





Headlines
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Colville Tribes Release Buffalo On Reservation
Nearly two dozen bison are roaming a reservation in Northcentral Washington after tribal wildlife managers released them “to live in the wild” there today.
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Why Migration Matters So Much For Oregon, Northwest Mule Deer
You may have heard me say this before, but with all of our deer hunting coverage, the October issue of Northwest Sportsman is one of my absolute favorites of the year to put together. Yet something’s been missing each fall, and I’m rectifying it this season.
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2023 NW Fall Buck Hunt Forecast: Best Oregon, Washington, Idaho Prospects
Deer managers and biologists at the Washington and Oregon Departments of Fish and Wildlife provide their thoughts on this season’s blacktail, mule deer and whitetail prospects.
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Portland Area’s Fisherman’s Marine Under New Ownership
One of the Northwest’s largest independent fishing and hunting retailers has a new owner.
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WDFW Seeks Comments On Mobile Licenses, E-tagging, Catch Reporting
Get it done, WDFW! That would be my official public comment on the agency’s proposal to allow anglers and hunters to use their phones for storing their licenses as well as electronically tagging big game and reporting their catches.
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Winter Crabbing Opens Oct. 1 In Marine Areas 4-9, 12 North Of Ayock
WDFW announces that winter crab season will open October 1 in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, San Juan Islands, Admiralty Inlet, waters off Camano Island and in northern Hood Canal.
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Elk Hoof Disease May Be Causing More Widespread Changes: Researchers
Elk hoof disease may be causing more widespread changes in the ungulates’ bodies than was previously known and which might also be passed down to their calves, according to researchers looking into the debilitating condition striking wapiti in Southwest Washington and beyond.
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Comment Opens On Restoring Griz To N Cascades As Experimental Population
Public comment has opened on a federal plan to restore grizzly bears to Washington’s North Cascades, and the National Park Service and US Fish and Wildlife Service are taking input on three alternatives.
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Biden Tells Federal Agencies To Prioritize Columbia Salmon, Steelhead Restoration
A memorandum signed by President Biden today directs a host of federal agencies “to prioritize the restoration of healthy and abundant wild salmon, steelhead, and other native fish populations to the Columbia River Basin.”
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US House, Senate Restore Federal Hunter Ed Funding; Next Step: Biden Sig
A bill that would reauthorize funding hunter education and archery programs in schools passed the US House of Representatives in a near-unanimous vote yesterday and the Senate today, it has been reported.
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Season’s 1st Razor Clam Greenlighted At Long Beach, Twin Harbors
WDFW announced that razor clam digging has been greenlighted for Long Beach, Twin Harbors and Copalis starting September 29, but marine toxin levels are postponing the season opener at Mocrocks.
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Quillayute System To Reopen For Fishing October 1
After a two-and-a-half-month-long closure, the Quillayute and its tributaries such as the Bogachiel, Sol Duc and others will reopen to all fishing starting next Sunday, October 1.
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SW WA, Lower Columbia Fishing Report (9-25-23)
Late September 2023 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for the Lower Columbia and its Southwest Washington tributaries.
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Hanford Reach Fishing Report (9-25-23)
Fall Chinook catches continue to increase in the Mid-Columbia’s Hanford Reach, but managers say they won’t be able to increase the limit to two kings a day after a runsize update “did not track as we had hoped.”
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Inslee Declares This Saturday ‘Hunting And Fishing Day’ In Washington
Governor Jay Inslee is acknowledging the monumental importance of hunting and fishing to conservation in Washington in a proclamation he signed ahead of tomorrow’s national day of recognition for the beloved ways of life.
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WDFW Announces Coastal Winter Steelhead Season-setting Meetings
WDFW will hold an online town hall the evening of October 25 to begin talking to anglers and the public about the shape of the 2023-24 coastal winter steelhead season for streams from Forks to Naselle.
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ODFW Increasing ‘Quick And Easy’ CWD Sampling Efforts This Fall Hunting Season
CWD was detected in northern Idaho in 2021, just 30 miles from the Oregon border. It is always fatal to deer and elk and there is no cure. The more animals that are tested, the more certain ODFW can be that the disease is not in the state. If it is detected, ODFW can implement its…
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New Private Forest HCP To Benefit Clackamas, Molalla Salmon, Steelhead
A recently approved habitat conservation plan for private timberlands in the Clackamas and Molalla River basins east of Portland is being called a first of its kind for Oregon and is expected to result in improved Chinook, coho and steelhead habitat.
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Grizzly Reintroduction Into North Cascades Appears To Be Moving Again
Federal governments on both sides of the North Cascades appear to be moving forward more seriously now with plans to reintroduce grizzly bears in the rugged border-straddling range.
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DOI Announces Support, Funding For Tribal Efforts To Restore Upper Columbia Salmon
An agreement between the federal government and Northeast Washington tribes will “fund efforts to test the feasibility of, and ultimately to reintroduce salmon in blocked habitats” of the Upper Columbia River.
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South Coast Wildfire Forced ODFW To Release Elk R Hatchery Fish Early
ODFW reports having to release over 400,000 fall Chinook and 23,000 winter steelhead being reared at the Elk River Hatchery earlier than planned after level three evacuations caused by a wildfire burning in the Coast Range.
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Salmon Season Reopened, Extended On Lower Columbia
Fall salmon fishing on the Lower Columbia has been reopened from Puget Island to Warrior Rock and extended from Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam effective September 22, state managers decided this afternoon.
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Hanford Reach Fishing Report (9-19-23)
Latest catch stats for the Hanford Reach of the Mid-Columbia show increasing fall Chinook catches and word that the daily limit for upriver brights may increase to two if the good early dam counts continue to track.
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SW WA, Lower Columbia Fishing Report (9-19-23)
Mid-September 2023 fall Chinook, coho and steelhead catch stats for the Lower Columbia and select Southwest Washington tributaries.
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ODFW Press Release On Commission’s Coyote Contest Vote
The Oregon Fish and Wildlife Commission took action today to “make it unlawful to organize, sponsor, conduct, or participate in a contest that has the objective of killing unprotected mammals native” to the state.
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OR Officials Hope Increased Rewards Produce Tips On 3 Poaching Cases
Oregon is putting out the word that those who turn in poachers stand to earn twice the reward money and here are three recent cases they need info on.
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WA Razor Clam Season Could Open Sept. 29; Toxin Levels Being Watched
Even as Washington razor clam managers have their eye on somewhat elevated marine toxin levels, they’re announcing the fall season could begin September 29 and tentatively set 36 days of digging through the end of the year.
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Coho To Close Off Oregon Coast From Cape Falcon To Humbug Mtn.
With catches during the September nonselective coho season nearing the quota even after an impact-neutral rollover from the summer hatchery fishery, the Oregon Coast between Cape Falcon and Humbug Mountain will close for coho retention as of September 18, said state managers, who will reevaluate next week “to determine if any more days can be…
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Salmon Season Reopened, Extended On More Of Lower Columbia; Comm Fireworks
Columbia fishery managers this afternoon extended recreational salmon season from Warrior Rock to Bonneville Dam through September 21 and OKed a three-day reopener from Puget Island up to the rock starting September 15. That was the easy part; the tough part saw ODFW and WDFW slip well out of concurrency on commercial gillnetting.
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Coquille Smallmouth Derby Extended; One Angler’s Turned In 2K Bass
A fishing derby on the Coquille River targeting smallmouth has been extended through October 1, and it and other population reduction efforts appear to having an effect on the smolt-eating bass.
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Hanford Reach Fishing Report (9-12-23)
WDFW catch stats for fall Chinook on the Hanford Reach of the mid-Columbia for early September 2023.
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Tips Sought In 2 Oregon Deer Poaching Cases
Oregon wildlife troopers are asking for tips to help solve the illegal poaching of a pair of mule deer in two different parts of the state east of the Cascades in late August.
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Buoy 10 Reopening For Chinook Starting Friday
Lower Columbia salmon managers reopened Chinook retention at Buoy 10 starting tomorrow, September 8, a day earlier than their staffers initially proposed.
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Mentored Youth Pheasant Hunt Coming Up Near Vancouver
Youth hunters will again have a chance to hunt pheasants at Southwest Washington’s Shillapoo Wildlife Area in mid-September, thanks to a weekend-long event hosted by the Vancouver Wildlife League and WDFW.
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Orgs Withdraw Washington Wolf Petition – To File Again Next Week
Another petition that would have more tightly shackled Washington wolf management has been withdrawn – if only temporarily.
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Op-Ed: The Changing Landscape of Language in Washington Game Management
Washington state has recently become ground zero in the fight to save hunting, with their bear and cougar seasons currently under attack.