State Elk Hunters Find Success Slow And Not Too Sure

The season for elk-hunting stories is in full swing. Given a success rate of less than 15 percent, most of the talk is about the one that got away.

An exception comes from Dean Lydig of Spokane. The Washington Fish and Wildlife commissioner bagged a six-point bull on opening day in the Blue Mountains’ Watershed unit.

An elk hunter in Washington nowadays has to think ahead and persevere. Only 70 permits were issued for branched-antlered bulls in the Blue Mountains this year.

“I put in for 20 years before I got my first permit,” Lydig said. “I’ve drawn four permits in 34 years.”

Rugged roadless terrain in the Watershed required two 7-1/2-hour trips to pack out the meat, he said.

But while Lydig couldn’t be happier, Bob LeGasa of Coeur d’Alene is singing the blues.

The only animals he’s bagged this elk season were a mouse and the neighbor’s cat.

Not nearly enough to fill the freezer.

The cat, by the way, was an accident. He flattened it with the car.

LeGasa’s wife, Jane, reportedly gave little sympathy to the hunter, who was near tears over the incident. If he’s all broke up about killing a cat, she said, how can he shoot an elk?

For the record: The first recorded hunting accident in this country was once thought to be on Aug. 11, 1806, among members of the Lewis and Clark Expedition in what is now Montana.

However, wildlife officers in Maine have discovered documents from the investigation of a hunting fatality in that region on March 24, 1646.

Battling burrs: Hunters with long-haired dogs can help prevent burrs from collecting in the dog’s coat by using the hair-polish products made for show horses.

Products such as Show Sheen or Laser Sheen make hair slick, but not oily. Many burrs are repelled. Those that do stick are easier to brush out.

The products apparently are safe for dogs, says Gun Dog Magazine.

Warning: A reader called last week and complained that my commentary on laws that affect the environment have nothing to do with sports and shouldn’t be published in the Sports section.

Translation: He doesn’t agree with me.

If you think environmental degradation has no impact on hunting or fishing, save yourself some grief. Don’t read on.

Wading the hype: Supporters of Referendum 48, the property rights and environmental blights initiative, are beginning their final rampage.

However, they’ve dropped the tear-jerking ads about Don and Mary Powell, who say that Pierce County bureaucrats barred them from even walking on wetlands that formed on their 6 acres. The Tacoma News-Tribune checked into the story and found it was a farce.

The ad said environmental laws rendered the Powells’ land worthless without “a dime’s worth of compensation.”

Truth is, the Powells received a 20 percent tax break for the wetlands on their property. And the Powells recently had the property on the market for $470,000.

Oh, and the part about the Powells “not even being able to walk on their land” was just another little white lie.

But while that ad is history, the hype continues.

R-48 supporters are crying that out-of-staters are funding the opposition to the environmentally disastrous measure.

But the Yes-on-48 campaign neglects to mention the $115,000 it’s received from the Building Industry Association, the $100,000 from the National Association of Realtors or the $107,000 from the National Association of Homebuilders.

No group in the No-on-48 campaign comes close to matching those contributions.

The industry-financed Yes-on-48 campaign has $176,085 remaining from its $1.13 million in contributions.

The mostly citizen-funded No-on-48 campaign has $21,000 remaining from its $787,000 fund.

The environmentally active Bullitt Foundation helped fund a $100,000 University of Washington study which essentially found that state and local governments would, indeed, have a choice if R-48 were to pass.

They could stop enacting and enforcing environmental regulations. Or they could go bankrupt.

The Yes-on-48 campaign chose not to do scientific research on the impacts of the measure. Instead, supporters are pumping tons of money into a propaganda blitz coming to your radio or TV this week.

Prediction: R-48 supporters will bill a victory as a populist uprising. If the measure fails, they’ll blame it on a media conspiracy.

You can contact Rich Landers by voice mail at 459-5577, extension 5508.

, DataTimes The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Rich Landers The Spokesman-Review