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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Out & About: No more buckskin gloves for deer hides at Pacific

OUTSKINNED – A decades-old tradition of trading a deer skin for a pair of buckskin gloves is just a memory this year.

Pacific Steel and Recycling in Spokane is no longer taking deer, elk and moose hides.

“We still accept cattle hides, but we stopped taking deer and elk hides after last season,” said Kyle Williams, a buyer for the Spokane Pacific Steel branch.

“We used to pool all the hides from the other branches and ship them all at once (to a tannery),” he said, noting that most of the hides were made into work gloves and mitts.

“But we were the only branch still doing it. It got to where we weren’t getting enough hides to make much return on it.”

Last season was the last time a good deer hide would net a pair of gloves and well-skinned elk hide would earn the hunter two pairs.

Formerly Pacific Hide and Fur, the business, into the 1980s, bought bobcat, coyote and other furs from trappers and hunters.

The hide markets started fading in the ’80s and never recovered to past levels.

Bear biologist fined $10K for shooting grizzly

OUTLAW – A Wyoming Game and Fish employee who pleaded guilty to mistakenly shooting a grizzly bear last fall has been ordered to pay $10,000 in restitution.

The Cody Enterprise reported that a judge also ordered Luke Ellsbury to pay $260 in fines and costs for shooting the bear about 10 miles east of Yellowstone National Park on Sept. 6, 2013.

Ellsbury, a large carnivore biologist and former bear management specialist, told investigators he had spotted a large black bear while working in the area. After work he bought a bear license and returned with a friend.

Ellsbury said he spent about 10 minutes watching the bear and believed it was a black bear.

Bear experts agree that distinguishing a black bear from a grizzly can be difficult.

“But when in doubt,” said Wayne Kasworm, federal grizzly biologist in Libby, Montana, “pass up the shot.”

Duh! Hikers already knew what researchers proved

OUTWELL – British and American scientists have published new research showing that group nature walks help us combat stress while boosting mental well-being.

Researchers from the University of Michigan and Edge Hill University in England evaluated 1,991 participants in England’s Walking for Health program, which organizes nearly 3,000 walks per week for more than 70,000 regular participants. They found that the nature walks were associated with significantly less depression in addition to mitigating the negative effects of stressful life events and perceived stress.

“Stress isn’t ever going to go away, so it is important to have a way to cope with it,” said Sara Warber, associate professor of family medicine at the University of Michigan Medical School and senior author of the study. “Walking in nature is a coping mechanism—the benefits aren’t just physical.”

The findings were published in the September issue of Ecopsychology.