HUNTING -- Reports have been coming in for two weeks that whitetail bucks are actively scraping, sparring and now they're pursuing does. Rattling is a good hunting tactic in the early portion of the rut. The late season for whitetail bucks opened in select northeastern…
ADVENTURE -- When they talk about "action films," these are the real deal. The Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour has hit the road and the next stop is the Bing Crosby Theater in Spokane. About two dozen films will be shown in Spokane over…
PREDATORS -- For the second year, wolves will be join furbearers as targets during Idaho’s winter trapping season. Although trappers must take a course in safe techniques before they can purchase a wolf-trapping license, bird hunters and other people who let their dogs run freely…
PUBLIC LANDS -- A coalition of environmental groups made arguments before the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals at Portland, Ore., today in an ongoing effort to repeal the Idaho roadless rule and replace it with one adopted under President Bill Clinton. The Wilderness Society,…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Kokanee provide two notable spectacles in this region for anglers and nonanglers alike: Bald eagles flock to the Wolf Lodge Bay area of Lake Coeur d'Alene to feast on spawned out kokanee starting this month and peaking around Christmas. The spectacle attracts…
FISHING -- For the first time since 1999, anglers will be allowed to harvest kokanee in Lake Pend Oreille starting in 2013 under a fishing regulations adopted Thursday by the Idaho Fish and Game Commission. The popular fishery has rebounded enough under a fisheries recovery…
PUBLIC LANDS -- Six new members have been appointed to the Bureau of Land Management’s Coeur d’Alene District citizen-based Resource Advisory Council. The appointees will serve a three-year term and advise the BLM on public lands issues. “I want to welcome our new and reappointed…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The calm before the storm that brings on winter. Montana outdoor photographer Jaime Johnson reminds us why we love mountains with this scene of the Mission Mountains captured a few days ago.
HUNTING -- The whitetail deer mating season -- better known as "the rut" -- is the best few weeks of the year to tag a big buck. The rut in Eastern Washington will be reaching it's peak just about the time the late buck season…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The last gasp before winter. Justin Haug of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife captured this photo of Forde Lake in the Sinlahekin Wildlife Area of northcentral Washington in October.
By popular demand, the annual Kendall Subaru Clearwater Snake Steelhead Derby will be held Nov. 17-24 to allow anglers to take advantage of a national holiday -- Thanksgiving. In addition, the 2012 Kendall Subaru Clearwater Snake Steelhead Derby will include Washington waters. Adding miles of…
HUNTING -- It's buyer-beware when paying money to an outfitter for a big-game hunt, especially when the deal is made online and payment is in person without going through a safety net such as PayPal or a credit card. I give examples of hunters who…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Supposing you could keep it from freezing, would leaving a nectar feeder out in your yard in late fall tempt hummingbirds into staying around when they should head south for winter? Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife biologists say most research on…
ELECTIONS -- Sen. Jon Tester has been re-elected in an intense campaign battle -- heavily funded on both sides from outside sources. Who gave Tester the edge? Sportsmen, says backcountry hunter and writer Ben Long of Kalispell in this High Country News piece.
ELECTIONS -- Idaho voters have overwhelmingly approved an a measure upgrading hunting, fishing and trapping from traditional privileges to rights protected by an amendment to the state's constitution. Tuesday's vote was about 78 percent in favor of H.J.R. 2aa - The Right to hunt, fish…
RIVERS -- An Idaho conservation group has dropped its lawsuit challenging state approval of a plan to dredge a stretch of the Salmon River for gold, according to the Associated Press. The Idaho Conservation League backed away from its lawsuit last week mainly because the…
WILDLIFE WATCHING -- Life has been more complicated for this year's brood of trumpeter swans at Turnbull National Wildlife refuge. In the three years since Solo the geriatric trumpter finally found a mate after decades of lonesomeness and revived trumpeter family life at the refuge,…
HUNTING-GATHERING -- While most people head to the supermarket for their Thanksgiving fixings, some sportsmen head to the field. Washington's late-fall wild turkey hunting season opens Nov. 20 in portions of Eastern Washington. November is also prime time to hunt ducks, geese, deer, pheasant, forest…
WINTER SPORTS -- The main lodge at Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park is about a third larger after a $320,000 expansion project complete with a large deck for winter and summer activities. The most significant improvement at the ski area in decades, as Brad…
ENVIRONMENT -- Local experts will discuss "The Clean Water Act at 40" and its implications to the Spokane River in a public panel discussion Wednesday (Nov. 7), 6 p.m. at The Community Buildling, 35 W. Main St. "In October of 1972 Congress signed in to…
FISHING -- Montana sportsmen continue to watch an eight-year court battle that could have serious implcations to fishing access on the state's fabled trout streams. Here's the latest in this story from the Montana Standard.
SKIING -- Greg Stump, the ski film pioneer made his mark in extreme skiing his 1988 classic Blizzard of Aahhh’s, will premier his latest film, Legend of Aahhh’s, Nov. 11 and 12 at the Garland Theater. The film features interviews with Warren Miller, Dick Barrymore,…
TOURNAMENT FISHING -- Nik Autrey of Spokane’s Inland Empire Bass Club won the 15-18 year old division of the 2012 Junior Bassmaster World Championship in the 15-18 year old division on Oct. 27 in Alabama. Autrey, 19, won the one-day event with 10 pounds 3…
TRAILS -- The Spokane River Centennial Trail is closed between miles 7 and 9 through Nov. 24 as workers repair the erosion damage to the trail west of Barker, reports Kaye Turner of the Friends of the Centennial Trail. The detour flows from the Walt…
MOUNTAINEERING -- Jess Roskelley of Spokane teamed with John Frieh of Portland in late October for a three-day "smash and grab" outing to pioneer a new route on Mount Wake in the Alaska Range. Roskelley, the son of Spokane mountaineering veteran and county commissioner candidate,…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.