FISHING -- Frank Whitney holds up one of the reasons anglers might want to pursue kokanee at Lake Roosevelt Whitney caught this beefy 23-incher -- weighing 4 pounds, 3 ounces -- while fishing over the weekend out of Keller. His friend, Eldon Wagner, wasn't quite…
BOATING -- Get more bang for your buck by multitasking at the Spokane National Boat Show, which opens Friday and runs through Feb. 6 at Spokane Interstate Fair and Expo Center. The eight-hour America’s Boating Course, which satisfies Washington’s mandatory boater education requirements, will be…
OLYMPIA -- A bill has been introduced in the Washington Legislature that would, among other things, give loons and trumpeter swans some clout against a poacher's bank acount. When a Newport-area man senselessly killed a common loon at Yocum Lake a few years ago, Washington…
OLYMPIA -- Here' s a sampling of legislation of interest to sportsmen that's been introduced in the Washington Legislature and is up for major public hearings. It's a version reduced from a list being watched by the Fishing and Hunting Natural Resources Forum. SB 5201…
WINTER SPORTS -- The Panhandle Nordic Club's annual Rock Soup event is set for Saturday at Fourth of July Pass nordic trails Panhandle Hut. Although the snow is thin on the trails, there's plenty for skiing. "The ski up Skywalker from Skateway to Twisted Klister…
WATERFOWL -- These ducks are offering their free services as models to promote the effective qualities of down insulation as they hang out comfortably on the ice in below-zero conditions. Down is the lightest most compressible and efficient natural insulator for cold weather clothing. But…
OUTDOOR CHUCKLE -- As a trapper boarded the airplane, the flight attendant asked what he had in the bag over his shoulder. "It's a dead raccoon." "You can't bring a dead raccoon on the plane," the attendant said. "Sure I can. It's carrion."
Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy WILDLIFE -- Maybe it doesn't solve the case of 3,000 blackbirds that fell from the sky and died in Arkansas on New Years Day, but at least the people in South Dakota got…
ADVENTURE -- Historian and author Jack Nisbet of Spokane will give a slide presentation on "David Thompson among the Kalispel" this month in the cultural heart of the tribe's reservation. Although the Lewis and Clark Expedition had garnered much of the publicity a few years…
WILDLIFE LEGISLATION -- A spokeswoman for an organization working on wolf, wildlife and wildland issues in Washington is panning a trio of Canis lupus-related bills introduced in Olympia last week, according to a report by Northwest Sportsman magazine. “They are spectacular in their awfulness and…
WINTER SPORTS -- Women and girls can earn an advantage in winning prizes by signing up early for the 6th Annual Women's Souper’ Bowl snowshoe and cross-country Ski event at Mount Spokane. Use the handy new online registration option. The event runs 10 a.m.-1 p.m.…
WILDLIFE ENCOUNTERS -- Runners are gaining ground on wildlife photographers as the most likely people to be mauled by a grizzly bear in the Northern Rockies. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s grizzly bear recovery coordinator says long-distance trail runners are approaching photographers as the…
BEACHCOMBING -- Washington beaches will see the highest tides of the year this weekend, peaking at 7:28 a.m. Sunday. Unfortunately, the peak comes a bit late for the razor clamming season that runs today and Saturday. The National Weather Service says the tide will measure…
WINTER S PORTS -- The avalanche advisory issued by the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center this morning warns of "considerable" danger on many areas of the Inland Northwest. Avalanche conditions for the Idaho Panhandle National Forest are rated as Considerable on wind loaded aspects above 5000…
OLYLMPIA -- Legislation was introduced Thursday for the first across-the-board increase in Washington hunting and fishing license fees in 14 years, according to a report by Allen Thomas of the Vancouver Columbian. House Bill 1387 would result in an increase in revenue from hunting licenses…
WATER SPORTS -- The waves are rising to the occasion of an almost-annual event in Hawaii. Surfers are catching massive waves this week on Oahu's North Shore. Organizers of the big wave surfing contest known as "The Eddie" say Waimea Bay's waves aren't consistently large…
FISHING -- Take it from the record number of bald eagles that gathered to feast on spawning salmon this winter: The kokanee have made a comeback at Lake Coeur d'Alene. The turn-around has been dramatic, Idaho Fish and Game fisheries biologists say in a just-released…
FORESTS -- Inland Northwest landowners with woodlots are being warned to watch for signs of a tree-damaging caterpillar outbreak that's already affected at least 570 acres in eastern Spokane County and 8,500 acrees in North Idaho. Defoliation from the Douglas-fir tussock moth was found in…
WILDLIFE PARTS -- If you bagged an early buck with velvet antlers, you might want to grind them up rather than hang them on the wall. A New Zealand company is doing just that to make a "mouthwash" that NFL players are using to gussy…
WINTER SPORTS -- The next free avalanche workshop in Sandpoint for all snowgoers is set for Feb. 9. The topic to be tackled by the team from the Forest Service technicians at the Idaho Panhandle Avalanche Center: "What we can learn from 10 years of…
RIVERS -- The huge runoff from recent thaw has prompted Avista Utilities to open all of its spill gats at Post Falls Dam, the utility announced moments ago. In response to rising Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe River flows and Coeur d’Alene Lake levels, the…
WILDLIFE ENFORCEMENT -- Washington Fish and Wildlife Deparment agents in the Spokane Region spent an unusually large amount of time last week responding to complaints about free-roaming dogs harassing deer. At least five incidents showed up on the department's weekly report on enforcement officer activity.…
WILDLIFE -- Neither state nor tribal officials returned telephone queries today regarding the Saturday-Sunday translocation of Nevada pronghorns to the Yakama Indian Reservation. As I reported in my Monday blog, pronghorns were extirpated from this region in the 1800s. I called two Washington Fish and…
UPLAND BIRD HUNTING -- Rain was splattering on the windshield and the wind was blowing so hard up the Snake River canyon on Monday morning it rocked the pickup after I shut down the engine. That wasn't a good sign for two guys and a…
FISHING -- Felt-soled wading shoes — long used to give stream anglers traction on slippery river bottoms — could be off store shelves in Oregon next year and banned statewide in 2013, a casualty in the war against invasive aquatic species, according to the Mail…
