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Take precautions when hiking since it’s hunting season

Published 3:04 pm Friday, October 12, 2007

By Sharon Wootton Herald Columnist

I have to admit that I was yanked out of my comfort zone. Our group was on a fall hike and had taken a break along the side of the trail when two armed young men hiked past us.

They were hunters. It was deer season. We shared the same trail. We had been oblivious to the opening date of hunting season. Our bad.

Hunting season is in full swing and some hikers are uncomfortable heading to the woods with the possibility of errant bullets zinging through the trees or being mistaken for a deer. A tad more effort will go a long way toward being more comfortable sharing the woods with game and guns.

A starting point would be to look at the Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife’s big game and upland bird hunting pamphlet, which describes seasons and locations.

Look at www.wdfw.wa.gov/huntcorn.htm. Too much to comprehend? Look at the hiker-hunting issue this way:

  • Hunters won’t be found in our three national parks: North Cascades, Mount Rainier and Olympic.

  • General deer season opened today. Add to that partridge, pheasant and quail season in Eastern Washington; elk season opening at the end of the month in several areas; and cougar, bear, bobcat, raccoon, cottontail and snowshoe hare, waterfowl, fox, coyote, crow and bullfrog seasons … you get the picture.

  • Still game? Wear lightweight blaze (fluorescent) orange vests and caps just like rifle-packing hunters. If you’re backpacking, put a piece of blaze orange cloth over the backpack.

  • While on the topic of fall fashion, avoid wearing light brown and white. A flash of white against brown may trigger a hunter to think of a deer’s tail.

  • Hunters will be intensely listening for animal sounds so conversation, whistling or bells on your pack are ways to announce your presence.

  • Take a whistle with you. If you hear shots in your vicinity, blow the whistle and let hunters know where you are.

  • Avoid hikes with clearcuts because many hunters like to hunt at clearcuts.

  • Lower your anxiety level by remembering that deer hunters are more like a trickle, not a flood. Be more cautious within a half-mile of a road because hauling a dead deer out of the woods is not like hauling your backpack several miles down a trail.

  • And take solace in knowing that the majority of fall hikers, once headed up the trail, will never see a hunter or hear a rifle shot.

    Migration time: Book a trip from Port Townsend aboard the Puget Sound Express to get the best views of migratory bird action around Protection Island.

    “Protection Island is a sample of the real world,” said Roger Risley, naturalist for Port Townsend Marine Science Center cruises. “It isn’t a trip to the zoo. It’s a window into a world we never get to see another way.”

    Dates for the 1 to 4 p.m. cruises include Oct. 20 and 27, Nov. 3 and 4 and New Year’s Eve. Tickets are $50 per person. For reservations, call 800-566-3932.

    Be wise: Attend an Oct. 18 Streamkeeper Academy event at the Northwest Steam Center. Woodland Park Zoo’s Janel Kempf will showcase several Northwest owls and discuss the nocturnal birds’ habits.

    The 7 p.m. event costs $15. The center is at McCollum Park, 600 128th St. SE, Everett.

    On the bookshelf: One of the travel publishers that you can trust, Fodor’s, has published a new book, almost 900 pages that includes four parks in the Northwest.

    “The Complete Guide to the National Parks of the West” ($22) weighs in at 1¾ pounds and covers 35 national parks and eight driving tours. Information trickles down to the level of Rainier National Park’s lost and found room — in Ashford — and up to a list of expeditions that will take you to the summit.

    Columnist Sharon Wootton can be reached at 360-468-3964 or www.songandword.com.

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