Outdoors

Fly fishing will be on the big screen this week.

A pair of swans take off from a pond at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge on Jan. 19 in this photo from Jerry Rolwes.

I agree to early morning runs in moments of great optimism, when I imagine starting my day with vigor will mean it continues in the same fashion. In reality, I struggle out of bed questioning my decision making skills, like someone who drank too much the night before.

Fly fishing

Another year, another Langlauf win for Sergey Avdyushkin.

Hunters have until Jan. 31 to submit how they fared during turkey and big game seasons.

Carl Van Loon, of Cottonwood, Idaho, probably wishes he would have chosen a different box to dispose of the parts from the whitetail buck that he poached from his property in 2024. 

The original ski lodge at Palouse Divide was built in the late 1930s with stone and timber that was collected on-site. According to the Idaho Heritage Trust, it was built by the Civilian Conservation Corps as part of a joint venture between the CCC, the U.S. Forest Service, and what was then Washington State College.

If it’s a nice day and there’s snow on the ground, the Palouse Divide Nordic ski area is probably the happiest place in Benewah County, Idaho. There’s a buzz in the parking lot, anticipation at the trailhead and cheerful banter on the trails.

A herd of elk grazes in the mist on Jan. 14 about 2 miles northeast of Mica in this photo by Chase Copeland.

There is a cedar tree dying in my yard.

Fly fishing

Just before this year’s pheasant opener, I stopped by Dad’s to check in and talk about the schedule for the upcoming weekend. He sat in his old, leather armchair with the daily paper draped across his lap under weathered, folded hands, an early-season fire smoldering dimly in the glass door window of the wood stove nearby. He looked up above his reading glasses, listening patiently as I laid out the plan for our annual hunt, before slowly shaking his head. “I’m gonna have to pass; I don’t think my legs can’t handle it.”

If you take anything away from the following tale, I hope it is this: Anyone, even a pair of unskilled snowshoers qualifying for Social Security, can successfully make it all the way to the top of Mount Spokane, elevation 5,883 feet.

A deer harvested in Idaho's Game Management Unit 15 south of Grangeville tested positive for chronic wasting disease, according to the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

A conservation organization announced this week that it's adding to the amount of money already available for information leading to the conviction of whoever shot and killed a grizzly bear in October near Perkins Lake, located northeast of Moyie Springs and near the border with Montana.

A northern harrier, also known as the marsh hawk or ring-tailed hawk, flies over the Saltese Flats Wetland Area on Jan. 8 in this photo from Terry Sanborn.

There are some things that are better for us to not ask about. Like how a tube of mixed metals crammed with 300 people flies over an ocean, or how foie gras is made.