Appeal Tribune
| WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 22, 2021 | 1B
OUTDOORS
How to find
colorful agates
Wesley Lapointe Salem Statesman Journal | USA TODAY NETWORK
Along with the ancient volcanic gems they seek, Oregon’s agate-hunters can be spotted year-round across the state’s
shores and watersheds. h “Only look right in front of you,” Seana Sutton said, her hoodie and jeans soaked from a
late-August drizzle and the thundering tide of Tunnel Beach, an alcove accessed by a tunnel through the northern
cliffside of Oceanside Beach. “If you look too wide, you’ll miss all types of stuff,” she said. h Moments after being
slammed by a wall of seawater and pebbles, she spotted an agate tumbling in the froth and leapt for it. “I have vases
and vases of rocks from here,” she said. h Techniques of this age-old hobby vary as much as the gems themselves, but
agate-hunters I spoke with were unified on two points: show up early, and be patient. See AGATES, Page 2B
Top: Eric Davis found this trophy agate near Oceanside. Bottom: Gareth and Stella Bannister search for agates among a pebbly stretch of Short Beach, between
Oceanside and Cape Meares, on August 24th. WESLEY LAPOINTE/ STATESMAN JOURNAL; PHOTO ILLUSTRATION BY MICAELA ENCINAS/USA TODAY NETWORK
Pheasant hunts for adults are now on tap
Fishing
Henry Miller
Guest columnist
This is one case where we get to enjoy
the leftovers along with the main
course.
Grown-ups take to the field for the
annual fee pheasant hunts the day after
the youth-only pheasant hunts, the top-
ic of the Sept. 11 column, wrap up on
Sept. 26 at the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife’s E.E. Wilson Wildlife
Area north of Corvallis.
Along with escapees from the youth
hunts, rooster (male) pheasants pur-
chased by the state from Powder River
Pheasants near Baker will be released at
sites that are open to hunting on the
1,600-plus-acre wildlife area for the
popular fee hunts.
Birds are released throughout the
season that runs through Halloween at
Wilson.
And on a personal note, while a
trained bird dog is a definite advantage,
good things come to those with patience
and persistence.
Then there’s moi.
But there’s a lot to be said about the
joys of taking your gun for a walk in the
field during the fall.
Similar fee-pheasant hunts are held
Sept. 20 through Oct. 8 at Denman
Wildlife Area near Eagle Point, now
through Oct. 10 at Fern Ridge Wildlife
area west of Eugene, and Sept. 21
through Oct. 3 at Sauvie Island Wildlife
Area on the Columbia River west of
Portland.
The general statewide pheasant sea-
son opens on Oct. 9 and runs through
the end of the year.
But when habitat loss and changes in
land-use and farming practices reduced
naturally reproducing pheasant popu-
lations in the Willamette Valley, Fish
and Wildlife switched to the put-and-
take model to provide opportunities for
hunters on state wildlife areas.
The $17 paid by a hunter for a two-
bird tag goes toward purchasing the
pheasants for the program. There is no
limit on the number of those tags that
you can buy during the season, but the
daily bag limit is two.
Hunters participating in the fee
hunts need to have a hunting license, an
upland game-bird validation and the
two-bird permit. Those must be pur-
chased in advance at license agents or
online at Oregon DFW - Login (huntfish-
oregon.com)
Because of state-mandated COVID
health and safety protocols, Fish and
Wildlife offices remain closed.
You need to fill out an entry permit
and check in and out at the access gates
at the wildlife area, and the number of
hunters is limited to 150 at a time.
Hunting ends at 5 p.m. on Wilson and
at Fern Ridge and at 6 p.m. on Sauvie Is-
land rather than the posted game bird
shooting hours listed on Page 10 of Ore-
gon Game Bird Regulations.
Go wild for coho
Fishing for wild (non-fin-clipped) co-
ho “silver” salmon opened on Wednes-
day, Sept 15, in the Tillamook, Nestucca,
Siletz and Coos rivers basins.
Fishing is only open on Wednesdays
and Saturdays in the Tillamook and
Nestucca basins. The wild-coho fishery
is open through Oct. 15 in those basins.
Biologists credited improved ocean
conditions for the opening of a fishery
that had been closed from 2016 through
2020 because of poor numbers of
salmon.
The limit is five wild adult silvers for
the year in combination for all of the
open basins.
Descriptions of the boundaries of
open areas are online at https://
myodfw.com/recreation-report/fish-
ing-report/northwest-zone for the
Northwest
Zone
and
https://
myodfw.com/recreation-report/fish-
ing-report/southwest-zone for the
Southwest Zone.
Wild-coho seasons on Siltcoos, Tah-
kenitch, and Tenmile lakes open Oct. 1
under permanent regulations.
Thought for the week: Anyone who
has ever used the phrase “the camera
adds 10 pounds” hasn’t seen any of my
fish pictures.