Rich Landers: ‘Flying’ dangerous to dogs
Hikers, dog owners and SPAAMers – Sportsmen and other People Against ATV Madness – will find timely autumn advice and inspiration in this multitopic column.
Dog handlers, especially hunters heading out this weekend to unleash canines bursting with enthusiasm, should be aware that dogs have poor perception of heights.
Bridges are especially dangerous places for them to be unleashed.
Several of my friends have had traumatic experiences with dogs and bridges this year. In one case, a playful yellow Lab leaped off the pedestrian bridge at Manito Park and broke the wrists on both front legs.
This is not the first time a dog has gone off that Manito bridge, where the city has placed a sign reminding people that dogs should be leashed.
Dr. Joseph Harari, a Spokane veterinary surgeon, said it’s not uncommon in his practice to work on dogs that have jumped from heights, such as bridges, decks and cliffs as well as moving vehicles.
“Dogs are like linebackers on the football field,” he said. “They’re not perceptive or thinking of all the consequences as they run because they’re on a mission.”
The worst-case scenario unfolded last week for another friend during a steelhead fishing trip on the Grande Ronde River.
He let his two Weimeriners out of the rig as he and his wife parked and walked out on a bridge to check the river below. The year-old pup, full of enthusiasm, ran to the man, as he probably had a thousand times before, and leaped to its death in the rocks 40 feet below.
“It was so fast and unexpected,” said my friend, haunted by the vision of the dog tumbling end over end in the air.
“Please write something that might save some other dog owner from going through this.”
Done, with fond memories of Izzy.
Fall colors: Hikers shouldn’t avoid backcountry trails during this peak period of autumn color just because thousands of gun-toting sportsmen are flocking into the woods and fields this month for various hunting seasons.
Huckleberry bushes are brilliant red, mountain ashes and sumac are glowing like fire, aspens and alpine larch are beaming in brilliant gold, and the lower elevation larch will peak in color in two or three weeks.
Hikers should consider becoming colorful, too. Wear bright clothing when hiking in fall to make you obvious to hunters. Better yet, buy a cheap fluorescent orange hunter’s cap or vest and wear it on the trail and in camp.
Troubling trails: While grouse hunting and scouting for elk in northeastern Washington last weekend, I came across a small number of people with polarized views of off-road vehicles.
Two men were in a camp next to a vast system of closed logging roads that lead into lands managed by private timber companies and the Forest Service. I chatted with them as I looked at their assortment of dirt bikes and ATVs. As I left, I said, “By the way, did you know those roads are closed to motorized vehicles?”
“Oh, yeah, they’re all non-motorized,” one of them said almost as though he meant it. “We know.”
As I left, two of their camping buddies rode their ATVs out of an illegal trail that had been cleared around an expensive gate holding a huge “road closed” sign.
Before the day was over, I saw two more hunters on ATVs blatantly and defiantly using illegal routes to access roads posted as being closed to motorized vehicles.
I also met two hunters who were angry. “When I hump three miles up a closed road before sunrise, I don’t want to meet up with an ATV on the ridge,” one of them said.
The U.S. Forest Service chief has ranked unregulated off-road traffic right up there with forest fire fuels and invasive species as one of the top four problems plaguing national forests.
Wildlife biologists are seeing more and more evidence that four seasons of off-road traffic, including the growing popularity of ATVers hunting shed antlers during spring, is robbing big-game of undisturbed periods needed for herd health.
Private timber company managers are closing lands or charging fees to help cope with illegal motorized access.
One Forest Service enforcement officer, overwhelmed in recent years with off-road vehicle complaints, told me this week that “ATVs have replaced locusts as one of the seven signs of the apocalypse.”
One of the angry hunters I met last weekend, who said he owns an ATV but knows where to use it, had some insights worth pondering. Among them:
“Competition fuels the ATV problem in hunting. If one hunter is allowed to breach a gate and ride up a non- motorized route without repercussions, others will follow.
“The small chance of getting caught and issued a ticket makes it worthwhile to break the rules.
He said SPAAMers have no choice but to help take back the woods from the renegades.
“I spent half the day hunting and the other half dragging logs, rocks and other debris to block trails ATVers have cleared to access the closed roads,” he said. “Everybody should do that every time they come across one.
“I haven’t felt so fulfilled since I tagged a six-point bull.”