Field reports: Ammunition company moves to Potlatch

SHOOTING – A company with a reputation for making precision ammunition is moving from Issaquah, Wash., to a facility near Potlatch, Idaho.

PNW Arms expects to be operating in its new home by the end of November, said William Lyon, company spokesman.

The 2-year-old Washington business started in pistol ammunition and evolved into making rifle ammo.

The products are designed for recreational shooting, personal defense, law enforcement and military use. The company has rifles in the prototype stage.

PNW looked at options in Issaquah, but found a better climate to do business in Idaho where almost everyone is involved in shooting sports like hunting, Lyon said.

Plus, the region is already home to ATK and other companies in the same sector, he said.

PNW founders are software engineers who decided to use strategies in ammunition from the high-tech sector, he said.

They’re familiar with guns because they’re competitive long-distance shooters, Lyon said.

Lewiston Tribune

Hunter groups support order to shoot wolves

WILDLIFE – Three hunting groups are supporting the state of Oregon in a lawsuit trying to overturn state authority to shoot wolves that attack livestock.

The Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation, the Oregon Hunters Association, and the Oregon chapter of the North American Wild Sheep Foundation have all asked the Oregon Court of Appeals to allow them to file friend of the court briefs supporting the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife.

Conservation groups are trying to overturn a department order to kill two wolves from the Imnaha pack that have been blamed for livestock attacks in northeastern Oregon.

Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation says in a statement that elk herds are struggling to survive in places wolves have been reintroduced.

Conservation groups counter climate change and habitat are more likely causes than wolves.

Associated Press

Fly fishing gear reps join shop celebration

FISHING – A fly fishing equipment expert representing several top companies and a Hardy rods and reel collector will be on hand for Saturday’s anniversary celebration at Westslope Fly Shop in Spokane, 1003 E. Trent Ave.

Rich Landers

Tucannon steelhead story corrected

FISHERIES – About 50 percent of the adult steelhead returning to spawning areas in the Tucannon River go past the mouth for some reason and continue up the Snake River above Lower Granite Dam.

About 25 percent of those fish make it safely back downstream through two dams to return to the Tucannon for spawning.

Some of this information was incorrect in Rich Landers’ outdoors column on Thursday.