CRESCENT, OREGON — Steve Nicovich is trolling a large plug lure deep in the bowels of Odell Lake in search of one of its famed mottled marauders when something almost appears to happen.

Starting in August, the sounds of a helicopter could be reverberating in the Absaroka-Beartooth Wilderness just north of Yellowstone National Park.

Alan Liere’s fishing-hunting report for April 28

Tami Sanborn took this photo of a tree swallow in Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge on May 10.

The time is now for catching spring chinook salmon on the lower Clearwater River, and the fish are likely to be plentiful in the lower Salmon River near Riggins in the near future. 

Travis Wendt of Lewiston landed Idaho’s latest state-record fish on May 10.

Nearly five years after the Idaho Department of Fish and Game found an invasive predatory fish in one of the state’s prime perch habitats, officials reeled in another.

A former Idaho Fish and Game commissioner is questioning why some nonresident hunters were offered refunds last fall following an outbreak of a disease that killed thousands of whitetail deer.

If you can see the photo of Tom Miles and his Super Hunt bull, you know how it ends, but there is much more to this story than a life-long elk hunter who killed a trophy bull. Miles, a 70-year old native Idahoan from Meridian, drew the ultra-coveted Super Hunt tag in 2021, and what followed lived up to the name.

Raising teenagers these days is not for the faint of heart.

Wanted: Camp hosts to serve one month or more at Hart Mountain National Antelope Refuge in south-central Oregon. Duties: welcoming campers and visitors; sharing information about the area; and light maintenance, repairs and cleanup at campgrounds and restrooms. Applicants should be outdoorsy, outgoing and open to living in a remote setting. (The closest Walmart is about 160 miles away.)

Ray Scott, a consummate promoter who helped launch professional bass angling and became a fishing buddy to presidents while popularizing the conservation practice of catching and releasing fish, has died, a longtime aide said Monday.

Fly fishing

Photographer Angela Marie took this photo of black-necked stilts on Hauser Lake.

The Washington departments of Fish and Wildlife and Natural Resources are seeking public input on electric-assist bicycling, or e-biking, on WDFW and DNR-managed lands as part of a process directed by Senate Bill 5452, a bill that passed the state Legislature in 2021.

The Western painted turtle – found in Inland Northwest ponds, lakes and slow-moving waters that have soft, muddy bottoms – has a way of being inconspicuously obvious.

Spring chinook are continuing to make an impressive showing at Bonneville Dam.

Better access to the outdoors was one of the top reasons people moved to Montana over the past decade, a recent study found.