Northwest Sportsman Mag - Feb 2021

FISHING • HUNTING • NEWS

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Sportsman Northwest

Your LOCAL Hunting & Fishing Resource

Volume 13 • Issue 5 PUBLISHER James R. Baker

Your Complete Hunting, Boating, Fishing and Repair Destination Since 1948.

ALUMAWELD STRYKER

EDITOR Andy Walgamott THIS ISSUE’S CONTRIBUTORS Dave Anderson, Jason Brooks, Scott Haugen, Sara Ichtertz, MD Johnson, Randy King, Buzz Ramsey, Troy Rodakowski, Ken Witt, Dave Workman, Mark Yuasa EDITORIAL FIELD SUPPORT Jason Brooks GENERAL MANAGER John Rusnak SALES MANAGER Paul Yarnold ACCOUNT EXECUTIVES Mamie Griffin, Jim Klark, Mike Smith DESIGNER Lesley-Anne Slisko-Cooper PRODUCTION ASSISTANT Kelly Baker OFFICE MANAGER Katie Aumann INFORMATION SYSTEMS MANAGER Lois Sanborn WEBMASTER/DIGITAL STRATEGIST Jon Hines

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ON THE COVER Tri-Cities angler Todd Hardy holds one of several walleye he caught last March on the Columbia.

Now marks the start of some of the best fishing of the year on the big river for both eater-sized and trophy fish. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS Last issue’s article on Puget Sound blackmouth incorrectly stated the bag limit in Marine Area 10 was two hatchery Chinook. The limit is only one this season. Also, the minimum size for Chinook in Area 13 was misstated as 20 inches during the winter season. It should have read 22 inches. Our apologies.

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Northwest Sportsman 13

More than a building... it’s a solution!

CONTENTS

PRE-ENGINEERED STEEL FRAME STRUCTURES

VOLUME 13 • ISSUE 5

YEARBOOK

2020 BIG GAME

855.668.7211 • www.wsbnw.com

BIG GAME YEARBOOK, CLASS OF ’20 Big bucks and bulls, first kills, family harvests – it’s our 10th annual celebration of readers’ success in last fall’s big game hunting seasons!

PLUS

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EMBRACING THE MISS AND OTHER ADVICE FOR RAISING HUNTERS A young hunter’s missed shot at a deer, elk or other game can be crushing, but it isn’t the end of the world. Ken Witt shares his sons’ misses and misadventures on their way to becoming well-rounded sportsmen.

(ANDY WALGAMOTT)

ALSO INSIDE 61

LATESEASON HONKERS, AND THE MISTAKES YOU MAKE Extended goose seasons in parts of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington offer a chance for waterfowlers to keep hunting deep into winter, and while MD Johnson acknowledges it can be a “tough sell” to bring in well-educated birds, it’s “not impossible if you pay attention to the details.” He has the keys.

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NEVER TOO EARLY TO PREP FOR FALL “Hibernate” is not a word in Dave Anderson’s dictionary. Even in the depths of winter, he has his eyes on being prepared for fall big game hunting. Step inside his home gym and log onto his computer for lessons in how to maximize the offseason to make the most of your autumn deer and elk hunts.

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GET READY FOR SPRING HUNTS Turkey and bear season is literally on the horizon, so now’s the time to get ahead of the game – and the game you’ll be chasing come April.

Troy Rodakowski outlines the gear work, scouting and patterning that help make him more successful come spring season.

109 FISH HIGH AND LOW FOR ROOSEVELT KOKES “Are you getting tired of hearing all the bad news? Likewise,” says Mark Yuasa, who has the perfect antidote: Lake Roosevelt kokanee. He reveals expert tips for limiting, and has a booster shot – chunky rainbows – to make a trip even more worthwhile.

139 WILL OR WON’T WE DIP? A smelt opener this winter would be a hopeful sign for the little fish and a tradition that once drew hordes to the banks of the Cowlitz. MD Johnson interviews fisheries biologist Laura Heironimus on the state of eulachon and the odds of a chance to dip for ’em.

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NORTHWEST SPORTSMAN is published monthly by Media Index Publishing Group, 14240 Interurban Avenue South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Periodical Postage Paid at Seattle, WA and at additional mail offices. (USPS 025-251) POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave South, Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. Annual subscriptions are $29.95 (12 issues), 2-year subscription are $49.95 (24 issues). Send check or money order to Media Index Publishing Group, or call (206) 382-9220 with VISA or M/C. Back issues may be ordered at Media Index Publishing Group offices at the cost of $5 plus shipping. Display Advertising. Call Media Index Publishing Group for a current rate card. Discounts for frequency advertising. All submitted materials become the property of Media Index Publishing Group and will not be returned. Copyright © 2021 Media Index Publishing Group. All Rights Reserved. No part of this publication may be copied by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying or recording by any information storage or retrieval system, without the express written permission of the publisher. Printed in U.S.A.

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(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

NORTHWEST PURSUITS

Mining For Columbia Gold

As other fisheries on the big river have waned due to low runs, interest in walleye has surged, and while February may be known as trophy time, there are plenty of eater-sized fish to be caught now and later in winter and spring. Jason picks the brains of guides to get you geared up for catching some bugeyes!

COLUMNS 71

CHEF IN THE WILD Winter Lessons A winter day in Southwest Idaho with young son Jordan gave Chef Randy a chance to pass along hunting lessons he’s learned over the years, as well as for Jordan to put those skills to the test. Back in the kitchen, our staff cook dishes up a tasty recipe for odds-and-ends game meat in your freezer – carne asada sausages.

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GUN DOG Safety First!

Your four-legged hunting partner will work miracles for you, but gun dogs aren’t tanks, amphibious vehicles or cliff-scaling mountaineers, counsels Scott, who shares mishaps he’s had with his pups afield and the dangers to watch out for.

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ON TARGET Wolves, SHOT Product News Last month saw the official federal delisting of gray wolves across the western two-thirds of Washington and Oregon, and while a lawsuit challenging the handoff of management to the states works its way through the court system, with the big doin’s in Las Vegas cancelled this year, Dave continues his own personal Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show to share news about new guns and gear.

123 BUZZ RAMSEY Locating Winter Steelhead Following up on his introduction to winter steelheading last issue, Buzz heads to the water to detail where to fish the rivers for this elusive quarry.

131 FOR THE LOVE OF THE TUG The One River Of Many Firsts Sara reached a number of personal milestones while fishing off the banks of a beloved Southern Oregon river, but a float with a guide yielded a new one – and in a spot she’d long wanted to fish but couldn’t access from shore.

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(SARA JOHNSON)

THE EDITOR’S NOTE

Northwest steelhead in the spotlight

DEPARTMENTS

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THE BIG PIC 2020 Big Game Yearbook

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PHOTO CONTEST WINNERS Coast, Fishing monthly prizes

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THE DISHONOR ROLL Mistakes and good decisions; Fish and wildlife troopers on patrol; Jackass of the Month

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DERBY WATCH Ice nice for Okanogan derby; Upcoming events

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OUTDOOR CALENDAR Upcoming openers, events, deadlines, more

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2021 SPORTSMEN’S AND BOAT SHOWS Event calendar, venue changes

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THEEDITOR’SNOTE

A steelheader fishes a southwest Olympic Peninsula river from the bank. (CHASE GUNNELL)

G

otta hand it to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife. They’ve held firm on this season’s coastwide steelhead restrictions despite intense pressure from all sides.

While putting this issue together in December and January, I wondered if they would waver from their blanket boat-fishing ban and other elements when powerful state lawmakers got involved in the issue. The chairmen of two key Senate and House committees that WDFW legislation runs through put top fishery managers on the hot seat in a pair of hearings held over Zoom.

Guides were also on hand in one of the meetings to talk about the economic toll they and their communities were facing as clients bailed this winter season, as well as their call for more flexibility in the agency’s regs for select rivers with steelhead runs above spawning needs or that get good late-timed hatchery returns. Then they held a boat rally in Forks that drew 50 watercraft and anglers from as far away as south King County. We covered all the news on nwsportsmanmag.com.

But the tone had been set before Christmas when a WDFW honcho told me that the only exception they’d even remotely consider would be for terminally ill anglers to fish out of a drifter, sled or pontoon, similar to how state wildlife managers will provide special big game permits for dying hunters.

“We have to protect all the runs. To protect them all, we felt the onesize-fits-all approach worked best,” WDFW Director Kelly Susewind told legislators before the guides’ proposal was denied later that same day.

IT’S AN EVER finer balancing act for the agency and its twin conservation and opportunity mandates, with the former increasingly trumping the latter. We can still fish for wild coastal steelhead, just not out of boats.

Not fishing out of boats reduces our impacts on the last best stocks that aren’t listed under the Endangered Species Act, helping those runs meet escapement goals, which strengthens the fish for the long haul.

Trust me, we want to do everything we can to avoid a coastal ESA listing. The rough draft of this Editor’s Note focused on the downfall of Puget Sound steelheading as we knew it, with a focus on the Skykomish.

That’s where I got my start drifting Corkies and eggs in the late ’80s and where wild runs are now measured in mere mid-triple digits – despite the closure of the spring catch-and-release season, the listing, the end of scatter planting, reduced smolt releases, grading the hatchery return so it comes back sooner in winter, closing fishing earlier and multiple Wild Fish Conservancy lawsuits, foiling the theory that producing fewer fish and restricting fisheries will somehow make runs bounce back.

I wish I had the answers for our steelhead woes. Catching them is tough enough, and why I have Buzz Ramsey on staff, but their future and that of fisheries is on a whole ’nother level. –Andy Walgamott

nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 23

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amily-owned and -operated since opening its doors three decades ago, The Annie Mae Lodge has a fascinating history behind it.

Annie Mae Gilley, born in 1899 the eldest daughter of hardworking ScotchIrish coal miners in Roanoke, Virginia, worked tirelessly to help her widowed father raise her seven siblings. Life was difficult and Annie Mae learned to augment her coal-miner father’s meager wages by taking what the land could offer – berries, fish and game.

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Annie Mae and James Carl.

Lesli, Melanie and Linda, granddaughters of Annie Mae Carl, helped establish the lodge in their grandmother’s honor.

She met James Carl in 1915, while he was stationed with the Navy in Norfolk, Virginia. They married, moved to San Diego, and raised a son, Everett.

James and Annie Mae loved the independent, country lifestyle, learned to take what the land offered them, and taught that same spirit to their son.

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remembrance for his children and following generations to his mother’s memory.

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Northwest Sportsman 25

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2020 BIG GAME

Cody Nichols (inset) counts himself as fortunate to have had son Hunter (main image) along for an Okanogan County deer hunt. “We hiked to the top of the highest basin where we were and did a lot of glassing. We had to wait for the fog to lift and the light rain to stop. After that, we were able to find this buck and make a great shot. We then quartered the buck out and with very heavy loads, we packed the buck out 2 miles back to the truck.” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

YEARBOOK

very February for the past 10 years, we’ve taken a look back at readers’ hunting season to celebrate the deer, elk and other big game animals we’ve taken, and this month is no exception. Along with trophy bucks and bulls are some great first harvests, and in addition to help later in the magazine planning your 2021 hunts, Ken Witt talks about when youngsters miss a shot. Please enjoy Northwest Sportsman’s annual 2020 Big Game Yearbook! – The Editor

Luke Lyman went into Western Washington’s underbrush to chase Roosevelt elk, downing this five-point bull in September’s bow season. He and cousin Chad White run Launch Outdoors on Instagram and YouTube. (COAST

Austin Montee beams over a big branch-antlered bull he took with a 310-yard shot.

He was hunting near Ukiah, in Northeast Oregon, and friend Jeff Flatt sent the pic.

HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 29

Yes, her husband writes hunting (and fishing) articles for us, but we all know who the best hunter in the Anderson house is! Kristina shows off a nice mule deer from Eastern Washington, taken on an October trip with spouse Dave and a friend of theirs. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

2020 BIG GAME

YEARBOOK

We knew Rylee Lewallen loved fishing, given all the times she’s appeared in our pages with salmon, trout and crabs she’s caught over the years, and now all grown up and married with a new last name, Chmela, she bagged her first buck in her first year of hunting! Super-proud dad Carl, who has been taking Rylee afield since age 3, says she downed the blacktail with “one well-placed shot from her 7mm-08.” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Oregon’s November extended youth deer season was very good to Alexandra Fontana, who got her biggest coastal blacktail yet. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

A bull taken on a special permit capped off a great year of fishing and hunting for Grace Bolt. She also kept a couple sturgeon and tagged a nice mule deer.

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Great to see hunters getting their first deer! That was the case with Kayla Buck, who harvested this Capitol State Forest blacktail with a very interesting rack.

Proud fiancé Derrick Palmer, who shared the image, considered it a possible “buck of a lifetime.” (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

YEARBOOK

2020 BIG GAME

Taught him everything we know! Well, maybe about commas and other copy editing stuff. Former Northwest Sportsman intern Barclay Tollefson got it done on his own with this massive Okanogan County muley, taken on Washington’s rifle opener. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Wade Ramsey covered a whole lot of country, some 100 miles of ground over 12 days in Oregon, before coming back to Washington and tipping over this Klickitat County buck just before shooting hours were up one evening.

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Jake Murauskas hoists his dad Josh’s four-pointer, well in the process toward becoming a great European mount. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) From the wide-open country of Wyoming to the thick woods of the San Juans, the Lundquists kept it in the family in 2020. Gary took his publiclands pronghorn with a 284-yard shot from his father’s Husqvarna .270, while Wyatt’s nice blacktail came from the old homestead on Orcas Island.

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman 33

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2020 BIG GAME

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

YEARBOOK

Two kids, two bucks, one rifle, one first.

Carly Benson, 11, borrowed her big brother’s .243 to fill her first tag on the second weekend of Washington’s rifle season. Jack Benson used it as well to down another public-lands deer that was nicknamed “Hightower” for its skypiercing tines. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

The Witt brothers of the Olympia area burnished their hunting chops with a nice bull and buck.

Sawyer got his elk while bowhunting on public land, and the rack unofficially green-scored 287 points, while Logan – you may remember him from last year’s Big Game Yearbook – once again downed a good blacktail. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman 35

Usually it’s his better half, Rhonna, highlighting the pages of our magazine with her kokanee and Chinook catches, but Tom Schnell did his part to fill the freezer last fall, downing this tasty young buck.

“Between deer and fish, we have been very blessed this year,” he wrote. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

A father-daughter opening day saw Sawyer Meyer, 10, bag her first coyote and her dad, Jake, tag a buck in Washington’s Douglas County.

“It was her first year hunting and we had a blast,” Jake said. (COAST

Most falls you’ll find Stan Weeks prowling backcountry basins, and he certainly enjoyed another successful Washington High Buck Hunt last September, putting on a four-hour stalk for a good muley (below). But he also filled a special permit for a bull elk (right) in a far flatter place, making for a great overall season. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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2020 BIG GAME

YEARBOOK

HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

2020 BIG GAME

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YEARBOOK

Chad Smith counts his inaugural Montana deer hunt as an “awesome experience but one hell of a drive.” He and brotherin-law Kyle McCullough drew tags but the trip over from Northwest Washington turned into a 20-hour trek due to snowy road and pass conditions that also left big drifts in the initial spot they planned to hunt. Deer in the next area were “super skittish” and smaller, but an elusive whopper led Chad to his fourpointer (main image), while a rutty buck gave Kyle (inset) a shot the following day. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

In last year’s Big Game Yearbook we detailed how Kathleen Zoller had just missed a buck and encouraged her to keep her chin up – and she did! Hunting in Southeast Washington, Kathleen and her father first spotted this buck (left) among other deer, preventing a clear shot, but then after finding it again and now alone, she dropped the muley with a single 164-yard shot. Great job! Brother Timothy got his deer – his second – with a 194-yard shot, while their father Chad took his in Northcentral Oregon at 20 yards. The Zollers were all using a .308 Ruger Scout. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

It took 17 points to get drawn for a once-in-alifetime Northeast Washington bull permit, 14 days of scouting and hunting with his dad and a 400yard shot out of his Tikka .300 Win. Mag, but Jordan Hansen got it done in the 49 Degrees North Unit last October.

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Another season, another notched tag for Jayce Wilder! He bagged this blacktail in Southwest Oregon’s Evans Creek Unit on the opener. “He worked hard for this buck but got it done,” reported proud father Troy. (COAST HUNTING

Hunting on either side of the Cascades that October day, Randy Hart (above) and son Brennon (above right) filled their muzzleloader elk and deer tags within an amazing 10 minutes of each other. Then their wife and mom, Joleyn, took her first elk ever with a one-shot kill using Brennon’s Knight Ultralight, making for an “unbelievable year for the Harts.” We’d say!

PHOTO CONTEST)

2020 BIG GAME

YEARBOOK

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

Three for four – that’s Emily Foytack’s score in just her fourth year of hunting!

The 14-year-old got this blacktail (left) in the Stella Unit, near Longview and Kelso. It’s also where big bro Bryce, 16, harvested his buck (right), and if we’re not mistaken, that’s three in the past three falls for him! (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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Northwest Sportsman 41

There are extremely few instances when you should risk calling a woman a “beast,” but Central Washington’s Brandon Jewett might have found one after guiding girlfriend Samantha Gaudette into not only spring turkeys but her first fall bear (above) with a 100-yard shot from her 7mm-08. “Then she packed all the meat out by herself while I brought out the hide. She’s a beast of a 5-foot-0, 100-pound woman!” Jewett writes. He also downed a pair of fall bruins.

(COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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2020 BIG GAME

YEARBOOK

G P

Whose freezer was absolutely stuffed coming out of deer season?

The Braatens’, that’s who! Father and son Eric and Logan of North-central Washington filled their buck tags as well as permits for second deer. “I am cutting meat all day, lol,” noted Eric in taking a moment to forward images from a great hunt. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST)

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By Ken Witt

A

ll of your hard work is about to pay off. The buck is feeding in your direction and has no idea you are there. You hear the safety click off.

Your kid is about to squeeze the trigger on their first buck. As the rifle shot roars through the canyon below, your worst fears come to life – a miss!

The calmness in your voice has suddenly changed to panic. The perfect situation, now chaotic. The buck is on the move but before he disappears into the thick cover, he pauses, giving your kid one last chance at redemption. “Shoot now or he’s gone!” you instruct. The reply tests every last ounce of your patience: “Dad, I can’t find him in my scope!”

And like that, he’s gone.

2020 BIG GAME

YEARBOOK

EMBRACING THE MISS AND OTHER ADVICE FOR RAISING HUNTERS

If you have been hunting long enough, then you have likely blown some opportunities through your career.

Experience has taught you to chalk it up to what it is, a miss. It’s not easily forgotten, but you get over it. When a kid misses, on the other hand, it is a completely different story. The feeling can be devastating, for both you and your kid. So many things have to go perfectly just to give them an

A young hunter’s missed shot at a buck, bull or other game can be crushing, but it isn’t the end of the world. “There’s no harm in letting our kids fail occasionally,” counsels Ken Witt, the proud father of two sportsmen. “It builds character.” (CHAD ZOLLER)

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Northwest Sportsman 45

From early ages, the author’s sons have been part of the hunting process, at first to observe and assist in the pack out, and later tagging along behind their dad (and decorating him with various forest items!) as they stealthily moved through the woods. It helped build stronger ties to hunting in them. (KEN WITT)

opportunity to pull the trigger. You can prepare them for nearly every situation, but when that buck finally presents itself, there is no way of knowing how it’s going to go. Sometimes it goes well; other times not so much.

When it doesn’t go your way, how you react can make all the difference in the world. As a dad raising his kids to hunt, these opportunities have presented themselves many times.

THERE’S NO HARM

in letting our kids fail occasionally; it builds character. Our

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kids are growing up in a society where everyone gets a trophy. In hunting, there are no participation awards, especially if your only measure of success is a notched tag. If this is all that matters, you will fail way more than you will succeed. Kids are going to miss, plain and simple.

The trick to overcoming the failure is to make the entire hunting experience enjoyable. If you create this, your kids will cherish every second of being in the woods with you, which, in turn, will lessen the blow of a miss.

More times than not, it will be the

opportunity that is missed, not the deer.

These situations can really test your patience. My oldest started hunting when he was 8 or 9 years old. We shot his .243 all summer long and spent time in the woods scouting. This should be a slam dunk, or so I figured. What I didn’t take into account were other factors that could prevent his crosshairs from zeroing in on a buck, like his height – or lack thereof, to be exact.

A ONCE-HAUNTING STORY now brings out a chuckle as we relive it. Opening morning found us walking a road into a clearcut

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Northwest Sportsman 47

These days Sawyer and Logan are every bit as competent hunters as their dad, if their harvests are any indication – and they are. (KEN WITT)

shortly after daylight. As we got to the edge, I looked down to the left. Less than 50 yards away stood a buck, perfectly broadside and completely unaware of our presence. It was as if the buck was being served to us on a platter as a reward for our preparation.

“Dad, I can’t see him” were the words that brought me back from my “dad of the year” moment that I had apparently drifted off to.

“What?!! He’s right there,” I barked, as I pointed at the buck through the grass and vines that grew along the logging road.

My son desperately tried again to see the buck, this time stretching his neck high while standing on his tippy toes. “You have got to be kidding me,” was the family version of what I said to myself as I realized he couldn’t see over the grass!

By the time we regrouped and tried to get a different angle, the buck was gone.

He was frustrated, I was frustrated, so I took a deep breath and gave him a hug. This was not going to be as easy as I thought.

They say if you ask God to give you patience, He will give you the opportunity to be patient. As luck would have it, He only had to give me half a dozen more of those “opportunities” that season before I finally figured it out. You could imagine the

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pure joy – and relief – that was felt by all when my kid finally connected on a buck late in the season.

THE NEXT YEAR would prove to be even more challenging as I added his younger brother into the mix. Everything must go perfect just to get one kid a buck; now I had to do it twice!

It was when I started packing both of my boys around that it really hit me. For starters, hunting was no longer about me.

I had had my time, and once these guys became self-sufficient, I would have my time again. Until then, everything I had would go into teaching the boys to hunt.

Long before they would ever carry a rifle, they would trek along with me on short hunts around home. If anyone in our group killed a buck or bull, somebody – usually my wife – would grab the boys to tag along for the pack out. Much of their early adventures in the woods were either in a backpack or on a mule. The desire to hunt would not be a problem. Keeping their interest up, especially when the hunting was slow or the weather was bad, could be. Like I said earlier, if you focus solely on killing a buck and fail to make the hunts enjoyable, there will be less positives to counteract the

mistakes. I can’t emphasize this enough.

I always told the boys to find something while we were out that would make a memory. On our way home each night we would share our stories. This way every trip would be meaningful; killing a buck would just be a bonus. Yes, there were times we had to work at finding a memory; other times it was easy. And sometimes it was taken literally.

My mom used to say she had eyes in the back of her head, always knowing what we were up to behind her back. Clearly, I did not inherit those genes, as evidenced by coat pockets filled with snail shells or the occasional salamander. Carefully hanging sticks on my pack as I walked in front of them was another one of their tricks. Later in life they confessed that they never actually looked for deer – shocking!

My favorite on their Top 10 list of shenanigans was when they would break forked sticks off alder saplings and bang them together, mimicking rattling deer antlers. They thought I didn’t know. Maybe I did pick up a few of those genes …

SO WHAT DOES any of this have to do with missing a shot at a buck? Not much, I guess.

But I must have done something right. I managed to keep my sons hunting and their passion for the outdoors is rock-solid today. By the time they were teenagers they had become very skilled hunters. They have made their fair share of mistakes, but also have killed several nice animals along the way, some of which are trophy class.

Missing, whether the actual shot or the opportunity, is not the end of the world; it’s part of hunting. So don’t spend too much time dwelling on it. Rather, look at it as an opportunity to learn something, both for yourself and your kids.

If you really want to get your kids excited about hunting and keep them enthused, the recipe is simple. Start them young and teach them how to enjoy the outdoors. Always make time for some fun and learn to be patient.

Oh yeah, and don’t forget to turn around once in a while. Otherwise you might be picking cockleburs out of the collar of your wool coat for days.

True story. NS

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PHOTO

CONTEST

WINNERS!

Maralee Moore is the winner of our monthly Fishing Photo Contest, thanks to her pic with a Banks Lake walleye. It wins her gear from various tackle manufacturers!

Soren Fontana is our monthly Coast Hunting Photo Contest winner, thanks to this pic of daughter Alexandra and her Oregon blacktail buck. It wins him a knife and light from Coast!

Pistol Bullets and Ammunition Zero Bullet Company, Inc.

For your shot at winning a Coast knife and light, as well as fishing products from various manufacturers, send your photos and pertinent details (who, what, when, where) to awalgamott@media-inc.com or Northwest Sportsman, 14240 Interurban Ave. S., Suite 190, Tukwila, WA 98168. By sending us photos, you affirm you have the right to distribute them for our print or Internet publications.

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nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 51

Mistakes Made, But Then Also Good Decisions

W

e highlight a lot of bad actors on this page, poachers who knowingly break fish and wildlife rules, some egregiously so, but this month we’re going to share the actions of people who made a mistake and did the right thing – selfreport to game wardens.

The stories come from the Oregon State Police Fish and Wildlife Division’s alwaysinteresting monthly newsletter, in this case the November issue.

WALLOWA BUCK When his daughter killed a buck on her Upper Wallowa Valley antlerless whitetail controlled permit, a dad called a local wildlife trooper to report the incident.

A photo they shared showed the deer had “very small antlers” and the daughter was warned about unlawful take. One of the cardinal rules of hunting is to always identify your target. Also on the plus side, “The subjects salvaged the deer for donation and delivered it to a local butcher where they volunteered to pay the cut-and-wrap fee.”

JOHN DAY TURKEYS A young fall turkey hunter who killed three birds with one shot selfreported the incident to troopers. He had been aiming at a hen on private property and when he shot at it, the pellets also struck two others. It serves as a reminder to always know what’s behind your target before pulling the trigger. After cleaning the birds, he and his brother met a trooper and were warned about exceeding the bag limit and aiding in a wildlife offense. The turkeys went to the Grant County Food Bank.

HEPPNER BULL After a hunter brought what he thought was a legal spike back to camp, he and his partners checked the regulations pamphlet and discerned it was in fact not fair game for his tag. That prompted the hunter to contact wildlife troopers and he was warned about unlawful take. A lesson learned about reading the regs before heading afield had a positive ending: The meat was processed for local schools.

MIXED BAG

By Andy Walgamott

JACKASS OF THE MONTH

A

pickup truck bed loaded with antlers and trophy mounts that were to be destroyed. One hundred and thirty-nineplus charges. Sixty-three mule deer and whitetails admittedly poached.

That’s the toll poacher and convicted felon John Blick Jr. wreaked upon Kansas deer and last fall he was sentenced to 14 months in prison and ordered to pay over $300,000 in restitution for the crimes.

State game wardens say that Blick pled guilty in two county courts to “numerous counts” that included “criminal hunting, hunting with aid of a motor vehicle, criminal discharge of a firearm, felon in possession of a firearm, fail to purchase or to tag deer, exceed bag limits, hunt with artificial light, hunting without a valid license and take trophy deer illegally.”

KUDOS

Beaver State spotlighters can’t say they weren’t warned!

With the Oregon State Police and Department of Fish and Wildlife’s anti-poaching campaign going full bore, a photo OSP posted to Facebook showed Senior Troopers Scott Vaughn (left) and Adam Shimer (right), and Trooper Patrick McCosker with a faux cow elk during a wildlife enforcement decoy, or WED, patrol in the Ochoco Mountains outside Madras, near Bend. “The primary goal is for wildlife troopers and violators to be in the same place at the same time, giving the ability to catch a violator, without the loss of wildlife,” noted state troopers.

They also have turkey, and mule, blacktail and whitetail deer decoys in their arsenal. In November, their Roosevelt elk was used in Polk County and had two after-hours shooters both jumping out of a vehicle to take shots at the fake wapiti – not to mention be cited for unlawful take of elk and hunting during prohibited hours and with an artificial light. Their rifles were seized and the decoy lived to catch poachers another day. (OSP)

nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 53

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Ice Nice For Okanogan Derby A n 8.28-pound, four-fish bag took the grand prize at last month’s 17th Annual NW Ice Fishing Festival in Washington’s Okanogan Highlands.

Scott Lawd’s catch through the ice of Sidley Lake, near the old mining town of Molson, won him $1,000, plus another $125 for landing the derby’s biggest fish, a 2.54-pounder that was also closest to the mystery weight, good for a $25 gift certificate as well – not a bad way to spend a day!

Dick Larsen took second and third place in the adult division with twin trout

An ice fisherman works Sidley Lake, just a few miles south of the Canadian border in Northcentral Washington, during the 17th Annual NW Ice Fishing Festival. (KATIE WHEAT CREATIONS)

of 2.3 and 2.28 pounds, good for $175. On the youth side, Calvin came in first with a 1.78-pounder, followed by Marlay with a .56 and Brady with a .42, winning them $75, $50 and $25, respectively.

Organizers said that there were 134 adult and 32 youth participants who came out to fish under eventually sunny skies and 16-degree temperatures.

Also on hand was a food truck, while a local search and rescue team did training exercises. However, the traditional arts, crafts and meals served up at the Molson

By Andy Walgamott

Grange Hall did not occur due to Covid-19.

The festival is sponsored by American Legion Post 84, Midway Building Supply and Country Store, among others, and is put on by the nearby Oroville Chamber of Commerce.

UPCOMING EVENTS*

 Now through March 31: Fisherman’s Marine Winter Steelhead Derby  Feb. 6, American Lake, VFW Post 5580 trout derby  Feb. 20-21, McNary Pool, Columbia River Walleye Anglers Association, walleye tournament  Feb. 27, Lake Chelan, Something Catchy, kokanee derby * Check ahead for any Covid-19 changes.

* Check ahead for any Covid-19 changes.

nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 55

56 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

IDAHO LEWISTON RiverView Marina 711 Snake River Avenue (800) 859-0356 • (208) 746-1412 www.boatingfun.com OREGON CLACKAMAS Portland Marine & Electronics 12125 SE Hwy 212 (503) 922-3259 www.pdxmarine.com CULVER Culver Marine (541) 546-3354 www.culvermarine.com EUGENE Clemens Marina 309 River Ave (541) 688-5483 www.clemensmarina.com GLADSTONE Clemens Marina 19215 SE McLoughlin (503) 655-0160 www.clemensmarina.com KLAMATH FALLS Pelican Marina 928 Front St (541) 882-5834 www.pelicanmarinaoregon.com PORTLAND Sportcraft Marina, Inc. (503) 656-6484 www.sportcraftmarina.com SALEM CPS RV and Marine 5565 Commercial Street, SE (503) 399-9483 www.cpsrvmarine.weebly.com TROUTDALE Clemens Marina 1774 NW Commerce Ct (503) 492-7400 www.clemensmarina.com WASHINGTON BELLINGHAM West Coast Marine Services 1200 C St (360) 676-8020 www.wcmarine.us CHINOOK Chinook Marine Repair, Inc. 785 SR 101 (800) 457-9459 • (360) 777-8361 www.chinookmarinerepair.com

EVERETT Boat Country 1871 Ross Ave (800) 697-4252 www.boatcountry.com MOUNT VERNON Tom-n-Jerry’s Boat Center, Inc. 11071 Josh Green Ln (360) 466-9955 www.tomnjerrys.net PASCO Northwest Marine and Sport 2250 Commercial Ave (509) 545-5586 www.nwmarineandsport.com PORT ANGELES Port Angeles Power Equipment 2624 E Hwy 101 (360) 452-4652 www.papowerequipment.com SEATTLE Rick’s Master Marine, Inc. 8500 Dallas Ave S (206) 762-0741 www.ricksmastermarine.com SEATTLE Waypoint Marine Group 5350 30th Avenue NW (206) 284-0200 www.waypointmarinegroup.com SPOKANE VALLEY Spokane Valley Marine 7915 E Sprague Av (509) 926-9513 www.spokanevalleymarine.com

OUTDOOR

CALENDAR* FEBRUARY

6

Oregon, Washington statewide youth, veterans and active military waterfowl hunting day; Northwest Oregon Permit Zone late goose hunt opens 10 Deadline to apply for Oregon spring bear permit 13 Late white goose opener in Washington Goose Management Areas 1, 4; Late goose opener in Washington Goose Management Area 2 Coast and Inland zones (state wildlife areas, federal refuges closed) 13-14 Free Fishing Weekend in Oregon 15 Last day to apply for Idaho spring bear hunt; Last day of steelhead fishing in select Puget Sound terminal areas 20 Oregon South Coast Zone late goose hunt opens 21 Last day of Oregon Zone 1 snipe hunt 28 Last day of bobcat, fox season in Oregon; Last day to apply for Washington spring bear permit; Last day to fish for steelhead on numerous Washington coastal systems

MARCH 1 13 15 20 31

Lake Billy Chinook’s Metolius Arm opens for fishing; Numerous Eastern Washington lakes open for fishing; Blackmouth opener on Marine Area 5 Bottomfish, lingcod, rockfish and cabezon seasons open in Marine Areas 1-3 and Area 4 west of Bonilla-Tatoosh line Last day of bobcat, fox, raccoon, rabbit and hare season in Washington Washington sea duck, Southwest Canada goose, snow goose and brant harvest reports due Last day 2020-21 Washington fishing, hunting licenses valid; Last day to fish for steelhead on remaining Washington coastal systems

*Check ahead. Some events may not take place due to Northwest governors’ Covid-19 orders.

TACOMA King Salmon Marine, Inc. 9023 S 19th St (253) 830-2962 www.kingsalmonmarine.com TACOMA Tacoma Boat Sales & Service 9316 Portland Ave E (253) 301-4013 www.tacomaboatsales.com UNION GAP Valley Marine 101 East Court St (509) 453-6302 www.yvmarine.com WENATCHEE Wenatchee Honda 3013 GS Center Rd (800) 459-0075 • (509) 663-0075 www.doghouse-motorsports.com February features deadlines to put in for spring bear hunts in Northwest states.

Monica Weeks downed this nice cinnamon bruin while hunting Northeast Washington with husband Stan a few seasons back. (COAST HUNTING PHOTO CONTEST) nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 57

SPORTSMEN’S SHOW

CALENDAR* Editor’s note: Since last issue’s listing of shows in these pages, one organizer switched to online-only events and another pushed their show back three months. Given Covid-19 and governors’ orders, check the below websites for updates.

NOW THROUGH MARCH Northwest Sportsman’s Virtual Sportsman Show; nwsportsmanmag.com/ virtual-sportsman-show/

FEBRUARY 5-11 Eugene Boat & Sportsmen’s Show, digital only; exposureshows.com

19-21 Central Washington Sportsmen

Show, SunDome, Yakima; shuylerproductions.com 19-25 Douglas County Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, digital only; exposureshows.com 26-28 Tri-Cities Sportsmen Show, HAPO, Pasco; shuylerproductions.com 26-MARCH 4 Jackson County Sportsmen’s & Outdoor Recreation Show, digital only; exposureshows.com

MARCH 4-7 Tacoma RV Show, Tacoma Dome, Tacoma; otshows.com Central Oregon Sportsmen’s Show, Deschutes County Fair & Expo Center, Redmond; otshows.com 17-21 Washington Sportsmen’s Show, Washington State Fair & Events Center, Puyallup; otshows.com 18-21 Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show, Spokane Interstate Fairgrounds, Spokane; bighornshow.com – cancelled 24-28 Pacific Northwest Sportsmen’s Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com 24-28 Portland Boat Show, Expo Center, Portland; otshows.com

11-14

MAY 7-9 Willamette Sportsman Show, Linn County Expo Center, Albany; willamettesportsmanshow.com * Check ahead for any Covid-19 changes. nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 59

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HUNTING Extended goose seasons in portions of Northwest Oregon and Southwest Washington offer a chance for waterfowlers to keep hunting deep into winter, with those having learned from their mistakes earlier in the season best positioned to make the most of the opportunities. (GEORGE GENTRY, USFWS)

Late-season Honkers, And The Mistakes You Make Bagging geese in February is ‘a tough sell, but not impossible if you pay attention to the details.’

By MD Johnson

L

et’s start this month’s missive with a statement I’ve told Western turkey hunters, particularly those new to turkey hunting, for over 20 years now.

“Go ahead,” I tell them, “and make your mistakes. Get too close.

Stay too far. Call too much. Don’t call enough. Underestimate the wild

turkey as a big game animal. As long as those mistakes do not – do not – involve firearm safety, and you never forget, not for a moment, that you as a hunter represent all of us hunters across the nation in the public eye, then make ’em.”

Simple as that. Make those mistakes. I did it, and today, after some 48 years in the field, I still make them.

But a mistake as a finale is one thing; a mistake that goes hand-in-hand with education and improvement – well, that’s another thing all together.

So this month – and no, we’re not talking about gobblers; that’s a couple issues out – we’re going to look at the mistakes waterfowlers make throughout the whole of the goose season, and how to apply these lessons nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 61

HUNTING – you did learn something, right? – to the challenge of successfully fooling late-season Canadas.

YOU DON’T KNOW YOUR GEESE To me, success as a goose hunter begins with knowing your quarry.

What they are. Where they go. Why they do this, and why they don’t do that. Yes, I know. It’s often all a guess, and a wrong one at that. Truth is, I can’t tell you how many times I’ve had this stuff figured out, only to have the first group of westerns do exactly the opposite. And the second. And the third. The pleading single? He ignores me. The pair? They, too, ignore me.

During the late season, there’s a lot of ignoring going on around my blind, let me tell you.

But I’m getting ahead of myself. It’s

Don’t forget that February 6 is a chance for youth hunters to pursue geese across Washington, and it’s also set aside as open for all activeduty military members and veterans there and in Oregon. (JULIA JOHNSON)

Keeping those decoys looking sharp is just one consideration when using faux fowl to bring in the real thing. (JULIA JOHNSON) 62 Northwest Sportsman

FEEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

mid-February in Western Washington and Northwest Oregon. Some folks are targeting little geese, the cacklers and lessers. Others, myself included, focus on the big ones, the westerns.

So the first question to ask yourself is this: Which geese am I most likely to encounter in the field? So why is that important? It’s been my experience that while little geese will decoy to lots of big (i.e. honker/western) decoys, the opposite generally isn’t true. Me, I think it’s a noise thing. Big geese can’t handle the constant racket put up by 200, 300, 400, 1,000 yelping little ones.

They can’t hear well over the din, and as such, they’re never completely at ease. If you’re hunting little ones, hunt little ones. If, again like me, you hunt big ones, hunt big ones.

Why the obvious favoritism here?

By targeting westerns, I can 1) use fewer decoys, and 2) sleep later, as I’ve found micro-spreads for big geese during the late season – two to 12 decoys – work extremely well, and, at least where I concentrate my efforts, the big geese really don’t get moving until 10 o’clock or so. Big geese are also just that – bigger – and, when I’m successful, I put more protein in

HUNTING How much you call in the late season varies by subspecies of geese, with more needed for the smaller cacklers and lessers, and little for the larger westerns. (GEORGE GENTRY, USFWS)

the grinder than I would with four wigeon-sized cacklers. I also love the way the big birds sound, those deep resonant honks and clucks.

And maybe it’s psychological.

Here in Southwest Washington, the big geese tend to fly in smaller flocks; six to 10 birds on average.

I mess up a group of six, and I’m momentarily sore at myself. I screw up a flock of 500 little ones, and, well, I’m just a little more frustrated.

YOU HAVEN’T DONE YOUR SCOUTING I’ve heard it a thousand times (as well as across multiple species of game): 10 percent of ’fowlers kill 90 percent of the birds. And I do believe it’s true. Why? Any number of reasons, including their ability to hit what they shoot at, but perhaps the biggest factor is the fact they’re always scouting. Always. They’re looking for new birds. New places.

Out-of-the-way locations where 64 Northwest Sportsman

maybe, just maybe, the birds haven’t been harassed since early September of last year. You remember last year, right?

Spend time behind the windshield.

Drive. Glass. Knock on doors. Yeah, I know onXmaps has made it simple, but you still have to clean up, knock on a door or doors, and ask permission. Trust me, it never hurts to ask. What will hurt is going in blind, i.e. not scouting, day after day after day. Spend money to make money, the finance moguls will tell you. Well, the same holds true for scouting. You scout, you’ll learn, and – hopefully – you’ll make fewer mistakes.

Not zero, though. Never zero.

YOUR HIDE – WELL, IT SUCKS I know. You folks are getting deathly tired of hearing me preach about the importance of being well-hidden, but sermonize I must. It’s easy, you’ve heard me say, to grow complacent after so many days afield. A skimp here. A shortcut there. An “Ah, it isn’t that important” on the other side.

FEEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

Let me tell you this: Everything, absolutely everything, is important when it comes to concealment, especially when the birds you’re targeting have themselves been targets for the past six months. Is it a pain in the rump, this never-ending attention to camouflage detail? Maybe, but look at it this way. You can control concealment; what the birds do, despite your best efforts to “make” them do what you want them to do, is beyond your control. So take the time and hide yourself. Well.

I’ve had guys I’ve hunted with laugh, but at the end of each hunt, I’ll strip the layout blinds in preparation for the next go-round. In my blind bag, I carry a folding saw, which makes short work of a pile of bunch (tussock) grass. I try to place the blind in a low spot, so, after the application of said bunchgrass, I’m no higher than my surroundings. I pick up empties; even go so far as to pick up wads in front of the blinds. I try not

HUNTING to flatten the grass or stubble around me. I wear gloves and a half-mask, and don’t eyeball the birds while they’re working.

Oh, and 99 percent of the time, I’ll quarter my blind to the spread based on the wind; that is, work the birds from the side rather than from in front of me. That way they’re looking at the decoys and empty green grass pasture as opposed to me and whomever I might have with me that

particular morning.

YOU’VE GROWN COMPLACENT ABOUT YOUR DECOYS So they’re a little muddy. And a little beat up. And you’re sure it doesn’t matter just how you set them. A few here. A few there. A couple over yonder. Oh, and those 20 dozen new mixed silhouettes and socks you just got? Yep, going to set them all. Nope, doesn’t matter that you’re working

When it all comes together, hunting geese in February and March can provide a great chance to finish out the season with a bang.(JULIA JOHNSON) 66 Northwest Sportsman

FEEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

with small groups of big geese. If I have 240 decoys, by god I’m going to set 240 decoys.

What am I rambling about here?

First, make sure your decoys are clean. Wash the silhouettes. Brush the fully flocked full-bodies. Give the socks a once-over so you know they’re clean. If you get into this routine – this discipline – early on in the season, then it’s going to be old hat once February rolls around. Now, you’re going to need all the realism you can muster. Natural-looking decoys. True-to-life arrangements.

Does it make a difference? You better believe it does.

So you’ve cleaned your rig and it all looks fantastic. Now what? Well, here’s where experienced late-season goose-chasers may disagree, but I’ll go out on a limb and say it regardless.

It’s my thinking that you can get away with more – that is, there’s more margin for error – when setting a massive spread for little geese than a smaller spread for big geese.

Why would I say this? With the little ones and 300 decoys, you set a couple legs, one upwind and a thinner broken one leading downwind, with a tightly packed ball essentially where you’d like your shots to come. Yeah, I know; there’s some tweaks to this ohso-simple explanation. You have to do this. You have to do that. Behind the blind. The Giant “W.” A kill hole – I’m sorry, but where did that come from? Ugh. To me, it’s like this: If setting a spread for little geese is framing the house, then setting a rig for the big ones is like finish carpentry. More or less.

What do I do to fool the big ones?

Well, I’ll be honest; I don’t always fool them. Oh, the times I’ve looked at the passing pair and thought, “Well, there’s half my limit,” only to watch half my limit fly right on by and into the next zip code without so much as a skipped wingbeat. It happens more than I’d like to admit.

But back to how I handle this reluctance. Several years ago, I

HUNTING downsized my full-body goose spread, both during the regular season, as well as throughout the late segment. Regular season, and I’m setting two dozen Greenhead Gear honkers; late, and that number drops to six, maybe eight.

Why so few? One, these big February geese, the westerns, are torn between wanting the company of other geese, and being radically antisocial. Six or eight full-bodies, then, don’t seem to be intimidating to singles, pairs or small groups. Still, however, it’s been my experience during this month’s timeframe that the westerns are standoffish; that is, they might decoy, but not within the spread as they did in December when their attraction to the fakes was fooddriven. Rather, they’ll set the edge, sometimes right at maximum effective shooting range. My advice? Watch what the first birds do – how they react to the spread – and adjust accordingly.

Second, a small spread – a microspread – of six or eight full-bodies is quick and easy to rig. There are few decisions as to where to put six decoys; just three-and-three, or two-and-three with a single walker/active out front as if he/she just landed and is sizing up the group before moving in. And a sixdecoy spread makes blind placement a cinch. Note the wind, quarter the (small) spread with the blind, and stubble it to the point of invisibility.

Feeling brave and want a real challenge? Drop your spread to two full-bodies. Yes, two. I wrote about it last year after watching it happen several times in the field. Incomers would ignore my spread, choosing instead to land 500 yards away next to a pair of big ones – one standing, the other sitting, and neither making any sound whatsoever. Frustrating?

Yes. Educational? Uh-huh.

Do I ever leave the house with just two decoys? No, I don’t. I have

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progressed that far in my goose hunting sense of Feel Good. But I won’t hesitate to pull six, eight, 10 fullbodies, hide them in the shrubbery, and lay behind two from time to time.

YOU CALL TOO MUCH AND TOO LOUD Here, little geese are an exception. In most instances with the little ones, several callers, each with a very good set of lungs, is definitely the way to go.

Not an unnatural wall of sound, per se, but a lot of noise. That’s how little geese are, and that’s probably a good call – no pun intended – during the late season.

Big geese, however, tend to be very quiet during February, with many birds being downright silent. The formula, then, is simple, or at least it is to me. Get their attention with honks and clucks, and then listen and call accordingly. Nine times out of 10, you won’t be doing much with that call. I know it’s tough, but often restraint on the call is the best decision now.

Better yet and referencing the above, land a pair off a ways and watch how they interact with birds, both in the air as well as on the ground. It’s not much; very subtle in fact. Flagging can help. A flick or two, just to grab their attention and keep them interested as they make their decision, is often all that’s needed. Maybe some light clucks or cluck/moans, but always at low to moderate volume. Shoot two of three, and the last one’s wisely leaving? Can’t hurt now to get aggressive with your pleading comeback calls.

February Canadas can prove challenging, but if you think about it, it makes sense. Smart? Are they smart? Perhaps not, but they’ve seen a lot in six months. Even been shot at a time or two – or 12. These are the survivors. The veterans. Add to the fact that most have two things on their mind, be it the little ones and migrating north, or the big ones, with the formation of pair bonds, and setting up housekeeping for the spring.

It’s a tough sell, but not impossible if you pay attention to the details. NS

COLUMN

Winter Lessons

A winter day in Southwest Idaho with his son Jordan gave author Randy King a chance to pass along hunting lessons he’s learned over the years … (RANDY KING)

W

inter hunts can be hard.

It’s either wet, muddy or snowy. Most days it CHEF IN is all three. But they THE WILD are, in my opinion, the

By Randy King single most important time to take a young person hunting. The weather sucks, the wind is cold and the time is priceless.

Personally, I take my boys out for rabbits in the winter. A lot. Why? I find it to be one of the best training grounds for a young hunter. A walk in the sage looking for a jackrabbit is perfect training. The lads learn muzzle control. Walking side by side in the sage means you have to keep an eye

on what your gun is pointed at – perfect training for all hunting situations.

The young hunters can also learn about sign and how to use terrain. Looking for rabbit poop and rabbit runs teaches a lot, as there are parallels with deer and other animals. Terrain teaches game location.

What type of habitat will hold animals?

What type of game will be there? Those rocks will have cottontails and that sage flat will have jackrabbits. Looking at those little things and figuring out what they can teach is a skill that needs to be passed on from one hunter to the next.

Lastly, taking a young hunter after small game is important because they can often have success. It seems like the first thing many young hunters go after is deer or elk.

A child’s first deer hunt is a momentous occasion that requires training. While I applaud the newer rules allowing 10-yearolds to hunt big game in Idaho, it seems like small game is often overlooked. Coldrolling a kid into the mountains for a deer hunt that does not involve much time in the outdoors would be overwhelming.

Ease them into hunting with half-day small game hunts and hot cocoa, not 5-mile packouts!

Plus, you get the memories on small game hunts.

THIS PAST WINTER, my son and I went for a walk with our guns. We wanted to find some jackrabbits, so we loaded the new hound dog, a few sugary drinks and nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 71

COLUMN

WHAT TO DO WITH THE LAST BITS

I

t’s a dark place, the garage freezer. Is this a jackrabbit? Did I forget about a hunk of elk for a year and a half? When was the last time I made smoked fish? Are those huckleberries in a Ziploc baggie?

Indeed, it is always an adventure venturing into the “random” pile in the freezer.

Normally my freezer is a well-organized machine. Reusable grocery bags hold animals. The green one is elk, the blue one is deer, the black one is fish. It is nice.

But organization does not always last.

My freezer also has a small basket that functions as a catch-all for the random stuff. The last of the elk goes into a basket.

Last of the bear? Into the basket. Random rabbit? Into the basket.

Eventually the basket gets full. And then it is sausage time.

As a non-Hispanic person I fret a little every time I write a Hispanic recipe. Why? Well, I don’t want to do a disservice to another culture. So this recipe has me scratching my head – it tastes like classic carne asada. It has all the flavors one would

Carne asada sausage tacos. (RANDY KING) 72 Northwest Sportsman

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think of – lemon juice, cilantro, garlic.

Except it is missing one key point: This dish is not grilled. So what should it be called? I have no idea.

When I asked a bilingual Facebook group for advice, I was not disappointed – they settled on the name Gringo debería parar salchicha. Roughly translated, it means “White Boy should stop sausaging.”

So I settled on two names: Carne asada sausages and Gringo debería parar salchicha.

I am now using this meat like I would normally use ground meat for taco night.

Brown and serve it to the family with flour or corn tortillas and some great toppings. I have also stuffed and grilled the combination – I find that that is a fresh and nice way to serve a grilled sausage. Either way, the flavor of this sausage is hard to mistake or beat.

Carne Asada Sausages/ Gringo Debería Parar Salchicha For this recipe, you will need about 15 feet of hog casing, rinsed and soaked

(optional), 5 pounds of game meat (mine is bear and jackrabbit, split about 50/50) and 3 pounds of pork butt.

Cube meat into sections that will fit in your grinder. Chill, very well, like almost frozen. Then grind. This will make sure the texture is better. If your meat warms up too much, it can fall apart and “crumble” when stuffed into a casing.

Asada Seasoning Mix 1 red pepper 1/2 yellow onion 10 cloves garlic 2 tablespoons Tapatio 2 tablespoon ground cumin 31/2 tablespoons carne asada seasoning (Hispanic section of most grocery stores) 21/2 tablespoons kosher salt 2 tablespoons lemon juice 2 tablespoon oregano 1 tablespoon paprika Rough chop the veggies and add them to a food processor. Pulse until chopped into very small segments. Scrape the walls and pulse again. You want small segments as flavor in the sausage, not chunks of produce.

Next add the remaining ingredients to the food processor. Pulse a few times to fully incorporate. Combine the meat with the seasoning mixture. Incorporate this mix very well into the meat with your hands.

I wear gloves and my hands tend to hurt from the cold of the meat before I am done.

If the seasoning is not mixed well, parts of the sausages will be dull and flavorless and others will be way over-seasoned.

Also, the mixing of the sausage meat breaks down the protein a little and creates the “primary bind” that gives sausage its texture. The meat should start to feel tacky as you mix it with the seasonings.

At this point you can stuff the sausages and then cook a few of them for food. Most of the meat I just freeze for use in tacos.

With a little pickled red onion, crema and green onion, the taco is delish.

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

COLUMN our weapons. Out to the desert we went, talking about Dungeons and Dragons and nerding out on game-making on the way.

AN HOUR FROM home we were walking a washout, learning and spooking wild jacks.

Then Jordan asked for a little break. That’s when the moment happened.

It was the simplest thing, honestly.

Jordan and I were sitting above a small ravine, the bottom full of red and purple lava rocks, shooting a .22. I’d pick out a clump of grass at 50 to 60 yards and Jordan would train in on it, lining up the 50-yearold iron-sighted single-shot and gently squeezing the trigger.

The bullet smacked a clump of grass, right at its base, turning up a small pile of dirt and leaving a clear mark. I could hear the dog whining; she was doing circles looking for whatever we were shooting at.

“Did I get it, Dad?” Jordan asked.

“A touch low, bud,” I replied.

I watched as his little fingers, those of a boy in the transition to manhood,

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… As well as a chance for Jordan to put those skills to the test. (RANDY KING) reached into a baggie full of shells. He was determined to hit it. I loved watching that look on his face.

“This is about the perfect distance for a deer,” I told him.

“Next year, right?” he asked.

“For sure; as long as you can shoot well enough, you can go. You owe it to the animals,” I said.

“Next year…,” Jordan muttered under his breath, shooting and hitting the clump of grass. NS

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Your hunting dog will work miracles for you, but it isn’t a tank, amphibious vehicle or cliff-scaling mountaineer. Take a moment to consider its safety in the area you’re pursuing birds. Be careful when hunting around cliffs and steep cut banks – one mishap can be irreversibly costly. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

Safety First!

I

recently made two stupid mistakes on the same day, which both of my dogs suffered for.

My duck blind – GUN DOGGIN’ 101 set in a rice field that

By Scott Haugen flooded when two creeks overflowed – required several hours to repair.

To resecure the blind, I had to drive steel fenceposts into the ground and bind the blind to them with turnbuckles. The ends of the posts stuck up about a foot, so

I covered them with dead grass and brush so the ducks wouldn’t see them.

Mistake number one.

Mistake number two came when I cut several thick thistle stocks to use as cover on the blind. The cover looked great when done, but my mistake was not cutting them close enough to the ground. I left a few inches sticking up, and the moment I shot a duck in that direction, Kona, my male pudelpointer, barreled right through where I’d just cut, scraping his leg on the sharp stubs. I immediately stomped them into the ground.

Moments later, Echo, my female pudelpointer, cut the corner of the blind with all intentions of busting through the brush I used to cover the end of the metal fence posts. She hit one post full speed, putting a ½-inch-wide, 4-inch-long deep abrasion on her brisket.

Fortunately, neither dog incurred a laceration requiring stitches, putting them out of commission for the season, but both were very close. We only lost four hunting days while they healed, and I learned a valuable lesson.

Actually, two.

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Northwest Sportsman 77

COLUMN sure not to push them toward those sheer dropoffs. Having a dog watch a covey fly away as they run, then plunge over a cliff in pursuit does happen, so be careful.

If hunting rivers, watch for fast-flowing currents that can sweep a dog away. High river levels are incredibly strong. At the same time, be mindful of downed trees and overhanging brush along river banks, both of which can trap dogs.

ON A RECENT wood duck hunt along a

When hunting in icy conditions, make sure your dog can negotiate the challenges without risk of serious injury. (SCOTT HAUGEN)

MANY MISHAPS OUR dogs encounter on a hunt can be prevented by us, their owners.

When duck ponds are frozen, break them up so a dog can safely retrieve birds; if the ice is too thick for a dog to get through, don’t hunt there.

If hunting upland birds along unfamiliar

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fencelines, don’t do it until you’ve inspected every inch for loose barbed wire.

A buddy failed to do this one time on a pheasant hunt, and 30-some stitches later, his dog had much healing to endure.

If hunting near cliffs, where dogs might focus on flushed flocks of quail or chukar, be

creek, the water was very high. If they don’t hit the water, dead wood ducks are notorious for quickly reaching thick brush.

Seeing the potential for this, I removed my dog’s neoprene vest and tightened up her collar. My goal was to make sure she didn’t have any loose gear that could get caught in the tangled, twisted brush; it worked.

A couple weeks ago, I dropped a pair of wigeon in the decoys. Echo retrieved one, while Kona went after the other. Echo’s bird was dead on the edge of the decoys, but Kona’s bird dove, taking him right through the middle of my decoy spread.

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COLUMN Kona suddenly stopped, struggled and started whining, something he never does.

It didn’t take me long to realize he’d gotten his legs tangled in one of my jerk cords made of heavy string. Quickly I waded out to help, but it took a couple minutes.

Around the toes of one of his back feet, the string was wrapped so tight I had to cut it; thankfully I had a knife handy. It was another bonehead mistake on my part, and now I make sure my jerk cords are elevated for my dogs to swim under.

If hunting brushy thickets, watch for big tangles of briars and even poison oak.

Briars can be easy for a dog to plunge into, but difficult to get out of. Poison oak doesn’t have leaves this time of year, making it hard to identify. While your dog likely won’t contract poison oak, you might if you come in contact with your dog.

If hunting or working your dog along an unfamiliar, brush-covered fenceline like this, be sure there’s no loose barbed wire strewn about, as it could be disastrous for your four-legged hunting partner. (SCOTT HAUGEN) so strong that they will often risk their life for a simple retrieve.

By thinking ahead, and wisely choosing paths of travel, you’ll be on your way to preventing injuries to your dog before they happen. By all means, don’t get complacent,

MY BEST ADVICE upon the start of any hunt is to stop and think like your dog. Envision seeing the land from their perspective.

Imagine having their drive, which can be

like I did, as it can be a costly mistake for you and your canine hunting companion. NS Editor’s note: To watch Scott Haugen’s series of puppy training videos, visit scotthaugen.com.

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Northwest Sportsman 81

HUNTING

Get Ready For Spring Hunts Get ahead of the game – and the game you’ll be chasing come April – with preseason gear work, scouting, patterning.

By Troy Rodakowski

A

fter this past year, I think most all of us are looking forward to better things in 2021. Now is the time to dust off some of your hunting gear and make sure you are ready for the coming season – it’s not that far away.

It’s definitely not difficult to get motivated for the new seasons following one of the most bizarre years our country has ever seen. Spring bear and turkey seasons are fast approaching and I like to go through all of my gear and remove the molded, half-eaten sandwiches, old half-full water bottles, wrappers, empty fire starter, dead batteries and other depleted gear. There is nothing worse than getting out there into the woods and not being prepared for what might be thrown at you.

Over the years, I have learned that being organized and doing preventative maintenance on my equipment not only increases the life of my gear, but brings peace of mind throughout the season. By following a few of these simple, quick steps during the offseason, you will not only save money but future frustration and disappointment.

CLEANING/MAINTENANCE Most, if not all, things we use in the

Along with making sure your hunting gear is in order, it’s never too early to pattern your shotgun for turkeys or rifle or bow for bruins. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

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Northwest Sportsman 83

HUNTING

Now is a good time to scout for turkeys, both in the woods and online in the form of past seasons’ harvest reports, which should help narrow down good units for finding gobblers. (TROY RODAKOWSKI)

outdoors need to be cleaned and/or maintained throughout their lifetime of use, not only for functionality but longevity as well. Dust, dirt, moisture, sunlight and general wear and tear take their toll on our things. All gear of metallic composition is susceptible to rust and dirt. So, if applicable for an item, clean, oil and dry it prior to storage. There are many different lubricants on the market that are specifically designed to help protect most of the items we use.

Optics, such as riflescopes, binoculars, rangefinders and camera lenses, need to be cleaned regularly with an optical cleaning solution and blown air. Make sure to store these items in a room or safe with low humidity.

Knives need to be sharpened and/ or cleaned prior to putting them back into their sheath. And have a look at the sheath too. Sometimes they need fixing or replacement.

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Old fire starters need to be replaced during the offseason, especially since they can be damaged or contract moisture throughout the year.

Speaking of water, filtration systems should be taken apart and cleaned – a great time to also replace the filters that they require.

rifle, and if you’re going to try archery instead, check your bow and make sure it is dialed in at different ranges. Chances are that thing has been sitting for much of the winter, so dusting it off early and slinging a few arrows is very important.

PATTERNING

When it comes to specifics for turkey hunting prep work, I always find things in my vest that need replacing. Believe me, it’s important to keep your gear fresh. I always make sure to change the batteries in my headlamp. I like to make sure my box calls are chalked and I have fresh mosquito repellent for the insects we despise. I also always make sure to check my face net.

From February to mid-March, as temperatures only gradually warm up, very little breeding occurs among turkeys. The weather is usually too cold and hens aren’t as receptive as the gobblers would like. However,

It’s never too early to break out the shotgun, grab a turkey target and see how that thing patterns at certain ranges. Try different shot sizes if you aren’t happy with the results.

If you have found one that works consistently over the years, stick with it and fire a round or two, if nothing else just for confidence.

Also, make sure you have the right “turkey chokes” for your gun. If you don’t already have them, I highly recommend purchasing one as they greatly improve patterns and distance.

Also be sure to shoot your bear

GEARING UP FOR TURKEY

HUNTING this is a great time to look for birds and knock on some doors.

Turkeys are drawn to food sources around small creeks with fresh vegetation, newly hatched insects, snails and small amphibians, which are all irresistible to them. If you walk ridges above draws with creek bottoms that have freshly sprouted plant life, you will eventually run into turkeys. However, keep in mind that oftentimes you will not find birds in the same locations come April. But finding them now is better than not scouting, as it is likely the birds won’t be too far away on opening day.

GEARING UP FOR BRUINS Bears are hibernating now, making scouting more difficult. They don’t emerge from their dens for another month or so, so in addition to spending time putting in for a controlled tag before the Feb. 10 Oregon deadline (Feb. 28 in Washington), start thinking

about where you’re most likely to find a bruin.

Searching near streams, open meadows, clearcuts and other riparian areas will put you in or near good locations where bears will travel. I recommend hiking into clearcuts with creek drainages using old grass-covered roads as your choice of travel. They are not only quiet but bears will seek out these locations to move as well. Secluded cuts a few miles from main roads are great for scouting. Glass these areas in the early mornings or in the afternoons, as the sun warms the ground, and mark likely locations on your GPS or onXmaps for the opener.

When the season begins, hunters also need to remember to be patient before pulling the trigger, since many sows have very small cubs that are sometimes hard to spot in the taller grass or other vegetation. Also remember that there is a mandatory

check of all harvested bears within 10 days of the kill at Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife collection sites (five days in Washington). Specifically, the skull will be checked by a biologist or other trained personnel. For additional information, see dfw.state.or.us.

TIME’S A-WASTIN’!

Take a cue from the upcoming season and “spring” into action now to make sure you’re ahead of the game, have your gear ready to go and know where to start looking for your quarry, either turkeys or bears. It will make your time in the woods more enjoyable.

Scout early and find several places that you can rely on once season begins, but also have a back-up plan or two in your back pocket, as they can save a day of hunting that might otherwise be lost.

No matter what your spring hunting plans are, make sure to do the best you can to kick off 2021’s seasons right. NS

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HUNTING

Winter ain’t for hibernating! Hunter Dave Anderson does his best to keep in shape in the gym – his home one due to coronavirus restrictions – and prepare now for his fall seasons. (DAVE ANDERSON)

Never Too Early To Prep For Fall Even in the depths of winter, one hunter has his eyes on being prepared for the upcoming season

By Dave Anderson

I

f you are anything like me, hunting season is not just on your mind a couple months out of the year.

Even at the tail end of the season, I am always thinking about the next one and coming up with a game plan for seasons and tags. A lot of things can vary from season to season and state by state, so early preparation is often needed.

This not only includes what tags and hunts I plan on applying for, but also preparing physically for the different areas I put in for. Each year, I put in for numerous out-of-state tags and in multiple areas where it is necessary to be in decent physical shape to hike into these locations and prevent injury.

EACH YEAR, I strive to stay on top of my physical fitness to make sure

that I am in the best shape possible to be able to hike for days without becoming fatigued. I also keep up on a fair amount of weightlifting to make sure I can carry out heavy packs of meat while traversing up and down steep terrain without injuring myself.

I usually always have a gym membership, but that changed once Covid-19 hit. Due to all the gym closures and since all childcare programs for our two sons have nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 89

HUNTING

A lot of season prep these days is done online, as hunters bone up on hunting units, harvest reports, herd counts, draw odds, public access and more. (DAVE ANDERSON)

shut down, I ended up placing our memberships on hold and started building our own mini gym with equipment and weights at home.

Having all the necessary equipment at the house was a huge advantage in 2020 and really helped me to stay focused and in shape. Throughout the year, I was able to add different pieces of equipment and now I finally feel like I have everything necessary to stay on track and be prepared for this fall.

The bulk of my home gym consists of cardio equipment made by Pro Form. I have the Pro HIIT trainer, which is like a combination between an elliptical and stair climber, as well as a rowing machine. Both pieces of cardio equipment also include a membership to iFit, which gives you access to virtual personal trainers and HIIT (high-intensity interval training) type workouts. I was surprised how well these pieces of equipment worked in combination with the workouts on iFit. I found them to be quite beneficial when preparing for my hunts this past year.

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OTHER COMPONENTS OF my home gym consist of dumbbells ranging from sets of 5 pounds all the way up to 55 pounds, a few different weighted kettlebells, an adjustable flat bench, and an Olympic bar with weights.

Another good addition to any hunter’s weight room are plyometric jump boxes. Instead of purchasing expensive jump boxes, I have been using my Yeti coolers. I have plenty of them and they are sturdy and able to take some abuse.

I am by no means an expert when it comes to physical fitness, but I do know what works for me.

Each person is different and what works for me may not work for you.

However, by putting in the time and effort working out each day or week, it makes it much easier to achieve goals in the field and with each hunt.

There are a lot of resources available, especially via social media, that can help you get started and provide ideas on different programs that are geared towards hunters.

MY NEXT STEP when it comes to

preparing for the upcoming season centers on ample research and deciding on tags, seasons and locations. This includes planning around dates for your state’s general season or starting to look at out-ofstate options for hunting.

I like to use a program called goHunt, which gives you a lot of statistics and draw odds for each state.

There is an annual fee to use their program but that also registers you for monthly drawings for some quality hunting products, which is kind of a win-win in my opinion.

A huge planner, I’ve already come up with my game plan for next hunting season. I know that I will go on at least one guided hunt. I always try to do at least one trip where I do not have to put in a ton of research and just go somewhere where I can enjoy time with friends and be picked up daily from a hotel or stay at a lodge.

There are a lot of pros when it comes to going with a guide. In my opinion, one of the most beneficial aspects about using a guide is that they have been scouting all year.

HUNTING The payoff for all that planning and ironpumping? A long hunting season across multiple states and numerous chances to enjoy time afield and fill the freezer full of meat. (DAVE ANDERSON)

They know the area and the game you are looking for, as well as the conditions prior to your arrival for the hunt. I know a lot of people frown on this and say they would never spend the money on a guide, but having been a hunting guide in my early to mid-20s, I can tell you it is well worth it.

Hunting out of state in a gamerich environment is not always a guarantee. However, if you have the time and ability to hunt the whole season, or even take two weeks to get over to an area and scout prior to your hunt, then doit-yourself hunts may be the way to go. However, if you are limited on time, I highly recommend investing in a guide; the overall benefits and time saved scouting an area is worth its weight in gold.

As I write this, I have just returned from an out-of-state cow elk hunt in which we utilized an outfitter and everyone in the group tagged out, harvesting four in three days. I would suggest doing your research to find a suitable outfitter.

You can do this by looking up reviews and reaching out to those who may have used the outfitter you are considering booking a hunt through. I have had bad experiences as well as good, so doing your research is important. I finally found an outfitter that I will continue to go with every year, but it did take some time to find them. It was worth all the time spent researching because they are top notch. The hospitality and experience were well worth the cost.

ANOTHER BENEFIT OF planning an out-of-state hunt is the ability to explore other areas in the West. I thoroughly enjoy hunting in areas of Montana, Wyoming and Idaho.

These are also areas that I am familiar with and have spent some time guiding in each of those states as well. There are several other states in the West that provide great 92 Northwest Sportsman

opportunities too, but I have not spent any time hunting them yet.

Most nonresident tags I put in for tend to be meat hunts. I apply for out-of-state cow elk tags due to lack of opportunity here in Washington. I used to take the time each year to hunt cows during archery season in the Yakima-area units; however, once this opportunity was taken away from us, I started looking at out-of-state antlerless prospects.

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

IN THE END, how we prepare for the next season varies from person to person, depending on our overall goals. However, I do think it is important to plan and not wait until a month or two before a hunt.

Putting in the time planning and preparing now will make for success in the upcoming season. Do not press the snooze button and wait – get cracking now! NS

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COLUMN

January saw the delisting of gray wolves across the western two-thirds of Washington and Oregon become official with publication in the Federal Register. While a lawsuit challenges the move and state protections remain in place, will there one day be hunts like those held now by two Spokane-area tribes? (ODFW)

Wolves Fully Delisted; More SHOT Product News W

ith last m o nt h’s delisting of gray wolves by the U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, it’s time for Oregon ON TARGET and Washington to

By Dave Workman dramatically reconsider state-level protections for the big predatory canines and open the door, however slightly, to hunting.

Gray wolf recovery is a success story and should be viewed in that context. It’s been expensive, especially in Washington, where some packs in the state’s northeast corner have been killed because of continued predation on livestock.

Instead, the wildlife balance should be maintained by sport hunters rather than

state-paid sharpshooters. The states can sell special tags and make money rather than just spend money on designated marksmen.

Clearly, the federal delisting has moved the ball into the state’s court on both sides of the Columbia River.

Adding to the drama that is about to unfold is the appointment of two new members to the Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission by far-left Gov. Jay Inslee. The new faces are Lorna Smith, executive director of Western Wildlife Outreach, and Dr. Fred Koontz, retired vice president of field conservation at Woodland Park Zoo in Seattle. Their appointments are setting off alarms among consumptive outdoorsmen, who immediately started a spirited discussion

on the Hunting-Washington forum early last month.

Suffice to say, this scenario has the earmarks of a political train wreck, and only time will tell whether these new commissioners will be friendly to hunters.

Hunters and anglers do provide the lion’s share of the budget for state fish and wildlife agencies by various avenues. The first is obvious: hunting and fishing license and game tag sales.

But then come the federal fish and wildlife restoration funds, otherwise known as the Pittman-Robertson (hunters and shooters), Dingell-Johnson (anglers) and Wallop-Breaux (boaters) programs.

It’s a financial boon to Oregon and Washington. The funds are administered

by USFWS, and they’re impressive.

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COLUMN

Savage’s new Impulse Predator, chambered for .22-250 Remington, .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor, is a straight-pull rifle with a “Hexlock” action that locks the bolt in place as it is fired. (SAVAGE)

German Precision Optics’ 8x50mm RangeGuide rangefinding binoculars can accurately range big game at more than 750 yards. (GPO)

In fiscal year 2020, the PittmanRobertson federal aid to wildlife restoration fund apportionment to Oregon totaled $14,373,165, according to a USFWS news release.

Up north in Washington, the allocation was $11,466,414.

This money comes from a special federal excise tax on firearms and ammunition, so sport and competitive shooters, people who buy guns and ammunition for personal protection, and hunters generate the revenue through their purchases.

NOW LET’S TALK guns and gear. Last month didn’t see 60,000 to 70,000 firearms industry professionals descend on Las Vegas for the annual Shooting, Hunting and Outdoor Trade Show because – as this column reported in December and again last month – it was cancelled.

Chalk up another casualty to the Covid-19 virus, which some SHOT Show veterans might be tempted to compare to a malady.

But there are new guns and gear to write about, and one this column is especially keen on is a new entry from 96 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

Savage Arms called the Impulse rifle.

This is a departure from Savage because it’s a straight-pull bolt-action with models designed for big game, hog hunting, predator and varmint shooting.

All made right here in the USA, the Impulse family is impressive.

Since I didn’t get a chance to shoot one of these at SHOT’s “Writers Day at the Range” that wasn’t held, I can only judge by past experience with Savage rifles.

Let’s look at the Impulse Predator since we’re in the midst of winter coyote hunting, and over the horizon a lot of people will be heading to Montana, Wyoming, southern Idaho, the Dakotas and elsewhere to lay waste to prairie dog towns.

The Predator is chambered for the .22-250 Remington, .243 Winchester, .308 Winchester and 6.5 Creedmoor, and I can say from experience about the .22-250 that it is a flat-shooting, warp-speed ’yote killer that is also hell-on-wheels against prairie dogs.

The Impulse, according to Savage CEO Al Kasper, “will redefine the way you think about straight-pull rifles.”

Savage promises the action is smooth and fast. At the heart of this action is the “Hexlock,” described as “six hardened steel bearings [that] lock the bolt in place inside the receiver’s barrel extension.”

“As pressure increases,” according to Savage literature, “Hexlock’s hold tightens, ensuring that there can be no rearward movement of the bolt. Once the round has left the barrel, the pressure subsides, and the action can safely open again with the straight pull of the bolt handle.”

If you’re interested in delivering doom

from a distance, that sounds like a dandy way to make the connection.

The full line of Impulse rifles will be available in several popular calibers.

LAST MONTH, THIS column mentioned new optics from German Precision Optics, and this month we’ve got more details.

Enter the new RangeGuide rangefinding 8x50mm binocular model.

GPO’s unit is only 6.3 inches tall, and it can accurately range reflective targets to beyond 3,000 yards, and big game at more than 750 yards. That’s farther than most people would ever try to shoot a deer or elk, black bear or caribou.

The 8x50 RangeGuide features a class 1 laser that provides readings in less than a second. What’s more, according to GPO, the RangeGuide “even measures ambient temperature in either Fahrenheit or Celsius to help with shot placement on long-range shots.”

I own a pair of GPO binoculars, and they have performed very well on prairies, wide-open ridges and canyons, so I’m confident the 8x50 RangeGuide model is going to deliver the goods.

Another 2021 entry from GPO is the new Spectra Dot, a red dot scope designed for hunters and tactical shooters. The Spectra Dot is a lightweight, compact model powered by a CR2032 battery that can provide power for up to 50,000 hours, according to GPO. It mounts on Picatinny or Weaver-type bases. The Spectra Dot measures 2.53 inches long, 1.4 inches tall and 1.78 inches wide. It weighs a scant 6.63 ounces without

COLUMN

Mossberg’s recently introduced International Reserve Series comes in two families, Gold and Silver (above), with the former available in 12- and 20-gauge and .410 bore, and the latter in those plus 28-gauge. (MOSSBERG)

lens covers and mounts.

WE ALSO BRIEFLY mentioned Mossberg’s new series of over-and-under shotguns in January, and this month we’ve got the details. Dubbed the International Reserve Series, there are two families, the Silver and Gold.

The Silver Reserve models feature shell extractors, select black walnut or synthetic stocks, logo-engraved receivers in satin silver or matte blue, matte blue barrels and there are models chambered in 12-, 20- and 28-gauge and .410 bore.

The Gold Reserve models have ejectors, grade-A black walnut stocks,

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FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

scroll-engraved polished receivers with gold inlay, silver or blued, and polished blue barrels. There’s a Super Sport model with an adjustable stock. Models are available in 12- or 20-gauge or .410 bore.

Hornady has several new entries, and there’s one for muzzleloaders that deserves a mention. It’s the Bore Driver FTX bullet with a polymer base that is not a sabot.

This projectile, for .50-caliber front stuffers, weighs 299 grains. The bullet has a .499-inch diameter and comes 20 to the box.

The Bore Driver FTX has Hornady’s patented FlexTip and an InterLock ring, and a gilding metal jacket. It’s a bullet that delivers devastating downrange energy.

Also from Hornady comes the new 6mm ARC 103-grain ELD-X Precision Hunter cartridge. This ammunition, says Hornady, uses “efficient, high-BC (ballistic coefficient) bullets to deliver unprecedented performance from the AR15 platform.”

Who says you can’t hunt with an AR-15 rifle, eh?

A third new entry is Hornady’s RAPiD gun safe. Described as a “compact ready vault,” this model from Hornady Security features the company’s Square-Lok organizing system. For someone with not much space, this new entry could be a smart investment. NS

nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

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FISHING

This time of year you’ll find kokanee near the surface of Northeast Washington’s massive Lake Roosevelt, with the best action on its lower end near Grand Coulee Dam. (AUSTINSNORTHWESTADVENTURES.COM)

Fish High (And Low) For Roosevelt Kokes ‘There are days you can do really well for kokanee, and these are super nice fish.’

By Mark Yuasa

A

re you getting tired of hearing all the bad news? Likewise.

And the perfect winter remedy is an Eastern Washington kokanee fishery that’s been garnering hype since before holiday shoppers began surfing the web for deals.

Lake Roosevelt is worth the long drive – 299 miles from Seattle, 175 from Tri-Cities, 74 from Spokane – to pursue kokanee, landlocked sockeye salmon, in this vast 77,684-acre impoundment

of the upper Columbia River.

“There are days you can do really well for kokanee, and these are super nice fish that play an important part in the lake’s diverse fisheries,” says Chris Donley, a Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Fish Program manager based in Spokane.

The peak time is January through April, although the fish are known to remain active well into July. It isn’t uncommon to catch numerous 13- to 17-inch kokanee and there’s a decent number of 18- to 25-inchers that

weigh 3 to 5 pounds.

Roosevelt is home to the current state record of 6.25 pounds, caught

by Clarence F. Rief on June 26, 2003.

Many feel a new record fish is likely lurking here.

KOKANEE INHABIT THE whole lake, but they tend to congregate in the lower third, from Grand Coulee Dam to above the mouth of Sanpoil River at Keller.

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FISHING

The Upper Columbia impoundment is home to the state record koke, a 6.25-pounder, and while that may stand a while yet, the lake hosts hordes of 13- to 17-inchers, with some to 2-plus feet long and 5 pounds.

Guide Austin Moser and former Washingon Fish and Wildlife Commissioner Dave Graybill show off a fine catch. (AUSTINSNORTHWESTADVENTURES.COM)

decade ago, but wild fish production has thrived. Not much is known where wild kokanee spawn, as fall surveys in rivers haven’t seen many returns. It is theorized that deepwater spawning grounds are used by kokanee somewhere in the reservoir.

“We tried all different kinds of tactics to get them to go (in hatchery net pens), but it was like trying to put a square peg into a round hole,” Donley says. “You need a lot of hatchery smolt production to make it work and we didn’t have enough to get by all the predation that was happening in the lake.”

Roosevelt has an abundant biomass of daphnia and other zooplankton that boost rapid growth rates of kokanee and it’s attributed to their tasty reddishorange fleshed meat.

“The drawdown of water during 110 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

certain periods of the year flushes the daphnia into the lower sections and the kokanee follow the feed,” says Danny Garrett, a WDFW biologist.

“It’s a very special fishery and 2020 was a banner year. Since this is a pretty big lake you don’t get a ton of fishing pressure.”

ACCESS TO FISHING areas is relatively easy, but before you even leave the driveway it’s wise to make sure your vehicle has all the emergency gear to deal with snow and icy roads.

The Keller Marina two-lane boat launch near the Keller Ferry dock, located about 14 miles from the town of Wilbur on State Route 21, gets you to the nearby fishing locations. The marina/campground offers amenities and moorage.

During early winter concentrate

your efforts higher up in the lake at places like Hanson Harbor, a short boat ride from the marina.

Another option is to head west to a landmark known as Camel Bluff along the southern shore. If Camel Bluff is slow, head further down to the “Cliffs” area or the Pipe Pile Hole, where a stack of pipes is visible along the shoreline.

Just across from Keller – also known as Clark – on the northern shore is the Sanpoil River mouth to China Bluff and Moonbeam Bay, which are popular trolling spots, as is just inside the Sanpoil Arm. Later in the season, a prime location is near the Spring Canyon boat launch, located 2 miles up Highway 174 from the town of Grand Coulee. Facilities at the campground are currently closed due to the pandemic but the launch remains open.

Kokanee fishing last winter was excellent just downlake from the Spring Canyon ramp in 100 feet of water off the steep, rocky shoreline and the shoreline above the campground.

Swawilla Basin, on the north side of the lake, is one of the most consistent locations in the winter season.

There are numerous other smaller boat launches like Crescent Bay near Grand Coulee Dam. Whichever ramp you choose, be sure to check water levels since it changes dramatically throughout the year. Go to lrf.org/ recreation/boat-launch-lake-levels or call (800) 824-4916.

THE MOST IMPORTANT tip for catching Lake Roosevelt kokanee is, you don’t need to go very deep to find schools because their “zooplankton” food source is just below the surface. Most of the time, you’re trolling no deeper than 25 feet, and often the fish are only down 10 to 15 feet.

Fishing guides like to use side planers (popular choices are the SideWinder or Off Shore OR12) to get lines as far away from the boat as possible. Since kokanee are congregating right under the surface now, they can be spooked easily from

FISHING

LARGE RAINBOWS ADD TO FUN

A

Where Roosevelt’s kokanee are a boat fishery, rainbows can also be caught from shore, especially in late winter. There are several good bank spots, including near Grand Coulee Dam, where Remington Wisdom caught this one. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

a boat trolling directly on top of them.

It’s not uncommon to set out 100 to 150 feet of line away from the boat.

Downriggers work if you don’t have or want to use planers. Simply put out 100 or more feet of line behind the boat and then attach your clip and set them down 10 to 30 feet.

Trolling speed is critical; keep it between 1.3 and 1.7 mph, but no faster than 2.0 mph.

There are many varieties of lures, but top choices include Kokabow’s Spinner Falcon, Hawk, Lucky Strike, Pink Panther, Osprey, Talon and Ravisher. The company has a line of plastic squid hoochies and trolling blades to provide a good kick action on the spinner or hoochie behind it.

Always add a kernel or two of white shoepeg corn (don’t substitute 112 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

bout 500,000 to 750,000 triploid rainbow trout are released annually in Lake Roosevelt from cooperative net-pen rearing projects operated by WDFW and the Spokane and Colville Tribes at around 65 locations.

“These fish are 6 to 8 inches when released in the spring and by winter they’re 16 to 17 inches and are super-nice fish,” says state manager Chris Donley. “My approach is to fish for kokanee and then I’ll catch rainbows.”

The nice thing about the rainbow fishery is that you don’t need a boat to catch them. There are numerous bank accesses from Keller Marina downlake to Spring Canyon. Geezer Beach at the dam is still open, but walkin only now. Good spots further up are the Spokane Arm, Porcupine Bay, Split Rock and Hunters area.

“As the drawdown proceeds later in winter (February to April), I believe the shore anglers do better than anybody for rainbows as fish move into shallower water,” Donley says. “Look for trout in the back of bays, where they’re picking off feed coming out of creeks.”

Be sure to keep only adipose-fin-clipped trout and release wild ones. Also check the state regulation pamphlet for special trout and kokanee rules and the redefined Sanpoil River boundaries.

Other fish available in Roosevelt include walleye, smallmouth, sturgeon, burbot, whitefish and perch. –MY

with yellow corn) or a maggot on the hooks. Corn right out of the can works, or you can spice it up with scent like Mike’s Glo Scent, Pro-Cure Super Gel or Graybill’s Guide Formula Kokanee or Craw Anise flavors. Others also dye their corn with Wizard Kokanee Killer Korn in pink or purple.

“I make sure to have two different tubs of shoepeg corn in my boat, as kokanee find them hard to resist,” says Austin Moser, owner of Austin’s Northwest Adventures Guide Service (austinsnorthwestadventures.com) and who spends winter guiding on Lake Roosevelt. “Maggots also work well and are tough so if a fish strikes it and doesn’t get hooked, it’ll likely still stay on your hook.”

A small Rapala Flicker Shad or Berkley crankbait can be effective,

but even the larger jointed versions catch their share of fish. Bump up your trolling speed when using plugs.

The preferred leader length is 12 to 20 inches. Be willing to experiment by starting off long then trimming it down until you find the right length.

No matter what you choose, keep in mind that darker colors work better on cloudy days and more vibrant colors on sunny, bright days. Be sure to have a variety of colors in your tackle box, since what worked one day may not be the choice on another day.

If you’re not familiar with Lake Roosevelt, be sure to obtain maps available at the dam’s visitor center and WDFW’s Spokane office. You can also purchase a detailed topographic lake map published by Fish-n-Map Company at fishnmap.com. NS

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COLUMN

Mining For Columbia River Gold

A Tri-Cities angler works to bring a December walleye to the net. As other Columbia fisheries have waned due to low runs, interest in walleye has surged, and while February may be known as trophy time, there are plenty of eater-sized fish to be caught now and later in winter and spring.

(FISHING PHOTO CONTEST)

W

alleye could be called “Columbia River gold” for their shiny yellow-scaled sides – or the rush to NW PURSUITS learn how to catch

By Jason Brooks them we’ve seen in recent years. Indeed, walleye have become a target fish, but for a while, when salmon

runs were strong, they were not even contemplated as a fishery except by a few.

One of them is my stepfather, “Walleye Willie” Ross, a full-time fishing guide out of The Dalles. He moved to the area to pursue salmon and steelhead but soon found the secrets to catching walleye, which had been put in the river system years before.

Then clients started asking him to take them to his favorite walleye spots and his

nickname stuck.

As salmon and steelhead runs began to decline, studies showed walleye – which are not native to the Columbia – were eating a lot of the outgoing smolts. Soon, anglers were targeting them to help increase salmonid runs, but those same anglers found that walleye – known for their white flesh and mild flavor, making them great for fish fries – were a tricky

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Northwest Sportsman 115

COLUMN quarry and fun to catch.

Limits were lifted on the Columbia to help reduce the numbers. With their increased popularity, walleye clubs and associations started up, with one group, the Lower Columbia Walleye Club, based in Portland, which is about as close to the ocean as you can get and still catch a walleye out of the big river.

The fishery is popular for good reason – and not just the benefits of helping salmon and steelhead runs or their great taste. Walleye are plentiful, one of the few Columbia populations sustaining itself to the point that they need to be caught. Bass are plentiful too, but arguably not as tasty as walleye.

FEBRUARY’S A BIT early to be out catching walleye in the Columbia, but just as with spring Chinook anglers out to bonk the first salmon of the year, walleye fishermen do head out onto the cold waters in late winter, hoping for a trophy, or at least a mess of eater-sized fish. Unlike springers, which migrate from the ocean upstream to headwaters to spawn, walleye are always in the river.

Why February isn’t the best month mostly comes down to weather and water conditions. Until the rain and even snow subsides, it is best to wait, as boat ramps can be icy and the water is turbid. Walleye have huge eyes and can see well in the dark, but muddy water is almost impossible for

any fish to see in. And with snow runoff occurring from the Rocky Mountains of Idaho and British Columbia to the Cascades and Blues in Washington and Oregon, water conditions are high, muddy and full of debris. Not ideal walleye conditions.

So, as we wait for the water to become more favorable to catching some Columbia River gold, you can tie up riggings, research boat launches and read up on these tasty fish. Most guides and local anglers will use bottom walkers below dam outfalls. The rocky tailraces create seams and current breaks. These same breaks are where food is flushed down and the fish wait for a meal. From smolts, sculpins, baitfish, worms and even

What’s gold on the outside and pure white-meated delight on the inside? “Walleye Willie” Ross shows off a tasty specimen caught out a Columbia Gorge pool. (JASON BROOKS)

116 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

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COLUMN

A bottom walker was used to troll a nightcrawler close to the bottom and entice this walleye to bite. (FISHING PHOTO CONTEST) crawdads, walleye feast below the dams.

A bottom walker rig is a stick weight that ticks along and keeps the bait just off of the bottom of the river and in the fish’s face. On the hook end is an attractor, usually a blade of some sort, then a buoyant float in a bright color that gets the attention of the fish. A crooked bent hook, known as a Slow Death or worm hook, causes your nightcrawler to slowly spin and flutter. The hook goes through the top of the worm and the tail is left to flow behind.

Walleye are light biters that make their way over to the bait and often slurp the worm up. As the bottom walker continues downriver the hook penetrates the toothy mouth and you feel a slight pull. A quick set of the hook often pulls it free from the fish’s jaw, so instead it is best to lift the rod and reel. Keep steady pressure on the fish until it comes to the surface, where you need to be quick on the net.

The center of the Northwest’s walleye world is the Columbia from Boardman upstream to Tri-Cities, but the species is caught everywhere from the PortlandVancouver area to the upper river, where guide Austin Moser (left) and a client got into a nice one. (AUSTINSNORTHWESTADVENTURES.COM) 118 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

ANOTHER WAY TO catch walleye is to use a blade bait presentation such as the Sonic Baitfish by Mack’s Lure. Blade baits are often used for walleye that are near structure. In the Columbia this means rock outcroppings, points and, again, tailraces below dams with large boulders and current breaks.

Smear the blade bait with Pro-Cure’s crawdad or nightcrawler Super Gel and then jig it along, letting it flutter as it falls.

Keep the baits close to the bottom and

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COLUMN lift them up and let them flutter down, as this creates the vibrations that draw the attention of the hungry predators. When you lift the blade bait you will feel the weight of the walleye on the other end; continue to lift and reel to make sure the hooks set in and you get the fish to the net.

Both of the aforementioned techniques are popular and keep the angler actively involved in fishing. But if you don’t have the patience to use bottom walkers or blade baits, then pulling or pitching plugs is one way to relax and catch walleye. Baitfish patterns in the Lip-Stix line by Brad’s is a good lure to start with. Casting and retrieving it will have the plug diving 6 to 10 feet, or you can troll it along underwater structure and rock pinnacles, where it will dive to 17 feet. Rapala also makes several lures and plugs that are popular in the Midwest, and that means they will catch walleye out here as well.

THE COLUMBIA OFFERS a vast selection of waters to target walleye. Yes, there are a few fish down in the Portland area, but

most anglers head to the gorge, near Boardman and The Dalles, where Walleye Willie (541-993-7335) is known to be found chasing the walleye.

But don’t overlook other stretches of the river. The confluence of the Yakima and Snake Rivers at Tri-Cities is very popular for good reason: There are a lot of walleye here, and it’s where Washington state records have been caught.

But further upstream you will find solitude and good fishing. Wanapum, Rock Island and Rocky Reach Dams, along with rocky areas and creek mouths between these large river-altering structures, offer some good walleye fishing. Years ago I was throwing a Buzz Bomb for salmon below Wells Dam and landed one of the best walleye I’ve caught out of the Columbia. I was also fishing from the bank, making this a unique but not uncommon catch.

Further upriver is where you will find guide Austin Moser (509-668-0298) catching walleye out of Rufus Woods, the

reservoir behind Chief Joseph Dam.

THOUGH WE LIKE to listen to biologists who tell us to catch and keep walleye to help salmon and steelhead populations, we must realize that overharvest can become problematic. Limits have been lifted in most parts of the Columbia but fishing responsibly will help the resource, one of a few that is self-sustaining.

In the springtime it is best to release any fish that is large. That means if a fillet would make more than one piece of fried fish, then you should put it back.

This is because most of the larger fish are females and carry the future of walleye fisheries in their eggs. They are a hearty fish but handle them with care, as you can damage their internal organs as the egg sacs enlarge. Keep good eater-sized fish, and only those you plan to consume.

This way you will help ensure that the Columbia River gold rush doesn’t go bust and we can chase these great eating fish for many years to come. NS

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COLUMN

Locating Winter Steelhead A

s described in the last issue of this magazine, the most productive time to catch steelhead is when rivers first drop into fishable height and color after a big rain event.

It’s when the water is dropping BUZZ RAMSEY and its color is transitioning from a dirty brown to a frosty green and then emerald green that fishing is best. The winter steelhead season is now and will last through March and into April on some streams.

Knowing this, veteran steelhead anglers monitor the height of their favorite river in an effort to pick the right day or time period offering them the greatest chance at success. Not only is it a good idea to plan your trips when rivers first drop into shape, but make sure you know the weather forecast, as a big storm front can take water levels back into the bushes in a single day.

For example, more than a few anglers have made a predawn drive to find a muddy, out-of-shape river that was fishable and producing the day before. And while some anglers might be tight-lipped about conditions and where the fish are showing, a reliable resource for knowing exactly what the water is doing is the National Weather Service’s Advanced Hydrologic Prediction Service website, which charts the height of many Northwest rivers and forecasts the coming trend in water levels.

Following up on his introduction to winter steelheading last issue, expert Northwest angler Buzz Ramsey details where to fish the rivers for this elusive quarry. (PAUL ISHII)

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Northwest Sportsman 123

COLUMN KEEP IN MIND, smaller/shorter rivers drop and clear faster than the bigger/longer ones. In addition, at least in regard to rivers emptying into the Pacific Ocean, Lower Columbia or Puget Sound, ocean tides can be a factor in determining when and where fresh fish will show up. For example, if rivers have been low and clear for 10 days or more, a big ocean tide can push waiting fish into the lower river where you might find them despite crystal-clear water conditions.

If you are planning a trip well in advance of the season, perhaps with a fishing guide, I’d encourage you to plan your trip on or just after the biggest tide of the month – this, on average, is when steelhead will be the most numerous, as big tides can push a lot of fish into rivers.

You see, it’s a combination of big tides and a rise and fall of water levels that cause steelhead to migrate, and it’s this pulse of fish you are trying to intercept.

Of course, constant rains can keep rivers high and muddy for weeks at a time and when they do finally drop into fishable shape, you will likely discover that the best fishing may be had in the mid- to upper river. As the saying goes, when the rivers are low – and have been that way for awhile – fish the lower river; when rivers are high, fish high in the watershed.

There are exceptions, of course, and those mostly involve hatchery fish. For example, returning hatchery fish will often hold where they were released as smolts.

This could include the hatchery where they were raised, an acclamation pond where they were held prior to release, or – more rarely nowadays – where a fish transport truck liberated them into the river. How they remember where they were planted, I do not know. What I do know is that hatchery fish will often hold at or near these release sites.

LIKE MOST SPECIES, returning steelhead prefer the same basic water depth, current speed and bottom structure. Learning how to effectively read water will put more fish in your creel and may disclose which fishing technique might be the most effective.

As an example, suspending a jig under a float produces best when and where the water is slow moving. That’s why many 124 Northwest Sportsman

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Areas where rivers slow up can hold winter steelhead when post-storm streams are first transitioning from brown to green. Here John Ramsey is about to land and release a native fish. (BUZZ RAMSEY)

anglers rely on this method when the rivers are low for targeting slow-moving drifts, and it can be amazingly effective for fishing current edges – that is, where straight-running current and near-shore slackwater meet.

When navigating rivers, steelhead hold in fairly shallow water, less than 10 feet

deep. Water that is 4 to 8 feet deep and moving about the speed of a person’s brisk walk is where the fish spend most of their time. They also like to hold in tailouts, the downstream third of a hole, pool or drift.

Other preferred holding areas include just upstream or downstream from large underwater structures (like a large boulder

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COLUMN In addition, when rivers turn to gin, you may find fish huddled under choppy surface currents, as doing so can make them feel more secure. Areas where many large boulders break the current can provide plenty of holding water for fish seeking the oxygen and cover these structures provide.

Suspending a jig under a float produces best when and where the water is slow moving. Your jig will work best if you position it half to three-quarters of the way to the bottom of the river and such that it rides horizontally in the water.

(BUZZ RAMSEY)

ONE KEY AREA for steelhead to hold is

Paying close attention to river levels and forecasted flood and runoff events will go a long way toward dialing in when to hit the water. or root wad), immediately downstream from an underwater dropoff, where a steep bank extends into the river, and along current edges.

Although there are exceptions, you can cull out most fast, steep-water rapids and the deep (sometimes sand-filled)

It’s when rivers first drop into fishable condition that winter steelhead are most numerous.

Terry Otto shows off a freshly caught hatchery broodstock steelhead he took from Oregon’s Wilson River with friend Chris Sessions. (BUZZ RAMSEY) 126 Northwest Sportsman

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roily holes as places steelhead won’t often be found. The exception to this is when water levels drop low enough for the sand to settle out of the deeper holes, and the tailouts become too shallow for fish to feel secure. It’s under these conditions that steelhead may seek deep water.

downstream from an underwater dropoff.

This type of structure may be difficult to read unless the river is low and clear enough to see these green water slots, which is why some anglers will boat or walk their favorite stream under extreme low water in advance of the season. Of course, one high-water event can wipe the slate clean.

However, these areas can sometimes be identified by feel. For example, if your sinker is bouncing along the bottom and you suddenly lose contact, it could be due to an underwater dropoff. Using enough weight to carry your offering down into these deep-water pockets can pay big dividends.

When water levels are abnormally high, fish will move from their normal holding areas to ones where the water is slower moving. They may also congregate near small, clear-running creek mouths, which is when a bobber and pink worm suspended

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Northwest Sportsman 127

under a float might be the ticket to success. When rivers are high and brown, a surprising number of adult fish can move out of the main river and into these tiny tributaries.

KNOWING HOW TO read water is great; knowing where fish live is better. Success is often a simple matter of making one well-placed cast into every likely looking spot. If you catch a steelhead from one, it’s likely that another fish will soon take its place. After all, all steelhead prefer the same kinds of water.

Finding as many of these fish-holding areas as possible should be the centerpiece of your steelhead strategy. Once learned, the spots you frequent should include places you catch fish, and where you see others catching fish.

You can learn a lot from fellow anglers. Don’t be shy; strike up a conversation with anglers you meet along the river. Ask how things are going, if they’re having any luck, etc. If you are a bank-bound angler, try visiting boat ramps during the latter part of the day when arriving anglers might share information. Responses vary, but these questions start conversations that can provide valuable information, even surprises about fish abundance and what they’re biting on. NS Editor’s note: Buzz Ramsey is regarded as a trout, steelhead and salmon sport fishing authority and proficient lure and fishing rod designer. He has been honored into the Hall of Fame for The Association of Northwest Steelheaders and The National Fresh Water Fishing Hall of Fame.

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COLUMN

Author Sara Ichtertz reached a number of milestones fishing the banks of a beloved Southern Oregon river, but a float yielded her first limit of hatchery winter steelhead from its waters – and mostly in a spot she’d long wanted to fish but couldn’t access.

(SARA ICHTERTZ)

The One River Of Many Firsts T

here is water that comes into our lives and without saying a word it can captivate us instantly FOR THE LOVE in a way even an ocean OF THE TUG of the right words

By Sara Ichtertz never could. I know we can all instantly connect with that water if we pause and think about it. The memories, the moments, the beauty that is all around you.

These places and their adventure keep calling us back almost as instinctively as it does for the creatures we are in pursuit of, simply because that thrill of the unknown is worth it. Neither the rivers nor the pursuit of steelhead can ever hurt us in the ways being vulnerable to another person can.

Though you will face adversity, the growth you will find on the river can never truly hurt you, even though it might physically and mentally test what you are made of.

There is one river in which I feel that

my milestones have glistened almost as brightly as the beautiful fish I have connected with over the years. That winter stream brought out the river hunter in me.

Finding stunningly beautiful fish in this glorious water I had never even laid my eyes upon, the bank fisher in me connected with this place in a one-of-a-kind way.

Life has a funny way of trying to pull us away from what calls us, from what it is we love. The overthinker inside myself, no matter the amount of thought given, still

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Northwest Sportsman 131

COLUMN has no answer to this. However, I do know that what I do with each day is entirely up to me. I am only given so much time on this Earth and I want to believe that in finding a passion worth embracing, I have ultimately learned how to love myself. I found happiness inside of myself that I was able to share. That is something some people will never truly know and something I should never willingly go without. Being back on that river this run confirms it for me and made me think of the last time I was blessed enough to step foot on it.

ALL MY MILESTONES had been reached on foot. Ambition, rods, gear, a relative natural connection to the river and the fish, and I was set. Never had I had the opportunity to hop on board one of the many boats floating past. But I always smiled, wondering what it was like to cover so much of that amazing little river. Most of the boats never fished the hole we were able to access and in short little hellos and fish talk, I gained a couple of faces I always looked forward to seeing, Shane Tyner of Keys to the Outdoors Guide Service being one of them. As fate would have it, my first

At first, dedicated shore steelheader Sara felt out of her element in the drift boat, but soon she warmed up to the style of fishing. (SARA ICHTERTZ) 132 Northwest Sportsman

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and only drift ever down that little jewel of a river would indeed be with him.

Timing is everything and in the wildest of beginnings at the boat launch, Shane had to rescue another truck out of the river. After saving their bacon, he got us launched before daybreak, but in the chaos of it all he managed to misplace his phone, which nowadays is his tag! But hey, we made it; I was in a boat connecting with a friend in a place we both loved, and despite the below-freezing temperatures, I was delighted to be there.

We got right after it, side drifting that

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Northwest Sportsman 133

COLUMN It was wild trying to flick the spinning rod here or there, as I used to be precisely on point with them. Having not fished one in so long, I felt mildly out of my element, and the challenge was comical in some ways as we fished on down the river.

Shane felt good about the drift ahead and I readied myself. If I felt that bite of life, I planned on swinging away. The soft bottom of the river telegraphed it well and that first little hen, she hit it like she meant it, so swing away I did! You know I love that first headshake of life more than most things and there it was! The fight was on and the numbness we’d had trouble shaking was gone instantly. The adrenaline of hooking a steelhead is second to none for me.

So fierce they are, screaming off in the most radical ways. My heart never grows tired of such a fight. And now my first-ever boat fish from my river of many firsts came thanks to Shane, a beauty of a hatchery hen. We had one in the box.

Sara’s big catch that day not only yielded meat for her children, but bait for catching spring Chinook later in the year. (SARA ICHTERTZ) dropping winter river. I could feel it in my soul, I was exactly where I was meant to be. I felt nothing aside from the beautiful bounce of the drift itself and with kind and gentle guidance from Shane, I was experiencing this river in an entirely new way, all while getting to know this man a little bit better than the usual hellos and sharing of fish reports as he passed through.

One thing I loved about Shane was his desire. His love for both his family and for fishing made him different in that sense.

Working a full-time job to provide for his family like so many hardworking men do, his passion for fishing led him to find the time and to begin sharing his passion through guiding. I admire that. I believe everything in life is actually attainable when you really want it. Shane is proof of that.

STAYING TOWARDS THE front of the pack the further we worked our way downriver, my frozen guides began to thaw and the sun started to hit the water, giving our so-far-biteless adventure a very warming direction. The bank fisherman in me never feels quite so wimpy as when I’m stuck in 134 Northwest Sportsman

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a boat unable to move; movement is my go-to for helping fight off the numbness of a winter’s river. But Shane’s propane heating system inside of his Cadillac of a drift boat by Pavati had me freakishly cozy and I semi-warmed up to the idea of fishing out of a boat. Covering so much water, I without a doubt appreciate what it means to drift downriver and the abilities these men possess. It had me oh so happy, as the drift can run on far longer than I ever could produce from the bank. What a gift!

After running a couple different riggings of yarnies and eggs throughout the chill of the morning, we switched things over to BnR Tackle gear. Using a variety of naked 12mm soft beads with size 2 Gamakatsu octopus hooks, we encountered our first bite of the day, and I missed him. Being frustrated with myself in letting the boat and the rower down always tenses me up a bit because it is a group effort. If I lose a fish from the bank, yeah, I hate it but it’s my deal. Still, I felt OK with the fact I didn’t actually hook the fish, I had missed him, so I didn’t let that mistake get the best of me.

THERE ARE CHUNKS of this river that I can only gaze upon. In the beginning of my pursuit, I gave this river a whole lot of me.

I was intrigued on a whole new level and recall stopping to ogle many spots, though getting down to fish them was another story.

When we dropped into one of those holes, I instantly knew it. I felt extremely blessed to be there, as I had taken many a gander at that very spot. First pass, first cast almost to the end of the drift, there she was, willing and ready to bite that creamsicle bead again with such conviction! No sooner had I hooked her than she came leaping out for us to see what a beauty she was. We had fish number two on and the boat ahead of us was hooked up as well. Another hen?

No way! Another perfect hatchery girl, so gorgeous and fresh!

Wanting to work that water again, Shane quickly got the fish in the box and headed us back upriver. I readied my setup with a new beaded leader and we fished her again. Once more, with the drift all but washed out, there it was again, that bite of life I love to feel!

Two passes? Two casts? Two bites? Two fish? Yes! The fish were stacked up in there and the bite was on!

Semi-bummed that Shane’s morning

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Northwest Sportsman 135

heroics had caused him to misplace his tag to fish as well, I knew I might be fixing to limit out. She hadn’t let me see for certain she was in fact a hatchery fish, so I just focused and stayed right with her as she guided me through the fight. Regardless of that outcome, it was amazing and had it not been for Shane, I never would have reached that stretch of the river. And yet there we were. I literally could hardly believe it!

The fish was chrome bright and we saw black and silver flashes galore as we fixed to land my third fish in a very short amount of fishing time. As I lifted her pretty face, trying to bring her to the net, she dove once more, flickering her tail in our faces as we saw she was in fact a perfect hatchery hen.

EVEN THOUGH MY heart believes a whole gaggle of those beauties was stacked up in there together, I was thankful for the opportunity to catch three. Thankful for the harvest, as I could not bring myself to not tag out on those hatchery hens! As a single mother, I needed to keep that meat. I also badly wanted the springer bait they carried in their bellies. And so without giving it much more thought than that, I tagged out on winter hens for the first time on the river that holds a massive piece of my heart.

My first hatchery fish came from that very river, along with many others, including my first wild fish from the bank.

Those moments connected my heart and soul to that river in this one-of-a-kind way that will always be with me. Being able to embrace that river with a guide who knows that water like he does was a gift.

I highly recommend Shane Tyner. You can reach him to book your own winter adventure on social media or the web at keystotheoutdoors.com.

Opportunity in life only knocks so often. I truly believe at times we do not answer for good reason. However, I also believe that since it only comes around so many times, we sell ourselves short if we don’t ever answer. We should never sell ourselves short of what it is that makes us feel happy. Happiness doesn’t come cheap and yet it does not cost a thing. May we trust in that and find a balance to it all in this new run. My heart is on the river and I couldn’t change it, even if I tried. NS

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138 Northwest Sportsman

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FISHING

Will Or Won’t We Dip? A smelt opener this winter would be a hopeful sign for the little fish and a tradition that once drew hordes to the banks of the Cowlitz.

By M.D. Johnson

S

ome of you may have heard this already, but don’t try stopping me ’cause I’m going to say it regardless. Encore presentation for some, I reckon.

When I moved to Washington the first time in 1993, I instantly fell in love with two things, above and beyond my then-girl/now-wife Julia Carol. One was digging razor clams; the second was dipping smelt. Now remember, I’m from Ohio, where we have neither razor clams nor smelt. But we do have doves and dove hunting,

which is a ridiculously social event.

I’d go so far as to say carnival-esque, if it weren’t for the inclusion and frequent use of firearms. Carnivals and guns – well, they just don’t mix, I believe.

But that’s what I loved then and still love today about dipping smelt.

Back in the day – around 1993, I reckon – we dipped our 10 pounds after dark, when the shoals of small silvery fish moved into shallower water closer to the bank. A lot of you smelt vets did likewise. Back then, it was lanterns, headlamps, flashlights and five-gallon buckets. Oh, and beer.

Can I say that? If I can, I’m sure I’m not the only one who can remember the necessary equipment.

(Insert laugh track here.)

It was the social aspect of smelt dipping that was, and still is, the attraction. I don’t eat ’em, except maybe a handful of jalapeño-smoked smelt that the brother-in-law makes.

I do use ’em for bait, but with keeper sturgeon seasons so hit and miss, there’s not much call for a metric ton of smelt. So I, like many, go for the carnival atmosphere.

Sometimes, yes, to Longview’s Carnival Market, a popular dipping

Smelt dippers gather along the Cowlitz River in 2017. Last year saw the first opportunity to harvest the little fish there in three years, and this year’s forecast is for a similarly sized run, though a decision on an opener wasn’t expected until after this issue went to press. (OLAF LANGNESS, WDFW) nwsportsmanmag.com | FEBRUARY 2021

Northwest Sportsman 139

FISHING Also known as eulachon, smelt are listed under the Endangered Species Act. State managers have convinced federal overseers to allow limited commercial and recreational fishing to help gauge run sizes and gather biological data. Last year’s openers came on a Friday and a Wednesday to reduce participation and limit the catch, which tallied around 35,000 pounds. (WDFW)

the status of Columbia River smelt populations, and, more importantly to some, what are the chances of a season this winter?

Northwest Sportsman was fortunate enough to catch the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s smelt biologist at her desk in early January, and she was happy to share what information she had available at this point in time as to populations and possibilities.

Northwest Sportsman Introduce yourself and your role with the WDFW. Heironimus I’m Laura Heironimus, and I’m the WDFW’s sturgeon, smelt and lamprey unit lead.

I started with the WDFW in January of 2018, and my role with smelt is to oversee the research, monitoring, harvest and policy for the species.

Laura

NWS So, how does one become the agency’s smelt person, per se?

LH I have a bachelor’s degree in

spot along the town’s historic Westside Highway. I go to sit and watch and talk and get out of the house after 10 weeks of rain. Oh, yeah; I’ll occasionally get into the water and swat at a few of the little devils. Just enough to put in the freezer should, by some act of a kind God, we get a sturgeon retention season on the Lower Columbia below Wauna, where there might be a fish or two.

Hey, if I’m wishing, I’m wishing big.

BUT AS SMELTERS know, the past two decades have presented a much different picture when the topic turns to the little fish. Smelt populations, biologists determined, began to decline in the mid-1990s, or about 140 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

the time I left Washington for Iowa.

In 2001, the Washington-Oregon Eulachon Management Plan was drafted; nine years later in 2010, Columbia River smelt were listed under the federal Endangered Species Act as a threatened population, a status they hold to the present day.

Smelt dipping seasons have become spotty to nonexistent; no season, no season, no season, followed by half a day here and half a day there.

We had two mornings on the Cowlitz River in 2020, just before Covid-19 hit. The first, on Valentine’s Day, provided quick limits, while the second on Feb. 26 – well, it sucked.

Badly.

So, and that all behind us, what’s

Fisheries Science from Virginia Tech, and a master’s degree in Fisheries Science from South Coast State University. Most of my background is working with sturgeon, and my master’s thesis was done on larval pallid sturgeon. I worked with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in California studying white sturgeon habitat and spawning. I actually came up here (to Washington) to be a sturgeon biologist and they needed assistance with the smelt program, too. Smelt was a fairly new species to me when I came up, but I brought it in as one of the key species I work with.

NWS I’ve heard tell there’s actually little known about smelt – where they go, what they do, how it happens. Is that true?

LH Smelt are quite understudied in comparison to many other species in the Columbia Basin, especially when you look at our salmon species. We don’t really know where smelt go when they go out into the ocean. We have some ideas when they’re picked up during the pink shrimp fishery or

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FISHING some of the other offshore fisheries.

But we largely don’t know what they’re doing out in the ocean. We’ve been trying for the past decade or longer to better understand their run dynamics, and what ocean conditions might be driving their population changes.

Our unit within WDFW is pretty small, and there’s only a handful of us who are really studying smelt.

The Eulachon Technical Recovery and Implementation Team, which is a group of folks from state, federal and tribal agencies, only started in the fall of 2018, and we do struggle with funding to better understand smelt and make better decisions. But we want that understanding, so we help the population recover eventually.

NWS In layperson’s terms, what goes into setting a smelt season?

LH There’s actually quite a lot that goes into that. First, we use the previous year’s information to compile a rough forecast for the coming year. But like I said, there’s not a lot known about smelt, so a forecast isn’t going to be spot on. We try hard, though, to predict based on ocean conditions, in-stream conditions, age classes from previous years. So, coming into 2021, we think there are going to be some strong age classes (of) 3- and 4-year-old smelt coming into the river. They’ve had some better ocean conditions in recent years, and they’ve made a showing last year. That’s the starting point.

This year with Covid, we have an

Laura Heironimus is the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s lead smelt biologist and also works with sturgeon and lamprey. (WDFW) 142 Northwest Sportsman

FEBRUARY 2021 | nwsportsmanmag.com

extra layer. We’re working with county public health officials to determine if they’ll support a fishery with the pandemic concerns. This fishery tends to bring a lot of people out from a lot of different areas. Often, thousands if not tens of thousands of people will show up on a single day. So working with the public health officials will be very important this year.

But back to season setting. The states of Washington and Oregon typically go to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration each year to evaluate these forecasts, and what our sampling plan might be.

We’ll try to get a feeling from NOAA as to where they’re at on having a (smelt) fishery. It is an ESA-listed stock, so we work with NOAA to determine their comfort level on setting these fisheries.

Meantime, they establish guidelines as to how much monitoring they’d like to have us do in order to evaluate what type of ESA impact might occur if we were to open any sort of fishing season. We also reach out to our tribal partners, as well as several different groups that currently monitor smelt populations.

In late January, there’s a “compact” hearing. That’s a public meeting between Washington and Oregon where we might set commercial mainstem fisheries on the Columbia River. The staff recommendation based on the forecast and conversations with NOAA is made to the decision-makers for both states. They will make the final decision as to whether or not there will be a commercial fishery, and what the dates and times for that fishery might be.

That fishery is very important to us in order to monitor our in-season run information. This commercial fishery is actually quite small, and harvests quite fewer smelt than the recreational fishery. With the commercial fishery, we can get a sense of how many adult smelt are in the river during this period, as well as collect fish for biological sampling.

Male-to-female ratios. Age classes in

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FISHING that particular run. General size of the fish. Number of eggs in the females.

[Author’s note: The term is “fecundity,” meaning the number of eggs being readied by the female for the next spawning cycle. See! You learned something!]

From this, we can determine (whether we believe) the run is strong enough to support a recreational fishery. In past years, we’ve tried to limit recreational harvest to something very conservative; less than 1 percent is the goal. In most years, we’ve landed between 1 and 5 percent.

Once we know we’re getting strong landings in the commercial fishery and there are fish in the Cowlitz River, there are still more steps. We have to make sure we have our sampling measures in place – samplers on the river counting people and determining effort. We have to have people out there to do

Water temperatures are key drivers in the spawning run of smelt up the Columbia into lower river tributaries, and a sure sign of their appearance are large numbers of piscivorous birds like mergansers and cormorants, along with sea lions. (JULIA JOHNSON)

biological sampling. But really the big thing is to evaluate effort – how many people show up, and how many fish are being caugh – so we can estimate

total harvest for that fishery. We have to work with our (law) enforcement too. And finally, if we have fish in the (Cowlitz), we’ll work to get the word

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FISHING

Dippers work the Gearhart Gardens stretch of the lower Cowlitz last February. There’s not a whole lot of tricks to dipping for smelt besides having a long-handled net and a good spot on the bank to sweep it through the water, but the best spots are where the fish are pushed in closer to shore. (JULIA JOHNSON)

areas. We’ve had a lot of activity in the Grays River, and even in the mainstem up to Rainier. We know there are smelt in the river already.

Water temperatures are pretty warm this year and may be driving them in a little early, but until we go through some of these steps and get approval to even have a fishery, I can’t say if a fishery is likely or not.

Last year, the fishery was held just before Covid came to the US. Then a month later, Covid shut us down.

So we really haven’t been through the process with this fishery. It’s my understanding that we’re trying to make contact now with county health officials, and we’re working on that as one of the first steps.

NWS Words of advice for first-time out to the public as much in advance as possible, but that might only be a few days.

NWS So, and that all said, how likely is

it that we’ll see a smelt season in ’21?

LH I can’t answer that. There are already signs that there are fish in the river. We’ve had predators – seals and sea lions, and birds – out in different

dippers, Laura?

LH Even in the same area, the fishing can really vary from different points on the shore. And that has to do with the dynamics of water flow along the

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FISHING bank of the river, and how close the fish come in. It seems the people who have the most success have found a spot where these fish come in close.

If it’s your first time, I’d recommend walking around and seeing how other people are doing it. Where they’re having success and where they’re not. And then (kinda) waiting your turn to get in there because most of these people will fish and leave rather quickly when the fishing is good. Usually the turnover on dippers is pretty quick, so you can find a spot and just wait for people to finish up.

AT THIS WRITING on Jan. 14, it’s still unknown whether or not we’ll have a smelt season. Right now, there are a ton of seals in the Columbia, and I’ve been watching seals, cormorants and mergansers ball up in the Grays River for 10 days or more now.

Fingers crossed, I reckon. NS

Author MD Johnson shows off a smelt to a fellow fisherman. At one time, Southwest Washington rivers were open seven days a week for months at a time, the fish were so numerous, but with reduced runs, opportunities are hit and miss any more. Still, the social aspect drew Johnson and others out last year, renewing a tradition that had been quelled for several years. (JULIA JOHNSON)

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