WILDLIFE WATCHING -- I don't have a crystal ball, but this one was an easy call. The spike elk featured toying dangerously with a photographer in a video that went viral this month has been euthanized by Great Smoky National Park officials. The elk had…
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service biologist Sergio Pierluissi will discuss the federal agency's activities in the Idaho Panhandle, as well as its recent priorities in the Pacific Northwest region during the monthly program organized by the Kootenai Environmental Alliance on Thursday, Nov.…
UPDATED 11-20-13 at 2:30 p.m. with info on Silver Mountain. WINTER SPORTS -- Lookout Pass Ski Area plans to open for the winter season on Thursday, Nov. 21, and Schweitzer Mountain Resort and Mt. Spokane Ski and Snowboard Park have just announced they will open…
BICYCLING -- Cyclocross is "the steeplechase of bicycling, a hybrid sport of mountain biking and road racing," according to one rider in Sandpoint last weekend, where S-R photographer Jesse Tinsley caught the action with his video camera at the last race of the cyclocross season.…
OUTDOOR LITERATURE -- Barry Lopez, one of America's premier nature writers, will give Spokane Community College’s first 2013-14 President Speakers Series lecture at 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 21, in the Lair-Student Center auditorium, Bldg. 6. The college is at 1810 N. Greene St. Topics for…
FISHING -- Gordon Steinmetz, a Columbia Basin fishing guide from Coulee City, Wash., passed away over the weekend, according to a report by Northwest Sportsman. Steinmetz ran Big Wally's tackle shop and store with his wife, Marge, and helped organize many warmwater fishing tournaments in…
HUNTING -- The late whitetail buck season for modern rifle hunters in select northeastern Washington units closes today at 4:45 p.m. The the snow that blanketed hunting areas last weekend for the closing days apparently have been good for hunters. “Weather conditions for 2013 created…
HUNTING -- Washington's late fall turkey hunting season opens Wednesday, Nov. 20, in East Side GMUs 105-154 and 162-186. A wildlife biologist I know said he has given up the spring gobbler hunts in favor of filling his tags in the fall. He's trading the…
PREDATORS -- Am I shocked that a wolf hunter has shot someone's pet near a popular Montana-Idaho winter recreation area? Yes. Am I surprised? No. And the Missoula County sheriff’s office is just throwing up its hands, saying there's nothing it can do as it…
HUNTING -- I've been exploring some of the properties in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife Private Lands Access Program this week. While there's some good habitat holding upland birds on these lands, the thing that strikes me is how much "filler" there is…
CLIMATE CHANGE -- The National Wildlife Federation continues to point out the potential impacts of climate change on wildlife populations and the sports, hobbies and economies they support. Rising temperatures, deeper droughts and more extreme weather events fueled by manmade climate change are making survival…
TRAILS -- The work park staff and volunteers put in building bridges at Mount Spokane this summer and fall is paying off this winter, especially for snowshoers who can easily get across Burping Brook on the trails above the Mount Kit Carson Loop Road. Holly…
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT -- Sharon Kiefer, Idaho Fish and Game Department deputy director, is the speaker for the monthly Sportsmen's Breakfast on Tuesday (Nov. 19), 6:30 a.m. at Lake City Senior Center, 1916 N. Lakewood Dr. in Coeur d’Alene. Breakfast can be purchased for $7.50, which…
MUSCLE SPORTS -- The 9th Annual Winter Wildlands Alliance Backcountry Film Festival tour is coming to the Panida Theater in Sandpoint on Friday, Nov. 22. The ten films included in this year’s Backcountry Film Festival feature a variety of muscle-powered outdoor pursuits. The film tour…
PUBLIC LANDS -- The North Cascades Scenic Highway (SR 20) is featured today on the Bing homepage, which is displaying an interactive photograph of headlights coming down the stunning highway through the national park. The highway travels through 9 different regions across the state, from…
HUNTING -- Anyone who's tried to get a coveted big-game hunting tag in a state special permit drawing will relate to the satire in this video. Be sure to watch it all the way through to the clever ending. I howled with laughter.
HUNTING -- The late season for hunting whitetail bucks in northeastern Washington ends Tuesday, Nov. 19, as the mating season peaks for the wary deer. Montana outdoor photographer Jaime Johnson "caught and released" this bruiser Saturday just to help remind us that the big bucks…
WINTER SPORTS -- Snow conditions in the Mount Spokane Cross-Country Skiing Park were ungroomed but excellent for snow shoeing, says Warren Walker, who checked out the area today and snapped this photo of other snowshoers he saw there. Snowshoeing is allowed around the cross-country trails…
WINTER SPORTS -- Stevens Pass Ski Resort announced today, Nov. 16, that it has opened its 2013-14 winter season with more than 1,000 skiers and riders coming to enjoy more than 22 inches of snow in the past 24 hours and a 30-inch base. Hogsback…
WINTER SPORTS -- 49° North Ski Area is covered in snow! Friday's storm dumped enough snow to allow the resort to open Sunday Nov. 17, with Chairs 1 and 3 operating from 9 a.m. – 3:30 p.m. We plan on opening up to 14 runs…
WINTER SPORTS -- Lookout Pass and 49 Degrees North ski areas have put skiers and boarders on alert that snow is piling up on their slopes and, depending on what the incoming storm deposits overnight, they may start their lifts this weekend for the first…
ADVENTURE -- The lineup of films for the three-day run of the Banff Mountain Film Festival World Tour in Spokane has been decided -- just hours before the first films will be shown tonight starting at 7 p.m. at The Bing Crosby Theater. Friday and…
Cutthroat trout deaths on Montana river may prompt regulation change Over the past two years, reports of dead cutthroat trout on the upper reaches of Montana's Bitterroot River have launched an investigation by the Montana Department of Fish, Wildlife and Parks to determine if fishing…
Wolf management a factor in updating Idaho's elk plan Among the 1,203 people who reviewed Idaho's proposal to update its 1999 elk management plan, 442 people commented and 150 of those people urged more aggressive wolf management to help protect elk populations. Craig White, the…
WINTER SPORTS -- The snow has barely piled up in the mountains and the first avalanche accidents of the year are being reported in the West. Be prepared. Two levels of avalanche courses are being offered in the next few months at Schweitzer Mountain Resort…
Rich Landers writes and photographs stories and columns for a wide range of outdoors coverage, including Outdoors feature sections on Sunday and Thursday.
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