Sports

<< Previous   of   Next >>   ADVERTISEMENT   CONTACT THE HERALD Report scores and results to 425-339-3470 or 1-866-6-SCORES (Call after 4:30 p.m.) E-mail information including items for Tuesday's Communities Sports Roundup and Thursday's Outdoor Calendar, to sports@heraldnet.com Kevin Brown, Sports Editor kbrown@heraldnet.com   Published: Thursday, October 22, 2009 Foul weather great for fowl hunters By Wayne Kruse Herald Writer Torrential rain and gusty winds which blew into the area late last week were made to order for Saturday’s general waterfowl opener, and a whole bunch of duck hunters couldn’t have been happier. Deer hunters, slogging through westside brush in a downpour, were a lot less enthusiastic. “It was a great opener,” said John Garrett, manager of the Skagit Wildlife Area, which offers northwest Washington’s best public duck and goose hunting. “Lots of limits, particularly on Saturday morning, and even a few early snow geese over the weekend.” He said that hunters along the Skagit bayfront did best, as is usually the case early in the season, but that the “headquarters unit” on Fir Island west of Conway — substantially reconfigured this year as salmon habitat — also put out some decent shooting. “Forget everything you knew about hunting the headquarters unit on the Skagit,” said a spokesman for the Washington Waterfowl Association. “The fields are now flooded and intertidal, anywhere from three feet to eight feet deep at high tide and always at least knee-deep. Watch the tides and expect to use a small boat, kayak or canoe for access.” The spokesman said the main boat ramp (for access to the bayfront) is useable and not silted-in too badly, and that a small, gravelled ramp for canoes and such was installed off the main ramp parking lot, which was enlarged and improved. Checks of bayfront hunters tallied an average of just under three ducks per person, two-thirds of which were mallards, plus a mix of pintail, wigeon and teal. Garrett counted 54 vehicles at the headquarters unit parking lot at 7 a.m. Saturday, and 32 vehicles (24 with trailers) in the new boat ramp parking lot. The harvest there was just under two ducks per person — 30 percent mallards, 30 percent teal, 25 percent wigeon and 15 percent pintail. Garrett said the Samish Unit of the Skagit Wildlife Area was only fair over the weekend, because ducks hadn’t started using the grain there yet. Other checks around Padilla Bay, Samish Flats, and the north side of the delta generally were pretty good, however. Some 48 hunters were checked with an average of 4.2 ducks per person, mostly teal, wigeon, mallards and pintail, in that order. While it’s a little early for the best snow goose hunting on the delta, it’s not too soon to check out this year’s version of the Snow Goose Quality Hunt program. The system has been changed, making it more open to general public participation but altering the rules substantially. Find out more by going to http://wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/water/snow_goose/. Waterfowl hunters in the Columbia Basin found slightly lower success rates on the opener this year, according to state Fish and Wildlife Department waterfowl specialist Mikal Moore, in the agency’s Ephrata office, matching predictions of a smaller local hatch. “The average bag was around two ducks per hunter — mallards, teal and wigeon,” she said, “where it’s usually somewhere between two and three.” Participation was good, she said. The Winchester Wasteway area, in fact, was probably too crowded for top hunting. Moore said at least one Alberta-banded mallard was taken in the north Basin, indicating that cold weather in much of interior Canada has perhaps triggered an early waterfowl migration. Early-season migrants include teal, wigeon and pintail, while November will see populations of mallards, gadwall, wigeon, teal, redheads and canvasbacks. December, according to Moore, typically provides peak numbers of mallards in the Basin. Good prospects for this weekend would include most any shallow-water impoundment, Moore said, such as the Gloyd Seeps off Road 16; Potholes Reservoir and adjacent small ponds accessed via the ORV park out of Moses Lake or the Job Corps dike; or state restricted access areas on Frenchman Hills and Winchester wasteways. Deer harvest numbers on opening weekend of the modern firearm general season were very sketchy at time of writing. Down on the popular Vail Tree Farm in southern Thurston County, some 926 hunters were checked through the 1000 gate on Saturday and Sunday, with a total of 69 deer: two yearling does; three adult does; 25 yearling spikes; 17 adult spikes; two adult 1x2; 14 adult 3x2; and two adult 3x3 points. State personnel said the grouse harvest on the tree farm was the best in years, probably due to the warm summer and fall, but that the deer take was lower than expected based on good pre-season deer composition surveys. The animals are still there, making Vail probably a good choice for this weekend. The Deer Park check station north of Spokane found fewer hunters but more deer taken than for the same period last year. Some 187 hunters were checked Saturday and Sunday with 14 whitetail bucks, 12 whitetail does, and five mule deer bucks, for a 16.6-percent success rate. That compares favorably with last year’s success rate of 13.9-percent, despite two years of winter mortality and a generally declining northeast whitetail herd. It was a typically light turnout in the Snoqualmie Unit (GMU 460), according to state personnel, and only about a dozen deer were reported taken, mostly spikes and 2-points. In the Green River Watershed, permit hunters harvested four deer, and one of three elk permit hunters took a 6x7 bull. And speaking of elk, hunters interested in scouting or hunting elk units in northwest Yakima County should be aware of the slide-caused closure of SR 410 in the Naches Valley and of the designation of the Bethel Ridge Road for use by evacuees only. Units affected include Umtanum, Little Naches, Nile, Bumping, and Bethel. See the state DOT Web site for more info, www.wsdot.wa.gov. State biologist Jeff Bernatowicz said bull harvest in the Yakima herd will probably be down, but better than on the Colockum. He also warned about a new “spike bull” definition applicable to the Naneum, Quilomene, Ellensburg and Teanaway units, and that the hunting pamphlet carries a mistake concerning West Bar (GMU 330). West Bar is not open to general season elk hunting. Methow opportunity Biologists have opened the Miller Hole on the lower end of the Methow River, effective yesterday, to steelhead fishing — prhaps the most popular and productive stretch on the entire river. It had been closed earlier in the season to minimize incidental mortality on wild-stock, protected, steelhead, but state biologist Jeff Korth in Ephrata said the bulk of the wild fish have now moved upriver. The specific section which has opened is from the second powerline crossing above Pateros, up to the first Hwy 153 bridge. The daily limit of four hatchery steelhead is mandatory — there will be no catch and release, no bait is allowed and selective gear rules apply, a night closure is in effect and boats with motors are not allowed. Chums The dogs are barking! Or, if you prefer, the pack is back! A few early chum salmon have been caught in both the Skykomish and Skagit rivers. Razor clams Last weekend’s coastal razor clam dig turned out pretty well, according to state shellfish manager Dan Ayres in Montesano, despite forecasts of heavy surf conditions. The same storm front which brought wind and torrential rain to much of Western Washington pushed surf along the coast up to the 14-foot level early on Friday, Ayres said, but by Saturday it was down to 5 feet and on Sunday, it was flat, bluebird weather. “Crowds were down on Friday, the first day of the dig, and the surf was high,” Ayres said, “but by Saturday limits were the rule, and on Sunday digging was so good that almost everyone had left by halfway through the tide.” He said the crowd was estimated over the three days at about 33,000 digger trips, a little under expectations and probably attributable to the weather. Next up is a tentative dig on Nov. 4 (minus 1.3 feet at 7:33 p.m.), Nov. 5 (minus 1.2 feet at 8:18 p.m.), Nov. 6 (minus 0.9 feet at 9:07 p.m.) and Nov. 7 (minus 0.5 feet at 9:59 p.m.). Grand opening We’ve got a mini outdoor fair on tap today through Sunday at the grand opening of the new and improved Holiday Sports in Burlington. Free hot dogs and drinks; drawings and free prizes; sales of Mad Dog, Hodgman, Stearns, Carhartt and more; Berkley Pro Staff loading reels with free Big Game line; seminars by Rob Endsley and Cal Stocking; the Remington/Leupold/Springfield semi truck with all the reps and lots of samples on hand. Open 6 a.m. today and Friday, aned 5 a.m. Saturday and Sunday. Call 360-757-4361 (holidaysportshop@yahoo.com). READER COMMENTS Be the first to comment. You must be a registered user and verify your e-mail address to post comments to blogs or articles on HeraldNet. To register, click here. To read other terms and conditions, click here. Log out

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