Michael Wright

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Sports >  Outdoors

Hunter kills grizzly bear in North Idaho

UPDATED: Mon., May 12, 2025

A hunter shot and killed a female grizzly bear in North Idaho Friday evening after mistaking it for a black bear.

Sports >  Outdoors

Rainbows, tigers and cutthroats: Finding variety at Spokane County’s Williams Lake

UPDATED: Mon., May 12, 2025

Chris Donley loves fry plant trout.

Sports >  Outdoors

Washington plans to kill brook trout in Pend Oreille County creek

UPDATED: Wed., May 7, 2025

Washington fisheries officials want brook trout out of a creek in Pend Oreille County to make more room for native westslope cutthroats.

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Sports >  Outdoors

Michael Wright: Searching for stoneflies on Montana’s Rock Creek

UPDATED: Fri., May 2, 2025

CLINTON, Mont. – The Rock Creek Fisherman’s Mercantile has anything an angler might want. Cold beer, fresh flies, tippett, leader, other miscellany that’s easy to leave at home. It’s the perfect store in the perfect spot – right off the interstate and at the opening of a canyon full of fish and possibility.

Sports >  Outdoors

Despite proposed license fee increases, Washington wildlife officials are bracing for budget cuts

Thu., May 1, 2025

Washington hunters and anglers are preparing to pay more for licenses after a pair of bills that increase fees cleared the Legislature in its closing days last week.

Sports >  Outdoors

Michael Wright: At the mercy of the wind

Sat., April 26, 2025

Wind is the enemy of anglers who use float tubes. It doesn’t matter if the tube is a doughnut-shaped belly boat or a U-shaped luxury vehicle. It’s still part tumbleweed.

Sports >  Outdoors

Spear pressure: Idaho eyes spearfishing proposals

UPDATED: Fri., April 18, 2025

Bass, pike, walleye and lake trout may soon become fair game in parts of Idaho for anglers who prefer shooting spears to baiting hooks.

Sports >  Outdoors

Opening day for lowland lakes, Trout Derby set for April 26

Thu., April 17, 2025

Despite Major League Baseball’s insistence on playing meaningful games in March, April is still a month marked by opening days.

Sports >  Outdoors

Along the 46th parallel: How the Washington constitution swung a hunting case near the Washington-Oregon border

UPDATED: Fri., April 11, 2025

Shawn Humphrey had always wanted to kill a big bull elk in the Wenaha unit in northeastern Oregon.

Sports >  Outdoors

Ferguson names three to Washington Fish and Wildlife Commission

UPDATED: Tue., April 8, 2025

Washington Gov. Bob Ferguson named three people to the state Fish and Wildlife Commission late Monday afternoon, reappointing two commissioners and bringing on one newcomer.

Sports >  Outdoors

Washington wolf population declines slightly for first time in 16 years

UPDATED: Sun., April 6, 2025

Washington’s wolf numbers shrank slightly last year for the first time in 16 years.

Sports >  Outdoors

Bill to increase hunting, fishing fees clears House committee

UPDATED: Sat., April 5, 2025

Washington lawmakers advanced a bill Saturday that would raise hunting and fishing fees.

Sports >  Outdoors

Washington Legislature considering raising hunting, fishing fees

UPDATED: Sat., April 5, 2025

The wallets of hunters and anglers would take a hit under a bill moving through the Washington Legislature.

Sports >  Outdoors

Construction to begin on new parking lot for popular Spokane trail

UPDATED: Wed., April 2, 2025

A new trailhead and parking lot are coming for one of Spokane’s most popular trails.

Sports >  Outdoors

Season on the peaks: Spokane native climbs, paraglides through New Zealand 100 Peaks Challenge

UPDATED: Sun., March 30, 2025

Until last month, only one climber had stood atop all 100 of the peaks on the list, and had done so across three decades.

Sports >  Outdoors

Biologists to talk about how Lake Spokane’s fish populations are changing

UPDATED: Fri., March 28, 2025

The fishery in Lake Spokane has been changing over the past few decades, and each change presents a trade-off.

Sports >  Outdoors

Washington bans baiting, feeding elk, deer and moose

UPDATED: Sun., March 30, 2025

Washington’s top wildlife official has signed off on a broad suite of rules to limit the spread of chronic wasting disease, including statewide bans on feeding and baiting deer, elk and moose.

Sports >  Outdoors

Ski season still rolling in North Idaho, Eastern Washington

Thu., March 27, 2025

There have been some solid powder days this season at Lookout Pass Ski Area, way up on the Idaho-Montana border.

Sports >  Outdoors

Judges side with hunters in corner crossing case, but issue remains unsettled in Washington, Idaho

UPDATED: Sat., March 22, 2025

Public land access advocates were thrilled this week when a panel of federal judges sided with hunters in a trespassing suit that centered on the legality of “corner crossing” as a way to reach public land that is otherwise blocked.

Sports >  Outdoors

Making connections: New Dishman Hills Conservancy property will link two trail systems

UPDATED: Sat., March 22, 2025

Dan Wilson has a lot of trails in his head.

Sports >  Outdoors

Timber project will prompt trail closures at Riverside State Park

UPDATED: Fri., March 21, 2025

A handful of trails will close next month at Riverside State Park while crews clear timber on the west side of the Spokane River north of Seven Mile Road. 

Sports >  Outdoors

Washington nearing decision on chronic wasting disease rules

UPDATED: Thu., March 20, 2025

Wildlife officials are getting closer to making a final decision on permanent rules for limiting the spread of chronic wasting disease in Washington, including proposed statewide bans on feeding wildlife and using bait to hunt deer, elk and moose.

Sports >  Outdoors

Centennial Trail, Riverfront Park named in national contest

UPDATED: Fri., March 14, 2025

For Loreen McFaul, there’s no debate.

Sports >  Outdoors

Annual Big Horn Show set to begin Thursday in Spokane

UPDATED: Fri., March 14, 2025

Melannie Jones thinks this is going to be the best Big Horn Outdoor Adventure Show in years.

Sports >  Outdoors

Firings cost Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area ranger his ‘dream job’

Sun., March 9, 2025

COULEE DAM – Sam Peterson moved into a little yellow house up the road from the headquarters of Lake Roosevelt National Recreation Area last June, right after he finished his third year of teaching history at a school in Oregon.