Hunting 2012

Farms along the Palouse River are well-known for producing bumper crops of wild game birds, but for nearly half a century, Pheasant Valley Preserve has taken bird hunting to a different level. The farm is Washington’s oldest licensed game-bird shooting preserve. While most of the 1,300 acres are devoted to farming or grazing, 400 acres of irrigated river bottomland is seeded with some of the 6,500 pheasants being raised this year in huge netted pens.

 Hot, dry weather is hard on dogs, which is why hunters must give special attention to their dogs during early bird-hunting seasons. Based on years of experience, Dan Hoke, veteran dog trainer from Dunfur Kennel near Cheney, offered these tips: • Trim toenails. Don’t let them get long and break off.

Northeastern Washington has gained stature among elk hunters in recent years, with the 2011 elk harvest exceeding the general season take in the fabled Blue Mountains. But that’s likely to change this year.

ATVs can drive public land managers crazy during hunting season. “We are most concerned with instances where a hunter drives off trail to scout for game or retrieve game,” said Andy Brunelle, a spokesman for the U.S. Forest Service. “One set of tracks through the brush or in a meadow can invite others to do the same, and the impacts add up, damaging vegetation and causing soil erosion into streams.”

Diversified sportsmen can be conflicted during fall hunting season, since it’s also one of the best times for fishing. Tuna are migrating past the Washington Coast. Salmon are streaming into Columbia and Snake River tributaries. Steelhead are high-tailing over dams to wintering areas. Crowds have left the Coeur d’Alene and St. Joe rivers even though the cutthroat fishing is as supreme.