Aug. 30, the beginning of bowhunting season, is closing in and now is the time for archers to do their annual pre-scouting trips to the woods.
Hunters should be spending the next month locating elk and deer herds. Most of the animals found now will be in that general location come opening season—and besides, it’s a great time to be in the woods to avoid the heat of the valley.
High elevations are the place to look.
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The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife Outdoor Skills program has two upcoming events to introduce people to hunting.
– On Saturday, Aug. 16, ODFW will host A Day at the Range-Eagle Creek Gun Club, east of Portland. Cost is $60. This event is designed for beginners. There will be three venues on firearms: rifles, hand guns and muzzle loaders; and one archery venue. Participants will have a chance to learn how to safely handle, and fire a variety of firearms and shoot a bow. This is a hands-on workshop; all firearms, ammunition, and lunch will be provided.
– A two-day pheasant hunt is planned for Sept. 20-21 at Denman Wildlife Area near Medford. Day one will consist of gun handling instructions, safety talks, skeet shooting, and an afternoon pheasant hunt using dogs. Day two will consist of a morning pheasant hunt. Cost is $40.
Contact [email protected] or call (503) 947-6018 for more information or to sign up.
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The 2008 Oregon Waterfowl Festival will be held this weekend, Aug. 16 and 17 at the Polk County Fairgrounds.
Daily entree fee is $7, with a two-day pass costing $10. Parking’s included in the entry fee. Children 12 and under are free.
Gates open daily at 8:30 a.m. with seminars running from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday and 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Sunday. A barbecue dinner will be served from 4:30 to 6:30 p.m. Saturday. Calling contests run from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Sunday.
Activities include carving demonstrations, custom call-making demonstrations, vendors, AKC dog events, a decoy contest, Kidville and more. Competitions include a calling contest, a blind competition and dog events.
For more information, visit http://www.oregonwaterfowl.com.
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The general fall black bear season opened on Aug. 1. In the fall, black bears are often found feeding on wild berries or eating insects and grubs from rotting logs. Berries and logs can be found in regenerating clear-cuts or burned areas. Bears will feed heavily on Himalayan blackberries and huckleberries when they ripen. For now, hunters should look for areas with ripe native blackberries or raspberries. Most successful bear hunters glass areas where they find sign of foraging bears. Some hunters have had success using predator calls.
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An agreement between the ODFW and three northeast Oregon landowners has opened almost 20,000 acres of private lands in Baker and Union counties to public hunting for the 2008-09 hunting seasons.
This access is made possible by $46,187 in grant funds from the ODFW Access and Habitat Program awarded to the landowners in return for allowing the public to hunt on their properties. These open-to-hunt properties include:
Widman Access Area
A $17,460 grant to Baker County landowner Mike Widman will open 8,430 acres of his property to public hunting from Aug. 1 to Dec. 1, 2008. A portion of the grant will be used for signage marking property boundaries. The Widman property is located within the Lookout Mountain Wildlife Management Area and consists of sagebrush steppe and high elevation conifer and aspen habitat. The area offers opportunities to hunt for trophy mule deer and chukar. Elk and pronghorn also use the property.
Forsea Ranch Access Area
The owners of Forsea Ranch in Baker County will receive $20,992 to permit public hunting access to 9,330 acres of private land from Aug. 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009. The Forsea Ranch has been enrolled in this access program since 2003. The property offers outstanding opportunities to hunt for bighorn sheep, elk, mule deer, bear, cougar and upland game birds. An additional $1,600 will be used for access area signs and maps.
Smutz Access Area
Landowner Irwin Smutz will receive $3,535 to allow public hunting on 1,414 acres of his Union County property from Aug. 1, 2008 to July 31, 2009. An additional $1,600 will go for signs and maps and another $1,000 in grant funds will be used to build two gravel parking lots. The property offers hunting for deer, elk, bear, cougar, waterfowl and upland game birds.
For additional information on hunting these areas contact the ODFW Grande Ronde Watershed District Office in La Grande at (541) 963-2138.
For information on the A&H Program call program coordinator Matt Keenan at (503) 947-6087 or visit the Web site at http://www.dfw.state.or.us/AH/.
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ODFW last week unveiled its new Oregon Hunting Access Map, a great tool to find out where to hunt, especially for people new to hunting or new to the state.
Even experienced Oregon hunters are likely to discover a new hunting location by exploring the comprehensive list of opportunities in a centralized place.
The map features state wildlife areas, national wildlife refuges, private lands open to hunting through ODFW’s Access and Habitat (A&H) and Upland Cooperative Access (UCAP) programs, Travel Management Areas on private timberlands open to hunting, and Willamette River Greenway properties that allow hunting. Because the map is based within Google Maps, users can calculate distance and driving directions to the hunting area, switch between map, terrain and satellite views, zoom in and out of areas, and customize the map to their liking.
A descriptive bubble for each area provides further information about the principal species hunted, size of the area, access periods and special regulations. Big game and game bird icons will help hunters quickly determine if an area is right for them. In addition, many of these areas have links to further information–PDF maps, harvest reports and regional hunting reports. Users can also discover more about “by-permission-only” hunting on certain A&H and UCAP properties from the orange icons.
“This map makes it easy for those just getting started hunting in Oregon to figure out where to go,” said Matthew Keenan, ODFW’s Access and Habitat program coordinator. “Experienced hunters can explore their favorite and as-yet-undiscovered hunting locations from one centralized place.”
The interactive map lets users leave comments, too. “This map is a work-in-progress, and we want to hear from hunters about how to make it more useful and user-friendly,” noted David Budeau, ODFW upland bird program coordinator. “In the future, we’ll consider adding other opportunities such as popular hunting areas on BLM and Forest Service lands, and even creating additional maps for fishing, clamming/crabbing and wildlife viewing opportunities.”
The maps should be used for reference only—hunters are still responsible for knowing their particular hunt’s boundaries and regulations.
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Fish managers decided last week that the all-depth sport halibut fishery off the central Oregon coast will be open weekly Friday through Sunday as of Aug. 8. Prior to this decision the fishery had been open every other Friday through Sunday.
NOAA Fisheries, the International Pacific Halibut Commission, and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife determined sufficient quota remains to open the all-depth fishery every weekend as specified in the Pacific halibut Catch Sharing Plan. The all-depth fishery will remain open until Oct. 26 or until the quota is attained, whichever comes earlier.
Details on regulations can be found at: http://www.dfw.state.or.us/mrp/finfish/halibut/seasonmaps/2008.asp or in the 2008 Oregon Sport Ocean Regulations for Salmon, Halibut and Other Marine Species booklet. General regulations can be found in the 2008 Oregon Sport Fishing Regulations booklet.
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There’s a new chapter in the Diamond Lake saga of fish that don’t belong there.
ODFW biologists from around Southern Oregon converged on the lake last week to electro-fish for golden shiners, a bait fish recently found there during routine trap netting.
According to the ODFW, electro-fishing crews found 204 golden shiners in the first few days of last week, most of them concentrated in one spot, and many of them ripe for spawning.
“After such a successful rotenone treatment in 2006 to rid Diamond Lake of tui chub, we are really disappointed to find another invasive fish in the lake. We hope to knock back or at least control the shiners with the combination of predacious rainbow trout stocked last year and this summer and fishing as much as possible right now to disrupt their spawning season,” said district Fish Biologist Laura Jackson.
Golden shiners are native to the East Coast and have the potential to spawn in Diamond Lake, although they are not as prolific as tui chub and require warmer water to successfully reproduce.
Golden shiners are a popular bait fish although it is illegal to use them in Oregon’s fresh waters. Anyone witnessing an angler using live bait fish should get as much information as possible, including a description of the person, boat, vehicle, boat number and license plate and call Oregon State Police at (541) 440-3334.
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Oregon’s Fish and Wildlife Commission Friday adopted 2008-09 regulations for birds hunted in Oregon including migratory birds (duck, goose, mourning dove, band-tailed pigeon, coot, snipe) upland birds (pheasant, forest grouse, chukar, pheasant, California quail, mountain quail, sage grouse, turkey) and crows.
Below is a summary of the 2008-09 game bird regulations adopted.
– Turkey: Limited general western Oregon fall season Oct. 15-Dec. 31 with a season limit of one turkey of either sex; a maximum of 3,000 tags will be issued first-come first-served.
– Sage grouse: Season Sept. 6-14; 1,175 permits (same as last year); application deadline Aug. 25; daily/season bag limit of two. Applications will be accepted beginning Aug. 9.
– Special pheasant hunts: Fourteen youth pheasant hunts at 13 statewide locations during one of four weekends in September, including a new hunt in the Heppner unit, including those listed at the beginning of this article.
– Duck: The commission approved another liberal 107-day duck season with a daily bag limit of seven ducks with no more than one pintail, two scaup (86-day season), two hen mallard, and two redheads. Canvasback hunting is closed.
– Goose: Most zones continue a 100-day season with a liberal daily bag limit of four dark geese and six white geese (up from four last year). Openings are concurrent with duck openers in most areas.
In the NW Oregon Permit Zone, hunters who do not check out their geese will not only lose their hunting privileges for the remainder of the season, but for the following season. For more details visit http://www.dfw.state.or.us.