Northwest Sportsman Mag - Oct 2023

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Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 16 • Issue 1

PUBLISHER

James R. Baker

EDITOR

Andy “THE PACIFIC IS MELTING” Walgamott

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS

Dave Anderson, Scott Haugen, Jeff Holmes, Randy King, MD Johnson, Sara Potter, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Dave Workman

ON THE MEND

Jason Brooks

GENERAL MANAGER

John Rusnak

SALES MANAGER

Paul Yarnold

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES

Lucas Hoene, Mike Smith, Zachary Wheeler

DESIGNER

Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT

Kelly Baker

OFFICE MANAGER/COPY EDITOR

Katie Aumann

INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER

Lois Sanborn

WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST

Jon Hines

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

Tara Nielsen Kaplan bagged this monster mule deer high in the backcountry of Northcentral Washington’s Okanogan County on last October’s opening day of rifle season. The four-pointer with a 29 3/4-inch antler spread was her first buck.

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

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FALL BUCK FORECAST

MD Johnson sat down with statewide deer managers at the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife for their thoughts on how our blacktail, mule deer and whitetail herds are faring and what to expect this hunting season.

highlights the biologists’ forecasts for many of the most productive and popular hunting areas in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

71 WHY TO STAY UP FOR THE LATE LATE (BLACKTAIL) SHOW Willamette Valley outdoorsman Troy Rodakowsi gets us ready for this season’s rare general season opportunity to hunt Western Oregon deer all the way through November 10 – !!! – as close to the blacktail rut as it gets.

76 HUNTING THE GHOSTS OF THE FOREST WITH GARY LEWIS

In the second half of our expert-driven series on pursuing bucks west of the Cascades, Gary Lewis, a widely published hunting and fishing author and host of the show Frontier Unlimited, shares tips for tagging a blacktail.

112 BEAT THE BUSHES FOR GROUSE

True, blues and ruffies are a bit less numerous in October, but they’re still a treat to hunt in the fall woods. Jeff Holmes shares the places in Northeast Washington, Idaho’s Panhandle and Northeast Oregon and the tactics that have served him well to bag grouse this time of year.

142 CUTT OUT TO NORTH IDAHO TRIO

Autumn finds many Northwest trout streams free of summer’s camping crowds and fishermen, making for relaxing angling as westslope cutthroat and other species chow down ahead of winter. We head to Idaho’s upper Clearwater system and St. Joe for a little fly fishing fun!

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

It’s been three years since the Archie Creek Fire torched Sara’s beloved North Umpqua, but she’s still in disbelief “that this once wet and wild place has become so desolate, so dry, so unprotected.” Fed up with apparent inaction, she’s demanding that restoration of the forests and streams so important to the river’s steelhead and salmon be fast-tracked.

FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG Holding Onto Hope In A Desolate Place 153

COLUMNS

87

ON TARGET A Dark Moon Cometh For Rifle Deer Opener

When Washington’s modern firearms deer season opens at sunrise on October 14 there will have been no moon overhead the previous night. Why’s that important? Dave W. shares that and other wisdom collected over many decades of chasing bucks.

99

BUZZ RAMSEY Shooting And Tracking Big Game

We all strive to make one-shot kills, but what happens when your deer or elk doesn’t immediately tip over? Buzz details how to read shot placement and blood trails to ensure you recover your quarry.

106 CHEF IN THE WILD Shoulder Season

123 GUN DOG Even As Fall Beckons, Caution and Prep Work Needed

October is go-time for bird hunters and their canine companions and it’s hard to not want to rush outside. But there are hazards to plan for, counsels Scott, who also details new gun dog gear to look into.

132 CONFESSIONS OF A NEWB

Close-to-my-new-home Coho

93

BECOMING A HUNTER Tips For A Stress-Free Hunt

Dave A. gets “a lot guff from friends for going overboard on planning” his big game hunts, but it’s made him much more successful. He shares critical items to do ahead of season so that things go much smoother when you’re in the field.

When Chef Randy’s son Jordan helped address an overpopulation of mule deer along the Snake River with a youth depredation tag, he also provided the meat for this issue’s recipe, venison Bourguignon – bon appétit!

Editor Andy’s 2022 spring and summer salmon seasons got kiboshed by a major family move, but when things finally simmered down in fall he realized there was a decent coho fishery just down the hill from their new home. The former Pugetropolite shares lessons learned from below and above Willamette Falls, where a large run has made an early showing this season.

(SARA POTTER)

DEPARTMENTS

25 THE EDITOR’S NOTE

Why Migration Matters so much for Oregon’s and the rest of the Northwest’s mule deer

39 READER PHOTOS

Pugetropolis coho and pinks, Columbia walleye and kings, and more!

39 PHOTO CONTEST WINNER

Monthly Coast and Kershaw prize-winning pic

43 THE DISHONOR ROLL

Elk season = jail season for Northeast Oregon man; Rewards doubled for reporting poachers; Regs? No, thanks, not for us; Washington man charged with 32 wildlife violations; Kudos; Jackass of the Month

49 DERBY WATCH

Buoy 10 Challenge an ‘enormous success’; Upcoming/ongoing events

51 OUTDOOR CALENDAR

Upcoming fishing and hunting openers, events, deadlines, more

THE BIG PIC That Time A HunterTrapper Saved Cougar Cubs And Made National News

Sportsmen aren’t “just a bunch of bloodthirsty killers.”

(SKYLAR MASTERS)

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THE EDITOR’S NOTE

You may have heard me say this before, but with all of our deer hunting coverage, the October issue of Northwest Sportsman is one of my absolute favorites of the year to put together. Yet something’s been missing each fall, and I’m rectifying it this season.

So, alongside MD Johnson’s three interviews with Oregon and Washington statewide deer managers and noted Beaver State author and expert hunter Gary Lewis, my summary of Northwest biologists’ regional top prospects, Troy Rodakowski’s tips for hunting the back end of Oregon’s mouth-wateringly late-running blacktail season, Dave Workman’s shared wisdom from decades in the deer woods, Buzz Ramsey’s advice for tracking wounded game, Chef Randy King’s venison Bourguignon recipe and more, I want to talk about my oversight.

IN A WORD, it’s habitat. Since we’re highly unlikely to have hatchery deer anytime soon, it more than anything else determines how many bucks are available on the landscape for us each fall. Yes, weather, drought and disease play roles too, as the past 10 years and especially the past five will attest. And predation can have localized impacts. I’m not looking forward to the days hungry wolves and starving deer herds are concentrated together on deep, snowy range for an extended period of time.

But it all begins with healthy habitat, which begets healthier does that beget healthier fawns that have better odds of surviving that critical first winter and being able to run away from predators, over time begetting more deer on the land and more available for harvest.

The problem, however, is that that good habitat is being chopped into pieces that are smaller and less accessible for mule deer all the time. This is especially true for migrators, which represent large portions of the herds in central and eastern portions of Oregon and Washington. It really came home to me last month, when the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife published a very interesting new mini-magazine titled Migration Matters: The migratory journeys of mule deer in Oregon (issuu.com/odfw). It states that where once muleys could easily flow across wide-open landscapes on their annual rounds, tapping into critical spring and fall greenups and lush summer range and protected winter quarters, these days those habitats and corridors “are being fragmented by roadways, fencing, housing developments, agricultural uses, and energy developments.” And as those impacts only increase – building traffic volume as well as more housing and thus disturbance, for instance – it’s becoming more and more challenging for the long-term viability of the herds so many of us hunters have such strong connections to.

NOW, I CONSIDER myself to be a student of mule deer, having hunted

Migration Matters: The migratory journeys of mule deer in Oregon, published last month by the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. (ODFW)

migratory bucks since the mid-1990s, but I did and did not quite realize how locked into their seasonal rounds – biologists use the word “fidelity” – these deer are. According to Migration Matters, they take “nearly identical” routes between winter and summer ranges each year, a behavior “transmitted culturally” from does to their fawns. Maps plotting the course of two different migratory does show them taking practically the exact same paths back and forth for three years in a row. It recalls stories from my Northcentral Washington hunting camp of well-used deer trails beaten into the forest. But what isn’t being passed from generation to generation so well – or can’t be – is how deer can get around modern bottlenecks, which puts them even more in harm’s way.

“As residential areas expand, as new fences are erected, as traffic increases on roadways, and as new energy facilities are built,” say the authors, “it becomes increasingly difficult for mule deer to follow their migratory routes, and the benefits of migration, including access to higher quality

forage, and subsequently, higher survival and greater reproductive success are lost.”

They call roads and fences “two of the most pervasive barriers” to mule deer migration, reporting that one study in Southcentral Oregon found they caused 30

Not all Central and Eastern Oregon mule deer herds are migratory, but most are. Their yearly rounds seeking out rich forage and protection from winter’s cold are becoming more and more challenging as the region develops, road usage increases and access to former habitat is lost, eating away at the herds’ ability to thrive (UNIVERSITY OF OREGON INFOGRAPHICS LAB VIA ODFW)

percent of known mortalities there. And as roads get busier and busier, they essentially act as impassable fences, becoming “a complete barrier to mule deer movement, severing historic migration routes, separating groups, and cutting off deer from

I-84 between Baker City and where it meets the Snake River has effectively become a fence, as shown by radio collar data from seven different deer. (UNIVERSITY OF OREGON INFOGRAPHICS LAB VIA ODFW)

their former seasonal ranges entirely.” A map of seven different collared deer show them repeatedly turning back as they approach a very remote stretch of I-84 in far Eastern Oregon, locking themselves into slivers of their herd’s former habitat.

It ties in with author Ben Goldfarb’s latest book, Crossings, How Road Ecology is Shaping the Future of our Planet, which is helping to detail the impact to a wider audience.

MULE DEER ARE in a slow, long-term decline across the West. While there are population spikes when good weather and forage align, those and the dips are trending remorselessly downward across time. Oregon’s herd has decreased by almost 50 percent over the past 40 years, reports Migration Matters

Again, I do worry about four-legged predators – including the high dietary overlap of wolves and cougars in Washington’s Okanogan, home to that state’s most important migratory herd –but I think there’s a much more insidious one stalking the West’s mule deer that we should really be worried about, and that’s what I see as Migration Matters’ central point. The combination of roads, fences

and development reducing habitat and connectivity, along with hotter and drier summers, invasions of nonnative grasses and junipers, and forage that is declining in nutritional value all act like a vampire to slowly suck the life out of our iconic deer.

The publication doesn't mention poaching, but an April article on Central Oregon Daily quoting an ODFW official termed it a “huge part” of why doe survival is 10 percentage points below the 80 percent needed for a stable population. The illegal killing of the does also means there are fewer deer that still remember how to navigate to better habitat, driving herd health and productivity further down still.

Yes, things are being done to try and slow the overall decline, including reinforcing to the public the problems with poaching, and building wildlife crossings like those on US 97 between Bend and La Pine and, further north on the highway, an underpass between Tonasket and Omak. Dedicated, ongoing state funding is lacking, however. There are also wildlife-friendly fencing designs and collaborative efforts across landowning parties – federal, state and private –to make the corridors between ranges more

passable. And Department of the Interior Secretarial Order 3362 is also pouring federal money into better understanding migratory paths and improving winter habitat.

“The more research that is completed on the remarkable journeys made by mule deer each fall and spring, the clearer it becomes that migration is critical to maintaining mule deer populations throughout the West,” states Migration Matters. “In Oregon, as in other western states, ensuring the long-term survival of mule deer populations means ensuring the long-term survival of mule deer migration, and a commitment to enhancing and protecting the habitats and wide-open spaces necessary for migration to continue for years to come.”

There aren’t easy answers to bringing the herds back up, but better understanding the real challenges the deer face and how to address them is a good starting point. Wherever you plan to migrate to hunt this month, I highly recommend mulling this easy-to-read, well-illustrated 28-page pamphlet, alongside the hunting advice and tips we rounded up this issue. They go hand in hand toward becoming a more informed Northwest sportsman. –Andy

Walgamott

That Time A HunterTrapper Saved Cougar Cubs And Made National News

By Andy Walgamott

An “avid” Washington huntertrapper’s concerns and actions, a neighborhood’s effort and a state wildlife tech’s specialized skills can all be credited with how a zoo on the other side of the country ended up acquiring orphaned cougar kittens this past summer.

The transfer of the young animals to the Philadelphia Zoo and their public unveiling received national news articles, but there’s a bit more to the first part of the story. Some people might assume that all hunters hate cougars and other predators and would rather see them dead, but Skylar Masters, an all-around Northwest sportsman, helped to organize the kitten capture that took place in late June on a wooded, rural hillside just south of Kalama and east of I-5’s Todd Road exit.

He and another man even crawled into what they believe was a lion’s den in rescuing one of the still-spotted cubs.

In wanting to share the story, Masters said it’s important for the general public to see how invested in conservation hunters are, particularly in light of the “current climate” at the state Fish and Wildlife Commission as it makes contentious decisions and mulls controversial changes that have some of its strongest traditional supporters feeling increasingly nervous – “and I think they should be,” according to one member of the citizen panel that oversees Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife policies and hires and fires the agency’s director.

THE KITTENS’ MOTHER is believed to have been killed on June 8 by a farmer as it dragged off one of their lambs, and while the action was legal under RCW 77.36.030, when Masters learned that it had been a lactating female, he and neighbor Brian Davis “knew there had to be orphan cubs around, so we started discussing ways to locate them.”

Like many hunters these days who use them to pattern game but also to add to their enjoyment of the natural world, Masters owns trail cameras, so he set up several on his property, which is next to other 5- to 20-acre parcels and backs up against private timberlands, in hopes of catching a glimpse of any kittens.

It took a couple weeks, but on June 23 a cub showed up on a cam.

“Knowing the cub was most likely from the recently killed lion, I knew I needed to act fast,” Masters said. “I made multiple attempts to contact WDFW and the first officer to call me back said to ‘let nature run its course.’ I thought this response was 100 percent inappropriate. As a hunter and trapper, I feel conservation should be a top priority.”

True, but it’s also a brutal fact of life that cubs, fawns, calves, ducklings, fingerlings, smolts and all other young-of-the-year fish and wildlife are just the most likely to die, be it from weather conditions, nutritional stress, disease, predation or – as in this case – the loss of their primary parent. And it’s also true that there’s not always the funding or resources to capture an orphaned animal, nor a rehab center with space to take them in and care for them until they

One of three cougar kittens that were orphaned when their mother was legally killed while depredating a farmer’s lamb, then rescued by locals in early June near Kalama, Washington. (SKYLAR MASTERS)

Sportsmen aren’t ‘just a bunch of bloodthirsty killers,’ says rescuer.

can be released back into the wild.

Yet just letting an animal that could be saved suffer from and die a lingering death instead is very, very difficult for us, and that path was a no go for Masters.

“I decided to contact a WDFW wildlife conflict technician who had previously sealed some bobcat pelts for me. I wanted permission to set traps out of season. He was extremely helpful and was at my house a few hours later to assist me in setting live traps and teaching me how to call cougar cubs in hopes of catching the cub before it starved to death,” Masters said.

WDFW conflict techs work to reduce or prevent damage from wildlife as people not only move into critter habitat, but critters move into human habitat, a twoway street that is becoming more obvious.

“The wildlife technician, Dan Kolenberg, was friendly, helpful and educational,” Masters stated.

This spring, in just one two-plusweek stretch, Kolenberg found himself advising and helping landowners to keep

deer out of a vineyard, new chestnut trees and a grain field as well as bears out of chicken coops and beehives –“Technician Kolenberg enjoyed his time installing the electric fence and talking to the homeowners’ kids and grandchildren about living in bear country,” WDFW reported – while also rescuing a bald eagle and dealing with a case of “fawn-napping.”

Masters said that Kolenberg figured the cub he’d caught on camera would survive around three weeks without its mother’s milk, and that meant time was running out if something was to be done.

“I contacted the surrounding property owners for permission to access and to set traps on their property, which they all quickly agreed to,” Masters said. “Over the next couple days, the surrounding neighbors reported back to me that they had seen multiple cubs.”

On June 26, one told Masters that they had seen three cubs, and so he and Davis went out to locate them. The three cubs were found in a small patch of timber. Masters and neighbor Bob Houglum were able to grab one of the cubs, but the other two retreated into a fissure that required Masters and Davis to crawl in. They were

able to catch one, but the third escaped –“for the time being,” Masters said.

The first two cougars got a series of taxi rides to Eastern Washington courtesy of Kolenberg and WDFW Wildlife Conflict Specialist Todd Jacobson and Statewide Bear & Cougar Specialist Rich Beausoleil, and in the meanwhile, Masters set a live trap and caught the last cub on June 28. Kolenberg came out and picked it up.

Masters described all three cubs as “malnourished and scared.” At that time they would have been around 11 or 12 weeks old and without their mother for two and a half to nearly three weeks.

Unfortunately, one died after coming out of anesthesia at a vet, where WDFW had taken it to obtain a health certificate, an official document needed to move an animal. It’s unclear why it passed away, but according to Beausoleil, anesthesia is riskier with underweight animals and he said the cubs were all approximately 40 percent lighter than normal. The other two were given to the Philadelphia Zoo, which made them available for public viewing last month.

THE RESCUE PROVIDED a one-of-a-kind experience for Masters and everyone

Skylar Masters (right), Brian Davis and Amber pose next to one of the cubs. All totaled, some 10 neighbors assisted in the captures, including Amber’s dad, Bob Houglum. (SKYLAR MASTERS)

else involved. WDFW termed it a “whole neighborhood effort,” with 10 people lending a hand.

“I am beyond grateful to the neighbors who went above and beyond in assisting,” Masters said. “It was truly a team effort by everyone. WDFW Wildlife Conflict Technician Dan Kolenberg deserves a huge thank you for his quick response, assistance and education.”

It also is a chance to highlight how sportsmen aren’t “just a bunch of bloodthirsty killers,” he said.

“As a hunter and trapper, conservation is important to me, as it is for the majority of sportsmen,” said Masters, who cited the North America Model of Wildlife Conservation, a user-pay/ public-benefits concept that has been remarkably effective in bringing back once imperiled species like whitetail deer, elk, ducks and other wildlife, and securing habitat for all creatures.

Storm clouds are gathering around the model as practiced in Washington,

Masters and his daughter Ashley on a past deer hunting trip in Eastern Washington. Masters also enjoys salmon and bass fishing, pursuing bobcats and makes an annual trek to Montana to hunt rutty mule deer. (SKYLAR MASTERS)

Gloved up to minimize bites and scratches, Masters extracts a female cub from the den. (SKYLAR MASTERS)

as recent years have seen the Fish and Wildlife Commission scrap the decadesold limited-entry spring black bear hunt, some members have pooh-poohed the plight of the cougar-gnawed Blue Mountains elk herd and are mulling reducing lion and bear hunts, all while a vote looms later this month on a new draft Conservation Policy that has alarmed state and treaty hunters and anglers for its lack of inclusiveness and nebulous statements.

“It is important that we continue to manage predators as we have during the past century,” Masters said. “If we fail to manage them accordingly, we will continue to see more and more predators at our barns, livestock fields, local parks and even within city limits.”

For some, it might be tough to square those words as coming from someone who has just helped rescue three cougar kittens, but then again, in nature and conservation, things are rarely if ever black and white. Sometimes they’re tawny with black, white, brown and pink highlights. NS

Dan Kolenberg, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife conflict tech, smiles next to one of the cubs. He “deserves a huge thank you for his quick response, assistance and education,” says Masters. (WDFW)

“These coho can be picky on colors, but if you find something they like, stick with it!” So tips Eric Schager, here with a pair of Puget Sound silvers.

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

For your shot at winning great fishing and hunting knives from Coast and Kershaw in our Knife Photo Contest, 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.

Drano Lake was very good for Dan Rees, Paul Goulet and Jim Thurston, who caught kings to 30 pounds there in late August. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Dennis Schwartz enjoyed spots of some pretty good fall Chinook action on the Lower Columbia, both in the western gorge and downstream of there.

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Randy Hart Jr. shows off a nice, bright hatchery Chinook he caught on the Puyallup after it opened in midAugust. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

PHOTO CONTEST MONTHLY Winner!

Deanna Homola picked up her first-ever coho while hover fishing with eggs on the North Fork Lewis.

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

“When these two cousins get together, it’s pretty special,” says Jerry Han of nephew Kellan Ralleigh and son Austin. They were out doing some fun fishing dropshotting for smallmouth when this pretty nice walleye bit a KVD Dream Shot soft plastic. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

This contest entry came in with three fire emojis and we’d say, yeah, that morning was lit! That’s Jeff Flatt, Tom Hoogkamer, Jeff Servatius and Buzz Ramsey with four fall Chinook they caught on the Lower Columbia off Longview by 8:30 a.m. one late August day. Bob Spaur snapped their pic. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Usually you’ll find Jeff Benson behind a muzzleloader, but this season he drew a multiseason tag and decided to dust off his old Hoyt – to good effect! He arrowed this Walla Walla County velvet muley with a 40-yard pass-through double-lung shot last month.

The Tafoya family – former Seahawks defensive end Joe, Brandelyn, Brookland and Jackson – tackled their limit of pink salmon while fishing off Edmonds. Joe’s friend Gary Lundquist sent the image. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Logan Livinstone, 5, and Penelope Quade, 7, couldn’t wait to get out on Elliott Bay for sunrise salmon off the shores of Seattle this past summer. They caught a few too! (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Elk Season = Jail Season For NE Oregon Man

Walker Erickson picked a pretty dumb time to do some pretty serious big game poaching. No time is ever a good time to poach, of course, but if the 28-year-old Pendleton man had killed the eight elk, including seven-byseven and six-by-five bulls, as well as a four-point muley, four-by-five whitetail and several other deer just the year before, he would have faced only misdemeanors, according to Oregon officials.

But his actions occurred after the state legislature passed House Bill 3035 in 2018, and so thanks to its stiffer sentencing guidelines and ability for prosecutors to charge wildlife law violators with felonies, Erickson received $75,000 in fines at his August sentencing, as well as 14 days in jail in each of the coming three elk hunting seasons. His hunting privileges were also permanently revoked.

Erickson had pled guilty to 22 charges to include illegally taking deer and elk, wastage and trespassing during an 18-month wildlife “crime spree” that came to light in summer 2020, thanks to a tipster. A December 2021 search warrant served at his house led to the seizure and eventual forfeiture of six deer racks, three elk racks, rifle, bow and a freezer full of venison. He was fined a total of $30,000 for the two big bulls and $7,500 for one of the trophy bucks.

The case was prosecuted by Jay Hall, Oregon’s dedicated anti-poaching prosecutor at the state Department of Justice, who proclaimed, “Elk season is now jail season.”

The meat went to the Blue Mountain Wildlife Center’s raptor rehab program.

“Poachers deprive all of us of experiencing Oregon’s natural resources,” added Bernadette Graham-Hudson, Wildlife Division manager for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. “Poaching impacts wildlife that people seek out, whether for hunting, photography or just to see in the wild.”

Trophy elk and deer heads and meat as well as a rifle and bow seized and forfeited as part of the successful prosecution of Umatilla County poacher Walker Erickson, who in August received $75,000 in fines and a total of six weeks of jail time over the next three elk seasons in what was the “first significant application of new sentencing guidelines” passed by state lawmakers. (OSP)

MIXED BAG

By Andy Walgamott

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

The phrases “high-speed pursuit” and “clam overlimits” aren’t often used together, but that was the case on Vashon Island, where three shellfish swine attempted to elude a pair of quick-thinking Washington game wardens who were able to track them down.

Captain Jennifer Maurstad and Lieutenant Erik Olson were watching the trio dig at low tide and when one headed to get their vehicle, the other two started loading containers with clams, so the officers headed over to perform an inspection.

Upon arrival, Olson got out of the truck but two of the subjects jumped into their vehicle and drove off, despite the officer ordering them to stop. Apparently initially giving the clammers the benefit of the doubt, Maurstad and Olson thought they were driving to a safer spot for an inspection than the blind curve they’d parked on. But when the duo next saw the vehicle, it was “nearly a half mile down the road traveling at a high rate of speed.”

Olson took off in pursuit but lost sight of the vehicle after it rounded a corner. Call it sheer luck or officer intuition, but Olson decided to take a side road and soon came upon the vehicle and two of suspects “discarding large bags of clams into the bushes.”

According to Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police, one of the suspects admitted they had been trying to elude Maurstad and Olson because they “thought they were likely over (the) limit.”

Which is a slight understatement. They were in possession of 652 clams, according to officers, 532 over their combined daily limit. None had shellfish licenses either.

Citations were forwarded to King County prosecutors for a charging decision, and one I hope they give as much thought to doing as another case detailed on a following page.

Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Police Captain Jennifer Maurstad counts an overlimit of clams seized from three people who attempted to elude her and another officer on Puget Sound’s Vashon Island. (WDFW)

Rewards Doubled For Reporting Poachers

Tipsters who turn in poachers in Oregon can now earn up to twice the previous cash reward, and there are two new categories in the payout schedule as well.

In doubling down on efforts to prevent the illegal take of fish and wildlife in the state, the Oregon Hunters Association doubled how much it will pay out for cases that result in a successful citation. Rewards for information on bighorn, mountain goat and moose poaching have jumped from $1,000 to $2,000; from $500 to $1,000 for elk, deer and antelope; and from $300 to $600 for bear, cougar and wolf.

And OHA will now pay $200 and $300 rewards to those who report snagging or habitat destruction. See below for the rest of the schedule.

Division, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, state Department of Justice and their partners work to spread the word about the impact poachers have on Oregon’s natural resources. The effort includes the launch of a new website, ProtectOregonsWildlife.com, meant to bring the message home to the general public. We detailed it here last issue.

OHA reports that it paid out $100,000 in rewards over a recent five-year span. Informants can also choose to take ODFW preference points instead of greenbacks, which half of all tipsters have done, an illustration that sportsmen are helping police their own.

“OHA has continually and successfully pushed for tougher laws that increase penalties for poaching,” the organization said. “OHA also provided the initiative for

Oregon’s Stop Poaching Campaign and lobbied to secure funding for additional law-enforcement officers and a traveling poaching case prosecutor, as well as a poaching awareness campaign to involve the public in turning in poachers.”

Rewards are also paid for reporting those who illegally obtain fishing or hunting licenses or tags ($200), poach salmon, steelhead, sturgeon or halibut, upland birds or waterfowl, or furbearers ($200), and spotlight ($200).

In particularly egregious cases, rewards can run higher.

Payments are sent to OSP Headquarters and disbursed to the tipster by a state fish and wildlife trooper. To report incidents via the Turn In Poaching, or TIP, program, call (800) 452-7888, text *677 or email TIP@ osp.oregon.gov.

The enhanced rewards come as the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Regs? No, Thanks, Not For Us

Maybe in bizarro world you can keep 43 female Dungeness and don’t even need a shellfishing license, but that doesn’t fly on the Oregon Coast.

Details come from state fish and wildlife troopers, who say an alert witness this summer found it suspicious that five people in a boat on the tiny Necanicum River estuary in Seaside weren’t sorting any of their crabs, which were all going into a cooler.

KUDOS

(OSP)

If Melissa LeRitz looks familiar, it’s probably because you remember her being highlighted on this page for her previous good work fighting poachers. This past summer, the deputy district attorney for Oregon’s Jackson County was named the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division Prosecutor of the Year for 2022, the second time she’s been honored (the first time being in 2019), making her the first multiple-award winner in Oregon. “DDA LeRitz goes above and beyond to ensure that she is available to our troops in the field and has routinely stayed late, come in on days off, rescheduled hearings, etc., to make herself available to us during big cases, (Cooperative Enforcement Planning) meetings, etc.,” OSP stated. “On several different cases, she has spent hours and even days with our troopers preparing for cases and conducting research to ensure that we get the best possible prosecution.”

An Astoria-based fish and wildlife trooper dispatched to the scene arrived as one of the suspects loaded the crabs into the back of a vehicle.

“None of the five suspects possessed a shellfish license,” OSP reported. “Four of the suspects were from out of state and had not familiarized themselves on the regulations for taking crab.”

The group leader, perhaps the one Oregon resident in the bunch, was cited for illegal take of female Dungies and warned about not having a shellfish license. The crabs were able to be returned to the water.

WA Man Charged With 32 Violations

ANorth Bend, Washington, man who boasted about his skills hunting in the mountains but who appears to have actually shot at big game in his driveway over apples or while trespassing on other residents’ properties in the upper Snoqualmie Valley, faces 32 criminal charges over his alleged actions.

State prosecutors say that Jason L. Smith, 28 or 29, used oversized piles of bait to hunt bear and elk in 2021 and 2022, as well as hunted elk and deer without tags, during closed seasons, exceeded bag limits, trespassed, wasted game and failed to submit bear tooth samples to state biologists, as required.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, evidence was pulled off of Smith’s onX Maps, iPhone and Instagram accounts. While baiting bears was banned long ago by Washington voters, hunters can still use food to attract deer and elk, but the Fish and Wildlife Commission limited the amount to 10 gallons.

Prosecutors say Smith allegedly used as much as “about 50 gallons of apples,” which he placed in a pile next to his driveway, “just steps from his front porch.” In late September 2021, the bait initially attracted a sow black bear and two cubs that Smith took a video of. Prosecutors imply that he then took a shot at a bear and posted the next day on Instagram that he’d made a “great shot that hit hard and penetrated deep” but didn’t recover the bear over a total of eight hours of tracking it across three properties over two days.

Just a few days later, he snapped an image of another bear feeding on the same pile by his driveway, followed the next day by a dead bruin 38 yards from the apples. Prosecutors say that he then posted, “I wanted this bear bad especially after my failed attempt a week prior. Persistence in the mountains pays. If you quit, the hunt is over. I love that there are no participation trophies in the mountains. You get what you earn.” In early October, they say he shot another bear near the bait.

Later in the month, Smith messaged people that he had a “big buck down,”

allegedly taking time between texts to purchase a deer tag. In early November he took an image of another dead buck, followed two weeks later by a third, then a “fourth,” according to prosecutors, in early December, putting him three deer over the limit for the season.

They say he also killed an elk on a vacant lot in North Bend that September but didn’t buy an elk tag until October.

FAST FORWARD TO 2022, and prosecutors say that a properly licensed Smith trespassed without permission in killing a large bull elk on private property in September, ultimately wasting some of the meat.

In October, he took video of elk feeding on “two huge mounds of apples” that again allegedly exceeded the 10-gallon limit, followed the next day by an image of him next to a dead elk. Tracking data from his onX Maps showed he’d trespassed onto private property in the North Bend area, and license data allegedly indicated he had an archery elk tag, the season for which is actually in September.

Shortly afterwards, Smith took video and images of a live bear on the apples, then a dead bear, again on the North Bend private

property and within 200 yards of the apples. Prosecutors say he shared about the bear on Instagram and on a post about hunting and tracking bruins, then in a video several days later he appeared poised to shoot an arrow at an elk herd feeding on the bait.

ALL TOTALED, SMITH is allegedly known to have killed at least four elk, four deer and three bears in the space of 14 months, according to prosecutors. The charges include two felonies for first degree unlawful hunting of big game, 27 gross misdemeanors for unlawful hunting in the second degree, and three misdemeanors related to trespassing. The two felonies are each punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines, while the second degree unlawful hunting could draw a year in jail and $5,000 fine each.

Smith’s case came to light in a press release last month from the office of state Attorney General and gubernatorial candidate Bob Ferguson, which is something of a rarity for alleged poaching crimes. The release said the agency’s Environmental Protection Division would be handling the case, having received a referral to do so from King County prosecutors.

A cover sheet for an affidavit of determination of probable cause in the state case against Jason L. Smith of North Bend, Washington. (AGO)

B10 Challenge An ‘Enormous Success’

The 2023 Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge was “an enormous success” that netted nearly $38,000 for fish and fisheries advocacy work from Salem and Olympia to Washington DC.

Oh, and there was also some pretty darn good salmon fishing at the mouth of the Columbia River for the annual Northwest Sportfishing Industry Association fundraiser in late August.

“The fishing was lights out, with boats weighing in with multiple fish,” NSIA reported in a weekly newsletter last month.

Parker Nielsen was the big winner, landing both the big fish and NSIA big fish captain’s prizes for his 18-pound Chinook (gilled and gutted weight). Among his prizes were a $500 gift card and $360 rod from derby sponsors Fisherman’s Marine and Douglass Rods, respectively.

“The fish are always the winners when the best fishermen and women and fishing companies join together to support one uniting cause. This event helps us ensure your voice is heard!” said NSIA.

Other sponsors included Yakima Bait, Northwest Sportsman, Silver Horde and more.

By Andy Walgamott

 Now through end of fishing seasons: Westport Charterboat Association Lingcod, Albacore Derbies, Pacific off Westport; charterwestport.com/fishing.html

 Now through Oct. 31: WDFW 2023 Trout Derby, select lakes across Washington; wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/contests/trout-derby

 Oct. 7-8: Alsea Bay Salmon Derby; facebook.com/ AlseaSportsmansAssn

 Oct. 27-29: King of the Reach Derby, Mid-Columbia’s Hanford Reach; ccawashington.org/ kingofthereach

Parker Nielsen bagged two prizes at the Buoy 10 Salmon Challenge, thanks to his 18-pound Chinook. He’s flanked by the Northwest Sportfishing Industry’s Bob Rees and Liz Hamilton. (TONY AMATO, STS)

CALENDAR OUTDOOR

OCTOBER

1 Salmon and steelhead openers on numerous Oregon streams; Coho opener on Oregon Coast’s Siltcoos, Tahkenitch and Tenmile Lakes; Scheduled Oregon razor clam opener on Clatsop County beaches north of Tillamook Head

1-2

Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info: wdfw.wa.gov

7 Western Oregon and most Oregon controlled rifle (any legal weapon) deer openers; Washington muzzleloader elk opener; Eastern Washington quail and partridge openers

10 Deer and elk rifle openers in many Idaho units

13 ODFW Intro to Hunting Workshop ($, register), Newport – info: myodfw.com/ workshops-and-events

14 Oregon quail, pheasant and partridge openers; Oregon Zone 2 duck and snipe, and Southwest, High Desert and Blue Mountains, and MidColumbia Zones Canada goose openers; Washington general rifle deer season opener; Washington Goose Management Areas 1-5 opener

14-18

Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info above

14-22 Washington early statewide duck season dates

14-24 Youth general rifle season three-point-minimum or antlerless whitetail deer hunt dates in select Southeast Washington units

14-30 Oregon Zone 1 early duck season dates

15 Last day of Oregon recreational ocean crab season (bays open year-round)

21 Last day of bottomfish retention off Washington Coast; Eastern Washington pheasant opener

21-24/-27 Youth general season whitetail deer hunt dates in select far Eastern Washington units (legal deer varies; see regs)

21-29 Northwest Oregon Permit Goose Zone early season dates

25 Washington duck season resumes

27-31 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info above

28 Eastern Washington rifle elk opener

31 Last day to fish many Washington lowland lakes listed in regulations; Last day to hunt blacktails in Western Washington’s general rifle season

NOVEMBER

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

2 Oregon Zone 1 duck season resumes

4 Oregon Zone 1 snipe and scaup openers; Western Washington rifle elk opener; Washington Goose Management Areas 3, 5 reopener

7 Oregon Southwest and Mid-Columbia Zones goose season resumes

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

11 Oregon West Cascade and Rocky Mountain elk second season opener

11-12 Extended Western Oregon youth deer season

11-19 Northeast Washington late rifle whitetail season dates

12-18 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info above

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

16-19 Western Washington late rifle blacktail season dates in select units

18 Late bow deer opener in select Southwest Oregon units

18-21 Oregon Coast bull elk first season dates

22 Washington late bow and muzzleloader deer and elk openers in many units

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

24-25 Oregon Free Fishing Weekend

24-29 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches, dependent on marine toxin levels – info above

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

25-Dec. 1 Oregon Coast bull elk second season dates

Fall Buck Forecast

Deer managers at the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife provide their thoughts on this season’s blacktail, mule deer and whitetail prospects.

By MD Johnson

Sometimes you just have to put people on the spot. You just need to flatout ask ’em, “So, Mr./Mrs. X, how’s this or that going to work out? Look in that crystal ball, which I’m damn sure you have all shined up and pretty, and let me know what to expect.” Yeah, sometimes you just have to ask. And so it goes every fall in my world with state and federal fisheries, waterfowl, upland bird and big game biologists from around the nation. I call, introduce myself, and go straight into the aforementioned crystal ball. This

The call of fall is strong across the Northwest in October, as deer hunters in Washington, Oregon and Idaho all take the field in hopes of notching their tag, or at least to return to landscapes and campfires that have so much deep personal meaning. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Blacktails, like this buck Chad Smith bagged last season in Northwest Washington, provide for consistently stable harvests across the west sides of the Evergreen and Beaver States. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

month, I’ve called upon the powers of the mystical orb, along with the keepers of said orb, to let us all know what to expect once big game seasons in the Pacific Northwest get into full swing. Blacktails? Mule deer? Whitetail? And let’s not forget a small glimpse at elk.

So, without further ado, I give you, straight from the buck and bull biologists’ mouths, an in-depth look into Washington and Oregon’s big game outlooks for this season

WASHINGTON

It took me a few minutes to realize, though this was my first conversation with Kyle, that I’d had the pleasure of speaking on several occasions with his talented wife Sarah, who currently serves as the small game/ upland bird/furbearer specialist for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. But I digress. Garrison,

Kyle that is, currently is WDFW’s ungulate section manager, which means he “oversees the statewide coordination that surrounds ungulate monitoring and harvest management, which includes deer and elk, as well as mountain goats, sheep, moose, and we sprinkle a little pronghorn antelope in there with that as well.”

He’s been with the agency since 2016 in various roles in the world of ungulate management; current position since December 2022. Originally from Big Sky Country, Garrison has a degree in wildlife biology from the University of Montana, and a master’s in desert bighorn sheep ecology from New Mexico State University.

MD Johnson Western Washington blacktail deer, Kyle. Good news/bad news?

Kyle Garrison With blacktails, it tends

to be more on the good-news side. Blacktail deer are really consistent in their harvest, which would indicate good consistency in the population. We tend to harvest 9,000 to a little over 10,000 blacktail deer a year across the board, and that tends to indicate stability. Of course, all deer –all ungulates – populations fluctuate. Maybe you have a bad winter. Or intense drought. But overall, blacktail deer numbers have been very reliable.

One of the things that separates Westside from Eastside hunting is we (Westside) have that “escape terrain” – that escape cover – where you can’t necessarily see for miles and miles. That cover that (blacktails) have, along with the heavily forested landscape, allows the deer to have a little more chance to escape. You might have to work a little harder for them, but that’s also why we can provide the opportunity we can for them.

MDJ Despite continued human population growth all throughout Western Washington, Kyle, the blacktail populations I’m seeing on a daily basis seem to be doing extremely well. Lots of healthy-looking mama deer, many with twins this summer. Any reasons why so good?

KG Blacktails are a very adaptable species. They don’t move a lot, and basically live where they were born. So, if they were born into an area with roads and traffic and people, they figure out when hunting season is. But it’s their day-to-day life, and they adapt and do just fine. That’s part of it. And while I hesitate to say development and land-use conversion is a “nonfactor” – it certainly is a factor – I do think (blacktails) are able to adapt pretty well, depending on what that land conversion is. It’s a complex dynamic between the modified landscape and the way the animals react, so it’s tough to have hard-and-fast rules. But in general, blacktail deer, like whitetail deer in many ways, are pretty adaptable. And sometimes, they’re a nuisance.

Tara Nielsen Kaplan holds one of the hooves of her large 2022 buck, taken high and deep in the backcountry of Okanogan County last October. She’d seen the deer the season before and waited “an entire rotation around the sun to return to this sacred spot,” one that required a grueling four-hour hike in to reach. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

REGIONAL DEER OUTLOOKS

Each fall, Northwest wildlife biologists publish their big game season prospects. Here’s a glance at some of the more popular deer hunting areas in Washington, Oregon and Idaho.

WASHINGTON

Northeast Harvest in the state’s whitetail heartland is expected to remain “below average” this fall as a result of 2021’s hemorrhagic disease outbreak, but the region’s herd has been favored by two mild winters and wet springs since then, providing the groceries for this highly productive species to bounce back sooner rather than later. Days needed per rifle buck killed fell last fall in some northern units – Douglas, Selkirk – but continued to rise in Huckleberry and 49 Degrees North.

State managers are also continuing expanded monitoring for chronic wasting disease here and elsewhere in the far eastern tier of Washington via highwayside check stations, a self-service kiosk in Colville and by appointment. To further encourage hunters to get their deer or elk checked for the always-fatal disease, those who submit samples will be put in for a

drawing for 100 multiseason deer tags, courtesy of the Washington Chapter of Backcountry Hunters and Anglers.

Palouse and Channeled Scablands Whitetail numbers are still down “significantly” due to hemorrhagic disease, while a 2021 drought likely impacted mule deer fawn survival that will come home to roost this fall in terms of legal buck numbers. The good news is that days needed per kill largely fell last season, and while that could’ve just been due to fewer hunters afield in this relatively wide-open landscape competing for the same bucks, it will be interesting to see if that good trend continues this fall.

Blue Mountains Foothills Don’t hold your breath, but biologists are forecasting that deer harvest will “marginally improve” this fall, thanks in part to an easier winter and good spring. To account for environmental conditions and disease losses over recent years, they’ve been adjusting hunting opportunities and “anticipate seeing some recovery now that we are two years post-hemorrhagic disease outbreak that impacted both our white-tailed and mule deer herds.”

Okanogan County District 6 biologists say that given slightly below average fawn recruitment last year, they expect a “modest” decline in the number of 2 1/2-year-old bucks – which typically have a third point on at least one side, making them legal – on the landscape this fall. On the flip side, last December’s posthunt ratio of 29 bucks for every 100 does means that there’s “a good chance to encounter older bucks this season,” the bios’ add. That is, if the deer come down from the heights (or dare to venture off private lands).

“Overall, total general season harvest and success rates are anticipated to be a little below the five-year averages, but the average age of harvested animals may be up slightly,” they forecast.

Chelan and Douglas Counties

Expectations last fall were for increased harvest in these odd-couple counties, but when the dust – hint, hint – settled, deer kill actually dropped by nearly a quarter, probably because of warm temperatures and dry conditions throughout this region and lower hunter numbers, but also due to a declining herd in Douglas County. The

Eastern Washington hunters will hope for far more fall-like conditions come mid-October than what they saw over last year’s way-toowarm rifle opener. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

With chronic wasting disease discovered in Idaho not far from where all three Northwest states come together, Washington and Oregon have significantly boosted monitoring for the fatal condition and are strongly encouraging or requiring hunters to test their deer and elk. (WDFW)

HUNTING HUNTING

dropoff will probably mean more bucks available in Chelan County this season, or at least running around its rugged mountains, and while the postseason buck:doe ratio of 20:100 was above the management goal in ag-heavy Douglas and the fawn:doe ratio of 67:100 was “healthy,” biologists say a 22 percent drop in the herd since 2018 “is cause for concern, particularly when paired with reports of hunters and landowners seeing fewer deer” of late. They say several factors could be in play, “including prolonged drought, severe wildfires, disease, and emigration” to other parts of the Columbia Basin. That has bios considering collaring deer to track

their movements as well as figure out why they’re dying.

Columbia Gorge Hunters might want to work the region’s west end and its more stable blacktail population more so than its middle and eastern sections and its mule deer. Biologists are seeing a slight decrease in the latter herd’s numbers, and what’s more, this summer saw some 58,470 acres of Western Pacific Timber lands west of Highway 97 suddenly removed from the state Private Lands Access program, a big loss. Some of the region’s best blacktail hunting here occurs during November’s four-day late hunt, when one-third of all bucks are taken, biologists say.

Greater Cowlitz Basin Blacktail hunting “should again be good” in Western Washington’s top deer region. Lincoln, Winston and Coweeman Units produce the district’s highest buck kills per square mile, from .81 to 1.22 animals.

OREGON

Northwest Biologists report buck escapement coming out of the 2022 season was at the 20:100 does benchmark in the Saddle Mountain and Trask Units and “above average” in the Wilson, with all three expected to offer “decent” prospects this season. The wildcard is that the any legal weapon hunt starts October 7, the absolute latest date possible, and it could result in “an excellent hunting season, as bucks may be rutting during the end of the season,” which wraps up November 10.

Further down the coast, buck ratios look “stable and fair to good” in western portions of the Stott Mountain and Alsea Units, where fawn ratios were also above average, meaning more spikes on the landscape this fall. Northern Siuslaw Unit buck and fawn numbers were below recent averages.

Willamette Valley While fawn ratios were reported as average in the Scappoose Unit, above the Columbia, they were above average in the eastern Trask and northern Santiam Units for a second straight year, which “could result in more young bucks available for harvest in those two areas this hunting season,” say biologists. As for mature buck ratios, they were just below benchmarks in Scappoose and Trask, and “well above” it in Santiam.

Many Eastern Oregon mule deer herds, like those pretty much everywhere else in the West, are struggling due to habitat fragmentation and loss and other factors, but Wade Ramsey still managed to harvest a nice buck on a 2022 controlled tag. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Southwest Biologists say rising blacktail numbers appear to have leveled off in the Tioga, Sixes and Powers Units, but are still “fairly high” compared to the early 2000s. In the Dixon, Indigo and Melrose Units, fawn ratios are stable to increasing in recent years. And to the south, buck ratios in the Applegate, Chetco, Evans Creek and Rogue Units, as well as parts of Dixon and Sixes, are “well above benchmark.” In the eastern two-thirds of this agglomeration of units, the deer are more migratory, while those in the western third are typically found throughout all elevations, according to biologists.

HUNTING HUNTING

Columbia Gorge Buck ratios in the Maupin and western Biggs Units are above goals, at 26:- and 21:100, but White River ratios are below par, at 22:100. There, the herd has been hit by hemorrhagic disease, just like their counterparts across the Columbia in Washington’s Klickitat County.

Central Oregon The overall buck ratio in the Maury, Ochoco and Grizzly Units of 20:100 is near management objectives, and biologists are excited that fawn counts in the third of those units “rebounded” from an all-time low last year, good news in a year or two. But as stated in the main article, the overall deer population here is depressed, and the same applies in the Paulina and Metolius, upper Deschutes and north Wagontire Units. That said, buck ratios average 24:100 does and a survivable winter left a ration of 63:100 fawns:does, so a few young antlered muleys will be around.

Northeast Biologists report “good” overwinter survival in Baker County, and

MDJ Eastern Washington’s whitetail population doing well?

KG So this is a good news/bad news situation. The good news is that whitetail deer are one of the species that can have simply amazing population growth. Their ability to twin and be successful at twinning when the conditions are right means they can grow a population pretty quickly. Unfortunately, though, in 2021 we had a fairly large and extensive hemorrhagic (epizootic hemorrhagic disease, or EHD) outbreak, along with some “blue tongue.” And that had a big impact on those whitetail populations out east. Whitetails tend to be a little more susceptible to those hemorrhagic diseases in terms of mortality. Thousands of reports turned up of sick or dead deer, and that (event) certainly showed up in our harvest. But the good news, again, is that whitetails are able to rebound rather quickly.

So, what I would expect to see with whitetail deer is that we’re poised to see the population doing well into the

the same can generally be said for the rest of the region. Unfortunately, it can also be generally said that deer numbers are below objective, though buck ratios are typically above or at goals – units like Catherine Creek, Murderers Creek and eastern Mount Emily, and Northside and Desolation, respectively. Still, fawn survival and ratios are widely reported as depressed and below average, impacting spike numbers this fall. And where whitetail populations are reported “good” on the east side of the Blue Mountains, they’re still struggling to recover from a big disease outbreak on its western flanks.

One final note: State biologists will again be manning CWD check stations in Elgin, Baker City, Prineville and Celilo Park on opening weekend of Eastern Oregon’s controlled any legal weapon buck hunt, and they remind hunters that they are required to stop. Appointments can also be made to test game at local ODFW offices, where heads can be dropped off.

future. Growing. We might not see a big uptick during the 2023 license year because those fawns produced in the past couple years aren’t going to be legal bucks, but as we move forward and barring any unforeseen environmental extremities, we should be optimistic about having good whitetail deer opportunities, not only in the northeast part of the state, but in other (parts of their range) as well.

MDJ So, Kyle, same question, but this time concerning Washington’s mule deer population. Good news? Bad news?

KG Mule deer aren’t immune to hemorrhagic disease. They can be a little more robust to it, but we still had areas where there was loss, especially in far Eastern Washington, or Region 1 – Districts 1, 2 and 3. We know we had some direct losses due to radio collar (tracking) loss. That played a role. Mule deer in the long run have experienced declines across the West. In Washington, the situation

IDAHO

Panhandle “Signs are encouraging” that the whitetail harvest will bounce back after 2022’s “sharp decline,” which followed disease outbreaks and the bursting of the pandemic participation bubble. Biologists say hunters can “expect to find stronger numbers of whitetails in and around the Clearwater Region, but will likely find fewer deer in lower-elevation areas.” Whitetails are also increasing along the Snake and Salmon Rivers, while the Panhandle “saw good overwinter survival of fawns and adults.”

Boise Unit 39, sitting above Idaho’s capital city, saw “severely reduced” fawn recruitment, and that means what’s billed as the state’s most popular and productive mule deer hunt will produce fewer spikes and two-points, though mature buck numbers may be similar to recent seasons.

Owyhees And along the Oregon border, good range conditions back in summer 2022 are expected to yield more legal bucks this fall compared to recent years. –NWS

has a little more “nuance.” There are areas (and times here) when mule deer were doing very well. And then we had times when mule deer appeared to be doing poorly, and we documented declines, especially during the past four or five years.

There are a lot of factors that play a role in the dynamics of mule deer, (but) in the long term, you often see those environmental conditions being a primarily driver in the (population) fluctuation. As a firefighter, MD, you know the intense fires we’ve had in Northcentral Washington over the past several years. So we have these fires that create direct and immediate impacts, and in some instances may have killed some deer they were so large, fast-moving and intense. But then, the good news there is we’re poised to have really good forage conditions. And in a lot of our management zones (with) mule deer, our biologists are saying, “Yeah, we had some bad years there in 2019 and 2020 and 2021. We weren’t doing as well, but now we’re seeing really

promising fawn-to-adult doe ratios.”

Similar to whitetail deer, we’re going into 2023 and I would expect similar hunting conditions as 2022, which is to say perhaps a bit more muted than the “glory days.” The last highest harvest we had was 2016, and while I wouldn’t expect anything like that, I would expect similar (to 2022). Moving forward and assuming all things equal and staying relatively the same, we’re looking at good

productivity. We have good buck-todoe ratios, so I think we have promise.

OREGON

Now we jump on the Lower Columbia’s Puget Island-to-Westport ferry and take a combination of Highway 30 east and Interstate 5 south to Salem, where we’ll find one Justin Dion of the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. Dion is the assistant wildlife biologist for

ODFW’s Game Program, and comes to us armed with both bachelor’s and master’s degrees in wildlife ecology, the former from the University of Maine, the latter from the University of Delaware.

“I’m originally from the East Coast,” Dion told me, “and I’m a transplant out here to Oregon. I’ve been here for going on four years now.”

Like his colleague and Evergreen State counterpart Garrison, Dion is a busy, busy man, especially during the fall of the year; however, he too took a few minutes out of his schedule to talk with Northwest Sportsman on what Oregon big game hunters might see as they set foot afield this month.

MDJ Western Oregon blacktails, Justin. Good things? Not-so-good things?

(Author’s note: I’d started the ball rolling with Dion by speaking about, as I did to Garrison, the excellent “hatch” – I know, I know – of blacktail fawns we’ve seen locally this summer, and how healthy the does and young bucks seem.)

Justin Dion I’ve heard similar things from people here in Oregon as well, that they’ve been seeing more deer. They’re seeing a lot of young deer. And it could be a number of things. We definitely had a very late spring. A wet spring, meaning there’s plenty of green vegetation out there still, especially in our areas that tend to dry out a little bit more.

But the other thing that could be contributing as well is that we’ve had these wildfires that are burning a lot of the landscape. It’s somewhat a double-edged sword, or a two-part scenario, that is, because on one hand, fire is great for deer. They’re an early successional species and prefer that early habitat, and wildfires produce that. But what we’ve been seeing in the past few years is these really hot fires can get down into the soil and destroy seed banks, preventing things from growing back. It’s an unknown at this point.

As far as deer populations are concerned, our blacktail deer populations are robust. We have

Southern Oregon’s Parker Bolden poses with his first deer, a handsome buck taken last season. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

plenty of deer out there. Our observed ratios are solid and stable over the vast majority of Western Oregon. That’s just an “observed” ratio, so it’s likely a bit conservative; I mean, there are definitely more deer out there than we’re seeing. Overall, we have a stable very huntable population, with a lot of opportunities.

MDJ Let’s shift gears, Justin. Mule deer? Central Oregon? Northeast? Is it unfair of me to ask to discuss these regions collectively, or do we need to talk about them separately?

JD Obviously, we have different units that have different management objectives, but as a species, we manage them as a whole. Generally speaking in Oregon, like most other Western states, mule deer are struggling. We’ve seen steady declines in populations. Our buck ratios tend to be fairly stable in a lot of cases, and we adaptively manage our tag structure to try to keep them at or above those management objectives. But in general, they’re struggling.

MDJ So my obvious next question is, do you know why mule deer are struggling?

JD We do. A lot of these issues are a mosaic; there’s no single issue that’s contributing to their decline, but in this case, we have pretty strong evidence to show that it’s the nutrition that’s out there on the landscape. The problems with invasive species. Not only habitat loss, but degradation as well from grazing, from fire, from encroachment by invasive species like juniper. Replacing of bunchgrasses with annual grasses. You have this landscape that can support a certain amount of deer, and once you start chipping away at that higher quality habitat, you start to lose the amount of deer that the landscape can handle. That’s what we’re seeing – the landscape is below the nutritional level for a lactating female to simply maintain her overall body condition. Predators play their part, but from what we can tell, the nutrition aspect and the habitat quality and quantity (for

that matter) aspect is a significant limiting factor.

Author’s note: I found this habitat/ nutrition situation incredibly interesting, and asked Dion to continue, me wondering whether this was a new trend or an ongoing one, and if it's something that’s, sadly, irreversible.

JD There’s a lot of good questions there. You know, this is something that’s been ongoing for a long time. As we started to populate the western part of the United States, it’s people bringing in different kinds of grasses, not only for their cattle, but also to raise for crops. People converting land that was previously natural landscape. It’s not been a recent thing, but it’s been a slow march through time. We had plenty of space out here, speaking of Oregon specifically. We had a lot of landscape to cushion that advance. And (while) I wouldn’t go so far as to say it’s irreversible, the frustrating part – the difficult part about a habitat and landscape issue when you’re talking the scale of Oregon

October may be the best month, but it’s not the only month when it comes to deer hunting. The season began under sunny September skies and it will wrap up in December’s dimness, and hopefully somewhere in between you find success. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

and the range mule deer have in the state – is that it’s not a quick fix. There’s no way to say “OK, this is the issue. We’re going to throw some seed on the ground and it’s going to be fine.”

The fact of the matter is the landscape has changed. Not just that the plants aren’t there, but the landscape is changed. With juniper comes water loss. The fire regime has changed, with the annual grasses that tend to burn annually and more quickly. It’s a multistep process to try to turn that landscape into what it used to be for deer, and in many cases, it’s never going to be the same. But we can turn it back to something that’s more useful for them, and then the name of the game is quantity. If you can’t get it back to the natural high-quality summer or winter range that it was, then you want to turn as much of it as you can into good summer or winter range. NS

OREGON ELK OVERVIEW

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Justin Dion also provided a brief overview of how the Beaver State’s large wapiti populations are doing.

“Our Roosevelt elk in Western Oregon, we do our counts, we have our monitoring for them. In a lot of cases, though, they’re like their fellow ungulates on the landscape, meaning blacktails, where they’re hard to get a good count on. And like mule deer that are suffering from habitat loss and degradation and disturbance from different users of the landscape, there’s a lot more people here on the Westside. A lot more activity out in the woods. But for the most part, some of our units are doing pretty well,” Dion said.

“There’s ‘social capacity’ too,” he added. “We have a lot of (elk) damage

that occurs on the Westside as well, and we have certain damage zones where you can get an over-the-counter cow tag.”

“In general, though, (Roosevelt elk) are doing all right, as far as we know. There’s a lot of hunting opportunity and a lot of healthy animals out there, whether you’re up in the Cascades or you’re down on the Coast,” Dion said. “Pick your poison where you want to be, and you’re likely going to find some elk there.”

“In Eastern Oregon, our (Rocky Mountain) elk are doing really well in a lot of areas. Northeast Oregon, in particular, has a very good elk population, with a lot of our most robust populations located there. We still have really ample hunting opportunities there,” he stated. “Obviously, there were some hunt structure changes over the last couple years, with archery elk (permits) moving to controlled.” –MDJ

Stay Up For The Late Late Show

Western Oregon’s general any legal weapon deer season runs through November 10, as close to the blacktail rut as it gets, making for great hunting opportunities.

By Troy Rodakowski

It doesn’t happen every day that I draw a very good late-season muzzleloader tag for Western Oregon blacktail, then rethink even buying it. Why would I do that?

Well, for starters, under state hunting managers’ new framework, this year’s general any legal weapon deer opener falls on October 7, the latest date possible, and the final seven days of the season in November will occur right in the prime of prerut

and rutting deer. Where past seasons have ended after the first few days of November, this fall it runs through Friday, the 10th, followed by the extended two-day youth weekend, making for some prime time blacktail dates. Coupled with this past hot,

The odds of tagging out in Western Oregon are a little better this fall, thanks to a season that runs well into November. When hunting road closure areas, a good buck cart is always helpful in order to get your meat out of the hills. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

HUNTING

dry summer, there’s a good chance that deer will fall into rut cycles a bit earlier and we may see some very nice bucks harvested by rifle hunters.

A FEW SEASONS back, Dad and I hiked into an isolated canyon with big timber on one side and reprod on the other. We had scouted the area earlier in the season and saw a good number of deer moving from one side to the other, feeding and using several trails. It was a bottleneck type of opening at the bottom of a recently logged hillside where the deer felt safe to travel through the opening. I had seen several does and yearlings in the past few weeks and was hoping that, with the approaching rut, they would bring a good buck along with them.

It was midafternoon and we had only seen one doe appear to feed for a short time, then vanish into the thick reprod. Patiently waiting as the sun began to move to the west, we suddenly heard commotion to our right in the dense thicket of trees. It was a buck grunting and chasing does. The deer were moving inside the thick brush and we knew there was a good chance we’d see something if we stayed put long enough. Another hour passed as we blew on our estrus calls every 15 minutes or so, hoping to lure a buck out of hiding.

Sure enough, about 4 p.m., as I sat motionless on a trail, a buck appeared and approached quickly. I froze, as he was less than 10 feet from me before I knew it. Unfortunately, my rifle was across my lap pointed the opposite direction. He continued to walk toward me and stopped nearly at my feet, licking a piece of grass. His antlers glistened with moisture from the damp Douglas fir thicket. I saw his bloodshot eyes and swollen neck; he was massive, an amazing trophyclass blacktail. My mind raced, as I needed to raise my rifle or my chance would be gone.

Honestly, I would have been better off shooting open sights at this point, especially since being quick

Isolated draws adjacent to thick cover are great places to catch deer moving in November. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

enough with a scoped gun to get a shot was unlikely. While the fourpointer looked tired and ragged from chasing does, I was scared to make eye contact. Finally, our eyes met and as I went to raise my rifle, he whirled and ran faster than a cheetah back to safety well before I even had a chance to shoot.

My heart pounded out of my chest and, looking at my dad, who was a few yards away, I smiled and said, “Let’s go; it’s over.”

That was one of the biggest blacktail bucks I have ever seen and

he beat me. Looking back, it’s OK; I’d barely managed to get the gun off safe but not to my shoulder in time. It was a real heartbreaker and is burned into my brain forever, especially those eyes; I will never forget those eyes.

THIS FALL, WE will likely see general rifle season hunters harvest some similarly spectacular blacktail bucks, thanks to the extended seasons. Over the years, I’ve seen some amazing deer movement and rut activity from November 4-12, which is right in the wheelhouse for gunners this year.

Meanwhile, the rut and migration will be the driving force for deer movement later in the month. Snow at higher elevations will push deer to lower elevations in search of fresh browse. Does coming into their second cycle will keep bucks ramped up as well. Archery hunting the Cascades, especially in the snow, has been one of the biggest thrills of my hunting career, as Dad and I have rattled and called several mature bucks into range close enough to see the whites of their bloodshot, rut-crazed eyeballs.

The 2022 season brought an unusually early rut, with rifle hunters seeing some really great success during the Western Oregon any legal weapon season. According to state harvest stats, the Melrose Unit produced 1,340 bucks, Santiam 1,279, Rogue 1,218, Dixon 1,060, Alsea 1,016 and Trask 1,010. These were the top six units west of the Cascades, and 81 percent of the blacktails killed in the Rogue Unit came off public land, followed by Dixon at 77 percent, Trask at 51 percent, Alsea at 47 percent, Santiam at 38 percent and Melrose at 32 percent.

These and other units have seen largescale wildfires in recent years and state biologists say hunters should focus on burn scars from fires that occurred three to five years ago, where forage is coming back and producing good browse for deer. Early morning and late afternoon are the best times to keep a close eye on these areas. The flip side is that Forest Service closures continue on some old burns, so always check on access.

I’M STILL NOT sure whether I’ll pass on my controlled muzzleloader tag for the general rifle season that runs through the first week and a half of November. But this fall is shaping up to be one for the books and the last couple weeks of the hunt will be where it’s at. An over-the-counter tag may once again be a wise choice for hunters across Western Oregon who hope to put some fresh venison in the freezer. NS

The sweet smell of fresh venison is the reward we all look forward to. Terry Rodakowski skins out a blacktail following a hunt in a recent season. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

Hunting Blacktails With Gary Lewis

By MD Johnson

Some folks really need no introduction. Ah, maybe if you’re trying to explain about This Guy or That Gal to your 3-year-old, I’ll accept that. But, and generally speaking, some folks are just, well, they’re just known.

That’s Gary Lewis for you. If you hunt and fish out here in the Pacific Northwest, then you’re familiar with Lewis. Maybe not the man himself, but most certainly his writings, which are, for lack of a better word, extensive. Truly extensive.

Now living, as he says, “between Bend and Sisters” in Central Oregon, Lewis sold his first outdoor work in ’95. Since then, the self-proclaimed deer and steelhead fanatic has had hundreds upon hundreds of works published nationwide, including several books such as Fishing Central Oregon and the interestingly

titled Bear Hunter’s Guide to the Universe. Then there’s the DVDs, the speaking engagements, a line of coffee (Frontier Roast) and an extraordinarily well-received television show, Frontier Unlimited, which can be seen 14 times each week around Oregon and streaming on huntchannel.tv.

But when he’s not in front of the camera, behind the camera, laboring away at the laptop or working out the kinks of another TV segment, Lewis can be found in pursuit of one of his admitted first loves – the West Coast’s blacktail deer. In this second part of a two-month installment focusing on expert hunters’ advice on pursuing the species, Northwest Sportsman corralled the writer/author/hunter/ angler long enough to pick Lewis’s brain – and casually I might add, as there was much laughter over the phone lines – about the “ins and outs” of chasing the mythical beast

In the second half of our expert-driven series on pursuing bucks west of the Cascades, the Oregon outdoor writer/author shares his thoughts on tagging out this season.

Gary Lewis, here with a nice blacktail buck taken in Southwest Oregon’s Melrose Unit, is a widely published hunting and fishing author and host of the show Frontier Unlimited. (GARY LEWIS)

as the mature blacktail buck.

MD Johnson All right, Gary. Same question I asked your colleague Scott Haugen last month. Do mature blacktails truly exist? Are they real? Gary Lewis It’s really hard to see big blacktails in the open once season starts. Your best opportunities are going to be on the way to where they’re going to feed in the evening, and then between there and where

they’re going to bed in the evening. IF you happen to see a big blacktail between those times, you’re just flat lucky.

MDJ I’m from the Midwest and grew up chasing whitetails. Is there a comparison between whitetails and blacktails?

GL I would say that if you’re good at hunting whitetails, you can be good at hunting blacktails and vice versa.

If you take the things you know about hunting trophy whitetails and apply that to blacktails, you’re going to be successful. It’s the floundering around that gets us mired in the “unsuccess,” where we’re trying to make sense of all these things. If you know the deer are there – remember, blacktails have small home areas –and you can get into a high place where you can look down in their core territory, you’ll see the deer.

With a changing landscape across the west sides of both Oregon and Washington, Lewis advises blacktail hunters to change their tactics as well. (GARY LEWIS AND JASON HALEY) known

And you’ll eventually see the buck … because he’s there doing his thing.

MDJ Is the biggest challenge with blacktails simply seeing them?

GL It seems like it, but you have to break it down into – well, you have to have a decent place to hunt. Public land. Leased land. Landowner permission. Then you break it down into, “Where are the big blacktails living?” They have to have water, food, shelter and the escape cover. These are home ranges. During the rut, they’ll move and bump into one another.

What the western hunter – the person who grew up here in Western Washington or Oregon or Northern California – has a hard time doing is sitting in one place … and you have to sit in one place. If you’re not good at sitting in one place, then become good at it. I wasn’t good at it. But if you know where to sit and then you sit there – if you can look down into the places where big bucks live and move – then you can (transition) from that 75 percent of hunters who don’t kill big bucks to the 25 percent who do.

MDJ Let’s talk about the changing landscape and suburban blacktails.

GL The landscape is changing, and the things (tactics) that used to work really well here don’t often work as well. So you adapt. We’re being forced to adopt the East Coast model of deer hunting, whether we like it or not. (A) ladder stand makes a lot of sense. I drive by a lot of places and I say to myself, “I know a big buck lives there,” and I might even see him, but I can’t see down into that spot. I know that hunting him (there) would be very difficult, so I’m looking for other places.

MDJ Baiting – viable tool?

GL That’s one thing to consider. And to know the rules and regulations for the area you’re hunting. But there’s also scents and attractants. If you’re using doe-in-heat scent, it must be

To be a successful Western Oregon and Washington deer hunter, “you have to immerse yourself in the blacktail culture. You have to surround yourself with blacktail hunters,” says Lewis. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

HUNTING HUNTING

MDJ Baiting – viable tool?

GL That’s one thing to consider. And to know the rules and regulations for the area you’re hunting. But there’s also scents and attractants. If you’re using doe-in-heat scent, it must be synthetic [due to a law passed by Oregon’s legislature in 2019 banning the use of scent lures derived from the urine of cervids]. Food scents. They’re all something to consider. Just another tool in your tool bag.

MDJ The hunting method known as still-hunting. Does it have potential, or has it been relegated to the ranks of “old guy tactics,” never to be seen again?

GL If you’re still-hunting all the time, you’re still going to be hunting on the last day of the season. It’s one of those skills that you should try to develop. Now, I still-hunt through an area in order to get to the place where I want to sit. When I grew up hunting in Kalama and then Woodland, we’d get up well before daylight and get into the woods well before sunrise. And that was a point of pride among the family members. It was fun to get up early and eat breakfast. It was the anticipation. But what you were doing is blowing it! You’re passing by all these deer and alerting them, and they in turn are alerting all the other deer. Now, I don’t go into the field until I can see when I’m doing the still-hunting and I’m still-hunting into the place I’m going to sit.

MDJ What about calling and/or rattling blacktails?

GL Calling and rattling is like stillhunting. It’s something you should be good at. When you’re calling and rattling, you have to expect it’s going to work. You want the rifle or bow ready because when the deer shows up, you have to be ready. You don’t just call and wait for the deer to show up and stand around! My first experience with

a truly huge blacktail buck was watching two bucks try to kill each other. And while they were doing that, a third buck came in, hooked that doe, and took her away.

MDJ You talk about “switching it up.” What do you mean?

GL We all tend to do things the same way. We park in the same places as the guy did last year. Where Grandpa did. When you do that, you’re probably going to walk the same path that other guy did. In modern society, we have a tendency to take the “right” path. A fork in the road and take the right fork. We turn right at the intersection instead of left. So do just the opposite. No parking spots? There might be a pocket of ground – it might be an acre or 5 acres – that’s not getting any attention.

MDJ You’re a fan of old-school paper maps.

GL Studying maps. I can look at a topographic map and tell you where a deer (would be) right at that moment. I can take a topographic map and show you where the deer bed. Where the escape cover is. Since ’99, I’ve been able to put an “X” on a map, go there and kill that buck. I love onX (Maps). And Google Earth has made me a far better hunter. But there’s simply no substitute for a paper map. What I want is a paper topo map that has really good detail. If I, then, can compare that to an aerial photograph, the picture really opens up for me.

MDJ You have a so-called pet blacktail rifle?

GL I think a person is well-served with a 7mm Magnum. Something like that. Last year it was the 27 Nosler. This year, it’s the 26 Nosler. I’ve killed lots of blacktails with a .30-06 and .243 Winchester. The .270 is great. But I just think the 7mm is a good all-around choice.

What you want to do is put them down in the spot where they’re standing. That’s why I’m so specific about the caliber and the bullet. You don’t want to have to try and find that deer. My biggest blacktail dropped right where he was standing, and it still took me 20 minutes to find him because of the brush. He hadn’t gone a single step. Be sure of your shot. I always tie a ribbon where I was standing (for the shot), and then make a line between myself and the deer.

MDJ So, Gary, bottom line if you want to be a successful blacktail hunter?

GL You have to immerse yourself in the blacktail culture. You have to surround yourself with blacktail hunters. And you have to read what people have poured their hearts into.

I would say required reading includes Boyd Iverson’s Trophy Blacktail Hunting book; try to get the second edition of that one. Cameron Hanes’ archery blacktail book provides a lot of insight. You read between the lines in that one, and you get a really good idea of the tactics he was using. The record books for Oregon and Washington – there’s a lot of good information in the stories in between the records. You could include my book in there, too.

Then once you’ve read those, read Trophy Blacktails: The Science of the Hunt by Scott Haugen. I’d read that one last because Scott builds on the other writings, and in some cases, takes it a step further by synthesizing it all and bring it all together. So you not only understand the animal, but the subcategories of the animals throughout Oregon and Washington. NS

Editor’s note: For more on Gary Lewis and his books, DVDs, shows and more, see his website, garylewisoutdoors.com.

A Dark Moon Cometh For Rifle Deer Opener

Among the first things I look at when planning for the Washington statewide general rifle buck opener in mid-October is the calendar to check on moon phases. That’s because if it is bright and clear, deer might be feeding through the night and in their bedding areas by first light on that hallowed Saturday.

ON TARGET

But a dark moon is another thing entirely, particularly if the weather is crummy. Overnight on Friday, October 13 (I’m only partly superstitious!) in bad weather conditions, deer may be bedded and they will more likely be out feeding as weather calms down, possibly at first light, when it is legal to shoot. The full moon doesn’t appear until October 28.

Where am I going to be on opening day, October 14? In the woods, next to the big tree. Or maybe on a ridge overlooking some farmland in Eastern Washington’s Douglas County, where my brother and I have both filled tags in the past. I may be toting my .30-06 Marlin MR7, or a Savage bolt-action in .308 Winchester, but I might be packing my vintage .257 Roberts, which shot rather well during my annual sight-in visits to the range in August.

BACK IN AUGUST, I loaded up 50 rounds of .308 using Nosler’s 165-grain E-Tip (no lead) bullets over a charge of IMR 4895 and was satisfied that at 100 yards, they grouped adequately to put the hurt on anything I might encounter. My Savage has conked bucks in Whitman and Douglas Counties, and can do it again, anywhere.

In the ’06, I’m running a 180-grain Nosler AccuBond ahead of Hodgdon Hybrid 100V, which has accounted for a couple of nice bucks over on the Snake River at

Washington’s most well attended hunt is just about here. Modern firearms deer season opens October 14 and depending on the species, hunters will have from 11 to 17 days this month to bag a buck. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

By Dave Workman

considerable distance. (This rifle has also put down bucks in Utah and Wyoming.)

My .257 Roberts has anchored both whitetails and mule deer, with bucks tumbling in Kittitas and Stevens Counties over the years. My favorite load for that rifle is a 100-grain Nosler Ballistic Tip, also over a charge of IMR 4895, which is a good enough propellant to use in all of my rifles, even though the ’06 seems to like the aforementioned Hybrid 100V, a powder responsible for a couple of rather long, successful shots at mule deer.

As you will note from the accompanying image, I use a makeshift rest rather than a sandbag for these exercises, because there are no sandbags in my backpack when I’m hunting.

WHERE MIGHT BE the best odds of success this season? In far Eastern Washington, the best odds will be in Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties, where there is lots of public land. The general buck hunt for whitetail deer runs October 14-27 in Game Management Units 101, 105, 108, 111, 113,

117, 121 and 124, and the mule deer hunt in GMUs 101-145 is October 14-24.

While it’s legal to take any whitetail buck in GMUs 105-124, it’s a different story for mule deer, for which there is a three-point minimum. The one region that has always come up in conversations with people about mule deer in the state’s northeastern corner is Abercrombie Mountain, located about 2 miles south of the Canadian border.

The country around the Little Pend Oreille Lakes has always been productive for whitetails, and anywhere from Marshall Lake north to the border in Pend Oreille should produce some notched tags this month.

Over in Ferry County, the area north of Sherman Pass and around Curlew Lake traditionally gets plenty of pressure, and deservedly so. During my time writing for a weekly outdoor newspaper, in the fall and after the season I would always get lots of images of people with their bucks taken in that region. It can be tough country to hunt, but worth it.

ON THE EAST slope of the Cascades, I favor northern Chelan and Okanogan Counties, specifically in GMUs 204, 215, 218, 224, 231, 242, 243, 245, 246 and 247, which is admittedly a lot of country. The mule deer season here runs October 14-24, and pay attention to any late-season forest fires, which will dramatically shift things in the immediate area of any blaze.

Most times I’ve been up around Bonaparte Lake, more than half of the people there came from Western Washington. They hunt the slopes of Mount Bonaparte.

You also might want to check the high country west of Palmer Lake, which reopened in September following the Crater Creek Fire closure, and down through the Sinlahekin Valley and the ridge country on both sides. Further south, head north from Conconully and try the slopes of Funk Mountain or west to Mineral Hill. Or cross the country via Forest

Author Dave Workman has been tuning up his rifles for the Washington deer opener, and the entire season in the event he doesn’t quickly score. Here, he is putting his Savage bolt-action in .308 Winchester to work. Notice the makeshift rest. It’s deliberate; nobody packs sandbags while hunting deer. (DAVE WORKMAN)

See the complete deer season dates on page 21 of the regs pamphlet.

Service roads to Winthrop.

The one opening weekend I hunted around Black Pine Lake southwest of Twisp, I jumped several big blue grouse on the way in, and on the opener it snowed about 10 inches. I also jumped –but didn’t see – a fairly large buck which one of my companions did spot from a distance. So that’s an area worth checking too (and take a shotgun).

Both sides of Lake Chelan have some steep country, and a fair amount of old burns, but checking these areas out with binoculars might be productive.

And, of course, there is always Teanaway, a ridge west of Highway 97 that was once legendary for the number of big bucks it produced. Maybe not these days, but it still attracts a fair number of hunters, along with the upper Teanaway River drainage.

On the Westside, the eastern half of the Olympic Peninsula, Lewis and northern Skamania Counties and Southwest Washington’s GMUs 506, 550, 648, 660 and 672 might offer the best prospects. I’ve never not seen deer up in the Walupt Lake country southeast of Packwood, and all the

ELK SEASONS AHEAD TOO

Eastern Washington elk hunting opens October 28 and runs through November 5 in most units, but in Units 203, 209-248, 250, 254-272, 278, 284, 290, 373 and 379 the season continues through November 15. Those units don’t have many elk and state managers want to keep it that way.

Over on the Westside, the opener is November 4 and the season runs through November 15.

In my mind, it has never been adequately explained why in many Eastside units, there’s a spike-only restriction, while on the Westside, in the bulk of the units, there’s a three-point minimum.

Find all the elk season details on page 48 of the regs pamphlet. –DW

country down the Cispus River drainage to Randle is definitely worth checking if you don’t mind lots of company.

Don’t overlook western Klickitat County (Unit 578), either, where the season runs October 14-31.

It will all depend upon the weather. An early snow in the higher elevations will get deer on the move. If we have a mild early October, hunt high, work the edges of clearcuts, make sure you’ve got good binoculars and don’t get discouraged. I’ve killed a total of three bucks on opening day in all my decades of hunting. I’ve taken maybe three or four on the second day of the season (including one with a handgun), and the rest have been spread out.

I NEVER CEASE to be amazed at the number of people I encounter on the opener who are hunting an area for the first time and don’t seem to know the lay of the land. This is how people get lost, and I’ve never put all my faith in GPS.

Instead, get a good topographic map. I prefer the Green Trails or USGS quads, both of which show the topography very well, and are good to have folded up in a pocket of your daypack, along with a good compass.

If you’re hunting a new area and can count on yourself to be one of those blessed individuals who seem to notch a tag before 10 a.m. on the opener, use the first morning to get acquainted with the land and landmarks. You can do a lot of this with binoculars from a good stand up high, where you can see movement below. Use the quad map to locate and identify landmarks and where they are in relation to your camp or parked vehicle, and especially the road.

Last year, I was hunting up above Blewett Pass east of Highway 97, and hiked up to the top of a ridge along the road into Haney Meadow. Once there, I could see for miles. It was a clear day following a mild night and I didn’t see any deer moving, but the amount of tracks I encountered was definitely encouraging.

And don’t forget: Send photos of your successful hunt to Andy Walgamott, editor of Northwest Sportsman. They’ll appear in this magazine’s annual Big Game Yearbook, in the February 2024 issue. Good luck! NS

Notice the position of Workman’s hits (the target was stapled to the backing upside down). His rounds strike 2 inches high at 100 yards. That’s deliberate, as they will be roughly dead on at the 200-yard mark, using his particular load combination. (DAVE WORKMAN)

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Tips For A Stress-Free Hunt

BECOMING A HUNTER

By Dave Anderson

Fall is upon us and that means the start of hunting season. By this point, you should be prepared to venture out into the woods and mountains, and while preparation looks different for everyone, for me it means I’ve worked on my physical fitness and practiced with the weapon I am going to use. Being prepared also means having all your camping gear or camper ready to go and making sure you have meals planned or made and ready to reheat.

There is nothing worse than trying to throw things together at the last minute. In this article, I am going to touch on a few items that, if prepared ahead of time, will help make the best of your hunting trip. That’s because one of the overlooked keys to success and a stress-free hunt is proper preparation and planning.

FIRST AND FOREMOST, having yourself dialed in with your weapon ahead of time is crucial to making the best of a hunt. Do not be that person who grabs their rifle or bow, dusts it off, and starts shooting a week or two before your hunt. If you live in a highly populated area, it is going to be a nightmare going to the gun range right before the season. This tends to be one of the most popular times for hunters to sight in their rifles, making it stressful and busy. For me, sighting in a rifle should be fun and not rushed. Doing so at a busy range right before season would be like going into a war zone – not my idea of fun!

I have also moved over to using rifles with suppressors because I am not a fan of the muzzle blast when shooting. Also, as my boys get older, I want them to be able to be with me and not be scared from the

Preseason preparation and a lot of planning will make for a funner, less stressful hunt. (DAVE ANDERSON)

loud muzzle blasts.

In addition to having your weapon dialed in, you should also have ammo and extra ammo by now. Luckily, things are getting back to somewhat normal regarding finding ammunition, unlike a year ago. You should be shooting the same brand of ammo and same grain size of bullets each time. Ammunition shoots differently, especially when you switch the grain size of your bullets. Furthermore, some rifle barrels just prefer different bullets than others.

THE NEXT ITEM I want to touch on is my hunting pack and all of what should be included in yours. I have my pack ready to go weeks before the hunt starts. In my

pack, I always have everything necessary for breaking down an animal while in the field, as well as enough supplies to pack out, at a minimum, the first load of meat off the mountain. These items include rubber gloves, knives and game bags.

I used to carry a saw with me but as I have gotten older, I have been trying to shave more weight out of my pack. I prefer to use the gutless method when quartering out big game animals and the saw isn’t necessary for me anymore. Depending on how you want to mount your kill, you may also want the appropriate tools for skinning it. I am a huge fan of European mounts, so I just pack out the skull with the antlers attached.

My pack also includes a first aid kit that

I put together and refresh every year. I have a trauma pack, bandages, Ibuprofen, Tylenol, Benadryl, suture kits and more. And I have fire starters and lighters in their own container in case I get stuck overnight or need to warm up during the day. I don’t get fancy on lighters; two Bic lighters in a waterproof bag will do the trick.

Depending on the forecast, I will most likely have a set of rain gear in my pack as well. I have durable and lightweight Kuiu rain gear. There is nothing worse than getting soaked and being miles away from the truck. I also bring an ultralight down vest and jacket. These can be a lifesaver if you ever get stranded on the mountain or an unexpected cold front comes in. This happened to me years ago and I’ve never

A well-stocked backpack is an essential and should include knives for breaking down game, first aid, fire starters and clothes to meet possible conditions. (DAVE ANDERSON)

Unless you’re already planning to take your kill directly to a wild game processor, you may need a dedicated cooler to store broken down venison till you get home. Author Dave Anderson uses a Yeti 210 and says it can fit the meat from an entire elk or a couple deer. (DAVE ANDERSON)

been unprepared for it since that experience. Adding a little extra weight to ensure I will be comfortable is worth it.

Other items that have made their way into my pack include a lightweight battery bank, a lightweight cell phone charger cord and a charging cord for my Garmin inReach. With GPS info in the palm of our hand versus a handheld unit, it is nice to be able to plug in and keep your cell phone and satellite communicators charged.

I also make sure everything is ready to go with my binocular harness. I current-

ly run the Mystery Ranch brand harness, which I have found to be 100 percent sufficient while in the field. It includes all the necessary pockets and accessories. I can fit my Leupold Santiam 10x42 binoculars and Leupold RX-1600i within the harness, as well as a Windicator bottle in one pocket and the other side pocket holds my Garmin inReach for easy access. One of the things I love most about the harness is that I have a pocket for extra ammunition in the front, as well as a place for my tags, ID, etc.

THE FINAL THING I want to touch on is cooler preparation. I am a firm believer in getting what you pay for, which is why I run Yeti coolers. There are other brands like RTIC and Grizzly that also work well. Over the years, I have gone through several offbrands, and I had one cooler start to delaminate in the sun while in the back of my truck, so that was what ultimately made me make the switch to Yeti.

I prep all of our food and prepare/cook a lot of premade meals that are ready to be heated up once we are in hunting camp. I use a Yeti 160 for storing all our food, and I like to use frozen gallon water jugs or block ice for a weeklong adventure. I have never been without ice, even with daytime temps reaching 70 degrees. I can also pivot and use the cooler to keep any meat I’ve harvested cool on the way home, if needed.

My main meat cooler is the Yeti 210. I can fit an entire elk in it broken down or a couple of deer. I also have ice loaded up in the 210 so that when I need it, I have it. I don’t like having to run into town for ice, unless I absolutely need it. Ice is cheap and usually you can find it somewhere on your way out of town for a lot less than, say, a small-town gas station that could potentially run out of ice, especially if it’s a popular hunting area that gets bombarded by hunters from out of the area.

IN THE END, when you plan ahead, it makes for a much more enjoyable hunting trip. I get a lot of guff from friends for going overboard on planning. However, with my life, I live and die by a schedule. I not only need to make time for customers, coworkers and my family, but I also must have time slotted to do the activities that I love the most. When I’m prepared, I can enjoy the hunt, replenishing my mental, emotional and physical energy, which allows me to be the most successful hunter/ person in and off the field. When I get to do the things I love most, I want to be able to enjoy every single moment, so that’s why I make sure I always plan and prepare.

I hope that these few things can give you some good ideas on what to prioritize when it comes to preparing for your hunts and, in turn, provide you with a much better experience. NS

BOG DEATHGRIP BALL MOUNT ADAPTER BY LITTLE CROW GUNWORKS

When the BOG Deathgrip was first released, folks were immediately impressed with the rigidity of the Deathgrip tripod and the design of the Deathgrip clamp itself, but quickly discovered that the rifle clamp would only pan and tilt. This is a problem in the field because when you pan the rifle, your crosshairs don’t stay level.

What the Deathgrip needed was a ball mount adapter. Along comes Little Crow Gunworks with the solution. A couple years ago, they bought a ball mount and made a prototype adapter to convert the tripod. Complete game-changer! They field-tested the heck out of this thing and decided to bring it to market. LCG’s Deathgrip Adapter pans and tilts much smoother than the OEM parts and it’s a simple matter to level the reticle once you’re on target.

Another plus of this adapter kit is that the Deathgrip clamp unit can be quickly removed from the ball mount ARCA slot, allowing you to use the included ARCA plate to mount additional field items like a spotting scope, rangefinder, chronograph or digital camera. Or if your rifle is equipped with an ARCA rail, you can slide the rifle directly into the ARCA slot on the ball mount.

CUSTOMER REVIEW:

“Little Crow Gunworks’ ball mount adapter rocks!!

When I initially got my Deathgrip Tripod, the saddle, when occupied, would sag to the heavy end and not stay horizontal. I have been waiting ever since I got my Deathgrip for someone to fabricate this type of part. LCG’s adapter makes the Deathgrip useful. Until LCG made this part, the best rating I would have given the Deathgrip was 2.5 stars. BOG really missed the mark with the first iteration of this product. Now, even my heaviest rifles stay where I have set them. LCG even has it setup for ARCA Swiss, which expands the Deathgrip’s versatility. If you are vacillating on buying or not, definitely buy this. You won’t regret your purchase. Shipping was fast and there were videos for installation assistance. In short... buy it!! Thanks LCG for making the Deathgrip Adapter (DGA).”

Pick one up today at littlecrowgunworks.com and make that tripod your new favorite way to shoot in the field. Use code SHIPDGA for free shipping!

Shooting And Tracking Big Game

urprising to some, a mortally wounded deer or elk might not show any sign of being hit and walk or run away after your shot, causing you to think you missed. Regardless of what you think

Smight have happened, it’s your legal and ethical responsibility to do all you can to find the animal or verify, as best as you possibly can, that you actually missed. While a quick check for blood might confirm a hit and provide a direction of travel, blood doesn’t always pour out of the animal, especially right away.

I remember shooting my first elk across a canyon and watching in near disbelief as

the animal turned and quartered up and over the ridge away from me. Confident the bullet from my .300 Weatherby had hit the animal, I still remember telling myself, “I may not have hit exactly where I aimed, but I didn’t miss.”

There was no visible blood where the elk had stood in the snow, which might have been due to the fact that it took me some time to cross the steep canyon and

Snow can make tracking a wounded animal easy, as was the case with the buck found at the end of this blood trail. But there’s rarely snow in the hills and mountains in October and sometimes even November these days, which makes it all the more incumbent on hunters to know what a mortally wounded game animal is likely to do so as to be able to recover it. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

the snow, still falling, could have covered what blood might have splattered or leaked from the animal. But I was still a little amazed that I never saw any blood as I tracked the animal for nearly a mile through fresh snow before finding it piled up due to a .30-caliber bullet hole behind its shoulder. Had the conditions been dry (with no snow or blood), finding the animal would have been difficult at best.

Every situation is different, though, as the next elk I shot behind the shoulder tossed its head three times and dropped to the ground.

And while deer will generally succumb to a hit quicker than elk, shot placement has everything to do with a quick, clean, ethical kill that doesn’t cause the animal

to suffer needlessly. The heart/lung area – the so-called vitals – is where you should be aiming, but shots don’t always go as planned, which brings us to the topic of what to do after shooting at and how to find what might be a wounded animal.

AFTER SHOOTING, IT’S your job to immediately watch the animal to determine how its body might have reacted to your shot and determine its direction of travel. Don’t get in a hurry to walk to where the animal stood, as it might not have gone too far and you don’t want to startle it. Give your prize time to expire, as you don’t want to jump it too quickly and possibly cause it to get a charge of adrenaline and run off, which animals – especially elk – can do even when mortally wounded.

Unless I can see the animal on the ground, I usually flag my location and wait 20 to 30 minutes before working my way to where the animal stood. It’s a good idea to flag that spot too. If you have a range finder, log the distance from where you and the animal were standing, as knowing this distance can help determine where to begin searching for tracks and blood that might not spill right away. And while you will likely find the most blood on the ground, don’t overlook blood painted on vegetation as the animal ran through thick cover. Keep in mind that if a deer or elk was running, blood may have spurted out to the side and splattered on the ground and surrounding vegetation. Blood will fall straight to the ground if the animal was walking.

For author Buzz Ramsey, there is no animal harder to kill than an elk, which is why many dedicated elk hunters shoot large-caliber rifles, use well-built bullets and make shot placement a priority when aiming. And while a behind-the-shoulder/lung shot will down an elk, Ramsey aims for the lung/shoulder area these days to make it more difficult for an animal to possibly run off. A shoulder shot that hit the top of the lungs and shocked the spinal cord is what dropped this young bull elk for him last season. He was shooting a .338 Remington Ultra Mag with a 210-grain Barnes Bullet. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

A heart or lung shot is one that will definitely kill the animal, but it still may run 100 yards or more before tipping over.

The liver is located just behind the lungs and an animal hit in this location will always die, but may take four or five hours to expire. Blood from this wound will be dark red or maroon in color.

A spine shot that destroys the spinal cord will drop the animal in its tracks but may not kill it immediately, as it could be still breathing and tossing its head in an attempt to stand. In this situation, a follow-up shot or cutting its throat may be necessary.

An animal shot in the stomach or intestines will normally hunch up for a brief

moment before walking or running off. This hit is always fatal, but it will likely take hours for the animal to die. If this happens, you may find a little green or brown goo on the ground and smell a foul odor but usually see no or very little blood. If not pushed or trying to keep up with other animals, it will likely bed up. If you think this might be the case, you should wait at least several hours before attempting to track the animal, proceeding slowly in an effort to spot it first, as you will likely need to make a finishing shot.

If you don’t know where the deer was hit but have determined the direction of travel and are seeing blood and tracks, you should do your best to not walk on the animal’s trail, as you could destroy clues needed later. If the blood is intermittent, it’s a good idea to flag where you saw the last drop. A compass heading might be helpful if the animal was hit in the heart or lungs, as it will likely run in a straight line until it drops. If you hit it in the liver or guts, it will most likely head for the heaviest cover it can find to bed. A wounded animal will almost always head downhill if hit hard.

I REMEMBER ONCE shooting a mule deer buck 45 minutes before last light and watching it run toward a brushy, timber-covered draw. I felt great about the 240-yard shot because, although I was standing, my rifle felt solid, as I had it firm-

Holding both ends of his rifle steady via a Harris Bipod and backpack made the 300-yard shot at this mule deer buck easy for Wade Ramsey in 2021. He had no need for tracking, as the deer dropped where it stood. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Ramsey has a bipod mounted on his hunting rifle and he carries a tripod that can be extended for sitting or standing shots too. These tools make accurate shooting easier and mostly eliminate misses and the need to track down a wounded animal. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

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One 8-ounce bottle will tan one deer hide in two medium-sized fur skins. Bear, elk, moose and caribou require three to six bottles. Complete instructions are included. You’ll be amazed how easy it is!

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This bullet-notched branch is a reminder for Ramsey of one notable miss. A herd of elk was at 80 yards and he was concealed under foliage with the wind in his favor, but when he looked through his scope a branch blocked his view. Ramsey adjusted his position for what he thought was a clear shot and fired as his elk turned broadside. He spent the rest of the day looking for the animal, followed every track and marked each with flagging tape but never found any blood or sign of a hit. After a sleepless night, Ramsey hiked back to where he’d taken his shot and found this branch with a bullet hole in it just a few feet away. Although he’d seen the elk clearly through his scope, the branch was in line with rifle barrel. “Bullets don’t fly very well after expanding,” he notes. “I brought the branch home to remind me of my 2007 elk hunting adventure.” (BUZZ RAMSEY)

ly planted atop my tripod shooting sticks. Figuring the deer would be easy to find, I radioed my son and asked him to head my way.

In no hurry, we began our search but failed to find the animal after several hours of looking. It was only after following a stringy blood trail with a flashlight that we found the buck only 50 yards from where it had stood. The handsome deer had fallen into a large bush we had walked past more than a few times.

If the blood runs out and you cannot find tracks that match your deer’s direction of travel, your best option might be to begin a grid search. Mark the location of the last blood and use your onX or other mapping tool to conduct a grid search in an effort to find the animal or blood leading to it. NS

Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is regarded as a sport fishing authority, outdoor writer and proficient lure and fishing rod designer. As such, fishing rod manufacturer Douglas Outdoors has added Buzz to their pro staff.

As much as hunters want to have lots and lots of deer running around, sometimes there can be too many on certain landscapes. Such was the case that author Randy King’s son Jordan (inset) helped address via an Idaho depredation tag. (IDFG; RANDY KING)

Shoulder Season

Mto get close enough for a 12-year-old to shoot it, so less than 150 yards.

CHEF IN THE WILD

By Randy King

y son Jordan and I were on the top of a bare knob in the desert sage glassing an obscene number of deer. The tag he had drawn was a youth-only depredation doe tag for the Snake River and we were just covered in muleys. Like too many deer. It was hard to move around without bumping one small herd into another small herd.

Our trusty .270 was resting on my pack and ready for a shot. We were looking for the perfect target: a doe with no springborn fawn tagging along, or a year-anda-half-old doe. We didn’t want to orphan anyone, but we could not shoot horns either. Then when we found one, we had

A few missed opportunities – read: shots – later and the hills were now bare of deer, and I was looking at a disappointed child. A few weeks prior Jordan had oneshot/one-killed his first buck, a perfect double-lung, dead-in-its-tracks shot. Now, however, he’d missed several times at the same range. He was not loving life.

And that is when we spotted it. A yearling, apparently caught napping, was wandering around looking for her herd. Unfortunately for the deer, it was not smart enough to run as we walked within shooting distance.

Jordan sat down, got steady, breathed in and out a few times, and made meat. This issue’s recipe is from that deer’s front shoulder. NS

VENISON À LA FRANCAISE

Since time immemorial mankind has hunted. Some of the oldest known art in the world, the caves of Lascaux in France, depict hunting. Hunting was on our minds and in our hearts enough to want to crawl into dark caves and tell stories by firelight. The cave paintings even show animals with extended horn sizes. Hunters were braggarts even back then. All this to get meat, because getting meat matters; it helps us become human.

Slightly this side of time immemorial, man added that hunted meat to a pot with veggies and cooked it. Thus was invented “soup” and “stew.” The primary difference between the two is the amount of liquid. If the primary component of the dish is liquid, it is a soup. If the primary component is chunky hunks of goodness, you have a stew. On good days we ate stew; on less good days, soup was eaten. Hearty, lip-smackingly-good stew is hard

to beat on a fall day. It just fills the belly in a special way. It often causes naps. And just as often, it needs to be made with venison. Bourguignon stew is a French staple and is considered “one of the most delicious beef dishes concocted by man.” Of course, Julia Child used beef, and I forgive her for that; I think she only mentioned beef because she was not a hunter. Venison Bourguignon is far more delicious anyway.

IN 2017, THE French (I know, I know …) voted bouef (beef) Bourguignon the top “national dish” of France, with 23 percent of the votes. It beat out steak frites (steak and freedom fries) and coq au vin (chicken with wine). And it is no wonder; the dish is hard to top.

The dish has its origins in the Middle Ages, when it was created to tenderize tough cuts of meat. With enough time and seasoning, one tough old buck can feed a village.

It might not come as a surprise that the dish comes from the Burgundy region of France, famous for its wine, and that wine is vital step in the process of making the stew. The dish is also a fall classic and utilizes those flavors in abundance. Think onions, carrots, mushrooms, red wine and thyme – all seasonal fall staples in France.

The dish was popularized in the early 1900 when Auguste Escoffier published a cookbook with a recipe and technique for it. For some context, Escoffier was the first real celebrity chef. He was “the chef of kings and the king of chefs.” His work on classic technique is still quoted and extensively used today. Need to know the classic garnish for lobster cardinal? Check his Le Guide Culinaire. To this day culinary schools require it.

By the way, the classic garnish is black truffles. I got that wrong on a test one time and it still burns me. That said, I did pass

Instant Pot venison Bourguignon with mashed potatoes. (RANDY KING)

CUMBERLAND’S NORTHWEST TRAPPERS SUPPLY

Hide Tan Formula has been used successfully by thousands of hunters and trappers across the U.S. and Canada. No more waiting several months for tanning. Now, you can tan your own hides and furs at home in less than a week, at a fraction of the normal cost. Our Hide Formula tans deer hides either hair-on for a rug or mount, or hair-off for buckskin leather. Tans all fur skins – muskrat, mink, beaver, fox, coyote, raccoon, squirrel, rabbit, etc. It also applies to bear, elk, moose, cowhide, sheep and even snakeskin. Hide Tan Formula is premixed and ready to use and produces a soft, supple Indian-style tan in five to seven days.

One 8-ounce bottle will tan one deer hide in two medium-sized fur skins. Bear, elk, moose and caribou require three to six bottles. Complete instructions are included. You’ll be amazed how easy it is!

Tanned hides and furs are great to decorate your home or camp and also to sell for extra income. Tanned hides and furs are in demand by black powder enthusiasts, American Indian traders, fly tyers, country trading posts and many crafters. Our products are proudly produced and bottled in the U.S. for over 20 years.

Available at Cumberland’s Northwest Trappers Supply in Owatonna, Minnesota.

Call (507) 451-7607 or email trapper@nwtrappers.com. nwtrappers.com

the test – using Escoffier’s methods –to become a certified executive chef. The accreditation body I was certified through is called the American Culinary Federation and it has been around for about 100 years or so. When polled, ACF members overwhelmingly cited the 120-year-old Le Guide Culinaire as their number one favorite cookbook,which is just referred to as “The Guide.” So when Escoffier published a recipe for bouef bourguignon in 1903, it took off quickly.

MARINATING MEAT DOES two things.

Thing 1: It adds flavor to the dish. You cover something in garlic and wine, it is going to taste like garlic and wine.

Thing 2: Depending on the marinade, it can soften the meat up a bit. Marinades are often acidic in nature and can cause protein in muscle tissue to break down. So when marinating, remember that it adds flavor with time, but the flip side is that too much time can cause meat to turn to mush. For this dish I recommend a 12- to 24-hour marinade, if possible. When done correctly, it is a two-day process, but it is worth it.

I also used an Instant Pot for this recipe, though a normal Crockpot will work just fine. Suggested times are below.

VENISON BOURGUIGNON

1 front shoulder from a deer (remove

the shank), or about 4 pounds of meat ½ bottle of red wine – I used a big fat merlot on mine. Your call, just be willing to drink the other half of the bottle with dinner

½ stick butter

6 cloves of garlic, crushed

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Place the front shoulder of the deer in a roasting tray. Put the stick of butter on top. Roast the deer shoulder in the oven for about 30 minutes, or until it is completely browned on top. The butter will have melted and be sizzling in the pan at this point. This is good. Flip the shoulder, spoon some of the butter on top and roast again for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven.

While the pan is still hot, add the red wine. Scrape the bits of brown off the bottom of the roasting pan. When cool to the touch, place the shoulder in a container that barely fits it. At home I use a large foodgrade bag. Then pour in the liquid and add the garlic. Place the shoulder in the fridge and let the marination process begin. (If only one side is getting soaked in wine, that is OK. Just flip it over after about 12 hours and all will be good in the world.)

Do not toss the marinade! It is a vital part of the stew.

1 marinated venison shoulder

Marinade from the meat

3 cups beef broth

6 cloves garlic

1 large onion, large dice

½ pound white mushrooms, halved (if you have others, have at it – dried morels would be amazing!)

1 pound carrots, cut thumb-sized

½ stick butter

¼ cup tomato paste

2 bay leaves

Thyme sprigs, fresh

5 large sage leaves

Salt and pepper

INSTANT POT DIRECTIONS

In an Instant Pot, add the front shoulder, marinade and beef broth. Cook on high pressure for 45 minutes. Let the pressure naturally release. Remove the lid and add the remaining items. Do not oversalt at this point; you can salt more at the end. Cook for 15 minutes on high pressure. Manually let the steam out of the pot (careful – no need for a nasty steam burn).

When pressure is released, open the pot and taste. Adjust with salt and pepper as needed. Enjoy with mashed potatoes!

CROCKPOT DIRECTIONS

Add the front shoulder, marinade and beef broth to a Crockpot. Cook on high for four hours, or until the meat is about to fall off the bone. Then add the remaining items and cook for one more hour on high, or until the carrots are tender. Season with salt and pepper and enjoy! –Randy King

The recipe calls for the deer’s front shoulder, about 4 pounds of meat, so you’ll need to remove the shank, or lower leg, and set it aside. (RANDY KING)

Beat The Bushes For Blues, Ruffies

October’s chock-full of outdoor opportunity, but one that gets overlooked is grouse hunting. Yes, season’s been open since September, but there are still blues and ruffies to be found by beating the brush.

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

Bushes

By Jeff Holmes

While it’s probably true that deer and elk hunters kill as many or more Northwest forest grouse than those specifically chasing grouse, plenty of us focus on grouse and the many splendid things occurring in the woods during the early fall. Never are wildlife more conspicuous or numerous, with the young of the year flooding landscapes and many species actively engaged in mating season. Changing foliage and dropping leaves combine with sweet smells of autumnal decay to excite our senses and connect us to years and hunts past. Like a popular song of the day, there’s something in the orange about our fall landscapes bathed in light that triggers memories as the Earth tilts on its axis and threatens winter.

Weather and the descent of winter vary from year to year, but October is the most reliable month for that orange hue to light up the landscapes and our experiences on them. Although it is more often thought of as a month for the deer and pheasant openers, followed by elk, there are so many things to do in October that one can scarcely think about doing them all. For me, grouse hunting is high on the list. By October, birds are all fully feathered out and starting to disperse instead of being clustered in blastable broods by water sources. Walking through woods where grouse may be encountered anywhere while soaking in the natural spectacles of October is sublime. I have learned that October grouse hunting is the year’s best hunting, provided you check to make sure your plans in a given area do not conflict with general deer or elk seasons.

For many years I followed the

October grouse are less numerous, but still a treat to hunt in the woods of the Inland Northwest.

example of a huge and silent percentage of grouse hunters. I whacked birds on dirt-road two-tracks and saw plenty of fellow hunters doing the same. The practice of sniping forest grouse sitting on roadways is so ubiquitous that I’ve even seen it discussed explicitly in articles and hinted at unintentionally

in many others. I remember a few of those birds I whacked on roads with .22s and shotguns, but it was the ones I worked for and the many tough grouse hunts I went on with family and friends as a kid and an adult that cemented me as a lifelong hunter. It’s easy to see a different path I could

Grouse gunners are less likely to use dogs than their compatriots out for pheasant, quail and partridges, but they make for good companions while working the woods. Be aware of wolf packs in some areas, as wild and domestic canines do not get along.

have taken, easier yet to see why so many hunters – even young ones in good shape – drive endless loops looking for game. They learned the wrong way and were presented with no alternative.

Luckily, my dad is a walker who insisted that we spend most of our time in the field hiking and working for our birds. The taste of pan-fried ruffed grouse or blue grouse enchiladas will invariably taste better after a day of hiking in the field than after smelling road-hunter farts in the cab of a truck all day. Working hard yields sights and experiences not to be found in a truck cab or on a quad or trail bike. Grouse live in beautiful places and are accessible, relatively plentiful, and, in some cases, stupid enough to assist young hunters in making first kills, like the ruffed grouse I shot in the neck on my sixth shot with a Ruger Single Six when I was a kid. I hiked that bird out to the truck and cleaned it perfectly before taking it home and roasting it for show-and-tell and my lunch the next day. Grouse are delicious to goony kids and adults alike, and they’re a delicate prize best earned, not blasted while pecking gravel or eating clover on a road edge.

There are few targets in the Northwest better suited to young hunters and those of all ages than ruffed and blue grouse, or sooties and duskies as the latter species is now known. Spruce grouse – the peaceful “fool hen” cousin to ruffs and blues – are fair game to hunters, and the young ones are pretty tasty. But like the dates you don’t want to marry, spruce grouse are way too easy, don’t stack up in quality and leave you aching with regret. Blues and ruffs offer far better targets and are relatively abundant across major portions of Washington, Oregon and Idaho, including west of the Cascades.

IT’S EAST OF the Cascades, however, in the drier, more open Inland Northwest that grouse hunting really shines. Abundant public land, excellent habitat, strong populations,

(KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

grouse over consecutive years on many occasions, with and without pointing dogs, never to actually see the bird or to get a flash as it streaked away behind a purposeful cover of brush and trees.

4) Find the food, find the birds. All grouse species eat clover and small forbs, along with insects, berries and seeds. Berries ripen at different rates throughout the region, but to generalize, most of the birds I shoot have snowberries, elderberries, huckleberries, kinnikinnick or wild raspberries in their crops when I find berries. You’ll find far more small, succulent plants in the crops of both than berries. As the season progresses, you’ll find fir needles in their crops, especially blues, which persist on needles through winter. Once you figure out what grouse are eating, targeting them becomes easier. Seeing what is in birds’ crops not only reveals clues, but it’s interesting as hell to understand grouse a little better.

5) Covering lots of ground during a day helps to identify concentrations of birds. It’s generally possible and often very easy to concentrate future attention on areas where you find good numbers of birds. Often, the same places produce year after year. Grouse are very keyed into their desired habitats, and the right blend of food, water and cover will hold birds every season. Exploring new areas for grouse is one of the great joys of the woods for me.

6 TIPS FOR OCTOBER GROUSE

1)

October can occasionally be a hot, dry month in the Inland Northwest, and grouse, ruffs especially, won’t be far from water if we haven’t had fall rains, but this year precipitation has come early, and birds are likely to be spreading out. From the Selway River to spring-fed mud puddles, any reliable water will draw birds. Blues like water sources too but are more adept at consuming water from dew and food sources. Still, look for them in dry conditions near stock ponds, springs and high mountain creeks.

2) Blues generally occupy higher elevations than ruffs and live in drier, more open places like ridgetops. Blue grouse and mountain goats are the only North

American wildlife that actually move uphill in winter. They ride out the coldest months eating pine and fir needles high in trees. Prior to taking to the trees, blues taste great and can be extremely concentrated on ridgetops into October as more blues move uphill from lower elevations.

3) Ruffs can be found next to blues on dry ridges, but are far more common lower on the mountain near creeks, rivers, lakes and open forest and meadows with reliable water. They are the most common grouse in North America and here in the Northwest. They can be as dumb as spruce grouse or so cagey that they never present a hunter with a viable shot, season after season. I’ve chased the same cock ruffed

6) My favorite grouse gun is a little 26-inch-barreled Mossberg 20-gauge pump, but any shotgun makes a fine grouse gun. I also hunt with a single-shot 20-gauge and my trusty 870 Remington 12-gauge. For ruffs and spruce grouse, low-brass rounds of size 6 to 8 shot are great and very popular. I often hunt with high-brass pheasant loads, however, in places where there are lots of blues. While I’ve killed grouse with .22s, rocks, sticks, a muzzleloader ramrod, high-powered rifles and handguns, I’m sticking with shotguns. My goal is to shoot a grouse in the air. If by chance I’ve been walking my butt off and I want to dump a blue high out of tree? I can still achieve that with my trusty shotgun. Also, should a grouse reveal itself at close quarters and should I desire to shoot it before it flies, plucking off the head of a grouse with a shotgun is easy. –JH

Find the grits, find the grouse. They’ll still be feeding on the last ripening berries, green leaves and bugs this month, but will also be transitioning to their winter diet of conifer needles. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

long seasons, more penetrable vegetation and affordable out-of-state licenses make all three states grouse hunting destinations. The places that follow in Washington, Oregon and Idaho are excellent grouse hunting spots where I have personally hunted and harvested good numbers of birds. An October trip for grouse is a great opportunity to camp in beautiful places, see lots of wildlife and fall spectacles and pursue one of the tastiest wild treats in the Northwest. Republic, Washington The seat of Ferry County may have fallen on hard economic times over the past few decades, but the riches of the surrounding landscape are still intact. Blues, ruffs and spruce grouse are

abundant in the northern half of the county and even more so to the south on the Colville Indian Reservation. The tribes have almost no tradition of pursuing abundant blues nor ruffs, and hunting permits are reasonable.

But you needn’t buy a tribal permit here. The town is literally surrounded by hills and birds. The Kettle Range and Okanogan Highlands foothills flank the Curlew Valley north of town, and many drainages empty into the valley. Use your map to identify public land before you go, and pretty much count on finding birds if you put in some effort. State land, accessible private timber ground and the Colville National Forest present more hunting options than you’ll

ever hunt. Don’t overlook the Kettle Range and roads off Washington’s highest paved mountain pass highway, Sherman Pass. The creeks and other water sources on both sides of the pass hold lots of ruffs and the iconic ridges hold good numbers of blues.

The Republic area is also home to abundant snowshoe hares, which make the finest pot pie in the mountains. At some point in October, they will start to transform to a snowy white. They can be very conspicuous against a snowless landscape, or incredibly challenging to see if there’s a blanket of snow. Hares exist pretty much everywhere and in all the spots detailed in this article.

Blue Mountains This WashingtonOregon border range is more well known for elk and deer than small game, but both the Umatilla and Wallowa-Whitman National Forests harbor lots of ruffs and blues. Ruffs are plentiful around the scarce water sources and blues tend to spread out on the landscape as broods disperse and fall rains arrive.

In early October you’ll find good numbers of blue grouse up high, but their abundance on the mountains’ trademark 5,000-foot ridges and plateaus increases exponentially as birds move uphill throughout the month. You won’t find birds everywhere in this dry range, but you’ll find plenty around stock ponds, springs and scarce creeks.

There’s enough water in the Blues to harbor ruffs in places you won’t even expect to see them, like on ridgetops with their larger cousins, blue grouse. The remote mountains above and on both sides of the Imnaha River valley are loaded with birds, and the ridges above Hells Canyon are my favorite place to hunt grouse. In Washington, favorites include Lick and Asotin Creeks, Mount Misery, the upper Tucannon River, the Skyline Road and Chase Mountain. Ruffs range from the rim of the Blues all the way to the major river bottoms that drain the mountains. I’ve shot ruffs on the lower Tucannon while

Ruffed grouse are typically found at lower elevations and near moister areas, while duskies and sooties – the new names for blues – hold higher on the mountain. (KNIFE PHOTO CONTEST)

HUNTING HUNTING

pheasant hunting and along the Grande Ronde while steelheading.

Clearwater River Drainage

This Idaho basin is one of the least populated and most grouse-rich places in the West. Vast roadless and roaded chunks of public land encompass the Lochsa, Selway and North and South Fork Clearwater Rivers, along with their major tributaries like Kelly and Cayuse Creeks and many more. You could hunt grouse here for the rest of your life and still have new honey holes to discover. From the lowlands along major rivers to the alpine zone and the sparsely treed ridges blues prefer in October, there are all three species of grouse in profusion in the massive Clearwater drainage. Ruffs are extremely common along rivers and their tributaries here and can be found throughout the mountains wherever you find water. Blues are far more likely to be found at higher elevations near open forests and

meadows in the presence of mature timber – ridgetops especially.

It’s tough to go wrong here in terms of finding places to hunt, but great options include the west side of Lolo Pass, the area around the small mountain town of Pierce, the Black Canyon and upper reaches of the North Fork Clearwater, Kelly Creek, and the mountains around Elk City, the gateway to the Magruder Corridor and upper Selway. By the way, the very remote Selway is the setting for an excellent story most any Northwest Sportsman reader would enjoy, Indian Creek Chronicles, by Pete Fromm. The author lives in a tent for seven months of winter, subsisting partly on plentiful grouse – and a poached moose.

Colville, Washington Northeastern Washington is home to the Colville National Forest, which has over 4,000 miles of roads in it, not counting trails. To say there’s a vast amount

of access here would be as accurate as saying there is a ton of grouse in the mountains of Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties. Add plenty of state ground to the mix, and there is more huntable grouse here than perhaps anywhere in Washington.

I cut my teeth as a grouse hunter in the woods west of Springdale in the southern part of the Huckleberry Range, just north of the Spokane Indian Reservation. Later I’d wander through pretty much all of Stevens and Pend Oreille Counties and found birds in good numbers everywhere, although there has undeniably been a dip in ruffed grouse populations coinciding with turkey colonization. But there are still plenty of ruffs throughout both counties, as well as spruce grouse at elevations greater than approximately 4,000 feet. Blues also live throughout the region, usually at higher elevations along ridgetops and on large mountains near treeline. NS

Even As Fall Beckons, Caution, Prep Needed

If you’re the proud owner of a versatile gun dog, October marks the pinnacle of the entire hunting year. Depending on where you live, or are willing to travel to, you can pursue doves, pheasant, chukar, quail, grouse, ducks, geese, turkeys, crows, gray squirrels, varmints and more with your dog.

With so much to hunt and so many places to go, it’s important to plan ahead so you have the proper gear needed for the hunt. If desert grouse and quail are on the menu, be aware of snakes. If your dog’s not snake broken, you should reconsider heading into rattler country. With hot temperatures extending well into fall, heading to habitats that are cooler, where snakes have receded into their dens, is a good move.

Should you be heading into the Cascades or Coast Range for forest grouse and quail, know that grass and weed seeds this past summer were some of the worst on record. All summer long, vets were inundated with record numbers of dogs coming to their clinics for grass seed removal. Some of these surgeries can set you back $5,000 or more. Before cutting your dog loose to run open hillsides, the edges of walk-in-only roads, game trails and logged units, take a look around to see if it’s worth it. If multiple types of weed and grass seeds are flourishing, you may want to relocate and come back later in the season.

EARLY WATERFOWL SEASON brings the same concerns, just with different kinds of noxious seeds and grasses. Spring and summer wetlands are a hotbed for the propagation of nasty seeds that can be detrimental to a dog. Some waterfowl habitats may not be huntable until the first

October is go-time for bird hunters and their canine companions. Make sure to research the area you’ll be hunting, monitor weather conditions, and pack all the gear you and your dog will need. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

GUN DOGGIN’ 101

By Scott Haugen

heavy rains have knocked down weeds and tall grass. Inspect the area before letting your dog roam freely in any wetlands, particularly dry ones yet to take on water.

Wherever you hunt, make sure to regularly inspect the eyes, ears, mouth, toes and the underside of all legs for grass seeds. Get into the underside of the pads and look between the toes for sharp, piercing seeds, as well as flat or round seeds that will ball up with fur and create hotspots.

Making sure your dog’s gear fits the nature of the hunt is vital, and staying organized is key. You also want to have easy access to things like scissors, forceps, pliers, a brush and all first-aid items.

SWITCHING GEARS, TIRED of all my hunting gear sliding around in the back of the truck and getting covered in dust, I’ve found investing in quality cargo cases to be worth it. I tried plastic bins, but they didn’t withstand the punishment, so I stepped up my gear boxes. Whether I’m going on a day hunt or an extended road trip with the dogs, I’ll often put my bulkier gear in a

OREGON

EUGENE

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If your dog’s not snake trained, think carefully about where you’re hunting. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

CONNECTICUT

Connor’s and O’Brien Marina Pawcatuck, CT connorsandobrien.com

Defender Industries Inc. Waterford, CT defender.com

O’Hara’s Landing Salisbury, CT oharaslanding.com

MASSACHUSETTS

Action Marine & Watersports Inc. Holyoke, MA actionmarineholyoke.com

Bill’s Outboard Motor Service Hingham, MA billsoutboard.com

Captain Bub’s Marine Inc. Lakeville, MA captainbubsmarine.com

Doug Russell Marine Worcester, MA WorcesterBoating.com

Essex Marina LLC. Essex, MA essexmarinallc.com

McLellan Brothers Inc. Everett, MA mclellanbrosinc.com

Merrimac Marine Supply Methuen, MA merrimacmarine.com

Nauset Marine-Orleans Orleans, MA nausetmarine.com

Obsession Boats East Falmouth, MA capecodboatcenter.com

Portside Marine Danvers, MA portsidemarine.us

Riverfront Marine Sports Inc. Salisbury, MA riverfrontmarine.com

South Attleboro Marine North Attleboro, MA www.sammarine.com

Wareham Boat Yard W. Wareham, MA wareham-boatyard-marina.com

NEW HAMPSHIRE

Dover Marine Dover, NH dovermarine.com

Winnisquam Marine Belmont, NH winnisquammarine.com

RHODE ISLAND

Billington Cove Marina Inc. Wakefield, RI bcoveyc.com

Jamestown Distributors Bristol, RI jamestowndistributors.com

Gear boxes like this Yeti GoBox 60 and Pelican BX80 are great for hauling a range of gear while keeping dust and moisture out and protecting everything inside.

Pelican BX80 Cargo Case. This is a deep box that mounts to the inside of my truck bed, making it great for traveling rough roads and on long trips. The BX80 Cargo Case is weather-resistant, dust-proof and the latching system is solid and efficient.

Last fall, I tried Yeti’s LoadOut GoBox 30 Gear Case and loved it so much I upsized last spring to the larger GoBox 60 to store dog gear in the truck. I love the durability of the GoBox, as I can store key pieces of training gear, including electronics and water bottles. The unit keeps everything

sealed tight so moisture and dust don’t penetrate, and the nonslip feet keep it from sliding around the bed of my truck even on the roughest of roads. The GoBox is simple to wash, maintain and quickly repack for whatever your needs may be.

As for water, you can’t have enough of it readily accessible for your dog. Yeti’s new 1.5-liter Yonder Water Bottle was great for my summer dog training sessions and has been nice to have on early season upland hunts. I keep it in the truck and carry the smaller 20-ounce Yonder bottle afield for

the dogs. The Yonder bottles don’t keep water cold, but they’re a tough, durable option to haul in the truck and carry afield. From the hunt to the gear to the travel planning, the more prepared you are, the safer and more enjoyable the experience will be for you and your dog. NS

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

(SCOTT HAUGEN)

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CONFESSIONS OF A NEWB

By Andy Walgamott

he first twothirds of 2022 for me was a whirlwind of housebuying negotiations, house-packing, housemoving and houseunpacking, mixed in with dusty blizzards of kitchen remodeling, bathroom remodeling, living room remodeling, bedroom remodeling and shed remodeling, as well as major frontyard, sideyard and backyard makeovers that involved more chainsaw work than I’ve had since the summer before 8th grade, when Dad and I cut down and split up five cords’ worth of Douglas fir to earn enough money for a Minn Kota electric trolling motor. Which is to say that it was not until early

Tfall last year that I – a certified, licensed and (supposedly) practicing fishing (and hunting) magazine editor – even touched a fishing rod. Well, that’s not entirely true. I did touch ’em while loading one of three U-Hauls we used to move all of our stuff from Shoreline, just north of Seattle, to Oregon City, a landscape both wildly foreign to this native Washingtonian and yet oddly familiar as a lifelong Northwesterner.

I can remember the exact moment I recalled that I owned fishing rods. In midSeptember, one of our neighbors rang the doorbell and introduced me to a gent from down the street who was carrying a black garbage bag with a curious sag. I’d heard about the guy, who was reputed to be a good fisherman; he was leery about me, having heard I was a magazine

editor and therefore genetically likely to be much more of a blabbermouth than a zipperlipped secret keeper. In the sack was a hatchery coho he’d just caught off his boat and, having enjoyed a fair amount of success of late, he was giving the fish away.

I quickly relieved him of the nice hatchery hen, and just as quickly I confirmed my suspicions about exactly how and where he’d caught it.

“All right, you got me,” he admitted.

They were and weren’t lucky guesses for someone who’d never fished the run before. Truth be told, nearly every word that I’ve ever written or proofread for Northwest Sportsman and the Washington and Oregon issues of defunct Fishing & Hunting News has gone in one eyeball and out the other. But there are a few things that have stuck in

It wasn’t until fall last year that editor Andy Walgamott emerged from an eight-and-a-half-month-long fog of moving his family from the Seattle area and settling into their new house in Oregon City, but it lifted just in time to explore a new-to-him coho fishery on the Willamette River. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

Close-to-my-new-home Coho

the recesses of mein cabeza, and one is that Willamette coho – just like their cousins in the Duwamish-Green, Snohomish and Skagit – can’t stand plugs. Hate ’em.

Well, at least when they’re not utterly ignoring them, which is approximately 98.7654321 percent of the time.

As for the where, I’d just figured that out after taking my youngest to his Saturday morning soccer game over at Meldrum Bar Park, along the Willamette. We got there early enough so that as Kiran warmed up with his new teammates, I had time to walk over to see the famed cobble bar my writers have extolled over the years. Where I’ve subsequently seen its banks packed during the spring Chinook run, all I saw that early fall day was one plunker adjusting his setup while a couple boats worked the river. They

Willamette Falls serve as a management deadline. Only hatchery coho can be kept below the barrier, but unclipped natural-origin fish – the progeny of state releases that ended in the late 1990s – can be retained above the falls. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

were trolling the half mile of water below the mouth of the Clackamas, up which is a national fish hatchery that annually releases 350,000 young coho.

Perfect, I thought to myself, a nice quiet fishery where I won’t make too much of an ass of myself as a total Willamette neophyte.

IN THE BEFORE times, when I commuted back and forth to this magazine’s office in Tukwila, I spent a significant amount of my fall workweeks on the muddy banks of the snaggy DGR trying to get its coho to bite. It was quite frustrating. And expensive. And frustrating. Also frustrating. When Covid hit and I began working from home, I became more and more comfortable taking my kayak out onto Puget Sound, where I enjoyed a modicum of silver success. And while I can absolutely vouch that river coho are not saltwater coho in the least, trolling for them in my kayak is how I want to go.

Also, my elbows aren’t sharp enough to get into the big lineup of fellow fishermen

running Corkies and whatnot on the Clack immediately above the McLoughlin Bridge.

The great thing about kayak fishing the Willamette in fall, I soon discovered, is how much less anxiety I suffered compared to being out on the Sound. There are fewer wakes from fishing boats and pleasure craft (at least in the mornings), and none at all of course from yachts zooming up to the San Juans, ferries lumbering back and forth, Navy vessels heading into Bremerton and big huge giant container ships steaming off to China. No super-long fetch that builds up wind waves and complicates dealing with all the wakes. No strong tidal currents pushing me this way or that. No rips loaded with eel grass, seaweed and other salad clogging up my gear. No jellyfish clogging up my gear. And no damn harbor seals stalking my setup. Ahhh, yes, nice and relaxing.

And then in a single trolling pass, two very large sturgeon lunged out of the water a kayak length or two away, scaring the bejesus out of me. So maybe it’s not entirely

BUT THE OTHER great thing about getting into trolling plugs for Willamette coho was how relatively quickly I actually hooked one. That first buck bit in the back half of September on a Brad’s Wiggler in luminousgreen herringbone, a pattern I would never in a million years have chosen had it not been for the helpful Fisherman’s Marine sales associate’s advice on the first of many wallet-emptying trips. I also stocked up on more traditional red herringbones, as well as metallic pink, purple and others. Flame red seems to be doing all right so far this season. A few others swear by bass plugs.

On the advice of I forget who, I swapped out the plugs’ stock trebles for slightly bigger ones. Call me an idiot, but I also reflexively smash all my barbs, even if it isn’t required, given my predilection over the past few years for hooking unclipped salmon and steelhead that have to go back and me wanting to harm them as little as

A wide variety of plug colors and patterns work for Willamette coho, but anglers tend to favor traditional salmon red, orange, pink and metallic finishes, often in herringbone pattern. This Brad’s Wiggler in luminous-green herringbone instantly became Walgamott’s go-to when a nice buck bit it on one of his first outings last season. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

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possible. While fully finned natural-origin coho returning to streams further up the Willamette are caught below the falls at Oregon City, they must be released there.

The below-the-falls fishery, which is focused in the flowing waters from a bit below Meldrum Bar on up, is pretty newbiefriendly: Rig your plug with a 20-pluspound-test, 4-foot leader and run it 30 to 50 feet behind your craft. Vary your speed; some anglers go faster, others very slow.

You can also run a 360 flasher and 3.5 salmon spinner or other lure such as a SpinFish, and if the incoming tide has slowed the river enough, you might even try twitching jigs, though that feels like a longshot. I’ve tried drifting along and casting a Flying C spinner, also a longshot.

INEVITABLY, AFTER MY initial sweet success last fall came the swearing so often associated with lockjawed silvers that love to flip you the fin while frolicking on the surface. “Starting to think these Willamette coho are a little too much like Duwamish coho,” I texted a friend after a series of

skunkings. The Clackamas’s hatchery run, at least in the Willamette, also tends to be more of (but not entirely) a September fishery, so by October it felt like it was time to introduce myself to some more brandnew-to-me, kayak-friendly waters.

From what I’ve gathered, a number of tributaries above the falls were seeded by hatchery coho releases that were discontinued in 1998. Returns have varied wildly since 2000, anywhere from 25,230 fish down to 1,322, but the last five years have seen an average of 10,834 at the falls. And 2023 is seeing a big early run, some 2,647 adults as of September 14, the most since big returns in 2013 and 2009. You can keep any coho up here.

My first stop last year was the mouth of the Tualatin, a very, very short paddle from the nice Willamette Park launch. Then I tried the mouth of the Molalla, a very, very long paddle from the steeper Molalla River State Park ramp. More anglers use 360 setups here than below the falls and, at least as of this writing, they appear to be more effective than plugs this season. Others anchor up at

the tribs’ mouths and cast spinners or plugs.

While enjoying quite a bit of arm exercise off the Tualatin last October, which is to say that I did a lot of paddling around, I made a colossal rookie error and donated $30-plus worth of gear to a snag because I’d gotten tired of trolling plugs and wanted to try a flasher and spinner without knowing the water’s depth.

It was not deep enough.

So I switched back to plugs and first thing one fine morning in late October, two coho decided to bite the red herringbone Wee Wart I’d tipped with the tail of a white plastic worm, a takeoff on a Buzz Ramsey trick for silvers, and one came home with me. That high note was how I decided to end my first ever Willamette coho season.

As for 2023, it’s been far slower below the falls and that big early count saw me move up to the Tualatin, where I picked up a buck on a Pro-Troll and 3.5 spinner in Mexican flag. I’m looking forward to this month here.

TRUE, I DIDN’T go into this fishery an utter newb, but the nice thing is that it doesn’t

Trolling is focused at and below Willamette tributaries such as the Clackamas, Tualatin, Molalla, Yamhill and Santiam. With the exception of the Clack, coho tend to stack up off of the mouths as they wait on midto late fall rains to raise the streams and ease their passage to the spawning grounds. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

Last year and the start of this season saw Walgamott running plugs almost exclusively, but his move upstream last month also saw him switch to a 360 flasher and 3.5 spinner, which yielded this decent buck just before press deadline. (ANDY

require a lot from an entry-level angler except some basic gear, time and patience. A lot of patience. I’d also advise scouring Ifish, YouTube, Facebook and other websites

for tips, and you might get yourself an emotional support (fill in the blank). River coho are cruel and you’ll be filled with self-doubt, loathing and angst, and suffer

multiple crises of confidence between bites. Which, I can attest, makes the bright fish and even slightly colored up ones that you’ll catch taste all the better. NS

WALGAMOTT)

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Fall finds many Northwest trout streams free of summertime camping crowds and fishermen, making for relaxing angling as westslope cutthroat and other species chow down ahead of winter. Upper sections of Idaho’s Clearwater system and St. Joe are top options. (PAUL ISHII)

By Jeff Holmes

The extremely wild and beautiful Bitterroot Mountains of North Idaho are home to some of America’s great cutthroat streams and some of our country’s most abundant and pleasant summertime camping, much of which is free. The St. Joe River and nearby Kelly Creek and North Fork Clearwater River are famous catch-and-release fisheries that are loaded with beautiful westslope cutthroat trout, rainbow trout, improving numbers of bull trout and lots of mountain whitefish. Along their lengths are hundreds of dispersed campsites along with lots of national forest campgrounds. While there will surely be crowds during weekends and holidays at these remote and stunningly beautiful rivers, these days even during the week it can be tough to completely get away from people. That’s why fall, October in particular, offers the best mix of great fishing, empty campgrounds and hundreds of miles of trout streams that are among the best in the nation. Meanwhile, you can also buy a cheap out-of-state bird tag and maybe a grouse or ten happen to end up in your cooler.

Hunters are the main user group in the woods in October in the Bitterroots, but they largely avoid the river corridors except to travel them to their camps and in some cases to camp down low on the streams. They offer little competition, if any, for fishing water. They are more interested in the black bears, elk, mule deer, whitetails, moose, wolves and cougars that live in these drainages, along with many other mountain wildlife species.

There are no grizzlies here, but carrying bear spray is always advisable in wild places. On the rivers themselves, however, the main danger is falling down out of excitement while moving between fish-filled holes without the throngs of summertime anglers to get in the way. All three rivers require single, barbless hooks, but I’ve never found that regulation

October’s a fine time to fly fish for native trout on St. Joe, Kelly Creek and North Fork Clearwater.

a hindrance to catching fish, nor to taking total newbies out for successful first flyfishing trips. Most people fly fish here, but you are not constrained to fly gear and can cast spinners, small plugs, spoons and jigs outfitted with single barbless hooks.

THE ST. JOE is Idaho’s best trout stream, and Kelly Creek and the North Fork Clearwater are right on its heels. After tightened regulations along more of its length in the late 2000s, biologists have been amazed to see more and bigger

fisher showing in their annual snorkel fish counts. The St. Joe has soooo many mature cutthroats in it, and they’re the Northwest’s most eager fish species to rise for a fly. Fish from 12 to 16 inches are the average, but some days the fish all seem to stretch 16 inches or better. The river is home to superb numbers of quality fish, and catching them isn’t rocket science, but fly selection changes slightly. That said, anglers should still carry with them standard patterns – especially nymphs – that work year-round. Bring size 10 to 16

Pheasant Tail nymphs, Copper Johns, olive Hare’s Ears, Prince Nymphs, caddis pupae and soft hackles. Most of summer’s mayflies are long since dead, but blue-winged olives persist into autumn, as do October caddis and smaller caddis.

Streamers – especially those in olive, brown and natural flesh – are always effective, and I prefer rabbit fur and natural materials to flashier, modern streamers on these rivers. I like to keep everything as close to a natural presentation as I can. Many of the bull trout are absent of the large rivers and instead are spawning in October, but many bulls, even big ones, do not spawn every year. There will still be big bulls in the rivers, just fewer, and plenty of smaller bulls yet to make a spawning run. Cutthroats greedily eat streamers, and the bulls are incidental catches.

St. Joe cutts are more eager to rise for dries than are the fish on Kelly Creek and the North Fork Clearwater, although this should not dissuade anyone from fishing dries at all three streams. And in October, nothing beats a foam ant on all three streams, with foam beetles a close second. Get size 10 to 16 black foam ants with white indicators. They are buoyant and splendidly visible and are like cutthroat candy. You should also have October caddis adults and emergers and a collection of blue-winged olives and some standard attractor patterns, if for nothing else than to support your nymphs, acting as indicators. Dragfree drifts of dry flies and nymphs are important unless stripping streamers like Woolly Buggers, Zonkers, sculpin patterns and more. Check out Silver Bow Fly Shop in Spokane or Northwest Outfitters in Coeur d’Alene for more nuanced help with flies or gear.

ALL THREE STREAMS are remote, but especially the North Fork Clearwater, located along with Kelly Creek in the Nez Perce National Forest. The St. Joe is in the Idaho Panhandle National Forest. Kelly and the North Fork can be approached easily from Superior,

These waters are home to nice-sized and plentiful cutts, “the Northwest’s most eager fish species to rise for a fly,” writes author Jeff Holmes. He reports the St. Joe’s population averages 12 to 16 inches, “but some days the fish all seem to stretch 16 inches or better.” (TRAVIS SCHUH)

FISHING

Foam ants (top row, left) are the most lethal floating fly in the fall, and foam beetles (top row, right) perform beautifully as well. Cutthroat cannot resist little black ants or little black beetles. Also be sure to have caddis pupa imitations (middle row, left) from about size 10 to 14 and check in with Silver Bow Fly Shop or Northwest Outfitters to get stocked up on October caddis dries. Old standards like Hare’s Ears, Prince Nymphs (middle row, middle) and Pheasant Tails always do extremely well on the St. Joe, Kelly Creek and the North Fork Clearwater, while a little Eggsucking Leech (middle row, right) could catch all the fish in the river, including spawning kokanee you might see coming up from Lake Coeur d’Alene or Dworshak Reservoir. And olive Zonkers and olive Bunny Leeches (bottom row, left and right) are absolutely effective for both cutthroat and less numerous bull trout. (JEFF HOLMES)

Montana, or through Pierce, Idaho. Don’t expect any services to be available on the rivers themselves, excepting only the tiny town of Avery, the gateway to the upper St. Joe. In Avery, definitely check out the Idaho Fly Fishing Company, a great fly shop run by great people who also serve coffee and excellent ice cream. All three streams are fantastic October choices for exploration, but I’ll focus most on the St. Joe since it is most accessible and is especially pleasant to fish in October after the crowds have long since headed home.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game bisects “The Joe” into “upper” and “lower” stretches for the purposes of managing its trout fishery. Below the trout fishery is a gauntlet of pike and other predators as the St. Joe empties into Lake Coeur d’Alene. The lowerriver trout fishery stretches from the 16-mile bridge on Forest Highway 50 (St. Joe River Road) upstream 30 miles to Avery. St. Maries, Idaho, is 16 miles

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FISHING

downstream from the bridge, 46 miles from Avery and is the main access point to the St. Joe, especially the lower river, offering a full range of services (stmarieschamber.org; 208-245-3563).

The upper river, the 66-mile stretch between Avery and its source at St. Joe Lake, is designated as a national wild and scenic river. Before anglers venture into the wildest parts of the St. Joe, it’s important to remember that Avery offers the last-gasp chance for services (gas station, convenience store, a bar with a human skeleton caught in a bear trap, cold beer, a trout pond with a candy machine that dispenses trout chow, etc.). From Avery, Forest Highway 50 parallels the St. Joe for another 30 miles through a mostly magnificently forested canyon with reminders of the Great Burn of 1910 evident along its course. This stretch offers excellent fishing and camping access along its entire length.

Thirty miles upstream from Avery,

Gold Creek Road (Road 388) leads away from the river and switchbacks 14 miles to the Montana border, where it becomes Little Joe Road. Fifteen miles further is St. Regis, Montana, a “shortcut” to the remote upper St. Joe for many. After the junction with Gold Creek Road, Forest Highway 50 becomes Red Ives Road (Road 218), and shrinks dramatically into a very narrow, mostly paved route that parallels the river. Fishing and free camping opportunities are nearly constant along the 10-mile drive to Red Ives Ranger Station, home of a U.S. Geological Survey gauge that should show some skinny water unless there has been a major October storm.

Road 320 – a rough, one-lane track – leaves the river at Red Ives for the mountains, only to reconnect with the St. Joe at Heller Creek, the upstream-most drive-in access. Road 218 continues along the river’s north bank for 2 miles beyond Red

Ives, providing access to more Forest Service campgrounds and trailheads. From the end of Road 218, a popular hiking and horsepacking trail leads to Heller Creek.

All 66 miles of the wild and scenic St. Joe can offer amazing fishing in one of the West’s grandest, most all-public settings. For car and trailer campers, hikers, backpackers, mountain bikers, and more, the upper river is as precious a place as the Gem State can boast. And in October? It’s pretty much all yours.

But to speak too specifically of the upper river or tread too roughly in its presence is blasphemous and unnecessary. Catching these cutts isn’t that hard – so long as you can mend line and achieve drag-free drifts. Even if you can’t, there are few better places to practice, with easy wading, plenty of room for backcasts and forgiving cutthroats that will bite poorly presented flies – just less often than for those of us who can fish drag-free. NS

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Holding Onto Hope In A Desolate Place

Hope. What a beautiful feeling. Hope is something I have always clung tightly to throughout my life. Hope has always been a driving force and an essential part of who I am. Even when the shadows of darkness are all around me, hope allows me to never lose my light, even if at times it’s only but a flicker. I believe that as long as I can feel hope within me, darkness will not prevail. We all face adversity in our own lives, but lately it’s the adversity outside of my personal life that weighs heavily on my soul.

So very much can change overnight. Nothing proves this more true to me than what remains of my sacred watershed. My big backyard. One might think that since I commute through the ruins of my forest daily I would have grown numb to this dismay, but I haven’t. That change was unforeseen, and unforeseen change is usually the hardest. I feel helpless in what I am seeing unfold three years after the Archie Creek Fire, which burned 131,542 acres in September 2020, including almost 100,000 acres in its first 24 hours. Mismanagement appears to be all around me and I wonder, how can this be so? In my opinion, big-picture priorities have not been addressed nearly enough! How can we not see, let alone do what is best for this watershed and the creatures who have called it home far longer than us? Human error is what took it all away from them; there was nothing wild about this wildfire! I still have a hard time grasping the fact that essentially in just one day, this wreckage has became a way of life for the North Umpqua.

ONCE SO FULL of life, this beyond luscious

Even though it’s been three years since the Archie Creek Fire torched Sara Potter’s beloved North Umpqua and two years since she wrote “When A Given Is Gone” about losing it in our September 2021 issue, she is still in disbelief “that this once wet and wild place has become so desolate, so dry, so unprotected.” (SARA POTTER)

By Sara Potter

FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG

forest perfectly protected his sacred river, and together their living creatures thrived despite our presence. Flora and fauna were perfectly layered in this Oregon oasis. One must have known it to truly understand this place, as my words fall short. But from the tiniest of ecosystems to the greater whole, all of it coexisting, thriving as one incredible forest always impressed me so much! The emerald-green river and her uniquely pristine tributaries weaved through it all. Mother Nature knew exactly what she was doing when she created this stretch of the forest.

It was a beyond welcoming home to both fish and wildlife. I felt a tranquil certainty whenever I was blessed enough to walk these woods, knowing such sights, smells, sounds, how they made me feel: so

While they’re unrelated, not seeing torched North Umpqua forestlands immediately replanted while the downstream Winchester Dam, solely used for private waterskiing, was repaired this summer rubs Potter the wrong way. The Forest Service does have plans to reforest 10,677 acres of the eastern burn scar. (SARA POTTER)

full of life and yet perfectly muffled to only those who were tucked within them. It was a priceless gift to a girl like me.

Transition is never easy, especially with unforeseen change. In the beginning of life after the fire, I could only gasp at the mass destruction. But time passes quicker than you know and with nothing but love for this place, we would try and explore the burn in search of signs of hope and life. Amazingly enough, there were signs of new popping up through this black forest of death. That stage really was damn near impossible for me to bear, both physically and mentally. Accepting hard things in life is pretty crucial in carrying on, which we all should do. I just have a hard time accepting that this once wet and wild place has become so desolate, so dry, so unprotected. It almost feels like it has been forgotten and I just can’t understand it.

WORKING 38 MILES upriver I have seen quite the load of profit being made when it comes to “wildfires” in my woods. This year’s fires are the only ones I prefer to call “wild,” as nature started them, just as her fall rains are putting them out. I have seen good work done to welcome humans back into the forest, but what about the wildlife that literally live there? Crews have cleared the way and completely restored trails for

us to walk the creeks to our once radiant waterfalls, but what about for the most magnificent of the forest’s creatures, its fish? They need passage in order to get upstream to spawn, in order to survive! These waters are not only the salmon and steelhead’s home; they are essential to their survival. Reaching their spawning grounds successfully should matter more than us being able to walk the creeks.

Three years later I do remain grateful that the national forest was logged, despite the eternal gut ache such a sight leaves within me. I just wonder, though, after watching literally hundreds of trucks a day coming downriver, where did that profit go? I mean, nobody owns national forest land; it is said to be all of ours. However, there is no doubt in my mind that profit is being made by many at the cost of something that is priceless. How in the world there wasn’t immediate wildlife disaster restoration funds I will never know. But three years later, I have seen no trees planted in the national forest. I just do not get it. That profit, even a fraction of cutting those timbers in national forest, should go back into reforestation!

Right now on my river, we are pouring funds into restoring Winchester Dam but not habitat restoration, and that just does not sit well with me. We should be far

wiser than this at this point. When I see the resilience within the young maple trees that are now standing between 4 and 12 feet tall, I do see that these three years have made a difference. But this type of destruction in the forest requires human help, period. Indeed, not all who once called the forest home are as resilient as the maples. Crucial salmon tributaries are still in total despair, wildflowers have been completely wiped out, the forest looks like a desert, the sacred summer fish are returning in lower numbers and with such a total loss of habitat, things will not just magically get better. They need to be faced head-on, but I just don’t see it happening.

I am grateful for the trees that have been planted by the Bureau of Land Management. To see the difference in land management has been eye-opening and caused me to ask myself, who is actually in charge here? There’s been nothing but unanswered emails to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife regarding our hatchery, which burned in the fire, and where we sit with our summer-run steelhead program. I just don’t understand.

It is in these thoughts that I struggle in still feeling hope. I will never let it go, but if one doesn’t feel it, then what? My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS

The North Umpqua and its fish, fisheries and forests are known for their fierce advocates, but one of them is struggling to hold onto hope. (SARA POTTER)

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