a few places on the mainstem O, but above Three Forks it is the norm.

Don’t waste time waving your fly over shallow fishless water. Bass are an ambush fish. Look for structure such as cattails, reeds, rocks and undercut banks. They are also a warmwater fish and if the nights have been below freezing, which they typically are in fall at this altitude, try your luck near any of the warm or hot springs situated along the river bank. We found our biggest fish there.

WHILE THE RIVER is loaded with bass, they do tend to put the small in smallmouth. I prefer to reference fish by weight rather than length and I’d say the average fish we caught

Tenkara is an effective way to fish, but it’s not for everyone. Not being able to cast as far as he is used to, more tangles with bankside brush and the balance of the rod itself are drawbacks for Lyon, here showing off a nice little smallie. (STEVE THOMSEN)

Lyon tries his hand at tenkara, a style of fly fishing based on a Japanese tradition that shines in smaller waters and does not employ a reel. For the author, the simplicity of using only a rod, line and fly is a strong draw. (STEVE THOMSEN)

Just as imported bass have taken to the Owyhee Canyonlands, so too has the Central Asian red-legged partridge known as chukar, providing a challenging game bird to pursue in fall. (STEVE THOMSEN)

was between 1/3 to, say, 2/3 pound.

I spoke with Perkins, the former ODFW fisheries biologist, about this. He worked for many years in this region and told me the smallies were introduced in the mid-1970s.

“What I think we have in the Owyhee is a population dominated by younger-age fish. Once they spawn at about 10 to 12 inches, they have a very low survival rate,” he says.

That said, Perkins told me of the 3- and 4-pound fish they’d caught in some of the deeper slots in the canyon – after they’d gotten under the school of smaller fish, he was quick to add.

“I don’t think the river system

OVEN CHUKAR

upstream of the reservoir can support an abundant population of large smallmouth,” Perkins says. “Habitat conditions in the river are severe, from a smallmouth bass perspective.Flows are variable, with spring flows high and powerful some years for long periods of time. Summer flows are low and warm, but the growing season is short. Growth is slow; a 12-inch smallmouth in the reservoir is 4 years old and a 14-inch smallmouth is 5 years old. River growth rates are probably very similar.Forage needs for a large population of smallmouth are not met in the Owyhee River. When one looks at the heart of smallmouth country, there are 76 species of cyprinids alone present in Tennessee streams compared to the five species present in the Owyhee River.”

Without that minnow population to forage on, the bass must cannibalize to support a meager diet of insects, crayfish and terrestrials.

If you see a hatch coming off the water, be sure to check it out. As insects and invertebrates make up the bulk of their diet, you will likely find smallies working those bugs, just as if you were trout fishing.

Finally, toward a balanced view of tenkara fishing, there are a few things I don’t like. The inability to shoot line is one (ever a fan of all things ballistic). Two, even with a very short line such as I fish, with the extreme of the rod tip (there is a reason they sell these rods with two tips) the line and tip are easy to get caught in brush when I hike with it. Third, the lack of a reel makes it uncomfortably tipheavy after a while.

By way of a parting shot, I once fished summer steelhead on the Deschutes with a tenkara rod and when I finally hooked up, the effect was memorable! The fight played out in three riotous seconds before the fish thrashed free and was the proverbial tiger by the tail! NS

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