Wildlife officers keep eye on cougar hunters, snowmobilers
WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT -- Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers kept busy with the usual wide range of efforts last week, but they gave special attention to the opening of the cougar hound-hunting season in northeast Washington and they wrote tickets for snowmobiling violations ranging from missing registrations and Sno-Park permits to riding in prohibited areas.
They made 29 stops at Mount Spokane to help educate snowmobilers about the changes in where snowmobiling is allowed this year. Three citations were issued.
Read on to see a few other highlights that caught my eye from the weekly wildlife enforcement report for this region:
- Officer Cram concentrated on the Pilot Cougar season in Ferry/Stevens Counties this week. Conditions are perfect and hunters are finding ample cougar to harvest...
- The Grande Ronde is full of icebergs and is unfishable; no anglers to contact there or on Tucannon or Touchet rivers...
- Officer Hahn checked Hog Canyon, Fourth of July and Sprague Lake for ice fishing activity. Fishermen are catching 2-3 fish/person at Hog, 1 per person at Fourth of July and zero at Sprague...
- While on patrol in the Lincoln area, Officer Wood counted 27 bighorn sheep grazing in a residential area. Most were ewes and lambs, and only one or two were young rams...
- Officer Wood received two complaints of beaver damage in Lincoln County. Both landowners would like permits to trap the beaver...
- Officer Spurbeck issued turkey permits to a farmer having problems with turkeys in his hay stacks while Officer Hahn gave advice to residents complaining about turkeys on Spokane's South Hill...
- Master Hunters were contacted and assisted in electric fencing projects to help keep elk out of haystacks in Pend Oreille County...
