Field Reports
WILDLIFE MANAGEMENT
Cascades elk moving
State and tribal wildlife biologists plan to capture elk from the Mount St. Helens area and relocate them in the Nooksack River watershed of Western Washington this week.
Up to 40 elk are scheduled to be moved by staff and volunteers who moved 42 elk from Mount St. Helens to the North Cascades in 2003.
Dave Ware, Washington Department of Fish and Wildlfie game manager, said the North Cascades elk herd has declined from 1,700 to 300 since 1984. The relocation follows a decade-old ban on hunting and projects to improve elk forage, he said.
The project should have little impact on the 13,000 elk in the Mount St. Helens Wildlife Area — the state’s largest elk herd.
Rich Landers
ENGANGERED SPECIES
Wolf poacher fined
A Boise man has paid a $2,500 fine for illegally shooting a gray wolf near Banner Summit. Terrance Hunter, 48, confessed to the crime after witnesses reported the June 21 shooting along Idaho Highway 21.
Hunter told U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service agents that he thought the animal he shot was a coyote. While coyotes are an unprotected species that can be taken at any time, wolves are a federally protected species.
With wolves now found throughout Idaho, Montana, Wyoming and into neighboring states, hunters can no longer assume that a dog-like animal encountered in the wild is a coyote, state Fish and Game officials said.
Rich Landers
WILDLIFE CONSERVATION
Cross-border habitat
Cal Groen of the Idaho Fish and Game Department will speak on cooperative projects to improve wildlife habitat on both sides of the Idaho-Washington line at the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council meeting, Tuesday, 8 p.m., at 6116 N. Market in Spokane.
Rich Landers
WILDLIFE REFUGES
Turnbull work party
Volunteers are needed for the annual community work party Oct. 15 to restore habitat for birds and other species at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge.
For 10 years, the Audubon Society, Scouts and other youth groups, community volunteers, and refuge staff have joined to plant and maintain native saplings. This year, the plan is to plant more saplings and remove exotic weeds and grasses from around the existing trees to increase their chance for survival.
Register in advance to help Turnbull officials plan for the work, which will be done from 9 a.m.-noon, as well as the traditional potluck lunch. Info: 235-4723.
Rich Landers
FISHING
Two lures, one fish
Texas anglers Mike Collins and John Beecherl were bass fishing last year, casting plastic worms from a boat as they eased along the shoreline of a lake near Dallas. They both cast toward the bank with their lures about 15 feet apart.
Both anglers detected strikes at about the same time and both set the hook. As they were reeling in their fish, they realized they had caught the same bass. Their plastic worms were imbedded side-by-side in the fish’s mouth.
It’s impossible to say how rare it is for two anglers to simultaneously catch the same fish, but with bass fishing, it will almost always happen while fishing with plastic worms.
The soft plastic worm feels real to a fish. Fish sometimes bite a worm in a very subtle fashion. The strike may be difficult to detect, particularly for a novice fisherman. What happens is the fish picks up a worm, and the angler doesn’t know he has a bite. The fish swims to the next lure and bites it, as well. At some point, both anglers realize they have a bite.
A more common occurrence is to catch two fish on the same lure.
Dallas Morning News
NATIONAL FORESTS
OHV planning meeting
The Colville National Forest is having another round of public meetings to identify routes for motorized vehicle travel. The ground work is required for the revision of the forest management plan as well as to comply with a U.S. Forest Service policy to prohibit off-road travel on national forests except on designated routes.
The next public meeting in Spokane is set for 6 p.m. Oct. 11 and the Inland Northwest Wildlife Council Building, 6116 N. Market.
Info: Debbie Wilkins, Newport Ranger District, (509) 447-7322.
Rich Landers
FISHING
Fly fishing for kids
Free fly fishing clinics for kids 10-15 years old are being offered starting next month through Swede’s Fly Shop, 1611 N. Ash.
Each clinic will feature a 30-minuted video overview of the sport, an introduction to fly tying and a casting lesson. The clinics will be offered 10 a.m.-12:30 p.m. on the first Saturday of November, January, March and May.
For information and pre-registration (each clinic limited to eight students), call 323-0500.
Rich Landers
HUNTING
Scams prey on hunters
Scammers are scouting the Internet for ways to harvest money from hunters’ wallets.
Several attempts have been made to sell counterfeit hunting permits on the Internet, according to the Better Business Bureau.
Creating or possessing counterfeit licenses and tags is a crime, and hunters should call the applicable state agency for verification before purchasing any special hunting tag or license from an Internet seller, the bureau advises.
Idaho Statesman
HUNTING
Tribe boosts wildlife
Wildlife numbers on the Wind River Indian Reservation near Riverton, Wyo., have exploded since tribal hunting regulations were enacted in October 1984, according to U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service statistics.
The regulations ended unrestricted year-round hunting by members of the Eastern Shoshone and Northern Arapaho tribes.
The change was originally looked upon with suspicion by some tribal members, including political leaders of the Arapaho Tribe, who felt it infringed on tribal tradition.
But most tribal members and leaders now regard it as a success.
Mike Lajeunesse, a Shoshone Business Council member, said some people have told him the reservation might not have as much diabetes now if people could hunt all year. “But there might not be any game to hunt now if it weren’t for the game code,” he said.
Lajeunesse said wild game is important in the American Indian diet not only because of tradition, but also because it’s low in cholesterol saturated fat. Many health experts blame a diet high in sugar and saturated fat as the leading cause of adult-onset diabetes.
In 1975, tribal leaders, wanting to address the diminishing amounts of deer, elk, antelope, bighorn sheep and moose on the 2.3 million-acre reservation, asked the Fish and Wildlife Service to conduct population surveys, according to Dave Skates, the agency’s Lander office supervisor.
Prior to the code, only three restrictions were placed on tribal hunting: “no selling of meat, no wanton waste and no spotlighting,” Skates said.
With rules in place, elk and antelope numbers have increased 240 percent; deer numbers are up 260 percent. Moose numbers have doubled and bighorn sheep numbers have grown more than 200 percent.
“You can really see the turnaround,” said Mike Lajeunesse, a Shoshone Business Council member and a hunter.”
Associated Press