Fish and Wildlife Department has a few Christmas gift ideas

Outdoor Writer

A number of relatively inexpensive gifts for the outdoor enthusiast on your list are available from the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife this time of year, including:

The CD-ROM “Sport Fish of Washington,” a narrated, pictorial tour of all of the state’s major fresh and saltwater sport fish, available for $5.40 plus a $1.25 shipping fee from: WDFW, Licenses Division, 600 Capitol Way N., Olympia 98501.

The Backyard Wildlife Sanctuary program packet, which provides detailed information and plans for creating year-around habitat for birds and other wildlife in your own yard, at $5. For an additional $5, you can help someone enroll in the program to receive a weather-proof yard sign, certificate, and subscription to a twice-yearly newsletter, “Crossing Paths With Wildlife in Washington’s Cities and Towns.” Children’s coloring and activity booklets on the same subject cost $1 to $2 each. Call the Mill Creek WDFW office, 425-775-1311, for availability and mailing costs.

For the more experienced wildlife watcher, there’s a copy of the 220-page book “Landscaping for Wildlife in the Pacific Northwest,” by WDFW urban wildlife biologist Russell Link. The book has chapters on everything from building a backyard pond to creating hedgerows. It’s available for $25, autographed, at the Mill Creek office (above).

Four 24 x 36-inch full-color posters produced by WDFW and painted by Washington watercolorist Amy C. Fisher, are available for $5 each through several non-profit organizations. They depict “Seastack Shoreline,” “Shrub-Steppe Ecosystem,” “Urban Wildlife,” and “Watershed Partnerships.” WDFW regional offices, including Mill Creek, have color flyers on the series which list the organizations selling them.

Applications for personalized license plates, which benefit non-game species, are available at all WDFW offices. The plates are $46; the sentiments expressed on them are up to you.

Fishing or hunting licenses are traditional Christmas gifts, but because 2001 licenses will run from April 1, 2001, through March 31, 2002, they won’t be on sale until early next year. Many license vendors, however, will sell gift certificates which can be redeemed for next year’s licenses.

Every big game hunter has fantasized about hunting virgin, relatively untouched country, where a world record rack is a realistic possibility.

Now, if your pockets are deep enough, that dream could become reality.

For the first time ever, non-tribal members will be allowed to hunt the Blackfeet Indian Reservation, over 5.1 million acres bordering Glacier National Park in northwest Montana. The leading outdoor Internet portal, Xoutdoors.com, has secured exclusive commercial hunting rights on the reservation, one of the most beautiful regions in the country and one which has produced the Montana state record elk and a potential world record free-ranging buffalo. The elk scored an impressive 407 B&C points, and the buffalo went 2,200 pounds.

Currently, the following licenses are available for purchase on a first-come, first-served basis: one bull moose tag, five bull elk tags, four buck whitetail tags, five black bear tags, two antelope tags, three buffalo tags, and one bighorn sheep tag.

For more information call Eric or Jim Payne toll-free at 1-877-366-3668.

The Wildlife Legislative Fund of America says People For The Ethical Treatment of Animals have erected an anti-rodeo billboard in Las Vegas for the National Finals Rodeo, which are being held Dec. 1-10. The billboard, according to WLFA spokeswoman Beth Howenstine, features an attractive blonde woman, saying “Nobody likes an eight-second ride. Buck the rodeo.

Howenstine said this anti-rodeo message follows PETA’s failed attempts to remove the bucking bronco from the Wyoming license plate, and to erect the same billboard in Tucson, Arizona.

The Fund is a national organization representing over 1.5 million sportsmen through its member clubs and individual constituents. It provides legislative, legal defense, and public education services to advance sportsmen’s rights in Washington, D.C. and all 50 states. Dial up their Web site at www.wlfa.org.