Field reports: Field Reports: Youths vulnerable to lead at ranges

SHOOTING – Vancouver Rifle is just one of several private gun clubs across the United States that have been found to expose people to health hazards in a sport with growing numbers of youths and women, according to a series published this week by the Seattle Times.

While those most likely to be poisoned by lead in gun ranges are the workers themselves, the paper found dozens of avid shooters overexposed in such states as Washington, Massachusetts and Alaska.

The most vulnerable are children learning to shoot and compete in clubs operated by volunteers who may have little knowledge of the risks of firing lead ammunition. Gunfire can put lead residue in the air, and on the skin and nearby surfaces.

In 2010, blood tests revealed that 20 youths had been overexposed to the poisonous metal after shooting in Vancouver Rifle’s dirty, poorly ventilated range.

“It was devastating,” said Marc Ueltschi, the junior team coach and a club member. “It scared the life out of me. No one knew anything about lead poisoning and what to fix.”

State pulls traps Targeting Ruby wolf

ENDANGERED – A gray wolf that was deemed too comfortable with being around rural homes and pet dogs near Ione, Washington, has eluded state trappers intending to put the female wolf into captivity at a wildlife facility near Tenino, Washington.

Fish and Wildlife officials have called off the trapping effort and will wait until snow accumulates to offer a better chance of capture.

Officials are concerned for public safety as well as the prospect of the solo wolf being bred by a domestic dog during the winter mating season.

The Ruby Creek wolf was trapped and radio-collared in 2013 and had been hazed with rubber bullets to try to keep it away from Pend Oreille County residences. Wolves learn quickly from these encounters and are much harder to capture the second time around.

“We’ve had 24 traps in the ground for 18 nights,” Nate Pamplin, WDFW assistant director said Wednesday.

Pamplin also updated other ongoing wolf issues:

• The investigation continues into the killing of a wolf in Whitman County by a man who allegedly chased the wolf and shot it. Genetic samples were sent to a lab to determine whether the animal was a wolf or a hybrid. 

• Profanity Peak Pack, Washington’s most recently confirmed wolf pack, came to light in September after killing cattle in a remote national forest allotment in Ferry County near Profanity Peak. A new depredation was reported this week. Wildlife staffers are working with the rancher to try to prevent further attacks.

Roskelley to speak on Paddling the Columbia

RIVERS – John Roskelley of Spokane will present a free program based on his new book, Paddling the Columbia, at 7 p.m. on Monday Oct. 27 at Mountain Gear Corporate offices, 6021 E Mansfield.

The book is a guide to the 1,250-mile length of river from its headwaters in British Columbia to the Pacific Ocean. The program is sponsored by the Spokane Canoe & Kayak Club.

Trout season extended at 2 Wooten lakes

FISHING – Rather than risk losing hatchery fish to winterkill, the trout fishing season has been extended through Dec. 31 at Spring Lake and Blue Lake in the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife’s Wooten Wildlife Area in Columbia County.

The change “will provide additional recreational opportunity for Blue Mountains hunters and others who would like to fish these lakes in late fall when visiting the Wooten Wildlife Area,” said John Whalen, department regional fisheries manager.

The lakes normally would close Oct. 31, but they have enough fish to extend the season, he said.

Fishing from a floating device is prohibited at these lakes. The daily limit is five fish, up to 2 over 13 inches.