IN THE BACK ADVICE Ee ENTERTAINMENT W Reader photo, D2 Outdoors Calendar, D4 Fishing Report, D5 THE BULLETIN • WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 3, 2014
SNOW REPORT For snow conditions at Oregon ski resorts, seeB6
BRIEFING
O< www.bendbulletin.com/outdoors
nt emomentona entIa Ie on uc unt "Widgeons," Sackerson whispered. A flock of ducks streaked
the East Coast, and has lived
GARY LEWIS
out of the sunrise, and I
$12,000 raised for local groups The Powder Hound Preview, Pine Mountain Sports' annual "welcome to winter" party, brought a full house to Bend's TowerTheatre on Nov. 19and raised $12,000 for Deschutes County Search and Rescue andthe Central Oregon Trail Alliance through the saleof raffle tickets as well as a matching donation of up to $5,000 from Facebook. According to a news release, the total raised by Powder Hound Preview is more than $47,000 since it was launched in 2000. Powder Hound is a Central Oregon ski film festival, showcasing films and slide shows from local skiers and snowboarders.
picked one out, swung with it and put
Beside me, Ben Brown
missed, Nolan King missed, my dad missed. And our guide, Alex Sackerson, smiled. More for next time,
wore good camo and had the right boots. He'd been to the range to shoot targets, and
HUNTING th e bead on it was Mexico, where the limit the tip of its beak, squeezed and followed-through. Missed. Fifteen ducks in, fifteen out.
in Texas and in California. He carried a Remington 870,
was 25. I quit shooting that day when I had 17 to my credit, content to watch them fly.
Last week, we hunted the Crooked River out of a blind
I'd hunted before, upstream from other blinds I've enjoyed. No two days are the same.
more for our friends down
For my dad, it was the third duck hunt of his life. It was Brown's first. I tried to see it
the river. And then came the teal.
And I remembered. There through his eyes. "I'm a total urban guy," was one day when I was good enough. They were teal, and Brown said. He grew up on
he'd listened to the duck calls on YouTube. "It was fun," Brown said
later. "I'm trying to figure out how I can do it again." None of us shot well,
although there were brief flashes of brilliance. I shot a mallard that came in low
and flared over the decoys. Brown tipped over a bufflehead. King made a great shot on a Barrow's goldeneye, and
«
Dad made a great solo effort
Gary Lewis / For The Bulletin
on a ringneck.
Reno, a Chesapeake Bay retriever, makes a retrieve out of the frigid water of the Crooked River.
SeeDuck hunt /D2
Sockeye salmon
may fill Redfish Lake again
Fat bike trails coming soon The Central Oregon Trail Alliance will begin to groom singletrack trails at WanogaSnoPark specifically for fat bikes, starting in January. Fat bikes feature wide tires that allow for riding on groomed snow. COTAhasbeen working with the Bend Ranger District to create the new trails at Wanoga, located southwest of Bend off Century Drive. Trails will be groomed with a snow machine and grooming sled, according to COTA.Two loops are planned, totaling 8 to 11 miles of fast and flowy trails, which will be 2 to 3 feet wide. The routes are currently being flagged andwill not follow existing summer trails. For more information, visit www.cotamtb.com.
Y
By Eric Barker The (Lewiston, rdaho) Tribune
A new study indicates a biological Hail Mary employed to save Idaho's critically imperiled sockeye salmon may have saved the
species from extinction, and it shows promise the long-distance swimmers may one day recover. Paul Kline, assistant chief of the Idaho Depart-
ment of Fish and Game Fisheries Bureau and Thomas Flagg, a supervisory fisheries biologist for Rich Landers/The (Spokane, Wash.) Spokesman-Review
Nordic skiers Brian andAnne Growleave the groomed trails behind to enjoy someold-style cross-country gliding on skier-made
the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administra-
tion, published the study in Fisheries, a journal published by the American Fisheries Society. The two
tracks last season at Mount Spokane.
•
scientists say data indi-
•
cates the offspring of sockeye salmon that spawn naturally in Redfish Lake
— Bulletin staff report
return from the ocean at a
rate more than triple the return rate of sockeye raised in hatcheries.
TRAIL UPDATE With ChrisSabe Snow conditions have changed rapidly. The new Kapka Sno-park is in fair condition, with about 18 to 20 inches of snow. Motorized trail users are encouraged to use Kapka rather than Dutchman Flat and Wanoga sno-parks, especially larger vehicles over 40 feet, which are not permitted in Dutchman. Kapka has lots of room and good access to snow. Grooming of snowmobile trails shouldcommence in the next week, depending on weather conditions. Some rain is in the forecast, even for higher elevations. Dutchman Sno-park and lower elevations have about 30 inches of snow. Conditions are good but could getsoft and wet with rain this weekend. Theareadid receive somemoderate rain, which created wetpack conditions. Winter signs posting from Dutchman Flat has started. About15 percent of temporary signs are up. Roughly 600 signs should be upby Christmas. High country trails will continue to be marked. Until signs are in place, those familiar with the area should try to respect trail boundaries. SeeTrails /D5
• A lighthearted lesson froman expert to a novice
CourtesyIdaho FishandGame
Scientists hope sockeye salmon will once again give Redfish Lake in central Idaho's Sawtooth Valley the
By Rich Landers The (Spoizane,Wash.) Spokesman-Review
've been considering getting back into cross-country skiing, and I have questions," wrote The Spokesman-
"...wemiss the sim pledays ofthe '70s,wh en women swooned at the scent of pine tar regardless of the sparseness of your beard. Nowadays, waxing with fluoros requires a gas mask and other precautions associated with operating a meth Iab, including criminal connections to finance the addiction."
Review's Paul Turner as he focused his column last month on The Slice of life that teeters on skinny skis. Doubtless he'll get the usual pile of insightful answers from his readers. In the meantime, here are
at the University of Montana.
perspective of a former snow-
"Even you can do this," I remember him telling me with a huge laugh. It was one of the best
mobiler who was turned on to
life-lessons I learned in col-
cross-country skiing in 1971. I was introduced to the sport by
lege,leadingme todecades of
an African-American student
is pondering.
some answers for Paul and others with a yen to make tracks this winter from the
and former member of the Bozeman HighSchoolnordic team while we were enrolled
expertise to answer what Paul How much should I
• expect to pay for halfQ way-decent skis?
reason for its name. That finding alone isn't revolutionary. What makes it significant is that
sockeye spawning in the wild and producing those better-returning fish are
the product of hatcheries. They're part of the state's effort to use artificial pro-
I still have my original a blowtorch. I never really • wood skis, which I'll sell knew what I was doing. Has for half off or by the piece. it become simpler? God, we miss the simWill I be required to • ple days of the '70s, • change my name to when women swooned at the something that sounds Scan- scent of pine tar regardless dinavian? Any suggestions? of the sparseness of your Italians win a lot of beard. Nowadays, waxing • cross-country medwith fluoros requires a gas als, too, so no need to risk mask and other precautions
A
A
Q
A
getting invited to a lutefisk
associated with operating
dinner. Call yourself The Godfather.
a meth lab, including criminal connections to finance
When I owned a sel-
• dom-used pair of new Q cross-country skis in the 1970s, I needed something like a dozen different waxes — not to mention tar and
the addiction. But I would expect that you, Paul, with
your gift for language and ability to glide through life, could wax poetic with simple paraffin. SeeNordic skiing/D4
duction to not only stave off extinction but also seed Redfish Lake and other
Sawtooth Valley lakes with spawners. "This is a real Ameri-
can endangered species success story," said Will Stelle, administrator of NOAA Fisheries' West
Coast Region. "With only a handful of remaining fish, biologists brought the best genetic science to bear and the region lent its lasting support. Now there is real potential that this species
will be self-sustaining again. The sockeye didn't give up hope, and neither did we." SeeSockeye/D2