Northwest Sportsman Magazine - November 2022

PUBLISHER James R. Baker

EDITOR Andy “paddling against the governor’s highly political crusade” Walgamott

THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Dave Anderson, Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, Jeff Holmes, MD Johnson, Randy King, Sara Potter, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Dave Workman, Mark Yuasa

EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks

GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak

SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold

ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Riland Risden, Mike Smith

DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper

PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker

OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann

COPY EDITOR Alyssa Stout

INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn

WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines

DIGITAL

Jon

HUNTING GHOSTS AFTER HALLOWEEN

Fright night has come and gone, but there are still ghosts wandering the woods – blacktail bucks, possibly the most elusive critter here next to Sasquatch. But Troy Rodakowski knows how to bust ’em. He shares tips learned over the years of hunting Oregon’s Willamette Valley and Cascade and Coast Ranges.

81 LATE WHITETAIL BEST HUNTING PRACTICES

Northeast Washington’s rut season offers a great chance to bag a buck – if you work it correctly. Jeff Holmes offers up expert advice and his own hard-earned insights for a hunt that will be harder than usual due to last year’s big disease dieoff.

137 WASHINGTON COAST CHOCKFULL OF RAZOR CLAMS

Even with a bit of a hiccup at the start of fall’s digs, there are millions of shellfish to be had on the Washington Coast this season. Mark Yuasa details razor clam numbers at the four primary beaches as the highly popular opportunity heads into the holidays.

(JOSEPH SANDS, USFWS)

129

BUZZ RAMSEY Plugging River Chinook

From the Lewis to the Chetco, Quinault to the Siletz, there’s one fall Chinook tactic you don’t want to overlook. Buzz shares a tutorial on back-trolling salmon-size plugs for the Northwest Coast’s largest kings.

COLUMNS

69 GUN DOG Quick Fixes On The Hunt

As wingshooting season hits high gear, you might find yourself where Scott did earlier this fall – hunting with a gun dog that apparently had forgotten its training. He shares how to correct errors quickly and get back on the birds.

89 ON TARGET November Bucks And Birds

Whether you’re after blacktails or whitetails, our roving rifleman Dave W. has you covered with tips for both species, plus details on three new offerings from Ruger.

97 NORTHWEST PURSUITS Eleven’s For Elk

November means elk hunting in Western Washington, where rifle seasons lead off the 11th month of the year and there’s late archery and muzzleloader opportunity at the back end too. Jason outlines successful tactics for all types of hunters.

105 BECOMING A HUNTER Backup Plans For Big Game

If October didn’t pan out and you’ve still got a live deer and/or elk tag in your pocket, Dave A. is here to help.

113 CHEF IN THE WILD Give Shanks For Braising

No doubt about it, Chef Randy’s a leg man – as in the shanks of deer and elk. Rather than grinding up the lower limbs of big game into burger, he’s all about braising them with low and slow cooking methods and a delicious Mexican-style mole sauce. He shares the recipe!

145 FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG Inner Steelhead Slayer Takes Summer Back Seat

Sara Potter née Ichtertz didn’t completely drop her steelhead rod this summer, but she devoted far more time to her children and fiancé and now husband – and she was perfectly comfortable with that. How does Sara balance fishing and family?

(COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

LANDERS)

THE BIG PIC: RUNG OUT?

Eastern Washington was once flush with pheasants, but modern farming practices and other factors make a widespread resurgence highly unlikely – but there are still some opportunities to be had.

DEPARTMENTS

23 THE EDITOR’S NOTE

WDFW reformist convention

35 READER PHOTOS

Staunch salmon, young fellas with fowl, a brawny bull and more!

39 PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Coast, Fishing monthly prizes

41 THE DISHONOR ROLL

Local hunter/DDA named Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Prosecutor of the Year; 6 wolves poisoned in Northeast Washington; Jackasses of the Month

45 DERBY WATCH

Spokane angler wins $10,000 for Westport king; Recent results

47 OUTDOOR CALENDAR

Upcoming fishing and hunting openers, special events, deadlines, more

82 HUNTING NEWS

Washington deer hunters surveyed; Some Predator-Prey Project research released

140 CLAMMING NEWS

Bleak Oregon razor clam prospects

148 FISHING NEWS Groups petition for Olympic Peninsula steelhead listing

What was billed as the “inaugural Washington Fish & Wildlife Management Reform Convention” was held last month on Vashon Island and it featured some of WDFW’s fiercest courtroom and management opponents, a chance to hobnob with a powerful state lawmaker and free vegan food.

Put on by the “Washington Fish & Wildlife Management Reform Convention Steering Committee” – Wild Fish Conservancy, The Conservation Angler, Center For Biological Diversity, HSUS, Washington Wildlife First, et al – their aim was to “bring together fish and wildlife advocates from around the state to discuss a path toward transforming the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife into an agency that prioritizes conservation over consumption, emphasizes the intrinsic value of individual animals and healthy ecosystems, and represents the values of all the people of the state” (emphasis mine).

Ultimately, it’s another step toward uncoupling WDFW and the Fish and Wildlife Commission from their strongest traditional supporters – you – and what’s more, holding this convention implies a a bolder, much more well-organized effort that Washington hunters, anglers and true conservation organizations should be aware of.

Among the expected speakers were Fred Koontz, the former commissioner who resigned last December but still fires off occasional op-eds, while state Sen. Christine Rolfes (D), chair of Ways and Means and a member of the Agriculture, Water, Natural Resources & Parks Committee, was scheduled to be on hand for a “View from the legislature Q&A.” The legislature was one tack that WDFW reformists tried to take last session, though none took sail.

DAY ONE OF the convention was focused on “The Problem” – which for them meant WDFW and the commission – day two “The Solution” and brainstorming on “Diversifying the Department, the Commission and Advocacy Groups,” “Engaging the broader public in Fish and Wildlife,” “Changing the Department from within,” “Finding the right commissioners,” and more, then “Developing a platform for change.”

The above orgs frequently comment before the commission, on predator management, WDFW’s overarching conservation policy and, lately, Chinook hatchery increases. When they don’t get their way with the commission or courts, they go to Governor Jay Inslee and get him to stick his hand in critter management. They’ve also gotten him to appoint reform-minded members to the commission.

As I reported this story on our blog, convention organizers first deleted the event’s agenda, and then they took down all the details. That’s an interesting tactic by those so eager to shed light on WDFW and the commission that they must hide their ambitions.

With the terms of three commissioners – including two certifiably pro-fishing and -hunting ones – up at the end of this year, things are about to get serious. The pieces are in place in the Governor’s Office and I’ll be blunt: WDFW and the commission may drive you batsh*t with some of their moves, but those ain’t nothing compared to what might be coming if this “reform” effort succeeds.

–Andy Walgamott

The Washington Wildlife Coalition took down its website for the “Washington Fish & Wildlife Management Reform Convention” after it attracted attention. (THE INTERWEBS)

Eastern Washington still holds enough wild pheasants to keep diehards like my friend and outdoor mentor Rich Landers afield regularly throughout the three-month pheasant season. Rich is a special guy with a very special dog, Ranger, a line-bred and highly trained Brittany spaniel. The bond between a hunter and a great bird dog has been much romanticized in print, but nobody can really capture how special the memories afield and that love can be. Rich does a great job of celebrating and trying to describe something words fail to do full justice. (RICH LANDERS)

Rung Out?

Eastern Washington was once flush with pheasants, but modern farming practices and other factors make a widespread resurgence highly unlikely – but there are still some opportunities to be had.

By Jeff Holmes

ause the good ole days weren’t always good, and tomorrow ain’t as bad as it seems…”

As if I needed another reason to cringe at the music of Billy Joel and his “hit” song “Keeping the Faith,” this godforsaken lyric hasn’t left my mind for almost a month, partly because I’m weird and partly because of interviews I recently sought out and conducted with passionate biologists who also hunt birds. I learned pretty definitively what I had suspected, which is that the good ole days are likely over when it comes to pheasant hunting in Washington. With few glimmers of hope over the last 20 years, save for healthy pockets of wild birds on private ground and in a few reliable zones along the Snake and Palouse Rivers and a few other places in Southeast Washington, wild birds are hard to come by, even for ultra-fit hunters with well-trained, hard-pointing dogs. Meanwhile, public hunting ground is not hard to come by. Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife has done great work over the last few decades securing vast amounts of huntable acreage via land acquisitions, wildlife area additions and private-land-access programs such as Feel Free To Hunt, Hunt by Written Permission and the Hunt By Reservation (privatelands.wdfw.wa.gov/ private_lands). In my 35 years of bird

hunting, there has never been more public ground to chase roosters.

The problem is there aren’t many birds anywhere on the landscape, and WDFW bears no responsibility for this sad fact; I’ll get into that. In fact, sadly, their stocking of pen-raised birds on Eastern Washington wildlife areas on the opener and other select and holiday weekends throughout the season may be the last best opportunity for those without dogs or with limited mobility. Pen-raised birds have a place but simply aren’t the fast-flying, gorgeous track stars that wild pheasants are. So where did the pheasants go?

MOST OF US who love to hunt wild roosters think we know that pheasant populations depend on great nesting habitat and also on dry, warm Junes – a month when young birds are vulnerable to moisture and chilly weather. We also think that predators are main culprits responsible for the long walks most of us take where we see few birds, many of which are 2- to 4-year-olds (ancient by pheasant standards) that tend to jump well out of shotgun range. With bad recruitment for the past two decades, there are few yearling birds (the dumb ones we shoot) and there’s early pressure on prime public ground.

And we are partly right about our theories for decline because rearing habitat is for sure the key. But even during years when springtime weather has been ideal

“C

for chick rearing, numbers have remained low for the last couple decades except for a small handful of nirvana-like zones that exist almost entirely on private land or on the edges of hard-to-walk public ground abutting private. Meanwhile, in colder, wetter, higher-elevation pheasant habitat elsewhere in the U.S. – such as landscapes over 5,000 feet in Wyoming –birds are doing far better than in Washington and also than in other intensively farmed states in the West and Midwest.

Predators take a toll on birds, especially where habitat is sparse and where birds are constrained into small areas where they become easier picking, but hawks, owls, and coyotes are far from a main cause of the overall decline. The glaring question is “Why?” Why are pheasant numbers so depressed – Hungarian partridges are too but to a lesser extent – and will we see a major rebound? Sadly, like my relationship, it’s pretty complicated, but with less hope.

LET’S START WITH the good old days in the Evergreen State. Harvest numbers in Washington were gaudy from the 1950s until the early ’80s. This was especially true in the Columbia Basin, in today’s

stronghold of the Palouse, and elsewhere in the eastern part of the state with good nesting habitat and year-round water. Hunters without dogs and with poor shooting skills could wander afield with pretty good assurances of at least shooting their shotguns a lot, probably harvesting some birds too. Hunting was decent all over Eastern Washington anywhere there was good cover and water somewhat close to agriculture. With seed birds galore across the landscape, even desert habitat with reliable water held roosters. The Yakima Valley, central Columbia Basin, shrubsteppe habitat across Eastern Washington, and, of course, the Palouse held strong numbers of birds. Dips occurred due to rough winters and occasional bad nesting weather, but pheasant numbers were strong, and participation and success remained much higher than they are today.

However, as farming practices were modernized, crops changed and irrigation went from flood irrigation to tight control of water, bird numbers began to change, especially in irrigated habitat in the central and southern Columbia Basin. Beginning in the early 1980s, as circle crops began to dominate and as farmers moved away from sugar beets –which are ideal for pheasants numbers began to decline, as did hunting success. Gradually, irrigated landscapes became concentric circles of circle crops,

and irrigation practices became more modern and influenced by technology. Modern farming practices assured that only target crops received water, which did two destructive things for pheasants: overall soil moisture declined precipitously, and that led to no extra weeds or other vegetation growing. With only target crops receiving water, insects suffered. A lack of insects is deadly for pheasant populations. Pheasant broods absolutely require a highprotein diet, and they get that protein from bugs. With no moisture in the soil, no extra vegetation from water management and herbicides, and thus few bugs that depend on vegetation, brood survival became very poor. In nature, first-of-the-year critters represent the bulk of mortality to all sources: cars, environmental factors, predators and human hunters. When brood numbers are low, hunting suffers, and the next year’s seed birds become low in number.

PHEASANT NUMBERS IN and around the crop circles around Tri-Cities and Moses Lake were the first to decline, eventually nosediving to the extremely sad state of today, but even birds in the Palouse and other former dryland farming hot spots for rooster have suffered due to the efficiency of modern farming. Efficient farming practices didn’t just take their toll on irrigated farmland that formerly held tons

The days of less efficient agricultural practices that allowed pheasants as well as Hungarian partridge to thrive in the Palouse and elsewhere in Eastern Washington are long gone. (ANDY WALGAMOTT)

of roosters. Whether it’s restricted water, herbicides, insecticides and intensively manicured farms that leave little to no room for birds to nest, seek shelter or hide from predators, the amazing efficiencies of modern agricultural approaches are the smoking gun for why pheasant numbers are in the toilet.

It is the inefficiencies in agriculture that pheasants and Huns thrived on during the good ole days, and herbicides like Roundup and others are great for efficient farming but bad for pheasants. Herbicides especially kill the broadleaf plants that insects and the birds that eat the insects both depend on. Golf-course-like fields are death for pheasants, and our farming landscapes are largely ultra-clean and leased; leasees competing like retirees with their perfectly manicured lawns. Listening in at rural coffeeshops reflects the intense competition between farmers to have the cleanest, nicest-looking fields.

Huns are far more adept at eking out existences on marginal lands than roosters, but the source of the decline of Huns and pheasants in and around farming can also be traced to the use of neuro-active insecticides called neonicotinoids that have been under development since the ’80s and in use since the ’90s. They

Washington’s pheasant population used to be so thick that one could hunt these fast-running, wily birds without a dog or with just a mediocre one to help get birds to hold or to buck brush where roosters will hole up. Nowadays it’s damn tough to hunt roosters without a dog, and a good one makes all the difference. Flushing breeds like retrievers, spaniels, and various mutts that will hunt are way better than no dog at all, but hard-pointing breeds like Brittanies, English setters, German shorthairs, English pointers, Weimaraners and pointing Labs are better bets for hunting wily roosters. (RICH LANDERS)

are chemically similar to nicotine, and biologists are still unraveling the massive impact they are having on the food chain.

Neonicotinoids are widely used, mostly as seed coatings to dissuade insects from eating highly valuable seeds prior to germination. They protect against predation from ubiquitous seed eaters like wire worms and other pests and are extremely effective. They are less toxic than other insecticides and, as yet, have been proven to be far less harmful to human health than other insecticides, many of which must be applied in inefficient and expensive manners such as spraying and crop dusting.

in European studies, likely because neonics are death on the insects they and pheasants depend on to raise healthy broods. Because science is expensive and there are no legal drivers to provide money to study nonnative game birds (and most nonnative plants and animals), and perhaps due to the incentive to turn a blind eye to what isn’t good for business, the impacts of neonicotinoids are only now being discovered.

Pheasants releases may be more associated with Western Washington, where habitat loss impacted bird numbers much earlier, but ringnecks are also let loose at a number of state, federal and private sites east of the Cascades. For more information, look under the Hunting > Places to go Hunting tabs at wdfw.wa.gov. (WDFW)

Emerging studies are showing how neonicotinoids are being uptaken by plants and critters throughout the food chain. Every cell of every plant where “neonics” are used contain it, including pollen and rotted plants. Uptake into pollen has been proven to kill pollinators like bees and butterflies among many other insects. Neonicotinoids have been proven to affect Hungarian partridges

ALL THESE INFLUENCES of modern agriculture are bad news for pheasant populations, and good pheasant seasons are driven by highly productive breeding. Everything on the landscape conspires to kill li’l baby birds – from weather to predators to humans – so big broods are needed to ensure plenty of birds going into the fall and winter. One study from Iowa in the 1990s shows clearly there are three main factors that most influence pheasant populations, in this order: brood survival, nest survival and overwintering hen survival.

Brood survival in particular is critical for good numbers of birds. First-year birds are most vulnerable to predation, and they are what we shoot during pheasant seasons. As someone who makes lots of long drives across the Palouse and Columbia Basin on backroads and on highways, I have seen a grand total of two dead juvenile pheasants this year in many thousands of miles of driving. One unnamed WDFW biologist surmised in an interview that dead birds on the road is the surest way to gauge whether we’ve had a good hatch and can expect good fall hunting. So far, reports coming from pheasant country this early fall are not great.

Even if Washington’s days of yore for ringneck pheasant hunting are gone for good – and they likely are – viable hunting opportunities still exist, and the memories of great dogs and fall light illuminating the uplands and canyons we hunted live on in our memories. This special dog of Rich Landers’, Scout, was an English setter to behold, as were the three I owned – Jack, Wren, and Bart– from the same national champion line out of Medical Lake, Washington. (JEFF HOLMES)

In the early 2000s – 2002 in particular – Eastern Washington’s landscapes came alive with ringneck pheasants, and not these dull-colored, slow-flying pen-raised birds that appear to be the future of bigtent pheasant hunting in the Evergreen State. Our landscapes in Southeastern Washington – the state’s unchallenged pheasant hot spot – came alive with fast-flying, dog-evading roosters. Seeing a couple hundred pheasants in a day in certain areas under certain conditions was not uncommon. Similarly, Huns boomed. Quail boomed. We have since seen some good quail years and small upticks in pheasant numbers, but pheasant numbers have been in the basement and have never even climbed to the top of the basement stairs since the early 2000s.

SO WHAT FUTURE does pheasant hunting in Washington have? Well, the good news comes first. For those chasing birds west of the Cascades, there have been no major changes. WDFW stocks huge numbers of roosters at pheasant release sites (wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/locations/ pheasant-release), offering hunters and their loyal canine companions room to stretch their legs, shoot cackling roosters, and eat pheasants slow simmered in gravy or in the many preparations favored by pheasant hunters and their families. This is not likely to change, and some of the best people at the department are on the case, raising and releasing birds year after year.

As for public-land bird hunters east of the Cascades, even for those hunting private ground? The news is bad to mixed. There are released birds (wdfw.wa.gov/hunting/

locations/pheasant-enhancement) reliably on the opener and on holiday weekends at most wildlife areas in the east, and they are great for folks who want that experience or who have limited mobility or beloved old dogs they want to show a good time.

But for those chasing wild roosters, securing access on prime private land is the best bet. Knocking on doors still works sometimes, and there are surely leases and hunt clubs to consider too. But for most of us who keep the faith that we might shoot a rooster or a mythical limit of three on public ground, we have some long miles and strategic hiking to do if we’re going to reliably shoot birds. Along with vast WDFW properties on which to hunt, Army Corps of Engineers lands and Bureau of Land Management properties are prime options, and anyone can seek out and find these areas using onX Maps, or other apps and websites including WDFW’s, and – gulp –real actual paper maps. Look to the Snake River and lands north and south of it for great starting points, but there are pockets of birds throughout the Palouse and even still in places like Lincoln and Adams Counties. There are birds everywhere in Eastern Washington where sufficient habitat and water can be found, even here around Tri-Cities where the cackle of a rooster shocks me. I can count on both hands the number of roosters I’ve heard crowing while afield in 2022 from spring through fall.

Whatever piece of public ground you hunt, don’t expect roosters to be posing in the parking areas or in the first few yards of the hunt. They can be anywhere, but a reliable strategy is to beat feet for the back ends of these properties or to the most prime habitat. Seeking good cover abutting private ground on the back ends of these properties is likely the best strategy for consistently finding birds. There are of course more good approaches to hunting scarce roosters, like using the weather or a boat to your advantage. But with numbers so low, I’ll merely suggest that any day walking through the open lands of Eastern Washington can be beautiful and great exercise. Put your faith in knowing that there are still birds out there and that you might have a great day, but don’t put much faith in a great pheasant revival. NS

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

Birch Bay, near the British Columbia border, served up double dose of Dungies for Scott Fletcher. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Brad Dailey borrowed “a few tricks” from the Northwest to land his largest Chinook ever – this 40.75-incher from Lake Ontario. It bit a brined cut-plug herring 40 inches behind a Short Bus 360 flasher 80 feet down in 560 feet of water. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

John Ludwig (left) and Easton Fox rang up some ringnecks during the Eastern Washington youth pheasant hunt in late September. It was John’s first time out for the birds, and the boys were hunting near Pomeroy. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Gilbert Luis was rigged for some light-tackle rockfish fun when this 49.7-pound Neah Bay lingcod decided to give his 20-pound-test line and medium-light sea bass rod a ride! (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Eric Schager enjoyed a good South Sound coho season, catching this pair and other silvers “all on the same spinner and of course some Hyper-Vis Tape and Pro-Cure scent.” (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

“Definitely not the normal size usually caught there,” says Jeanne Swanner of her late September Yaquina Bay coho. “Crazy huge.” (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Second time out for a black bear, first bruin for Steve Quinlan! He was hunting with Brandon Jewett close to last light when they heard noise in a timber pocket. It turned out to be a bear, and using his grandfather’s .30-06 he bagged it with a sub-100-yard shot. “I think his smile says it all,” states Jewett. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

A decade’s worth of points paid off – and how! – for Eric Johnson with this monster public-land bull. He was hunting on an Observatory archery tag in the Central Cascades during September’s rut when he made good on his shot at the seven-point elk. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Wesley Kostanich, 9, caught a heckuva nice Chinook, a 20-pounder, in August while fishing with his dad, Robert, during the Puget Sound hatchery king fishery off Kingston. Super-proud grandma Candace Wallace sent the pic. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

A beautiful fall day last year on the Washington Coast was the setting for Layton Sarkkinen’s first battle with a salmon. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

Matthew Sarkkinen is the winner of

Fishing Photo

Layton

Parker Bolden

Local Hunter, DDA Named OSP Prosecutor Of The Year

Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Alexander Hayes was honored earlier this fall as the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division’s Prosecutor of the Year.

“DDA Hayes has shown time and again he is a great communicator, goes above and beyond with his dedication to natural resource prosecution, is always available to the field force and is one of the most passionate and persistent prosecutors I have ever worked with in my 16 years in the Fish and Wildlife Division,” praised a trooper who nominated Hayes for the award.

Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Anti-poaching Resources Prosecutor Jay Hall lauded Hayes as “a great resource for OSP Troopers in the metro area. He has also been a help in training new prosecutors in the metro area as well. Clackamas County is very lucky to have such a dedicated, hard-working prosecutor on their side, and I know that he will continue to be a leader among his peers, positively influence others and motivate young prosecutors to follow in his footsteps.”

This county just to the east of Portland is where Hayes grew up and learned to hunt, passing the knowledge up the ladder to his dad. While attending law school at the

University of Idaho in Moscow, he clerked for the local DA’s office before hiring on in 2018.

Over the years Hayes has prosecuted a group of illegal bear baiters and an organized sturgeon poaching ring that had killed “an untold number” of Willamette fish that “certainly impacted current populations before it was stopped,” according to OSP.

The Prosecutor of the Year award is a joint OSP-Oregon Hunter Association recognition.

JACKASSES OF THE MONTH

You knew this was coming. Two Lake Erie walleye tournament anglers earned international scorn and put fishing derbies in a bad light when at least 10 lead sinkers – eight of which weighed 12 ounces – and the filleted chunks of other walleye were found in the stomachs of five fish they weighed in during an early fall competition.

There were suspicions about the remarkable run of Chase Cominsky and Jacob Runyan beforehand. After winning $10,000 at an April event, a local mayor found it “odd that they wanted to take their five fish and go home and not donate it to the Helping Hands of St. Louis.” But the duo were not discovered until last month when a scale rang up 34 pounds and Lake Erie Walleye Tournament director Jason Fischer had only expected half that. His reaction after gutting one of the fish – “We got weights in fish! Get the $%#@ out of here!” –

was a viral moment across all social media.

Why’d Cominsky and Runyan do it? They stood to win nearly $29,000 at the weathershortened late September tournament. The next closest team weighed in 28.18 pounds.

Afterwards, the boat and trailer they used for the competition were seized by investigators and a grand jury indicted them on four charges, three of which are felonies.

But the best part of the whole episode was probably the memes. The internet unleashed some brutal ones: Cominsky and Runyan as late 1980s lip-sinkers Milli Vanilli; Drake waving off the caption “Only needing to beat 22 pounds” and pointing to “Add 8 pounds of weight”; a stone-faced Runyan with the caption “The moment you realize you just went back to paying full retail for your tackle”; Runyan going through a metal detector while holding a pair of walleye; a spawning fish next to a pile of lead weights and the cutline “Lake Erie walleye guarding her eggs”; Runyan and Cominsky holding supersized trolling sinkers instead of fish; the same image with the caption “We’re not

By Andy Walgamott

For his part, Hayes heaped the praise right back on the state fish and wildlife officers he works with.

“OSP F&W Troopers and investigators are some of the most professional, dedicated law enforcement agents I’ve had the opportunity to work with,” he said. “They are willing to go above and beyond to ensure the investigation is complete, done right, and ready to prosecute.”

Kudos, all!

(THE INTERWEBS)

just fishermen … we’re weight lifters”; both men posing with an oversized check reading “lead champs”; their images on the side of a lead weight decked out like a Christmas tree ball with the message “Happy Fishing From Runyan & Cominsky”; Runyan ordering “4 filet-o-fish. No bun, no cheese, no sauce”; and a New York trash company noting they accept mattresses, dehumidifiers, air-con units and paint, but not lead-filled walleye.

Clackamas County Deputy District Attorney Alexander Hayes (third from right) receives his Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division and Oregon Hunters Association Prosecutor of the Year Award from (left to right) Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Anti-poaching Resources Prosecutor Jay Hall; OSP Captain Casey Thomas, Sergeant Scott Mcleod and Trooper Brenton Chose; and ODFW Big Game Manager Brian Wolfer. (ODFW)

6 Wolves Poisoned In NE WA

Washington wolf managers finally confirmed that wolves found dead in northern Stevens County last winter “died from ingesting poison,” as rumored, and what’s more, at least six had been killed.

That figure is two more animals than previously disclosed. Four were initially found during a snowmobile border patrol in February (Northwest Sportsman, July 2022) and two more were discovered by Department of Fish and Wildlife officers during additional searches of the area, according to the state agency.

Few details about the investigation had been made public until WDFW released its wolf report for the month of September on October 10, but poisoning was suspected when official word about the case first emerged in late May.

The illegal killing of a wolf in Washington, a state endangered species, is punishable by penalties of $5,000 and/or a year in prison.

“The investigation remains active, and the Department encourages anyone who might have relevant information to report it confidentially by calling WDFW’s poaching hotline, 877-933-9847, or by texting a tip to 847411,” WDFW stated.

The agency also reports there is a $51,100 reward for info that leads to a conviction, with funding provided by

eight environmental, animal-rights and conservation organizations.

“It is deeply disturbing that even with the use of publicly funded deterrents and state intervention in response to (cattle) depredations, there is still a situation where someone felt compelled to do this,” said Paula Swedeen of Conservation Northwest, which is offering $10,000.

“It’s extremely unfortunate that somebody would take matters into their own hands,” Scott Nielsen, head of the Stevens County Cattlemen’s Association, told The Center Square. He is also critical of state wolf management and noted that some local residents “no longer have social tolerance for the way that WDFW is managing these predators.”

The case is similar to what happened in late winter 2021 in Northeast Oregon, where eight wolves succumbed to poisoning, including five members of the Catherine Pack. At last word, $50,000-plus was being offered for info, even though rewards are said to be useless in helping solve wolf poaching cases.

A WDFW official also acknowledged that monetary offers are typically offered when investigators have run out of leads.

While much remains hazy about the Washington case, what is crystal-clear is that the area the six wolves were found –

One of four dead wolves found during a snowmobile patrol of northern Stevens County last February. Two more carcasses were subsequently found. All six wolves “died from ingesting poison,” state managers reported. (STEVENS COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE)

the range of the infamous Wedge Pack and all the anger and angst that has surrounded its incarnations over the years – is the absolute white-hottest point of the wolf front in the Evergreen State.

WDFW’s reported that another wolf death, this one in the Vulcan Pack territory of Ferry County in September, is also under investigation.

At a Fish and Wildlife Commission meeting last month, members asked WDFW staff for an update on wolf poachings, as well as justified caught-in-the-act shootings (there were three in July alone in the federally delisted eastern third of the state), the effectiveness of nonlethal wolf-livestock conflict prevention efforts and lethal removals.

THE ULTIMATE FAMILY RAFTING ADVENTURE SINCE

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5-DAY MAIN SALMON RIVER RAFTING ADVENTURES

SALMON RIVER OUTFITTERS SINCE 1958

Spokane Angler Wins $10K For Westport King

Lance Relyea was a lucky boy while fishing aboard the Hula Girl in midAugust. He caught two very nice Chinook, one of which went on to win him the $10,000 grand prize in the annual Westport Charterboat Association Derby.

The Spokane angler’s champion king was 32.05 pounds (gilled and gutted weight) and it was more than 2 pounds heavier than the derby runner-up, caught just two days beforehand. Relyea’s 750-plusmile roundtrip to the coast and back was made all the sweeter by a 25.15-pound king he caught the day before he landed his gasmoney-and-then-some fish.

The Hula Girl is skippered by Steve Westrick and the boat tied for most Chinook derby daily winners (seven) with the Tornado, piloted by Dwight Sawin.

Other annual winners in this year’s derbies included Jerry Johnson ($1,000) of Rochester, Washington, for his 73.20-pound

By Andy Walgamott

41.25-pound albacore, caught aboard the Swifty; and Jesse Gilomen ($1,500) of Black Diamond, Washington, for his 16.05-pound coho, landed off Deep Sea Charters’ Ultimate. Of note, that silver was the biggest season winner since 2010.

The lingcod derby was still ongoing at press deadline, but Bill Martin of Monroe, Washington, had one hand on the top prize of $1,000 for his 41.9-pounder, caught off the Slammer.

For more, see charterwestport.com.

RECENT RESULTS

 Everett Coho Derby, Central Puget Sound and local rivers, Sept. 24-25: First place: Brady McGuire, 13.8 pounds, $10,000; second: Jasmine Verheul, 13.65 pounds, $5,000; third: Paul Richter, 13.28 pounds, $2,500

halibut, caught off the Angler; Peter Vogl ($1,000) of Camas, Washington, for his

Lance Relyea and his $10,000-winning 32.05-pound (gilled and gutted weight) Chinook, caught during the Westport Charterboat Association Derby. (WESTPORT WEIGHMASTER)

NOVEMBER CALENDAR OUTDOOR

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

3 Oregon Zone 1 duck season resumes

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

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

5-6 Extended Western Oregon youth deer season

5-19 Northeast Washington late rifle whitetail season dates

6-13 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches –info: wdfw.wa.gov

8 Oregon Southwest and Mid-Columbia Zones goose season resumes

12 Late bow deer opener in select Southwest Oregon units

12-13 ODFW Duck Hunting Workshop ($, register), Mid Valley Clays/Sauvie Island Wildlife Area – info: myodfw.com/workshops-and-events

12-15 Oregon Coast bull elk first season dates

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

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

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

19-20 ODFW Duck Hunting Workshop ($, register), Myrtle Point Gun Club/Coquille Wildlife Area – info: see above

19-25 Oregon Coast bull elk second season dates

22-28 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches –info: see above

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

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

25-26 Oregon Free Fishing Weekend

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

1 Oregon Zone 2 duck and scaup season resumes; General Eastern Oregon fall turkey hunting season in Desolation, Murderers Creek and Northside Units and southeastern corner of Heppner Unit switches to only open on private lands with permission

1-15 Extended pheasant season at select Western Washington release sites (no birds stocked)

4 Last day of Oregon South Coast Zone early goose season

4-12 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches –info: see above

8 Last day of numerous Washington archery and muzzleloader deer and elk seasons

10 Washington Goose Management Area 1 reopener

13 Oregon High Desert and Blue Mountains Zones Canada goose season resumes

15 Last day of more Washington archery and muzzleloader deer and elk seasons

17 Oregon South Coast Zone goose season resumes

20-28 Tentative razor clam digs scheduled on select Washington Coast beaches –info: see above

31 Last day to hunt pheasants in Oregon; Last day of Eastern Washington general fall turkey hunting season; End of Oregon and Idaho fishing and hunting license years

DECEMBER JANUARY

1 New Oregon and Idaho fishing and hunting licenses required; Washington late cougar season opens

7 First of 14 brant goose hunting days in Pacific County (others: 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, 17, 19, 21, 22, 24, 26, 28 and 29)

10 Deadline to file Washington big game report for incentive permit eligibility

11-15 Portland Boat Show, Expo Center, Portland – info: otshows.com

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’Fowl Forecast 2022-23

By MD Johnson

You know, I’m truly torn here. On the left hand, I like to have some idea of what I’m getting myself into come waterfowl season. Good hatch? Poor hatch? Mallards up and Canadas down? Major regulatory changes? It’s a good thing, I reckon, to go into any situation having some type of prior intel.

On the right hand, though, it’s not like any information, short of an all-out prohibition on hunting ducks and geese, is going to prevent me from venturing forth. Oh, yes, I’ve lived through the point system. One canvasback. No canvasbacks. One pintail. Short seasons. Long seasons. Ain’t been through it all, certainly, but

Sabrina Little is all smiles with her first duck, taken with an overhead shot on the McNary National Wildlife Refuge during a youth hunt day last season. She was out with her dad, Matt Little, Ducks Unlimited’s Western Region director of public policy. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

What Washington and Oregon duck and goose hunters can expect this fall and winter season.

enough to say with complete certainty that it doesn’t much matter what appears in the crystal ball – which, as we all know, is owned and precisely operated by all waterfowl biologists and wildlife management professionals. (Note the tongue in cheek there, just sayin’.) I, as I said earlier, will still hunt. And as Forrest Gump said, “That’s all I have to say about that.”

So all that aside, Northwest Sportsman did have the opportunity to connect with Kyle Spragens, Waterfowl Section manager with the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife, as well as Spragens’ counterpart on the opposite side of the Columbia, Brandon Reishus, who serves as the migratory game bird coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, and discuss a number of things pertaining to waterfowl, including – drumroll, please! – what ’fowlers might see this season as they step into the field.

MAJOR REGULATORY CHANGES

Not many changes this year for Pacific Northwest duck and goose hunters. The daily bag limit still only allows for a single pintail and two bluebill (scaup), with the now traditional latestart season within a season.

One minor though notable change for 2022-23 is the harlequin closure in Washington. It’s my hope that we – waterfowl managers, myself and Northwest Sportsman – can address this matter at length in a future issue; however, and for the sake of brevity, Spragens offered up these words regarding the closure. (Note: I asked him to put a subject comparable to War and Peace into three sentences, hence the shortness here.)

“Annual harvest of harlequin duck,” he says, “had exceeded a level that was sustainable given the low population of harlequins … around 4,000 birds … and harlequins are sea ducks. Sea ducks have low nest size (and) low productivity, and they don’t rebound like dabbling ducks, such as mallards.”

For 18 years now, Spragens says, harlequins had been at a one-birdper-season limit. “And the only thing more restrictive than a one-bird-perseason limit,” he points out, “was closure given, basically, we were harvesting too many.”

His explanation, while spot on, is admittedly short and to the point, and again, hopefully we’ll have a lengthier discussion on the topic in

the not-too-distant future.

The other big news for Washington and Oregon waterfowlers this season involves a reduction in the daily Canada goose bag limit from four to three in both Southwest Washington (Goose Management Area 2) and Northwest Oregon.

“Alaska, Washington and Oregon all took restrictions because of the status of cacklers – the little guys, the smallest ones. The management plan tells us we were at a level where we needed to take action to regain the objective,” says Spragens. “We were below a threshold that was not OK according to the management plan.”

In layman’s terms, the estimated population of cacklers is X. The management objective is Y, or a number greater than the estimated population. Therefore, and in an attempt to balance the scales, the flyway instituted a reduction in overall goose daily bag limits, with the intent to lessen the harvest of cacklers.

WASHINGTON

Numbers. Waterfowl managers need numbers, i.e., population estimates, in order to make their recommendations, which in turn lead to their decisions.

Harlequins are off limits this year due to population concerns about the sea duck that utilizes inland waters for breeding and rearing small broods of ducklings. (DAN MAGNESON, USFWS)

And numbers are something the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, along with their Canadian, provincial, state and tribal counterparts, haven’t had the last couple years. I’ll let you (cough, cough) guess why. Covid meant no survey flights. No survey flights meant no numbers. And no numbers translated for the most part into a maintaining of the status quo in terms of seasons and bag limits.

Well, Spragens explains, they –waterfowl managers – have numbers now, and with few exceptions, those numbers aren’t all that rosy.

“Having the numbers is nice,” he says, “but there are ‘squirmy’ numbers in there. But the other part to look at is the national numbers that are thrown together are the traditional survey routes. We certainly have survey routes flown in British Columbia, Washington and Oregon that feed into (those numbers). And we got all of those this year. So there’s more insight

(here) than simply those national numbers. It’s still pretty gloomy.”

How gloomy? There is some gloom in the Northwest regarding what ’fowlers might see this fall. Conversely, there’s some good news too. For all, let’s proceed species by species, courtesy of Spragens.

PINTAILS

The engine, Spragens begins, for pintails is the Prairie Pothole region of the northern U.S. and southern Canadian plains. If the potholes are dry, which many of them were and have been for a while, birds either “end up abandoning nesting or they go to different areas, like the Yukon Territory or Alaska to breed.”

“If,” he continues, “the birds bypass the potholes and go to these more Arctic regions, the production isn’t as good. They won’t produce as many young (as they might) if they were nesting in the Prairie Potholes when the potholes are ‘chugging along.’”

Interestingly, Spragens explains that when pintails travel to the Arctic to breed, they tend to return south via the coastal route rather than midcontinent flyways, which explains why hunters along the shores of Willapa Bay and in the Willamette Valley were seeing “lots” of pintails in 2021. And that also explains why hunters, seeing these “lots” of pintails migrating along these coastal routes, were stumped as to the one-bird daily bag.

And finally, Spragens spoke of the lower Klamath Valley and central California – traditional fall/winter strongholds, as he calls them – for the pintail population. Both regions have languished under a continued drought; when there’s no water, and where you have a rice farming economy and no water, you don’t have much in the way of waste grain for the birds.

“This year,” he says, “we know they’re not going to have much water. And if there’s no water, there’s

Pintail numbers are just above the threshold for closing harvest (which is limited to one a day this season), but mallard numbers, especially those coming from Alaska, bode well for Northwest waterfowlers. (GEORGE GENTRY, USFWS)

not available habitat. What happens?

Either the birds go somewhere else, often by short-stopping (further north of Klamath Falls), or by continuing on further south to Baja Mexico.”

This year’s pintail count is the lowest on record going back to 1955. And what many ’fowlers might not realize is this year’s population estimate of 1.78 million – 21 percent below 2019, and 54 percent below the long-term average – is only 0.03 percent, or – if my math skills are right – just 52,500 individuals short of the federally mandated all-out closure threshold of 1.75 million. That’s close.

MALLARDS

“While our southern counts aren’t great,” says Spragens, “the counts that came from Alaska were really high.”

Spragens translates “really high” into some 614,000 Last Frontier mallards, a significant increase when the long-term average, he explains, “is something like 387,000 in that area (of Alaska).”

Generally speaking, any increase in waterfowl populations is a good thing, but why is this approximately 230,000-bird jump significant to Washington – in fact, all Pacific Flyway – waterfowlers?

“With birds coming from Alaska,”

he says, “the contribution of birds dropping down into Washington is indeed significant … much more than in the central part of the country. They get some birds from Alaska, but it’s not an overwhelming number.”

Spragens went on to explain that duck hunters in Washington traditionally see birds coming from “Alaska, British Columbia, the Prairie Potholes, and from Washington itself.”

So bottom line for those partial to greenheads? Thanks to good production in Alaska and BC, Evergreen State duck hunters should – should – see decent to better-thandecent numbers of mallards this fall; however, we can only be sure of that prediction once the season’s over, eh?

WIGEON

Wigeon, Spragens says, is “Washington’s number two (most harvested) species, constituting some 20 to 25 percent of the total annual harvest.” According to statistics, the long-term average for wigeon in Alaska is 558,000, and in 2022, that number was 734,000. “We (Washington) thrive in terms of wigeon when Alaska does well,” he says, “and the wigeon numbers look pretty positive.”

Overall, he continues, wigeon numbers “aren’t great” nationally.

GREEN-WING TEAL

Green-wing teal numbers surprised me, based on how many of these little ducks I see over the course of the season, which is pretty darn good. Many times GWTs have stood alone in the spotlight and made the hunt, and that’s absolutely perfect as far as I’m concerned, as there are few things better than green-wings – or blue-wings, for that matter – plucked whole, stuffed with diced apples/ oranges/onions, wrapped in a strip of fat bacon, and deep-fried for five to seven minutes. Just sayin’.

“The Alaska and southern Alberta numbers for GWT,” Spragens began, “are both low compared to their longterm averages, and certainly low

Wigeon don’t get the credit they deserve, but the ducks with the distinctive call make up a strong portion of hunters’ limits, including for Micheal Sommer, who bagged this mixed bag on the Nooksack River delta. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

compared to the last data we have (from) 2019.”

Green-wings, Spragens says, while a common species in the Washington ’fowler’s bag, “could change a lot. There is much more potential for harvest with GWT than what Washington takes advantage of, simply because folks focus on mallards and wigeon.”

GADWALL

Another personal observation here, but I’ve been seeing more and more gadwall, aka gray ducks, in my little corner of Southwest Washington consistently over the past three or four years. Now, I haven’t been killing noticeably more of these wonderful, albeit quite underrated big ducks, but I have seen bigger numbers from the I-5 corridor west to the coast.

“We have quite a breeding population (of gadwall) in the eastern part of Washington,” says Spragens. “Overall, the biggest contribution to gadwall numbers as seen here in Washington would be Alberta or

British Columbia.”

Gray ducks, Spragens continues, are up some 21 percent over their longterm average, i.e., 416,000 in 2022, with a long-term average of 345,000.

“So, it’s up,” he says, “not a ton, but why would that be important? Gadwall are a later nester than some of the other species like mallards, pintails or teal, all of which are trying to put a nest on the ground as soon as they can. And when you look at April and the drought? It was horrible! There was no water on the landscape in Eastern Washington, let alone the southern Alberta section of the Prairie Potholes.”

The situation did improve, he continues, thanks to summer storms.

“So anything that’s a later nester,” he says, “like gadwall, might not have felt those earlier (drought) impacts as earlier nesters did.”

SPRAGENS’ DUCK SUMMARY

“What people need to remember,” he says in summation, “is that for certain species, what we experienced in 2015 for mallards, gadwall, GWT

and northern shovelers – those 2015 peaks were historic peaks. We’ve never recorded (numbers like those) for those species. And now and for most of them, we’re closer to the long-term average. These are relatively ‘normal’ numbers, or the numbers we’ve seen since initiating these surveys in 1955.”

These particular species, he says, have come down to present day from these all-time highs, and “we could see a shift in what’s available for folks to harvest in some areas.”

Washington duck hunters this season may see what Spragens refers to as “two different realities” in terms of what they experience, see and actually harvest.

“The Westside,” he says, “might not see anything too radically different, whereas the Eastside might be pretty crunched for naïve birds. I don’t think there was a great boom in productivity coming from the Prairie Potholes through Eastern Washington, which could translate into more seasoned birds. Oh, there will be a harvest, but

White-fronted geese gather at Southern Oregon’s Klamath Wildlife Area. They’re more of a late-season hunting opportunity as the flocks tend to pass through the region before the fall opener. (ODFW)

it might be more of a challenge (on the Eastside) this season.”

SPRAGENS ON GEESE

As Spragens explains, WDFW has been including geese in their annual aerial waterfowl surveys since 2010, so data on goose populations in Washington does indeed exist.

“Local production of Canada geese,” he says, “is good. The irony, though, is that when we’re in drought and drier conditions, Canada geese usually do well. Mallards, conversely, do poorly. And that’s the difference. Geese need areas to nest, and they’re not as locked in on wetland complexes as are mallards and other duck species.”

Overall, the Western subspecies of Canada goose – note: the only one

that nests in Washington and Oregon – has, says Spragens, been “trucking along just fine,” with counts well above the long-term average.

All of the other Canada subspecies, as well as white-fronts/specklebellies, are “coming from somewhere else,” Spragens says, with that “somewhere else” largely being Alaska.

“When we talk about any of those other species of geese (e.g., cacklers, Taverners, white-fronts, snows), we’re not talking about conditions here in Washington. We’re talking about conditions in Alaska, or, for the snow geese, Russia. So you have to watch Alaska.”

Conditions in the Last Frontier, he explains, were “OK,” but in western Alaska – the Yukon-Kuskokwim Delta

– where the majority of Washington’s geese originate, it was quite dry and had, as Spragens puts it, “some notso-great conditions for trying to raise a bunch of goslings.”

There is a count, he says, for species such as cacklers, Taverners and white-fronts that provides waterfowl managers with “an indication of what we ‘should’ anticipate” in the fall flight; however, there’s a second component to that equation, and that’s nesting success, which Spragens notes as being “hopefully” average.

“Cacklers,” he says, “we’re going to feel it there. And Taverners. So I don’t expect (the goose season) to be any different from what people have experienced the past two to three seasons. It’s been pretty on par.”

The Canada goose limit has been reduced from four to three in Oregon’s Northwest Permit Zone and Southwest Washington’s Goose Management Area 3. The latter zone is where Jastin Stebbins, and sons Ben (left) and Ryan got their limits with author MD Johnson a couple seasons ago. (MD JOHNSON)

“Cacklers and Taverners matter,” he continues, “because in the West, cacklers are a big component in opportunity. Harvest is largely driven by cacklers and Taverners. And in the Columbia Basin, it’s almost exclusively Taverners. The Columbia Basin lives and dies on how well Taverners are doing. That group of birds is up in that western Y-K Delta, and it seems to be about average.”

OREGON

While I certainly don’t wish to downplay Brandon Reishus’ commentary on what Oregon ’fowlers might see this fall, the Beaver State outlook is largely, and perhaps understandably, much the same as Washington’s – with the exception of local/statewide habitat conditions and local nesting productivity for species such as mallards, gadwall and Western Canadas. That is, the mallards that find their way down the

coast did well in Alaska; the mallards originating in the Prairie Potholes and feeding both Eastern Washington and Eastern Oregon? Not so much. Pintails are down across the board. GWTs might be a tad on the slim side. Gadwall are up. Western Canadas are good, while cacklers and Taverner numbers have fallen. Wrangel Island (Russia) snows, though, seem to be enjoying an uptick.

“When you look at that (USFWS) report overall,” Reishus says, “wigeon were quite a bit down, and mallards, GWT and wigeon are our one, two and three in terms of harvest. And so whenever you see those numbers down, it doesn’t bode well. GWT certainly stand out quite a bit in that report as being (markedly) down. Wigeon, too. But we do know that a lot of those species’ breeding habitat is in that borealtype forest where observability isn’t good. The observations done there

aren’t corrected on an annual basis. So, when you’re dealing with those species (that nest) in the boreal forest, I don’t get as concerned about the year to year fluctuations as I would, say, mallards and pintails that are heavily driven by the Prairie (Pothole) breeding segment.”

Do we have a bright spot for ’22-23 in terms of any individual species?

“I don’t think we do,” Rieshus admits. “I really don’t think there’s any species we expect to shine this year. I do suspect in areas with good habitat conditions, we’ll have good numbers of mallards, wigeon and GWT, but as far as any standouts … nah, I don’t think we’re going to have any standouts this year.”

But before mothballing your waders and trading those autoloaders for a pickleball racket and gym membership, it’s not all doom and gloom.

“I’d say we’re looking at a similar season in ’22 as we had in ’21,” says

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Reishus, “with the potential to be better for some. Last year, it was really dry in that southeast and south-central portion of Oregon. This year is really dry, too, but we have noted at places like Summer Lake and other areas where we do our waterfowl banding (that) production appears to have been a lot better than it was in 2021. The habitats remain those scattered ‘postage stamps’ across the landscape due to the drought, but at least where that habitat exists, production seems to have been better.”

REISHUS’ TAKE ON OREGON GEESE

Understandably, Oregon’s daily goose bag in the Northwest Permit Zone (13 counties in the state’s northwest corner) mirrors that of Washington’s Southwest Goose Management Area, with a drop from four to three, with the rest of the state bouncing between four and six birds per day.

Interestingly, and while Reishus

explains that Oregon doesn’t conduct a production survey for Canadas, the state does do a “breeding survey” in the spring, which estimates the number of adult geese present in late April and early May. Statewide, he says, that number was down a fair bit compared to years past.

“It had been holding strong for the past couple decades,” Reishus says, “but we did see a reduced number of birds (Canadas) this spring; however, with the habitat conditions what they were, especially in Eastern Oregon, that (reduction) didn’t come as a surprise.”

Highly pathogenic avian influenza, or HPAI, Reishus continues, may have played a role in this most current numerical reduction.

“Canada geese was one of the species that was most frequently encountered (with) mortalities here and there due to HPAI,” he says. “Typically, it was young birds that succumbed. Now, we never saw a

mass mortality event where you saw a whole bunch of dead birds, but ones and twos and threes here and there adds up, and potentially knocks down production.”

Curious I was, so I asked Reishus about white-fronts – without question my favorite goose to both hear and hunt – and a place like Summer Lake, where there seems to be a healthy, albeit by no means huge population of specklebellies.

“They (white-fronts) can be there (Summer Lake) early in the season,” he says, “but timing that migration, which is generally a little bit earlier (than other species), can be a challenge. The bulk of the whitefronts have passed through by the time our season opens.”

And while there are a good number of white-fronts present early on at Summer, the daily bag limit is but one, “because we have a lot of tule whitefronted geese that stop there.” NS

Quick Fixes On The Hunt

GUN DOGGIN’ 101

By Scott Haugen

November is finally here, and with it, loads of bird hunting. For many of us, our season started in September with grouse, quail, doves and pigeons. For others, it began with early-season waterfowl hunts, up north.

If you were out on some of those early hunts, you’ve likely fixed any problems your dogs displayed. If you’re kicking off your bird hunting season this month, be proactive and fix any glitches your dog might have while on the hunt.

ON OUR FIRST bandtail pigeon hunt of the season it was just me and my two pudelpointers, Echo and Kona. It’s a twopigeon limit and I wanted each dog to get a retrieve. On my first shot Echo held but Kona broke. I stopped him with a zap on the collar. He returned to my side and heeled. Then I sent Echo to retrieve the pigeon.

Echo delivered the bird to hand, right in front of Kona. Kona couldn’t stand it, but sat tight. A few minutes later another flock passed by and I dropped a second pigeon. Both dogs held tight. I released Kona and he made a good retrieve. Echo stayed put, as she should.

Each of the next six mornings we were in the hills, and both dogs held steady when I shot passing pigeons, making solid, high-energy retrieves. Had I not taken the time to fix Kona’s mishap on the spot, it could have been a long, frustrating week.

“The collar comes off the dog when it goes in the ground,” shares noted trainer Jess Spradley of Cabin Creek Gun Dogs (cabincreekgundogs.com) in Lakeview, Oregon. “I can’t recall where I heard that, and though it may sound a bit extreme, what it really translates to is that no matter how good your dog is, the training never stops. On these first hunts of the year your dog is as excited as you are, if not more, and it’s up to you to control their

behavior. Don’t let your dog get away with inappropriate behavior, as you’re sending them the message that it’s OK, when really it’s not. You don’t want to break what you’ve worked so hard to attain all summer.”

And don’t think Spradley is saying shock your dog every time it makes a bad choice. Often a verbal command or an

audible buzz tone of the collar is all it takes to correct unwanted behavior.

When I’m on the road without my dogs, my wife Tiffany takes care of them. Often Echo and Kona are outside with her much of the day, and she’ll be the first to tell you they’re different dogs with their e-collars on. We live in the country and the dogs

Should your upland dog fail to hold point, break on the shot or not retrieve, try to fix it right then and there. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

love to roam, but with their collars on, they know exactly what’s expected of them and they don’t try getting away with anything. Forget to put their collars on and they might start to roam.

“Your dog should always know when it’s doing something wrong,” continues Spradley. “Keep things simple and know that dogs will have off days, especially early in the season.”

“If I see my dog doing something during a hunt that’s not right, I’ll either pull it aside and turn it into a half-hour training session right there, or if I’m hunting with friends and their dogs, I’ll work through the issues at lunch,” he says. “This might be

ONE THING I admire about Spradley’s training approach is that he doesn’t use treats to motivate dogs.

“With older dogs their reward is getting to retrieve a bird, then the praise I give them. With pups I’ll sometimes use their food to get them to sit or stay, but that’s it. Your dog’s desire to hunt and please you by doing the right thing is all the motivation they need to succeed,” he says.

On a recent goose hunt in Canada, a buddy’s dog kept breaking at the shots. We dropped several birds out of the next

flock and he had the dog stay in its blind while we went out and retrieved all the birds. Then he took a few minutes, tossing a dead bird into the decoys and having his dog deliver it to hand. Then he placed two geese and did the same thing. The dog was obedient, compliant and under control. It calmed down and hunted great the next three days. My buddy fixed the issue in less than five minutes. He recognized the fact that his dog needed help, and took action.

“If you have a pup that wants to creep on a point for chukar or quail, hold it by the collar and let a buddy move in for the flush and shot,” offers Spradley. “Hold the pup so it doesn’t break, then reward it by letting it

No matter what mistake your dog might make, taking time out of the hunt to quickly remedy the situation can have a big and immediate impact on their performance. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

steadiness drills or finishing a retrieve, two common mishaps early in the season.”

retrieve a bird, under control.”

Older dogs know better, so Spradley handles them differently.

“I have a GSP who loves to point but not retrieve, so when this happens I’ll pull her off the next point and move to another covey. If a dog doesn’t want to stand on a covey, or hold when I’m shooting, I’ll make the dog hold steady. Then I’ll walk into a covey, flush it and intentionally shoot and miss, watching my dog to make sure it holds steady. This lets the dog know I’m serious.”

WHEN YOU’RE HUNTING it can be hard to set down the gun and correct your dog. But remember, a quick fix while in the field can make a huge difference in how your dog performs and will set the tone for the rest of the season. After all, if you don’t let the dog know of your expectations, how else will it learn? NS

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

Author Scott Haugen and Echo, his pudelpointer, enjoyed a great hunt for valley quail. When it comes to gun dogs, the training never stops. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

Post-Halloween Ghost Hunting

Tactics for tagging an Oregon blacktail in the back end of season.

By Troy Rodakowski

They call them “the gray ghosts” for good reason. Blacktails are as mythical as the foggy forests they call home. These deer move about like vampires in the night, rarely showing themselves during daylight hours. However, there are a few days in November and December that you might be lucky enough to catch one making a mistake. The last two blacktail bucks I shot in November were between 12 and 1 p.m., so keep that in mind.

I wait all fall to hunt blacktails, and sometimes it is painful to see early-season archers and rifle hunters posting pictures of their deer. Most of these hunters scoured the brush for a couple months as I waited patiently with my smokepole for a chance at some venison. Archery hunters also get a second chance in November, as do late-season controlled youth hunters and some antlerless tagholders. With rifle season coming to an end during the first week in November, I always see some really nice deer harvested between October 28 and November’s first week. It’s then that bucks begin to move and search for does in estrus.

THE RUT

A good sign that deer are starting to move is, unfortunately, the amount of roadkill you start to see. Bucks will smell other deer and cross roads they

This blacktail buck was harvested in mid-November last season by the author’s father, Terry Rodakowski. The deer was using thick cover and only emerged briefly for a shot. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

normally wouldn’t during the rest of the year. For the best odds, head afield on the handful of days deer will be most active during daylight hours, but know that each year is slightly different. Weather and lunar cycles play a small role in daylight activity when the largest percentage of does are in estrus or coming into estrus. Movement usually peaks prior to Thanksgiving, depending on location. Keep in mind that the peak rut period for Willamette and other valleys’ deer, coastal bucks and does and Cascade Range blacktails will differ slightly.

Just because you see lots of bucks running around chasing does on the coast most definitely doesn’t mean the rest of the blacktail world is doing the same. It is important that you know your deer and scout as often as possible prior to season for the best results. Trail cameras and information from other hunters are great ways to keep tabs on the deer you plan to hunt, although nothing beats burning actual boot leather in the woods to look and glass for deer. Finding groups of does feeding or bedded is essential, since it is very likely a buck will be nearby but not always visible.

Foggy days are tough, since visibility is almost always very limited.

On Halloween day 1996 Dad and I decided to take a walk through some big timber of the Alsea Valley in the Coast Range. That morning we slowly weaved our way down a trail of wet sword ferns inside the big timber where there was a bit less fog. Our pant legs were soaked and it was chilly, in the low 40s. Stopping frequently to check for movement, we eventually spotted a large buck on the ridge above us. It was moving slowly with its nose to the ground. Dad cranked a shot from the .308 and rolled that beauty – one of our nicest blacktails up to that point. The time was 11:30 a.m.

Just a couple seasons back, we were muzzleloader hunting the lower Cascade foothills of Western Oregon and had spent a mid-November morning rattling and calling for bucks, seeing a couple small ones and

Between the Cascades and the Coast Range, and the Willamette and other Western Oregon valleys, blacktail country is thick but must be scanned thoroughly with binos or spotting scopes for increased success. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

a few does. We decided to set up on a crossing between two patches of timber and have some lunch. Before we could break out our fancy PB&J sandwiches, a nice buck decided he was going to move across the opening, so we “smoke poled” him. It was noon on the dot.

My point here is that some of the best hunting occurs during the middle of the day, when bucks feel safe to stretch, relocate, get up and take a pee, or maybe even be hot on the trail of a doe in estrus. Regardless, these are great times to be in the woods, especially from early to mid-November. In late October and early November, you can and will find does at the edges of some of these areas early or late – and again, where you find does, you have a good chance of finding a lovesick buck.

Also try doe-in-estrus bleats or even fawn-in-distress calls to get bucks to “pop” out of older, thicker clearcuts. Many times bucks will spend all their time in these areas and feel very protected.When still-

hunting in thicker cover, sparingly use a relatively quiet doe-in-estrus bleat. A Primos bleat can is one of the best options, but use it at an angle rather than tipping it over. Move slowly, watch the wind carefully and check out all available cover. Use your binoculars to see into and through intervening cover that your eyes stop at the perimeter of.

My late friend and blacktail expert Boyd Iverson always said, “It’s dark in the woods, so you need as much lightgathering ability as you can; the same goes for the scope you use and, yes, I still recommend scopes in thick cover.”

The bottom line is blacktail relish the thickest of cover, which they tunnel and weave through, enabling them to go undetected for much of their lives. As a hunter you need to put yourself in the cover or very near it to be successful.

LATE NOVEMBER

Perseverance is probably the biggest thing when it comes to hunting

blacktails. Hunters who put in their time in quality habitat will have a greater chance of harvesting a quality deer, especially in November. It has sometimes taken me all day to cover a couple hundred acres of land. Deer will follow specific routes of travel by scent.

The rut and migration will be the driving force for mountain blacktail movement late in the month. Snow at higher elevations will push deer to lower ground in search for fresh browse. Does coming into their second cycle 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, rutweary eyeballs. Thanksgiving is the latest peak for most rutting activity.

WHERE TO GO

Some of the best units for rutting deer are the Trask, Santiam, Siuslaw, Alsea, McKenzie, Indigo, Melrose, Evans Creek, Rogue and Applegate Units. Most of these have late-season archery, gun and muzzleloader hunts, mostly through the draw but with some general-season options. Although bucks tend to reside in thick cover, they can be found tending does in reprod or three- or four-yearold burns that have good regrowth of grasses and broadleaf plants.

“The Holiday Farm Fire perimeter and large areas within the burn had some seedbed damage in 2020,” says Christopher Yee, an Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife biologist in Springfield. By now many areas of this burn will have good forage. Early mornings and late afternoons are the best times to keep an eye on these types of places.

Regardless of the knowledge we gain through our experiences with these magnificent animals, blacktail deer will, in many ways, always remain a mystery and present a great challenge to us all. NS

A deer cart or pack boards will come in essential when packing animals out of the thick cover. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

Late Whitetail Best Hunting Practices

Northeast Washington’s rut season offers a great chance to bag a buck – if you work it correctly.

By Jeff Holmes

Rifle hunters will get a generalseason crack at rutting whitetails in Northeast Washington’s Game Management Units 105, 108, 111, 113, 117, 121 and 124 this November 5-19. Archers, muzzleloaders and special tag holders elsewhere in Washington’s whitetail country will also get a chance to hunt bucks when they are at their most vulnerable, but more rifle hunters will take the field than any other group, and their odds of harvesting a deer under “any buck” regulations will go up dramatically during the breeding season.

Just as human males driven by hormones chase females and lose their minds, subjecting themselves to empty wallets, DUIs, heartbreak, beatings by other males and the many hilarious but all-too-real lessons of the hot-tocrazy matrix (search it on Google or YouTube), rut-crazed bucks also risk it all in their search for hot does and a chance to pass on their genes.

By the time a whitetail buck makes it to November, they’ve hardened their antlers, sparred with rivals, hidden from people and predators, and gorged on food sources at night to go into battle in peak physical condition. By the time they emerge from the rut into post-rut recovery, they are a total wreck. They lose lots of weight, suffer battle wounds and

No doubt that there will be fewer whitetails across Northeast Washington during the late rifle hunt because of last fall’s big disease dieoff and October’s harvests, but more than a few rutty but careless bucks will end up at state game check stations this month. (WDFW)

WELCOME TO PREDATOR CENTRAL

Historically, prior to agriculture and timber cutting, Northeast Washington was not rich with ungulates, and it was home to lots of predators. Most of us with a few winters behind us thought that lots of whitetails, some muleys, decent elk numbers and lots of moose was the way it always was.

In reality, though, with no agriculture, no cutting or thinning of forests, poor winter range, and lots of snow, deer numbers were historically low as were moose from aboriginal overhunting, and there were few to no elk, which were translocated to Pend Oreille County decades ago.

But from our grandfathers’ eras through our own, we had it pretty great in Northeast Washington –and still pretty much do. However, ungulate numbers have undeniably declined in the wake of ballot box biology banning hound hunting for cougars and black bears and with many wolf packs staking territories across the northeast corner. Ungulates have also changed their habits, spreading out of the backcountry to avoid wolves and into populated areas and parts of Eastern Washington that previously held few to no elk or moose.

Things may be swinging back closer to the way things were historically, but that history might as well be ancient history to most hunters, including me. I’m no predator hater, quite the opposite, but my own experiences in Game Management Unit 113, Selkirk, in not really that much time afield have been shocking. Along with seeing four cougars over the past 15 years – one very close and on foot following me in the dark on an elk hunt – I’ve had three extremely close calls, one each with a bear, a cougar and a wolf pack.

I’VE WRITTEN ABOUT the bear encounter, as has a friend of mine (Google “bear elk holmes landers” to read about it), but I’ve not yet written about the cougar and wolf encounters I’ve had over the past several years, but I will briefly here.

While rattling antlers solo in a sparsely populated whitetail spot on winter range near the Canadian border late in the rut in almost a foot of snow and trudging back to my rig in the cold after two hours, I had a large pack of wolves light up howling behind me right where I had been sitting. As if that wasn’t cool and chilling enough, a second pack also hunting that postage-

stamp-sized chunk of elk, moose and deer winter range lit up less than a mile away in response to pack number one. I wasn’t in any danger, probably, but the fact my rattling called in seven or eight 80- to 100-pound wild dogs made a believer out of me, and I found a new hunting spot away from at least the dozen wolves on two sides of me, all within a mile.

The next year, after seeing and not getting a shot at the buck of a lifetime near Usk and settling a short time later for a very dumb and plump spike a short drag to a road, I had a bizarre cougar encounter. I had rolled that little buck onto my tailgate once I got it down to a road and drove to a nice turnout on a Forest Service road above the Kalispel Reservation. Within feet of my rig I began field dressing that buck. After just a couple minutes, I heard what I swore was a cougar screaming and mewing at me from maybe a couple hundred yards away, and it was joined by what sounded like a second cougar! The wind was at my back strongly, carrying the deer’s scent, my scent and the scent of the truck and gear straight at the screaming cats, which were hidden behind thick doghair timber

The odds of encountering predators such as cougars, wolves and bruins are increasing for hunters pursuing deer, elk, moose and other prey species. (WDFW)

that lined the road.

As I continued to spill that little buck’s guts, the screaming got far closer over 10 minutes, very close, well inside of 100 yards, perhaps 50. I was muzzleloader hunting and had not reloaded, so I grabbed my 870 12-gauge I had along for grouse and rabbits and recorded the screaming on my phone for 90 seconds until the cold drained my battery. They didn’t come any closer, and I got my deer finished and loaded and went on my way, but it was for sure weird. After consulting

have a terrible case of deer insomnia and depressed immune systems just as they enter the harshest weather of the year. Many die for their labors. But for almost an entire month a buck thinks about one thing and remains forever on the move in search of receptive does. A buck’s downfall – and the reason for the majority of bucks harvested in these late-rifle GMUs – is their tendency to be on their feet at all times of day, making appearances in places they’d never dream of wandering in daylight the other 11 months of the year.

The biggest key to rifle hunter success this November is staying out and alert in the field for a maximum amount of time near where there are does. And likely the second biggest key is being lucky enough to have a rut-crazed whitetail stumble across your path with its nose to the ground or breathing heavily for its labors.

That said, there are some other keys to success that November rifle hunters should consider in the woods. I’ve followed the advice that I offer here to some success, but much of this information was gleaned from interviewing experts across the West as I acted as Field & Stream’s Western whitetail rut reporter for three years. There are many fanatics who live, breathe and eat whitetails year-round, but for those like me who prefer to think whitetails when they’re up on their feet 22 hours a day looking for does, their advice is golden.

cougar biologist Bart George and sending him the audio, he confirmed that lions locked down mating act like impish teens traveling in packs looking for trouble.

I’ve also seen scores of cougar tracks of all sizes in Northeast Washington, whereas I saw only two tracks in hundred of miles of hiking and looking for tracks in my youth from age 11 to my early 20s. I’ve also seen many more bear tracks in recent years, including a couple sets of grizzly tracks. And in recent years I’ve been close party to four different howling wolf packs in GMU 113.

FIND AND SIT or still-hunt around does.

For fairweather whitetail hunters looking for a rutting buck, there’s scarcely a better approach than hunting over what amounts to bait. Bucks are seeking does and constantly checking for them coming into estrus. I have shot bucks sitting on does and areas I know they are bedded. Never do I have more confidence than when I know I’m essentially outside the bar on a Friday night wanting for a horny dude to show up looking for females.

GRIND ALL DAY. Not only is it wise to stay alert during the rut and be in the field as much as possible, hiking in and out of whitetail country spreads scent and jumps deer that might otherwise wander into shooting range of a patient hunter who dresses warm and stays focused all day during the short days of November. If there are deer nearby, stay put. It’s not a 100 percent rule to stay put, but when there are deer in the area, especially late in the season, you should like your chances.

RATTLE ANTLERS AND use a grunt tube. Lots of curious, combative, sex-crazed bucks will die this fall in Northeast Washington because hunters rattled or grunted them in. The internet is full of rattling and grunting demonstrations, and I recommend watching or reading a whole bunch in advance if you’re new to rattling or using a grunt tube.

Definitely avoid overcalling, try to mimic a deer’s natural sounds and stay

I think it’s kind of cool to hunt around predators, but my own experiences – not mere rumors on hunting forums or in sporting goods stores – tell me it’s unwise to sneak around without bear spray or a handgun, or both, in the Northeast Washington woods while trying not to be seen, smelled or heard – especially while making sounds prey animals make. Have fun out there, don’t worry too much, but be wise and on alert and equipped with predator deterrent on the off chance you might need it.

–JH

put for a good while after a couple of rattling sequences spaced 10 minutes apart. If you rattle, use natural antlers not synthetic, cut off the eye guards for safety, use a decent-sized rack to attract mature bucks, and drill a hole in the base of the antlers and attach them with parachute cord or other cordage. Losing both antlers is less likely and less frustrating than losing just one. Call less and more lightly earlier in the rut than you do later in November.

FIND SCRAPES BUT don’t fixate on any one unless you are experienced and know some voodoo. If you know it’s a major, blown-up community scrape or a big scrape on an obvious and active scrape line that offers protection, maybe sit or still-hunt that scrape or scrape line if there are ample lines of sight. Scrapes laid down on field edges or in open areas are unlikely to be visited during the day.

Finding an active scrape or a scrape line is definitely a good sign, but don’t assume a buck is for sure going to revisit the same scrape or that he’ll do it in daylight. Hunting on or around scrapes can pay off, but fixating on one you’ve dumped a bottle of doe piss on is not necessarily going to pay off. It might, though. There is vast knowledge to be gained from scrapes and licking branches, but most of us, me included, remain ignorant to that knowledge.

PLAY THE WIND but be ready for approaches from any direction. As

HUNTING

the rut moves along, deer become less wary, more worn out and more apt to make a big mistake. Always play it smart and hunt into the wind or focus your attention on areas where deer won’t smell you, but also be aware of bucks popping out as total surprises in places you might not believe they would.

As the rut progresses, bucks chase and seek more and more does and become dumber and dumber. That said, whitetails depend on their sense of smell more than any other sense.

GET AWAY FROM people and pressure. Overall, whitetails thrive in the presence of humans, but big bucks spend most of their lives avoiding people like the plague and staying mostly nocturnal. Walking far behind gates away from the average lazy hunter often puts you in a zone where deer are less on edge, provided the area you’re hiking to offers good

habitat and hunting lines of sight. If you find does far from people during the rut, your odds go up dramatically.

STAY OFF YOUR four-wheeler and remember that ATV hunters drive right by lots of deer. Deer don’t like engines, and the slower you go and quieter you are, the more in line you are with whitetail hunting best practices. ATVs can be great tools for accessing hunting areas or hauling out game, but those who hunt off of them don’t do nearly so well as those who don’t.

If you’re a boot hunter, don’t be discouraged by ATV traffic. Think about where deer might go to avoid traffic, or trust that ATVs will drive past tons of deer and that bucks will wander around during the rut seeking does that freeze as ATVs go by.

DON’T OVERTHINK THE rut unless you really know your stuff. I for one do not know my stuff like a true whitetail

expert, but from interviewing so many, I am sometimes guilty of thinking too much and psyching myself out. Staying still and slow and quiet, playing the wind, hunting around does, seeking a good balance between hunting good cover and seeking clear lines of sight, avoiding people, and rattling and grunting minimally and naturally are the keys I think about most while afield. I’ll never be a whitetail whispering expert, but I know I have a good chance of killing a buck when I stick to best practice basics like these.

Oh, and one more thing to never forget: There are rutting bucks and estrous does throughout November and well into December. Hunt with confidence anytime you’re in the field. I’ve hunted whitetails most of my life despite my ADD and the need to sit still or walk a quarter mile of an hour in most whitetail habitats, and I can thank the rut and advice like this for most of the bucks I’ve killed. NS

November Bucks And Birds

Nwinding down.

TARGET

By Dave Workman

ovember is one of those months I dread – and gleefully anticipate. On the one hand, Northwest skies are dreary and often wet, daylight hours are shrinking rapidly and my personal favorite hunting seasons – deer and grouse – are

On the other hand, the late buck hunts in many Westside counties and the units of Stevens, Pend Oreille and northern Spokane Counties are beckoning. If you haven’t notched a tag so far, these late seasons provide possibly the best odds of success. You’re not going to encounter crowds of other hunters, leaves have dropped and forests open up a bit, the

ground can be quieter and whitetail bucks are at the front end of the rut, which peaks around the 19 and 20th, so they may be a little more careless than usual.

Foul weather is also fowl weather, and my pals who are devoted duck and goose gunners will be at the top of their game for the next several weeks. Remember to study the hunting regulations carefully, because even a cursory glance at the

November will draw rifle hunters and archers afield for a shot at a whitetail buck across portions of the Inland Northwest. (IDFG)

2022-23 regs pamphlet can be somewhat confusing. Check pages 20-21 and 26-27 of the pamphlet, which summarize season dates and bag limits.

I was scrounging around the office recently and came across a couple of boxes of 12-gauge bismuth shells I’d forgotten about. While steel is the dominant nontoxic choice for most wingshooters of my acquaintance, I’ve used bismuth (bismuthtin) in the past and I guarantee the stuff is

lethal. Of course, there are several other choices, and you can find them all listed in the regs pamphlet on page 52. Tom Roster’s nontoxic shot lethality table can be found on page 53, and it’s worth some study.

Since my wingshooting preference is for upland birds, those bismuth shells may come in handy if I get over to the Columbia Basin sometime over the next few weeks to look for pheasants or chukars, and maybe quail if I’m lucky. I can still use lead for grouse

NEW FROM RUGER

The guys at Ruger have done it again, times two. Recently, Ruger announced the introduction of the Lightweight Ruger LC Carbine in 5.7x28mm, which is a sizzling little cartridge pushing a 31-grain bullet at a reported 2,350 feet per second, while the lighter 23-grain pill warps out of the muzzle at a reported 2,800 fps.

There is not a rabbit, grouse, coyote or other small game that can walk away from being hit with a bullet smoking along at that velocity.

The Ruger LC features a full 16.25-inch nitride-coated alloy steel barrel (threaded for accessories), reversible side-folding stock, which is adjustable for length of pull, and it is compatible with Picatinny railmounted accessory stocks, according to a company news release. It utilizes the same

magazines Ruger uses in its 5.7 pistol.

According to Ruger literature, “the LC Carbine utilizes Ruger’s safe, reliable and proven Secure Action fire-control mechanism that combines a protected internal hammer with a bladed-safety trigger that has a short, smooth pull, clean break and positive reset.”

Then there’s Ruger’s new Small-Frame Autoloading Rifle, chambered for a serious big game hunting cartridge, the 7.62mm NATO/.308 Winchester. Ruger calls this rifle the SFAR, and it is offered in two configurations.

There’s a carbine version with a 16inch barrel and that weighs 6.8 pounds (empty), and rifle version with a 20-inch tube. (Who says you can’t hunt with a semiauto rifle?) Barrels on both guns are cold hammer forged with 5R rifling and a

along the east slope of the Cascades, as that season now continues into mid-January.

FOR BUCKS, HUNT THE SCRAPES

Some years ago, I was lucky to stumble upon a very busy scrape on a ridgetop overlooking some property owned by a pal who allowed me to hunt there. This was in the mountains east of Chewelah in Stevens County, and the next morning found me in a downpour, huddled under

5/8-24 muzzle thread.

The SFAR design utilizes Mil-Speccompatible components and is fitted with Ruger’s Elite 452 trigger. The upper and lower receivers are CNC-machined from 7075-T6 forgings and feature an oversize mag well, according to a company press release.

The bolt and barrel extension are CNCmachined from “high-strength super alloy steel”; the extension features tapered lugs.

SFAR rifles feature a four-position regulated gas block, and the rifle comes with a 3/16-inch ball-end wrench for adjusting the regulator. It has a two-port Boomer muzzle brake.

Both models come with a single 20-round Magpul PMag magazine (standard capacity!) and they feature a Magpul MOE SL stock and MOE grip. –DW

New offerings from Ruger include the Ruger LC Carbine (top) and SFAR (left), while in late-breaking news, the company also recently reintroduced the Marlin Model 1895 Guide Gun, chambered in .45-70 Govt. (RUGER)

a couple of low-branch fir trees.

While trying to keep my glasses clear, I watched as one, two, no, three deer materialized almost out of nowhere. One of them was a buck, but they must have spotted my bright orange and started moving away fast. My only shot missed.

This taught me something valuable. Look for fresh scrapes and find a spot within easy rifle range where you can watch to see whether deer show up. Mornings and evenings are best, and pray for better weather, because sitting in a downpour is not my definition of enjoyment.

If you’re lucky, there will be snow on the ground. Light, powdery snow makes for very quiet stalking, and if you’re on a stand, you’ll notice how quiet the forest gets with a blanket of white. Watch for any movement, because it is rare you see a whole deer right away. More often you’ll notice a part of the deer, and then be able to pick out the whole animal.

Last fall, I was walking down an old

logging road and spotted just a flash off in the brush about 150 yards away. I was out in the open, so I very carefully raised my binoculars to find myself staring into the eyes of a very large doe. When that happens, you know you’ve been had.

If there was a buck nearby – and I think there was, based on tracks I found – he beat feet along with the doe. I never actually saw antlers, but experience dictates there were some nearby, and the big boy wearing them was pretty savvy. (That’s why it’s called “hunting” and not “shooting.”)

HUNT THE TRAILS

Snow makes for good hunting because it reveals instantly whether deer are using game trails. Deer tracks in fresh snow don’t lie.

If you find such a trail, don’t walk in it; walk parallel to it from several yards away, and do it slowly. My dad and grandfather taught me decades ago to take three or four steps and stop, listen and look

around. This still-hunting strategy has paid off with notched tags more than once for me during the general season, but with improved conditions in November, the same tactic can pay off this month.

Colder temperatures will require deer to be feeding and moving more just to stay warm, and with the rut coming on, mature bucks will have romance on their minds. If you can find a good spot to watch a busy trail, look for does to come along and if they glance back down the trail, sit still. Romeo might be hoofing along in your direction, looking for love in the wrong place. Be patient. Good things come to those who wait.

Even without snow, it will likely be wet, and fresh tracks in muddy trails say deer are in the neighborhood.

In the blacktail woods, wet leaves will quiet the forest floor, and you’ll be able to see better through bare branches.

Oh, and remember, grouse season is still in progress, so it’s smart to have a .22-caliber pistol handy. NS

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Eleven’s For Elk

Nhave taken. For Washington and Oregon riflemen, that means elk harvested earlier in the month, but muzzleloaders and archers rejoice because the Thanksgiving holiday kicks off many of their late seasons.

NW PURSUITS

By Jason Brooks

ovember is known as the month when winter begins and autumn’s brightcolored leaves turn to white snow by the end of the month. Family and friends often gather on the fourth Thursday to celebrate the harvest of the fall, and that includes wild game that hunters

An Evergreen State elk hunter looks forward to November, as it is the only month when all of the elk tags have an open, over-the-counter season. But it is the Westsider who really looks forward to the 11th month of the year. The first Saturday

in November is the opener of the modern firearms elk season and you can still pursue mature bulls, unlike the Eastside, where hunters are restricted to only spike bulls in most units. The month often starts out wet due to fall rains, but higher elevations can see snow and that means elk will be on the move down to lower hills.

WESTSIDE HUNTERS HAVE a few options, with one being along the Cascade Crest.

November means elk hunting in Western Washington, where author Jason Brooks bagged this bull a few seasons back. Rifle seasons lead off the 11th month of the year, but there’s late archery and muzzleloader opportunity at the back end too. (JASON BROOKS)

Here you will find elk moving out of the various parks and peaks and making their way to the wintering grounds. Areas near the small towns of Packwood and Randle are very popular. But they might not be the best option this year. Looking at the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s 2022 Hunting Prospects, the forecast for District 10, comprised of units that make up the eastern portion of Lewis County and the foothills below Mount Rainier and the Goat Rocks Wilderness, shows elk numbers are low compared to the mid-2000s.

“Available data points toward an elk population that is below objectives and well below historic highs,” it states.

“Therefore, hunters should expect a

generally less productive elk hunting season during the 2022 hunt.”

Antlerless permits were reduced this fall to reflect this.

One of the better options is to head to Southwest Washington’s Willapa Hills. WDFW’s prospects point out that Game Management Unit 506 has seen an average of 119 bulls taken by rifle hunters over the past five years, making it one of the better units. This area is also largely tied up with private timberlands, so be sure to look and see if a pass is needed and available. There are several public parcels here, including Department of Natural Resources lands, that offer elk good forage, thanks to reoccurring timber harvest.

Keep in mind that both areas, along

with southern Puget Sound, Grays Harbor and the South Cascades, have hoof rot issues. Be sure to look into the hoof rot collection program and help WDFW conduct studies of this disease.

Back to the good news. In District 17, the South Coast, WDFW’s minimum bull:cow ratio is 12:100, but during a 2019 survey, they found the western Willapa Hills herd to have 23 bulls for every 100 cows, making it way above objective. This means you are likely to find that mature bull when you find the elk. WDFW’s prospects point out that elk in this area don’t migrate and the population is stable, and hunter numbers rarely change. The key to filling tag here is to get behind locked gates, either by purchasing a private timber company pass

Clearcuts and their edges are prime areas to hunt elk, even in the middle of day as the year grows darker and colder and winter closes in. (JASON BROOKS)

or finding public lands with gated roads and start hiking. Most hunters here utilize the many logging roads, so if you can get away from the motorized vehicle access areas, you are more likely to find elk.

THE FAR NORTHWEST tip of Washington, where rain falls just about every day of the year, is home to the largest of the elk subspecies, the Roosevelt. Before they were renamed for former President Theodore Roosevelt, they were known as the Olympic elk, so called because of their home in the Olympic Mountains. Today, mountainous

Olympic National Park is home to some of these elk, but once the snows come in November, they migrate down. In the clearcuts and thick rain forest, you will find a mix of local herds and migrating elk. Success here is low but so are hunter numbers. This is the one place where you can find a true giant of the Northwest and not run into too many other hunters. The mix of private timber and a lot of DNR and Forest Service lands makes this a good place to find a few mountains and clearcuts to hunt.

Closer to the bulk of the Westside’s population, look no further than eastern

portions of Pierce and King Counties. The biggest problem here is finding a place to actually hunt. Most of these elk are on private timberlands or farms, even local subdivisions (ask fellow columnist Dave Workman about the bulls hanging out in his North Bend neighborhood). There are pockets of elk on public land, but be sure to use a good mapping application like onX or BaseMaps. The foothills below Mount Rainier near Ashford do hold elk and you will find migrating bulls and cows coming out of the park, but you will also find a lot of hunters.

If there’s snow on the ground after Thanksgiving, when primitive hunts reopen, archers and muzzleloaders should use Eastside hunting tactics. Glass from ridges, searching for perches where snowless patches may indicate a fresh elk bed. (JASON BROOKS)

WHILE RIFLEMEN GET the first crack at Westside elk this month, archers and muzzleloaders get the last opportunity to chase wapiti. These late seasons are some of the most overlooked hunts of the year, as those who do choose to use these weapons mostly concentrate on the rut.

This year those hunters found out what it was like to hunt in 80-degree weather during a full moon. It sucked, plain and simple, as the elk were active mostly at night. Some days they would bugle and other days not make a sound.

My son and I headed deep into the elk woods for the archery season; he hunted and I packed. The first weekend we were drenched in sweat by midmorning and had an opportunity at a nice bear munching on overripe huckleberries. The next weekend the temperatures dropped for one day, and on that particular day we called in two bulls in two sets. Both hung up and didn’t offer a shot, but we also had a cow come in to just 35 yards. Unfortunately, we were hunting a unit where cows were not open.

Now that it’s the late season on the Westside, and hopefully with some snow on the ground, archers and muzzleloaders should use some Eastside tactics. Find open ridges and glass; look for elk beds and know they like to rest on a perch where they can see and also stay cool in the snow. Elk have thick hides and are often warm in very cold temperatures.

Some of the aforementioned units have higher altitudes that see deep snows; it is these units that I like most because conditions concentrate the elk, which get pushed down from the heights. For the other units, hunters need to keep doing what rifle hunters did earlier in the month, which is to get away from well-traveled roads. Elk simply do not like traffic, as studies have shown.

Unlike earlier in the season, November and December mean less daylight and more elk movement. Be sure to look over clearcuts even in the middle of the day, as elk will often be out feeding. Snow will really help, as you can find fresh sign,

including bedding areas.

On Thanksgiving Weekend 2018 we found ourselves inching along a ridgeline in 6 inches of fresh snow. We noticed areas void of snow, meaning elk had bedded there during the night and we weren’t far behind them. Slowly still-hunting down the ridge, I noticed a dark brown patch between two fir trees; it was a cow standing and feeding. She didn’t even know we were there. Snow really helps your hunt when you use it correctly. Other times it can really suck, such as when you’re packing out a bull and end up getting soaked, or too much of it falls overnight, pushing the elk down past where you are hunting.

WHEN IT COMES to Westside elk hunting, November is the month we all look forward to. Be ready to make some adjustments and know that you won’t be alone. Elk numbers throughout the Willapa Hills, from the ocean to I-5, are stable and the big bulls of the Olympics roam the rainforest. Pack some good raingear and go find an elk. NS

Backup Plans For Big Game

BECOMING A HUNTER

By Dave Anderson

Your alarm goes off, waking you up early – or what you might perceive as early – to hit the hills. It is still dark outside when you jump in your truck and drive to the spot you planned to hunt for the morning. But two other trucks are already parked there when you arrive.

This happens often and makes it easy to get discouraged and upset. However, there are ways around this; I can tell you the above scenario very rarely happens to me. The simple solution: Wake up earlier, especially when hunting public land. I am usually up and getting to the trailhead or side of the road at 3 a.m. Most people I hunt with think I am nuts, but my time is limited, as I have family at home that includes two young boys who are now 3 and 4 years old. I want to make the most of my time in the mountains and so I suck up every minute I can.

ALSO, IF SOMEONE is in your spot upon arrival, pull up onX Maps on your phone to see whether there may be another area to check out nearby. In that scenario, the number one thing I look for is a spot that doesn’t have road access and takes some effort to get into. This is why almost every big game animal we harvest comes out in a backpack. There are very few times I have had the luxury of packing out a deer or elk whole.

The next tip in my game plan for hunting big game animals is to pack a lunch and put in the time on the hill. Do not go back to camp. I can’t tell you how many times I have found deer and elk at 1 in the afternoon. Deer and elk don’t go back to the hotel and disappear in the

If October didn’t pan out and you’ve still got a live deer and/ or elk tag in your pocket, try out author Dave Anderson’s advice. It includes being the first into the woods, staying out all day and being dressed for the conditions.

(DAVE ANDERSON)

WASH. DEER HUNTERS SURVEYED; SOME PREDATOR-PREY RESEARCH OUT

Try as I might, there were a couple deer-related items that I couldn’t quite jam into last issue’s huge Washington buck hunting prospects.

Over the summer, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife quietly posted the 2022 Washington Hunters’ Attitudes Toward Wildlife and Hunting Management report, while in September an intriguing paper titled “Interactive effects of wildfires, season and predator activity shape mule deer movements” came out from Predator-Prey Project researchers.

Both are enlightening, yielding insights into the mindset of Evergreen State riflemen, archers and muzzleloaders over the short and longer term, and how mule deer, wolves and cougars are navigating Northcentral Washington’s wildfire-singed landscapes, some of the state’s premier hunting areas.

Every seven years or so, Responsive Management surveys both residents and hunters for WDFW. This latest hunter survey was performed via telephone and online in June and July and it found that 75 percent of the 1,154 sportsmen queried said they were deer hunters, 44 percent chased elk, 29 percent waterfowl, 25 percent small game, 23 percent bear, 22 percent migratory birds and 13 percent cougars.

Last year, 78 percent of those deer hunters used a rifle, 19 percent a bow and 12 percent a muzzleloader. The survey did record slight shifts over time in terms of weapon type used, with rifle declining from 80 percent in 2007 to 78 percent in both 2014 and 2022, archery growing from 16 to 18 to 19 percent and muzzleloader also increasing from 8 to 11 to 12 percent. Shotgun use also ticked up, from 5 percent in 2007 to 6 percent in both 2014 and 2022. (Multiple responses were allowed.)

Ninety percent of all hunters reported hunting on public ground in the previous three seasons, with 66 percent saying they’d done so on U.S. Forest Service lands.

Speaking of, the northern OkanoganWenatchee National Forest was host to the aforementioned wildlife work done for the Predator-Prey Project – a joint WDFWUniversity of Washington study. It involved

capturing and collaring 150 Methow Valley mule deer does, as well as a number of local cougars and wolves, and then matching the GPS data with wildfire mapping to develop a better understanding of how the animals used burned areas throughout the year.

According to lead author Taylor Ganz, a UW Ph.D. student, some 40 percent of Okanogan County has burned since 1985, and much of that has occurred in the upper Methow around Winthrop and Twisp via the Farewell, Fawn Peak, Tripod, Carlton Complex, Okanogan Complex, Cedar Creek and Cub Creek 2 Fires, among others.

It’s been a boon for deer, creating plentiful, rich browse at all elevations, and Ganz et al noted that muleys really do key in on burned areas in summer.

The other good news if you’re a deer is that those areas – with their fallen trees and tangles of branches and willows – also generally provide protection from wolves as the packs recolonize the region. Wolves are born to chase their prey, preferably over landscapes with few hurdles, and so burn scars act as something of a refuge for deer

from the long-legged lopers. The researchers found “deer increased use of burned areas when and where wolf activity was high.”

HOWEVER, THE SAME conditions that grade against wolves work quite well for cougars to ambush deer. Where the big cats were most active, deer tended to stay away.

And while deer were overall attracted to regenerating burns in the high season, come winter, they tended to avoid them, Ganz and crew found. Without needled-out tree limbs to intercept falling white stuff, it piles up and up and up, 1) blocking deer access to forage and 2) making them much more vulnerable to predation because they can more easily get caught in deep snow. They especially “avoided burns when and where cougar use was high in winter,” the researchers stated.

For a deer hunter who has spent more than a little time gazing at the Okanogan’s terrain, burned and unburned alike, wondering how building wolf numbers will affect the herd, it all kind of makes intuitive sense. The same deadfalls and underbrush that keep me from moving very fast (and,

An alert mule deer doe scans a regenerating burn scar in Northcentral Washington for danger. A study shows that wolves tend to avoid these typically tangled landscapes, but cougars not so much. (SARAH BASSING, WASHINGTON PREDATOR-PREY PROJECT)

needless to say, very quietly) work against wolves, but more than once the hair on the back of my neck has wanted to stand up as I’ve waded into them.

Ganz reported that how muleys related to cougars lurking in burned areas was also dependent on how hot the woods had originally burned and how long it had been since fire swept through, but overall the deer were able to manage the risk and reward of foraging there.

“We did not find that deer were any more likely to die in a burned area versus an unburned area. In other words, their movement response and other antipredator behaviors are adequate to balance changes in predation risk associated with burns,” Ganz told me.

SPEAKING OF PREDATORS, they are Washington deer hunters’ topline concern, according to the Responsive Management survey, with 26 percent calling wolves, cougars, bears, coyotes and other furry fangers the most important issue facing the state’s mule deer, whitetail and blacktail.

Not far behind at 24 percent was habitat loss, followed distantly by disease/ herd health at 14 percent.

(Elk hunters felt similarly, with 30 percent saying predators were the most important factor, followed by disease/ health at 22 percent, habitat loss at 17 percent and management at 12 percent.)

Ganz and fellow researchers report 52 of their collared Methow deer died during the study, and 22 of those were confirmed to have perished at the claws and teeth of predators, with another nine dying from unknown causes but likely predation. Of the confirmed deaths, 15 were attributed to cougars, three to coyotes, one to bears and one to wolves.

That last one did and did not surprise me. As Ganz pointed out, there just weren’t a lot of wolves around when the research was being done.

“Based on WDFW estimates, there may have been as few as 10 to 15 wolves in the study region, which is just not that many relative to the amount of deer out there,” she told me. “As you mention, moose, white-tailed deer, and other critters contribute to wolf diets (and even grasses and berries – wolves are omnivorous). That’s one reason we don’t have many documented wolf mortalities.”

But she cautioned that there was also a fair percentage of deaths from unknown causes and pointed out some of the difficulties in reaching carcasses after collars give off mortality signals.

“That doesn’t mean that it wasn’t predation, just that we don’t know how they died. Some of these could have been from predation. When a deer dies far back in the wilderness, it can take some time for us to get there to investigate, not to mention complications from washed-out roads, avalanche conditions, etc. Sometimes the GPS collars malfunction, too – another delay in getting to the mortality site (an issue in all collaring studies). These factors contribute to the high number of unknown mortalities,” Ganz stated.

She also suspects that some causes of death are just easier to confirm than others.

“For instance, because cougars cache their prey, it tends to be pretty easy to find a tidy mortality scene and determine who was responsible. On the other hand, a pack of wolves can consume a deer in a single feeding bout and widely disperse the carcass, which makes it very difficult to identify the cause. It would be nearly impossible to distinguish that evidence from a deer that died of disease, say, and was dispersed by scavengers. Our genetic methods help, but there’s still a lot unknown about such sites,” she said.

So what are Okanogan wolves eating? Ganz said that another UW Ph.D. candidate, Lauren Satterfield, has been looking into their diets and will be analyzing what’s on the menu. Needless to say, I eagerly await a chance to chew on that information.

OTHER HUNTER SURVEY results show WDFW’s management of deer “was not rated very well,” with two-thirds of deer hunters putting it in the “bottom half of the scale (35 percent fair; 28 percent poor)” and one-third in the top half (6 percent excellent, 25 percent good).

“Lower ratings were often the result of hunters’ disagreement with management decisions,” Responsive Management wrote.

Reading this story online, a longtime local hunting writer could only agree: “Deer management. It sucks. I said so.”

In the background, some hunters want WDFW to return to a four-point minimum for Northeast Washington whitetails, while others would like later seasons better

timed to the rut. Recent years have also seen doe tags sharply cut back for all user groups, even youths – an effort to help rebuild disease-stricken herds.

A slim plurality of hunters were more satisfied than dissatisfied (47 to 40 percent) with their 2021 deer season, which saw the lowest general season harvest of the millennium. Twenty-eight percent reported tagging out. (WDFW’s 2021 harvest report shows a 24 percent statewide success percentage.)

The survey gave mule deer hunters three ideas for increasing their success and decreasing hunter density. A split season – early or late – found support from 30 percent, an Oregon-style controlled (special permit) season 14 percent, and a mule deer-, blacktail- or whitetail-only license 10 percent. Of note, the largest cohort, 32 percent, chose none of the above. Muleys are open under a general rifle season in Eastern Washington, with a three-point minimum everywhere.

The survey also provided a glimpse of long-term hunter trends, though Responsive Management said the results “should be interpreted cautiously” due to methodology changes that included using an online survey in addition to phone, which was only used in 2007 and 2014 editions.

Where the 2014 survey saw 56 percent of hunters “very satisfied” coming out of the 2013 season (overall success rate: 28 percent), the latest found 18 percent of online and 44 percent of telephone surveyees rated 2021’s hunt that highly. Where 18 percent were “somewhat satisfied” in 2014, 29 percent of online and 31 percent of telephone respondents were in 2022. And where 11 percent were “very dissatisfied” eight years ago, 21 and 20 percent, respectively, were this year.

And while the combination of phone and internet surveying makes comparing 2022 to 2007 and 2014 reports difficult, in general, the proportion of hunters who rate WDFW deer management as good has declined from 2007, while those giving the agency only a fair rating has increased.

“WDFW staff are reviewing these results, similarly to the other survey (of state residents on hunting),” stated agency spokeswoman Samantha Montgomery. “We intend to use the results of this survey to inform some sections of the game management plans, where applicable.”

–Andy Walgamott

afternoon. In late morning and early afternoon, I tend to hunt the timber. When hunting timber in the afternoons, I prefer to hunt the shaded side of the hill or mountain. I move slow and use the take-a-step-and-glass approach. With each step you take, you get a totally different perspective of what’s in front of you. Be stealthy and always be cautious of thermals and your wind. Like we say in tuna fishing, when the wind is in your face, you’re in the right place. Using a Windicator or other wind detector is the easiest way to keep track of your wind while hunting.

My next piece of advice to throw into your game plan is to use maps and different tools that show all the public lands we have available to us. We are incredibly lucky to have the ability to use innovative technologies and apps that provide us with offline hunting maps that identify the many different public areas to hunt. There are a lot of small pieces of public land that get overlooked by people. I have found that these little pockets will hold deer, as they get zero hunting pressure. Indeed, just because it is small does not mean it will not hold a deer or two.

For instance, a couple of years ago my wife and I ran to town to grab propane for our trailer, and on our way back to deer camp we decided to pull off and check out a small chunk of land that I had been wanting to look at. We walked up at 2 p.m. in the afternoon and she notched her tag on a three-by-four mule deer within an hour of getting into the small section of public land. My friend, who was back at camp, was shocked and thought I was joking when I told him we would be back at camp with the deer we had just harvested. It just so happened there were three other bucks with that one, so I told him to go to the same spot in the morning. I’m pretty sure he thought I was nuts, but he ended up going there and harvested his first buck.

MY ELK HUNTING tactics are quite different than deer. Most elk that I have hunted in Washington tend to hang out in deep and nasty hellholes. Trying to find animals in small pieces of land is not something I would attempt to do.

One tactic I used during the late archery hunt in Eastern Washington was to hunt right above and below roads that most hunters blow on up in their trucks. Doing so, we enjoyed success multiple years in a row on late-season cows. While that particular hunt is no longer offered by state hunting managers, it amazed me how close these elk would hang out by the roads and not be bothered by the traffic.

MY BIGGEST PIECE of advice and the number one tactic in my game plan is to spend all day on the mountain. Enjoy every minute you can out there. If you find a pumpkin patch, back out of the area and try a new one where there is not a sea of orange vests. In addition, always be prepared to walk in and out of an area in the dark. Pack a headlamp, flashlight and extra batteries.

Utilize apps like onX and BaseMap to track your day and save offline maps before you go hunting. I set a tracker immediately upon starting my hike into an area so I can always get back to my start destination. The tracker is great for getting out in the dark as well. It’s not hard to get turned around in the dark – it’s easy to during the day as well.

I also am prepared to spend the night on the mountain if I have to. In addition to extra clothes and raingear, I carry a battery pack to plug my phone into. I have yet to run out of battery life between my phone and backup battery. I do still carry an extra battery-powered GPS in my backpack just in case. I am confident in my phone and battery backup, so the extra GPS is added weight that could easily be dropped.

Hopefully you can plug these tactics into your game plan for hunting lateseason deer and elk. Best of luck to every one of you this fall! NS

Anderson likes hunting in spots that others overlook or avoid because of access issues, or the conventional wisdom is that they won’t yield game. Despite reports showing that elk avoid roads, he’s had success hunting right off of them. (DAVE ANDERSON)

Give Shanks For Braising

“R

andy!” my brother yelled from across the room.

future surrounded me.

ODE TO SHANKS

in the butcher process – I generally ended up with four shanks in my truck for the ride home. I was OK with this arrangement.

CHEF IN THE WILD

By Randy King

“What?!” I replied, fighting with my vacuum sealer and marking “Mule Deer 10/22” on a package of ground meat.

“You want my shanks?”

“Of course! If you grind those, I’ll disown you!” I spit back to him, drawing a smiley face on the next package of hamburger slid my direction.

“Promise?” he said, grabbing for a knife and pretending to debone the shank off his little buck.

I chuckled and went back to my work. He wouldn’t debone them; he knows I love shanks. Soon I could see four neatly trimmed shanks headed my way for the vacuum sealer. Visions of meals in the

In my past life as a chef, when lamb shanks were on the menu, they were one of the top-dollar items I sold. A lamb only has four legs, after all, so the demand/supply side of the equation always benefitted the producer. Then there’s the fact that the hind shank and the fore shank are different sizes and can’t really be interchanged on the menu. Basically, the awesome velvety texture of a perfectly braised lamb shank is expensive because very few shanks exist and cooking them is a long process.

It amazed me when I eventually found out that most hunters debone their deer and elk shanks and send them to the grind pile. I was aghast. Then I remembered doing this myself as a child. When I started asking that the shanks be saved from this fate – my family usually helps one another

I totally understand why shanks are not well loved. They take forever to cook and if undercooked, they can be something like a dog chew toy. No worries on this – let me explain the braising process and why it works so well and why you should never grind your shanks again.

WHY BRAISING WORKS

“Braise – (brayz) – Braising is basically a slow-cooking method for tough cuts of meat or poultry and even stringy vegetables. They are cooked slowly in a small amount of liquid in a covered pan … In all the moistheat methods of cooking, the moisture or liquid not only conducts heat to a product, but it interacts with the food being cooked and can influence the final taste and texture of a product.” –whatscookingamerica.net

Be kind and don’t grind! Your tummy will appreciate braising the tough lower legs of deer and elk instead of turning them into burger. Using low and slow cooking methods and plenty of moisture to break down connective tissue will make for a delicious dinner. (RANDY KING)

SAUCY SPICY SHANKS

In “Mexican food,” the word mole has a strangely ubiquitous usage. (I use quotation marks on “Mexican food” because that is like saying “American food” – we both have so much regionalism that the term fails to describe the depth of the food culture.)

I equate mole to gravy or sauce in the English vernacular. Mole can be green, red, brown and black – with all sorts of shades of “Grandma’s favorite” (los favoritos de la abuela) tossed in. It is usually a mix of chilies pureed with onion, garlic and corn tortillas. Endless varieties exist, per the flavors and

norms of certain regions. Oaxaca mole is nearly black. Many describe mole as a “peanut butter and chocolate” sauce, and that is sometimes true. The sauce has huge flavor and adds depth to quite a few dishes.

Not being of Mexican/Spanish heritage, I tend to make a gringo mole at home. Just as you can make a decent red sauce with a jar of Prego, you can also make a decent mole with prepared mole sauce. Why this sacrilege? Because I do not regularly have the necessary ingredients on hand to make a traditional mole. Nevertheless, I do usually have the items to make a faux mole. One of my faux moles involves prepared mole sauce and rotel tomatoes.

Traditional? Absolutely not. Delicious? Absolutely.

I use the combination with things that need a long cooking time, like big game shanks and turkey drumsticks. The flavors of the prepared mole really saturate the meat over time.

ELK SHANK FAUX MOLE

1 elk shank, or two mule deer shanks

2 tablespoons of canola oil

1 can (10 ounces) Rotel Tomatoes and Chilies

1 pouch (10 ounces) Doña Maria prepared mole sauce

20 ounces of water

2 tablespoons beef base (paste)

2 jalapeños, sliced in half lengthwise

1 small bunch of thyme

2 bay leaves

Salt and pepper

Heat oven to 450 degrees. Toss shanks in the canola oil and place in roasting tray. Roast in oven for 45 minutes to an hour.

Remove shanks from oven and add the Rotel, prepared mole and water. Place roasting tray on a burner and heat on medium. Bring roasting tray to a simmer and mix in beef base, sliced jalapeños, thyme and bay leaves. Cover tray with foil and add a lid if possible. Lower oven to 350 degrees and cook shanks for 3 1/2 hours.

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

Elk shank with gringo-style Mexican mole sauce. (RANDY KING)

We have all been there – the seemingly perfect cut of meat completely ruined by connective tissue. Some sort of gristle or silver skin was not cleaned off the meat, and now a wad of chewy white goo is between your molars. Not good, but what the heck is that stuff and what can you do about it?

Several types of connective tissues are present in all meat. Some are obvious –things like tendons and ligaments. Tendons connect muscle to bone; ligaments connect bone to bone. Other types – the more often eaten ones – are things like silver skin that surrounds entire muscle groups and intermuscular collagen.

Elastin and collagen are the two main types of connective tissue. They are made up of different materials and behave very differently when cooked. Elastin, the stuff that makes silver skin and ligaments, is usually removed from cuts of game before cooking. Strangely, no matter how much you cook elastin, it will be chewy and not very good. It’s weird that way. Collagen is the other type of connective tissue and,

thankfully, we can make it delicious.

Collagen has an interesting function with muscles. The individual muscle fibers are wrapped in collagen, and the whole unit is wrapped again in collagen. This allows the muscles to be independent units while working as a whole. The direction the muscle is oriented is called the “grain” of the meat. You can tell the grain of the meat by looking at what direction the bundles are going. Cutting against the grain gives you more tender meat, for the most part. (This is also why taking apart animals carefully and not making multi-muscle steaks or cuts is so important – the grains can change from muscle to muscle, therefore the eating experience can change too.)

How much use a muscle gets also has a direct effect on the amount of collagen. A backstrap or a tenderloin will not have the amount of collagen that a shank does. The leg muscles do more than the back muscles. This is why the best steaks (ribeye, New York, tenderloin) all come off the back and the “cheaper” steaks (sirloin)

come off the leg. The amount of collagen affects the tenderness and fat buildup.

Thankfully, collagen can be cooked into something delicious. The trick, not surprisingly, is steady heat over time. Collagen will melt at temperatures above 160 degrees Fahrenheit, and when it does it turns soft and delicious – the stuff of dreams. This is counterintuitive at first glance, as meat cooked above 160 degrees tends to be tough and dry – think of a well-done steak: dry and bad. But this is the lowest temp that collagen will melt.

Shanks are a great example of heat and time being needed to create something delicious. Elk and deer shanks have lots of collagen – large tendons and heavily worked leg muscles. If cooked for a small amount of time, the meat will be dry and tough. But if you give the large tendons enough time to cook, they will coat the muscle fibers with gelatin, making the meat moist and awesome.

I say, braise away – shanks deserve more than the grinder. NS

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Remote, Comfortable & Affordable

Our remote Alaskan fishing lodge is situated on the upper stretches of the beautiful Egegik River. You’ll watch some of Alaska’s most stunning sunrises, complete with a distant, active volcano. We are a fishing camp specializing in coho fishing, brown bear viewing, and flyout fishing adventures to even more remote destinations in the Last Frontier.

Coho Fishing e Egegik River

The Egegik River is touted by many experienced anglers as the best silver salmon stream in all of Alaska. Becharof Lodge On The Egegik River was the first fishing lodge to become established on the breathtaking Egegik River, and is less than a 5 minute boat ride from some of the best fishing holes on the entire river.

in your fishing

5 days fishing/5 nights stay in camp

Experienced, fully guided fishing.

• Comfortable cabins furnished with beds, cozy comforters & bedding.

• Home cooked meals, snacks, and nonalcoholic beverages.

• Transportation from the lodge to prime fishing holes on the Egegik River.

Freezing and vacuum sealing of your fish, up to 50 lbs., per angler.

PRINCE OF WALES ISLAND,

STAFF WILL LET YOU KNOW WHERE, WHEN AND HOW!

Plugging River Chinook

es, I know, Pro-Troll flash ers are all the rage when trolling for salmon, but when it comes to catching Chinook from trib utary streams like Washington’s Lewis or Quinault, or Oregon’s Nestucca, Siletz or Chetco, one method you should not over look is to back-troll a salmon-size plug with a fillet of sardine or other bait strapped to its belly. There is just something about a

Ybig, intrusive, bait-smelling, high-vibra tion, in-their-face plug that fall Chinook will seldom pass up.

RAMSEY

This fishing method started on Cal ifornia’s Sacramento River 40 years ago by anglers and fishing guides using large FlatFish (M-2 and larger) and Kwikfish (K-14 through K-16) to entice Chinook. Since then other manufactures have en tered the market, like Brad’s with its nearly identical Killer Fish offering. In addition, there are now salmon-size plugs that dive deep without having to add additional weight to get down; a favorite is Yakima

Bait’s Mag Lip. And while you can plunk/ still-fish these plugs from an anchored boat, back-trolling is what most anglers do in rivers during the fall season.

IN CASE YOU don’t know, back-trolling is accomplished by maneuvering your boat above/upstream from the area you wish to fish by rowing or by using a trolling motor. While holding your boat steady (as if you were anchored), let the river current take your diving plug out behind your boat. When you stop letting out line, the current will cause your lure to wiggle

Guide Andy Martin of Wild Rivers Fishing holds a pair of Chetco River kings caught in November 2021 on Mag Lip plugs. (WILDRIVERSFISHING.COM)

and dive. Back-trolling is the process of al lowing your boat and trailing lure to then slowly slip downstream while resisting the current enough to cause your lure(s) to dive down to near bottom and into the areas salmon hold. The right distance out varies depending on current speed and depth, but 30 to 60 feet is usually right.

The strike of a Chinook taking a salm on-size plug equipped with a fillet of sar dine or other bait may be the hardest you will ever feel, but don’t set the hook until Mr. Salmon is holding your rod tip down steadily, peeling line from your reel, or until your rod tip pulsates violently up and down three times. Under most condi tions waiting on the bite will increase your chance of a solid hookup, while yanking too soon can result in a miss or later losing your fish. When using a baitcaster reel, real ize that it’s important to have your thumb firmly planted on the reel spool when you do finally set the hook. After the hookset, you can let the reel drag take over.

Providing the water is straight run ning, of reasonable current speed and less than 10 feet deep, you can get your plug near bottom by just running it out on a flat line; that is, with no additional

weight added. If the current is slow mov ing and/or deeper than 10 feet, as op posed to swirling, you can make your Flat Fish, Kwikfish or KillerFish plug dive extra deep by rigging a Jet Diver where your main line and leader meet. The rigging is identical to a free-sliding back-bouncing setup (see illustration above), except you replace the sinker with a Jet Diver.

What size Jet Diver you use just de pends on how deep the water is. For ex ample, these buoyant river divers come in different sizes, with a size 20 capable of adding 50 percent more dive to your plug, while a size 50 diver can add twice the div ing depth to your wiggler. In most cases these plugs, depending on size and buoy ancy, will dive 8 to 12 feet when used with out a weight or diver. Keep in mind that the exact depth achieved will vary a lot depending on current speed, the amount of line let out and line diameter.

For example, slow current or position ing your lure a short distance away (30 feet) will produce a shallow dive, while a strong current or greater distance away from your boat (60 feet) will produce a deep dive. A Mag Lip plug will go deeper than other salmon-size plugs, and it features an entic

ing “skip-beat” action that teases fish into striking, similar to how a cat responds when teased with a ball and string.

Many anglers like to use a Mag Lip when back-trolling because in most situ ations, at least if the water runs straight, they will dive nearly to the bottom without the need to add weight or a diver.

WHILE CHINOOK CAN be found in areas of straight-running water, especially when migrating, they are known to accumu late in the deeper holes (10 feet deep or more) where the current might be slow moving or swirling. In this case your plug will not get down unless you use a sinker. Back-bouncing with a weight attached to a 12-inch dropper line is the most productive way to fish salmon-size plugs in deep (even roily) salmon holes that lack enough or the proper current to take your lure down to near the bottom.

The technique is much like back-bounc ing bait, but with one important difference: you will need to hold your rod steady once your weight and trailing lure is in position. The amount of weight you use is critical; too much and your lure won’t bounce out in the current from your boat. Not enough and you may not feel it hit bottom or may not be sure where the bottom is in rela tionship to your plug.

Once you’ve selected the right size sink er, you’ll need to back-bounce or walk your outfit downstream from your boat until your mainline is at a 45-degree angle. Given the right size weight, the pull of your plug working in the current should hold your weight 6 to 12 inches above the bottom. Now, hold your rod steady while back-troll ing your boat through areas likely to hold fish. Since the depth can change, you will need to check for bottom occasionally.

THE BEST WAY to make your salmon-size plug even more deadly is to add a scent-dispersing fillet of sardine to its bel ly. It’s just a fact that you’ll get more strikes and better hookups if you keep a bait strip strapped to the belly of your plug.

Although you can use herring, ancho vy, tuna, smelt or sardine as your bait wrap per, sardine is most popular and available in most sporting goods stores. Start by fil leting both sides off your baitfish and cut

An old Luhr Jensen graphic offers advice on fishing salmon-size plugs. While you can find success fishing water less than 10 feet deep by back-trolling on a flat line (no additional weight added), to get your lure down where the water is slow moving or deeper than 10 feet there are two options. For starters, try adding a Jet Diver to your setup. But in the deep holes where the water might be swirling or slow moving, a sinker may be required to get your plug down near bottom. (LUHR JENSEN)

ting them into rectangular pieces: 7/8 inch by 11/2 inches for the K14/M-2 plug size; 1 inch by 13/4 inches for the K15/T-50; and 11/8 inches by 21/2 inches for the K16/T-55.

A pair of scissors works great for cutting your fillets to size and notching them so they fit around the belly eyelet of your lure. Your bait fillet doesn’t have to be exact –about a third of the length of your lure is about right – but you’ll find the above measurements handy when starting out.

When wrapping a bait fillet to the un derside of your plug, you should center it around the belly eyelet, which is the bal ance point of the lure, with the skin next to the lure body. You can use 2- or 4-poundtest mono, Magic Thread, thimble sewing thread or elastic thread as a wrapping material. By making 20 to 30 wraps, your fillet will conform to the shape of the lure body and not dampen the plug action. You should secure your wrap with two or three half-hitch knots.

For best results, your fillet should be changed often, at least once every hour. Tip: Wrap several lures the night before or – better yet – the morning of your trip and

keep them fresh in a small bait cooler.

MY FAVORITE SETUP for fishing salmon while using big plugs is an 8-foot-6 ex tra-heavy-action rod combined with a salmon-size baitcasting reel filled with 50to 65-pound-test super braid fishing line tipped with a 40- to 60-pound-test leader.

The standard Kwikfish, FlatFish and KillerFish feature screw-eye connectors, while the Extreme series Kwikfish, Hawg Nose FlatFish and Mag Lip feature fixed eyelets. And while it’s likely you won’t need to tune the plugs with fixed eye lets, those having screw eyelets should be checked to ensure they are diving straight; if not, they may require tuning to achieve the best possible action.

When pulling your plug next to the boat, recognize that it should yield a sideto-side wobbling motion. However, if it dives to the left, turn the line-attachment screw eye slightly to the right (clockwise). If it dives to the right, turn the eyelet a small amount to the left (counterclock wise). The idea here is to center the pullpoint eyelet such that your plug will draw

equal amounts of water on each side of its diving lip and dive straight.

A lopsided sardine fillet can throw your plug out of tune too. You can rewrap a crooked fillet or try tuning your bait wrap per by flattening any lopsidedness with your thumb.

Realize that the Mag Lip and other plugs equipped with fixed eyelets most ly run straight from factory when using the included round-eyed connector snap. However, they can be fine-tuned by slightly bending the pull-point eyelet the opposite way the plug is running.

And also know that the erratic, skipbeat, darting Mag Lip action should not be confused with it being out of tune. Rath er than pulling this lure beside your boat to check its action, place the plug in the current behind your boat with your rod tip pointed downstream and observe its wiggle and how it tracks before attempt ing to adjust the pull-point eyelet. A pair of needle-nose pliers works best for making these adjustments.

HERE ARE MORE tips and thoughts on fish ing plugs for fall Chinook

1) Remember to always use the roundeyed connector snap that comes with each plug. And, yes, you can use two snaps in tandem.

2) If the salmon are being stubborn, try switching to another plug color and/ or different bait wrap. I’ve had stubborn fish respond to plugs having a scent-filled worm trailing behind. You would think they would short strike this presentation, but that has not been my experience.

3) Some anglers will wrap their plug with a sardine fillet and add additional smell via prepared scents like those offered by Pro-Cure. Realize, too, that salmon will sometimes respond better to baits other than the classic sardine or other baitfish fil let. For example, you might wrap the belly of your plug with a sand shrimp, salmon eggs or fillet of tuna belly. Some anglers will capture a ball of tuna in netting and attach it to the belly hook on their plug.

4) Adding an extra split ring to each hook can keep hooks from tearing out when fish twist and turn during the fight.

5) Some rivers require the use of single hooks. Keep in mind that plugs are de

Here is a selection of plugs wrapped with fillets of sardine and ready to go. Remember to keep your wraps centered around the belly eyelet, which is the balance point of the lure, and to wrap them with plenty of thread so your fillets conform to the shape of the lure. (NICK POPOV, 503-484-4860)

signed and balanced for certain hook sizes and altering them can throw your plug off balance. For example, a size 4.0 Mag Lip will become far less speed tolerant if you remove the belly hook; compensating for that might require you to add an extra split ring (total of two) to the belly eyelet when

only having one hook on the tail of the lure.

6) Keep in mind that you can only keep hatchery Chinook on Tillamook Bay and its tributaries this season. The Elk is also only open for fin-clipped kings, but the limit was boosted to three a day through December 1. Other popular rivers such as the Chetco,

If you’ve read author Buzz Ramsey’s Buoy 10 articles over the years, you know he will sometimes tip his coho spinners. He’ll also try the same thing with his fall king plugs. “I’ve had stubborn fish respond to plugs having a scent-filled worm trailing behind,” he states. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is regarded as a sport fishing authority, outdoor writer and proficient lure and fishing rod designer.

Martin, here trying to net a client’s fall Chinook, uses smaller salmon plugs (like an M-2 FlatFish) when the water is low and clear. Under normal river flows he will switch to a medium-size plug and likes the Mag Lip because it will go deep without having to add a diver or additional weight. When the river first drops after being unfishable due to fall rains but is still transitioning from brown to green, he goes big with the 5.5-inch Hawg Nose FlatFish. The Hawg Nose is his favorite high-water lure. (JERRY HAN)

Coos and Sixes have some Chinook restric tions, while the Siuslaw, Coquille and Floras Creek/New River are closed. NS

Coast Chock-full Of Razor Clams

Even with a bit of a hiccup at the start of fall’s digs, there are millions of shellfish to be had on the Washington Coast this season.

By Mark Yuasa

Razor clam fans will dig this uplifting news!

Summer evaluations of Washington Coast populations by the Department of Fish and Wildlife unveiled a strong number of bivalves, setting forth a liberal number of tentative digging dates during the 2022-23 season.

“Our summer assessments showed that while we are behind last year’s record number of razor clams, we still have more than enough clams to offer a similar season structure to (the 2021-22) season,” says Dan Ayres, a WDFW coastal shellfish manager.

The initial razor clam digs were set to begin September 22-27, but there was a brief pause due to elevated marine toxin levels. The season eventually got underway on September 28 and was followed by an additional 14 days of digging in October.

During the fall/winter timeframe a total of 50 days will be offered at Long Beach and Twin Harbors, 26 days at Copalis and 24 days at Mocrocks, and that includes digging on both the Thanksgiving and Christmas holidays. Expect WDFW to decide on additional tentative winter digging dates sometime in late December or sooner.

Logan Livingstone searches for razor clam shows during a November 2021 evening opener on Long Beach. Washington Coast shellfishers can look forward to plenty of digging days this month and next, as long as marine toxins cooperate. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

SURVEY SAYS ...

After review of razor clam populations, WDFW shellfish managers are confident they can stay within state harvest guidelines using the maximum variable harvest rate on all beaches, which is great news.

Long Beach, stretching from the Columbia River north to the mouth of Willapa Bay, has a healthy 14.7 million recruit-size razor clams, providing for a total allowable catch, or TAC, of

5.9 million razor clams for the 202223 season. Those are down from the near-record 21.6 million recruits and a TAC of 8.7 million razor clams for the 2021-22 season, but the historical average at Long Beach over the past 26 years is 7.9 million recruits. The 2021-22 recreational harvest here was 3.3 million razor clams.

A downside at Long Beach is the reduced number of prerecruit razor clams – juveniles under 3 inches long.

TENTATIVE FALL 2022 WASHINGTON RAZOR CLAM DATES

NOVEMBER

6 Sunday, 5:08 p.m.; 0.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

7 Monday, 5:49 p.m.; -0.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

8 Tuesday, 6:28 p.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

9 Wednesday, 7:05 p.m.; -0.7 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

10 Thursday, 7:42 p.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

11 Friday, 8:19 p.m.; -0.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

12 Saturday, 8:59 p.m.; 0.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

13 Sunday, 9:43 p.m.; 0.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

22 Tuesday, 5:22 p.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

23 Wednesday, 6:04 p.m.; -1.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

24 Thursday, 6:48 p.m.; -1.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis (Thanksgiving Day)

25 Friday, 7:35 p.m.; -1.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

26 Saturday, 8:23 p.m.; -1.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

27 Sunday, 9:15 p.m.; -1.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

28 Monday, 10:10 p.m.; -0.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

DECEMBER

4 Sunday, 4:09 p.m.; 0.4 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

5 Monday, 4:53 p.m.; -0.1 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

6 Tuesday, 5:33 p.m.; -0.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

7 Wednesday, 6:11 p.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

8 Thursday, 6:47 p.m.; -0.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

9 Friday, 7:23 p.m.; -0.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

10 Saturday, 7:59 p.m.; -0.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

11 Sunday, 8:35 p.m.; 0.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

12 Monday, 9:13 p.m.; 0.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

20 Tuesday, 4:14 p.m.; 0.0 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

21 Wednesday, 5:02 p.m.; -0.8 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

22 Thursday, 5:48 p.m.; -1.4 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

23 Friday, 6:35 p.m.; -1.8 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

24 Saturday, 7:23 p.m.; -1.9 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

25 Sunday, 8:10 p.m.; -1.6 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis (Christmas Day)

26 Monday, 8:58 p.m.; -1.2 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks

27 Tuesday, 9:47 p.m.; -0.5 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis

28 Wednesday, 10:37 p.m.; 0.3 feet; Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Mocrocks –MY

“Some segments of the population spawn at other times of the year and we likely will see additional setting of juvenile clams down the road,” Ayres says. “But only time will tell.”

One factor that could be affecting a successful setting of juvenile clams is the amount of freshwater flowing out of the Columbia River. This year, the flow has remained very high from snowmelt. As the freshwater plume hits the ocean and goes north, it pushes into the surf zone on Long Beach, resulting in poor survival of clam larva.

“The ocean overall is in good condition with ample feed for clams, so this low-salinity issue appears to be isolated to the beaches closer to the mouth of the Columbia,” Ayres says.

The waters off the Washington Coast remain in an El NiñoSouthern Oscillation, or ENSO, pattern, a recurring climate condition involving changes in the temperature of waters in the central and eastern tropical Pacific Ocean. It is associated with colder water and air temperatures and increased rainfall in the autumn and winter.

Furthermore, despite summer’s hot inland weather, temperatures off the coast are quite cool and surf zone water salinity remains good outside of the southernmost coast.

Twin Harbors beaches, which run from Willapa Bay north to the south jetty at the mouth of Grays Harbor, have 5.6 million razor clams with a TAC of 2.3 million for 2022-23, down from last season’s 8.6 million recruits and a TAC of 3.4 million. The 2021-22 recreational harvest was 2.1-million razor clams.

“The population at Twin Harbors is down a little bit, but still well above the historical average,” Ayres says. “This gives us a solid foundation to work with and we’ll be able to harvest up within our guidelines. We should see a season comparable to last year.”

DOWN ORE. PROSPECTS

This season’s Oregon razor clam prospects went from not very rosy to downright ugly in fast order.

The state’s primary clam sands sit just south of the mouth of the Columbia and the annual assessment of 18-mile-long Clatsop Beach turned up below-average abundance, though the majority were at least 4.5 inches or longer, reported state shellfish project leader Matt Hunter in Astoria.

“Our juvenile recruitment was very low,” he said in mid-September. “Compared to the assessment in 2021, which was over three times the average with a very large juvenile recruitment, this year’s assessment is quite a decrease. While harvesters will still find big clams to dig, it will not be as consistently easy as this past year.”

Season was set to begin October 1, but just seven days beforehand, ODFW and state health managers cancelled digging there due to unsafe domoic acid levels. And soon afterwards the rest of the Oregon Coast had to be closed for the same reason.

Ninety-five percent of Oregon’s razors are found on Clatsop Beach, but Cannon Beach, Cape Meares and Yachats hold some. Those beaches aren’t surveyed, but Hunter said that when staffing is available, ODFW will do creel surveys at Newport-area beaches with clams. Those are north and south of the jetties.

“The majority of the work and funds are directed towards the Clatsop Beaches, as that is where the harvesters go,” he notes.

Hunter says the 2021-22 season yielded the seventh highest harvest on record for recreational clammers, but was otherwise underwhelming.

“For whatever reason, people just did not come to harvest, even though limits were the norm, not the exception,” he said. –NWS

Last year was one of the best in a long while for razor clammers like John Leppell and Bob Searl. Not only did 2021-22 provide rare opportunities to harvest 20 a day at times, but two beaches saw 30-year high marks set during a season that also produced a $71.7-million windfall for Washington Coast communities. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

At Copalis Beach, stretching from the north jetty of Grays Harbor to the Copalis River, the recruit-size total is 14.4 million razor clams, with a state TAC share of 2.9 million, slightly down from 16.5 million recruits and 3.3-million-clam share last year. The 2021-22 recreational harvest was 1.7-million razor clams.

At Mocrocks beaches, from the Copalis River to the south boundary of the Quinault Indian Reservation, the recruit-size total is 9.82 million razor clams, with a TAC state share of 1.96 million, which mirrors 9.84 million recruits and TAC of 1.96 million in 2021-22. The 2021-22 recreational harvest was 1.2 million razor clams.

Kalaloch, which runs from the South Beach campground north to Olympic National Park Beach Trail 3, will again be closed and still has a very depressed clam population.

DIGS ALSO BENEFIT COASTAL TOWNS

The 2021-22 season offered 119 digging dates and generated an enormous $71.7 million from diggers (474,427 trips) who visited small South and Central Coast communities such as Seaview, Grayland, Pacific Beach, Moclips and others.

According to the 2022-23 WDFW Razor Clam Management Plan, nothing has come close to that figure since economic data was tallied during the 1997-98 season.

Stores, tackle shops, restaurants and gas stations rely on these opportunities during the lean tourist times of autumn, winter and spring to help boost their economy.

The revenue runner-up occurred in the 2013-14 season, when the total season value was $40.9 million from 105 digging dates and 451,046 digger trips.

The 10-year average is $27.5

million from 61 digging dates and 296,731 digger trips, and the 20year average is $25.4 million from 47 digging dates and 276,655 digger trips.

Looking back at the 2021-22 season, at Long Beach, recreational diggers took home 3.3 million razor clams, which is the highest harvest in the last 30 years. The runner-up was 2016-17, when 2.7 million were dug.

At Twin Harbors, diggers harvested a whopping 2.1 million razor clams, also the highest seasonal take seen in the past three decades, and by a long shot. The next closest was 2013-14, when 1.7 million razor clams were taken home.

On the northern beaches, the Copalis state share taken last season was 1.7 million razor clams, and the closest occurred in 2004-05, when 1.59 million were dug. At Mocrocks, 1.2 million razor clams were harvested, mirroring the same number taken in 2018-19.

MARINE TOXIN UPDATES

The one wild card throughout every digging season is a marine toxin known as domoic acid – a natural toxin produced by certain types of marine algae – that can be harmful or even fatal if consumed in large enough quantities.

“The harmful algae cell counts have been jumping all over the place this past summer,” Ayres says. “We’ll cross our fingers as we continue to sample for harmful algae and conduct additional testing for marine toxin levels in razor clams.”

The 2021-22 season was unaffected by any marine toxin closures, but the 2020-21 season was a much different story. Despite ample digging dates set two seasons ago to harvest a robust razor clam population, most of them didn’t happen due to an extended toxin outbreak. There was a coastwide closure from the end of October through mid-May, when

just Mocrocks reopened for six days of digging.

Since 1991, when marine toxins were first detected on the Pacific Coast, outbreaks of domoic acid have prompted the cancellation of 26 percent of all planned harvest dates, including all or most of several seasons.

Final approval of each digging series is dependent on weekly marine toxin testing and announced about one week prior to each series of digs.

For more information on this season, check out the 2022-23 Razor Clam Management Plan at wdfw.wa.gov/ fishing/shellfishing-regulations/razorclams#management. For inseason updates, see wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ shellfishing-regulations/razor-clams. NS

Editor’s note: Mark Yuasa is a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Communications Manager and longtime local fishing and outdoor writer.

Inner Steelhead Slayer Takes Summer Back Seat

Pages turn to chapters, chapters turn to stories and stories ultimately compile into our lives. It’s pretty wild when we think about it. Losing my dad to cancer at 21 not only impacted me, it truly made me who I am. Such adversity was not easy to handle, but time did help with such a massive loss, and early on in adulthood I was able to transform it into something that helped me.

By Sara Potter

Harnessing the idea that he is always with me I learned so much. His love for literature and his family absolutely allowed me to never lose hope despite knowing loss. Somehow that loss helped me see that we are the authors to our own story of life. Believing this, I knew I wanted to write one worth reading. My perspective on who’s reading my story, I realize, directly reflects what the pages consist of.

MY 40TH LAP around the sun and something inside me has changed. My heart trusts it is for the better. I found

this deepest love within a man, my boy is now a teenager and my girl is preteening hard. Time flies! I must cherish it and those who share it with me. The fish will never remember how I made them feel. They won’t even remember me at all. However, my family will.

I am very thankful that my children are shining as brightly as they deserve to shine. They went through something I never wanted for them, but I do believe in experiencing those hard pages of life; with me by their sides, I was able to help guide them. Living through hard times isn’t easy,

Sara Potter née Ichtertz didn’t completely drop her rod this summer, but she devoted far more of her time to daughter Ava, son Nate and fiance and now husband Ben Potter, and she is comfortable with that, thankful that there’s more to summer than steelhead. (SARA POTTER)

OF

but learning how to cope from someone who cares and loves you is vital, I think. It’s not the hard times that define us; it’s what we do from them that counts. Being where we are now, I believe we were meant to go through this together; I was meant to guide them through the darkness, just as they were meant to help me through my own. Children with a better understanding of such things will have a firmer footing for life that awaits them. There’s a balance in darkness and in light, not only in nature but in life. It’s important that we help our children know this and trust that darkness won’t last forever.

The day will come that all they have is the way I made them feel. I want them to always feel my love for life; even once my life is over, my hope is that they carry that love for life with them in their own lives and share it. We never really die if we pass on something that lives on in our children. I believe that.

Giving them my time was something I was very blessed to give, but as they turn into their own individuals and I work a fulltime job, I want them to know I don’t need

the river in the ways I need them. What they want to do does matter to me, and my actions this past couple years is proof of it. Knowing their hearts are full matters more to me than my tag being full, and so this summer was all about us as a family and not about Sara the steelhead slayer. I have learned so much this past decade, and truly my husband and my children are the only fans I even desire. In caring less and less about what others think, I began to see my little family becoming stronger, happier and healthier. In that growth I found a joy that outweighs any fish I will ever catch.

Seeing the babes play ball brought the four of us closer together. Practicing at the ball field, just the four of us, we all began to thrive in a way that I don’t think the river could have allowed. I don’t fully understand why, but I do know what I saw, what I felt. I remember being down on the thought of summer rec ball because it would interfere with my devotion to the river. I realize that was selfish of me. Seeing them be such naturals on the field and seeing my man put love and effort into this family both helped me see there’s more to life than fishing.

I DID FISH as the new run and new sport were underway, but Ava and her young team needed me, and so I gave my time to them more so than the fish. Making it down to the river with my pup a time or two, I hooked quite a few summers. But those beauties got the best of me, as I haven’t given the river the time she requires to master her lately. Each one handed me my ass, as if I had never landed a fish up there in my life.

Did I love it any less? No! That place, that feeling, those headshakes will forever be my selfish indulgence, but I would say I have a new grasp on the fact there’s much more to fulfillment of my life than simply the river and drift fishing for summer steelhead. My babes are growing so fast, and the day will come when they are not begging me to do want they want to do. Hell, the day is coming that they won’t even want me there, and so I trust the fisherman inside of me to always find its way back. I don’t just fish; it is part of who I am. It will never be gone. One day, though, my children will be and so we shall do what sets their souls on fire for a change.

Sara’s set her kids on their courses and she can comfortably “watch my boy from afar fly fish with zero guidance and land himself the biggest wild trout I have ever seen.” (SARA POTTER)

COLUMN

GROUPS PETITION FOR OLYMPIC PENINSULA STEELHEAD LISTING

The clock is ticking for the feds to decide whether an Endangered Species Act listing may be warranted for Washington’s Olympic Peninsula steelhead. The Wild Fish Conservancy and The Conservation Angler requested the National Marine Fisheries Service list the prized fish as either threatened or endangered in an August petition, initiating a process that could lead to further reviews and possibly a listing down the road if such protections are found to be warranted.

“We have 90 days to make an initial finding as to whether it merits a full review, and that is where we are currently,” stated Michael Milstein, a NMFS spokesman for the West Coast Region, in late September.

It not only has implications for the steelhead, but state and tribal fisheries and remote communities that otherwise are quiet in winter. Rivers that fall under the petition include some of Washington’s “crown jewel” wild and hatchery steelhead fisheries, including the Quillayute and its tribs – the Dickey, Sol Duc, Calawah and Bogachiel – as well as the Hoh, Queets and Quinault, along with all other streams between the Copalis and Lyre Rivers.

WFC and TCA claim that the peninsula’s summer-runs are “nearly extinct” and its winter-run stock is “declining and losing its life history diversity.”

“The fate of the species now rests on a depressed and contracted midto late-spring component of wild fish whose productivity is limited or declining depending on the population,” they argue. “The remnants of these runs that historically numbered in the tens of thousands face declining freshwater and marine habitat conditions, increasing recreational fishing pressure, and ongoing commercial harvest. Because of these and other demographic and ecological threats, Olympic Peninsula steelhead are likely to become endangered within the foreseeable future.”

The Duvall- and Edmonds-based organizations also requested that NMFS designate critical habitat for the population.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife was notified of the pending

petition in July. “We plan to review the petition and will be happy to provide information to NMFS about steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula if requested,” stated Nate Pamplin, WDFW external affairs director. “We are committed to steelhead conservation and optimizing opportunities for anglers. We are working hard with partners and the public on a framework that would inform the development of long-term steelhead management plans for the Olympic Peninsula. An ESA listing isn’t one of the management tools we would use at this point in time.”

A learned observer speculated the petition had a “good chance” of getting a 90-day nod, but whether it passes a deeper review is another matter. They wondered if the point was to “scare” WDFW into very conservative fishery restrictions this winter.

THE DARK CLOUD of a potential listing has been on the horizon in recent years as wild runs have sagged up and down the Washington Coast. Just 25,723 winter fish were counted on the gravel during the 202021 run, a new low mark and roughly half of what it was in 2015, the year of the Blob. Ocean conditions since have been poor for these steelhead, and their wildly complex life histories require a longer timeframe for runs to rebuild their numbers.

In response, WDFW has implemented unprecedented, sweeping restrictions in recent seasons. During 2020-21, blanket rules for Olympic Peninsula, Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay streams banned fishing from a boat, as well as bait and scents, and only a single barbless hook was allowed.

Last winter was even more restricted, with fishing closed on the upper Quinault,

Two organizations are petitioning federal fishery overseers to list the “crown jewels” of Washington steelhead, the Olympic Peninsula’s runs. Darrel Smith caught this one in early 2021 while fishing with local guide Mike Zavadlov. (COAST FISHING PHOTO CONTEST )

Queets, Chehalis and Humptulips because of below-escapement forecasts. Some anglers had called for a total closure, and in the end the rivers that remained open for hatchery harvest and wild catch-and-release were shut down a month early, at the start of March, because of WDFW’s fears that returns were coming in “well below forecast – not just a little bit, but significantly.”

At the time anglers and fishing guides disputed that, reporting that they were seeing more fish around during low, clear flows. That may have been born out by a WDFW presentation earlier this fall. It showed spawning escapement increases over 2020-21 in the Quillayute and Hoh, which were open to fishing because they were expected to meet return goals.

While the 90-day mark for NMFS’s review of the WFC/TCA petition landed around Halloween, the fed’s Milstein said there is a little leeway. Pointing to a “maximum extent practicable” clause, he noted NMFS has nearly 10 listing petitions on its collective desk, for everything from bull kelp and sea stars to salmon and steelhead, “so we are pretty well booked.”

How it works is NMFS could deny the petition with a “negative 90-day finding,” or they could find that it presents enough information that a listing may be warranted. If it’s the latter, Olympic Peninsula steelhead would then be considered a “candidate” stock for ESA protections and NMFS would call for public comment and perform a status review and peer review. After that point, the feds would make another determination, a “12-month finding” that a listing is either “not warranted” or “warranted.”

A warranted recommendation would lead to a proposed rule and another round of public comment, then a final decision to either withdraw the proposal or publish it on the Federal Register.

AS IT STANDS, Washington steelhead ESA listings include fish in Puget Sound and the Columbia-Snake system above the Cowlitz.

In Puget Sound, even as WDFW had altered hatchery practices to, among other things, do away with off-station releases (spring catch-and-release fisheries ended well before ESA protection was granted), the 2007 listing opened the state up to

WFC litigation over a number of hatchery genetic management plans waiting on NMFS approval or review. A 2014 settlement limited smolt releases to up to 521,000 and into just four watersheds, the Snohomish, Stillaguamish, Nooksack and Dungeness. It took nearly a decade to reopen the Skagit for a winter-spring catch-and-release native fishery due to paperwork and runsize needs. Back on the coast, in 2015, the state Fish and Wildlife Commission ended retention of wild steelhead on the Olympic Peninsula, a rule change that took effect with the 201617 season and effectively ended the sport harvest of natural-origin steelies in state waters. In early 2010, members reduced the wild steelhead retention period on eight West End rivers by two and a half months, starting with the 2010-11 season. Prior to that, harvest had been limited to one a year.

Meanwhile, WDFW’s planning process for this winter’s season hits high gear this month with a series of public meetings and commission discussions that will lead to a fishery announcement around December 1. For more, go to wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/ management/steelhead/coastal. –NWS

I will watch my boy from afar fly fish with zero guidance and land himself the biggest wild trout I have ever seen. As he waded away from Mom, I watched his line go tight and the fight was on. Watching him pursue what calls him is the greatest joy I know. I want to support them in their dreams, even when their dreams aren’t exactly my own. Time is short and so I swim up the creeks with them till their hearts are content, even when – in the back of my head – I’m certain I could find a biter.

We shall camp and catch countless tiny biters up at the lake, even though I could go for that one beautiful bite! That bite that sends my 12-pound mono stripping off my reel in this intense, one-of-a-kind way!

I HADN’T DRY-CAMPED in a while and this year we camped it up, getting back in touch with the little lake that showed me what we were capable of more than 10 years ago. The fisher in me loves simply to connect with the fish; the size of the tug means less to me now than it once

did. Lately, it is the company that brings me such joy. I cooked fresh trout at camp and it’s true that’s the only way to eat those little buggers and have them taste delicious. This past summer we sat around more campfires than ever and I wouldn’t change the laughter we shared, the stars we watched, or the s’mores we ate, as that time together is my great accomplishment.

As an independent mother on the banks of the rivers, I embraced many a biter, many a fighter. I love those pages and chapters; they are forever mine. But I’m thankful I no longer feel this need for such independence. I know I can function quite well independently, but my desire is to share my life with a family who loves me, wants me and needs me. As long as my family is thriving and growing, then I have everything I need. I have nothing to prove to anyone but them, as they are who love me, rain or shine, both in darkness and in light. I trust in my journey and I trust in timing, knowing that my heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS

Sara also reconnected with “the little lake” that gave her such self-confidence a decade ago. But while she still thrills to the simple connection with a fish, “Lately, it is the company that brings me such joy.” (SARA POTTER)

Fresh trout, herbs and green onions on the griddle were one of the highlights of Sara’s summer camping trips, as were the campfires, laughter and stars above. (SARA POTTER)

LUCKY CAST NORTHWEST

Guided Fishing Adventures

Come experience the rivers of SW Washington and the Olympic Peninsula while shing for salmon, trout, and steelhead! Fishing rivers ranging from Forks, through Grays Harbor, South Puget Sound, and more...

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YOUR TRIP TODAY!

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Random Knives of Argenti na made this kitchen knife for exquisiteknives.com. Random is two young bladesmiths with very creative minds. I have sold a number of their fine piec es. Priced right and very well thought-out designs and execu tion. Exquisiteknives has offered some of the world’s finest custom knives to both users and collectors for over 30 years.

OLIVER TRAVEL TRAILERS

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The Salmon & Steelhead spinners & spoons that Fishermen can rely on every time for high quality and dependability. You can find these incredible American made lures at these fine sporting goods stores, Sportco, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Englund Marine

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Reliable Fishing Products was established in 2003 and makes the best cooler bags in the industry. They offer 10 bag sizes ranging from 18”x36” to 42”x90”, three kayak bags and three billfish/tournament blankets. They hold ice for days, are collapsible, soft-sided and have a drain plug at the bottom corner.

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SAGE CANYON OUTFITTERS sagecanyonoutfitters.com

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Give the gift of safety and peace of mind with an IFC gift card. If your loved ones travel, get them an Idaho Enhanced & Oregon Carry Class. Or include one of our training bundles. Individual classes are also available. We provide qualification classes and training for any level of experience, from beginner to experienced shooters, in our handgun/ rifle/shotgun classes.

EVERETT

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EUGENE

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ACTION WHITEWATER ADVENTURES

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REALTREE UNITED COUNTRY HUNTING PROPERTIES

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MOLLALA MOLALLA

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SEASIDE SEASIDE

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