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About The Observer. (La Grande, Or.) 1968-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 24, 2020)
B Friday, January 24, 2020 The Observer & Baker City Herald RECREATION REPORT SNOWMOBILE POKER RUN IN BAKER COUNTY SET FOR FEB. 1 UNITY — The Burnt River Snowmobile Club’s annual Poker Run is set for Satur- day, Feb. 1. There is a $1,000 total pot with guaranteed payout, including $500 for fi rst place, $200 for second, $100 for third and two $50 prizes for fourth place, plus fi ve $20 prizes for a loser’s draw. There will also be raffl e prizes distrib- uted. The run will be from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Cards must be returned by 4 p.m. to The Water Hole in Unity. Parking is at Phipps west of Unity, and the Blue Mountain Sno-Park between Unity and Austin Junction. Cards and tickets are available at the Burnt River Market and The Water Hole in Unity, and at Austin Junction store and restaurant. Buy-in is $5 per hand, best of 7 wins. Raffl e tickets are $1 each or six for $5. Proceeds benefi t food banks in Baker, Grant and Malheur counties. For more informa- tion, or to buy raffl e tickets, call Rick at 541-881-6069, Luke at 541-212-4682, Jim at 541-881-9622, Casey at 541-473-2073, or Dan at 541-823-3069 or by email at snow- ridingfool@yahoo. com JANUARY 31 DEADLINE TO REPORT ON 2019 HUNT RESULTS Hunters have until Jan. 31 to report their 2019 hunts. If you purchased a tag, reporting is manda- tory even if you didn’t hunt or harvest an animal. Hunters who fail to report on deer and elk tags will be fi ned $25 when they buy a 2021 hunting license. WAYS TO REPORT • Go online – it’s the fastest and easiest way to report. You will need to verify or look up your account on the MyODFW.com licensing page. (Click on the Buy a License button) to report 2019 hunts. Once you have completed steps to verify your account, choose “Submit a Hunting and Fishing Outcome Report” or “Outcome Reporting / Mandatory Report- ing” to complete your report. Be sure to go to the online licensing system, you can’t report through the MyODFW app. • Visit an ODFW offi ce with a com- puter available for reporting: Adair Village/Corvallis, Bend, Clackamas, La Grande, Portland-Sau- vie Island, Roseburg, Salem Headquarters, Springfi eld, Tillamook. • Call ODFW Licens- ing at 1-866-947-6339 for assistance report- ing. OREGON EXPANDS MOUNTAIN GOAT HUNTING OPPORTUNITIES IN ELKHORNS, WALLOWAS Lucky hunters will have longer to get their goat By Jayson Jacoby will run from Aug. 1-31. The 2019 season was Sept. 7-15. Applica- tions totaled 2,600. • No. 2 has 2 tags (one nonresi- dent) — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1-30. The 2019 season was Sept. 16-24. Applications totaled 774. • No. 3 has 3 tags — 2020 hunt will run from Oct. 1-31. The 2019 season was Oct. 12-20. Applica- tions totaled 1,488. jjacoby@bakercityherald.com The relative handful of hunters fortunate enough to draw a tag for a mountain goat will have more time to track down one of the cliff- dwelling animals in 2020. The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife (ODFW) has lengthened the season for several mountain goat hunts in the Elkhorn and Wallowa mountains, and in Hells Can- yon, for this year’s seasons. ODFW also created two new goat hunts in the Wal- lowas, each offering a single tag. • Southern Wallowas — all of the Catherine Creek, Keat- ing and Pine Creek units, and the southern part of the Mi- nam unit. The hunt will run from Aug. 1 through Oct. 31. • Copper Creek — parts of the Minam unit in the Eagle Cap Wilderness. The hunt will run from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31. Both of the new hunts are much longer than has been typical for mountain goat hunts in Northeastern Oregon. Most of the existing hunts will run for one to two months in 2020. In 2019 the majority of those hunts ran for eight to 15 days. A goat tag is the rarest of big-game hunting opportuni- ties in Oregon. And as with bighorn sheep tags, hunters can draw only one in a life- time (bighorn hunts have also been extended to about one month for 2020). ODFW offi cials decided to lengthen the goat seasons in part because the previous seasons were so short that unavoidable factors such as wildfi res or early snowstorms could disrupt goat hunters’ chances, said Nick Myatt, the ODFW offi cial who lives in Baker City and has been lead- ing the agency’s multi-year ef- fort to streamline and, where possible, to simplify hunting regulations statewide. “These are once-in-a- lifetime hunts, and we wanted to make sure our season structure really refl ected Wallowa Mountains • E. Hurricane Creek has 1 tag — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. The 2019 hunt was Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 484. • W. Hurricane Creek has 1 tag — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1 to Oct. 31. The 2019 hunt was Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 316. • Goat Mtn. No. 1 has 2 tags — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1-30. The 2019 hunt was Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 760. • Goat Mt. No. 2 has 2 tags — 2020 hunt will run from Oct. 1-31. The 2019 hunt was Oct. 12-22. Applications totaled 321. • Cusick Mtn. has 1 tag — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1-Oct. 31. The 2019 hunt was from Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 529. Hells Canyon Alex Pajunas / Baker City Herald fi le photo Rocky Mountain goats in the Elkhorn Mountains. that,” Myatt said. “We felt that giving people the maximum fl exibility is the right thing to do.” Heavy snow is a particular issue, Myatt said, since moun- tain goats spend most of their time at the highest elevations where blizzards aren’t uncom- mon during September and October. The addition of the South- ern Wallowas and Copper Creek hunts brings the total goat tags for 2020 to 27, all in Northeastern Oregon. Two of those tags — one in the Elkhorns and on at Hat Point — are for hunters who don’t live in Oregon. In 2019, about 12,500 people applied for one of the 25 mountain goat tags avail- able. Oregon’s biggest mountain goat herds live in the Elk- horns and the Wallowas. There are smaller herds in the Strawberry Mountains south of Prairie City, in parts of Hells Canyon, and in the Wenaha River area north of Elgin. ODFW trapped goats in the Elkhorns and moved the animals to each of those areas over the past two decades to either create herds or supple- ment existing populations. Following are changes in the lengths of mountain goat hunts, along with the number of tags, and the number of applicants for each hunt in 2019. Elkhorn Mountains • No. 1 has 3 tags — 2020 hunt • Hat Point No. 1 has 2 tags (one nonresident) — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1-30. The 2019 hunt was from Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 655. • Hat Point No. 2 has 3 tags — 2020 hunt will run from Oct. 1-31. The 2019 hunt was from Oct. 12- 22. Applications totaled 683. • S. Snake River No. 1 has 2 tags — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1-30. The 2019 hunt was from Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 939. • S. Snake River No. 2 has 1 tag — 2020 hunt will run from Oct. 1-31. The 2019 hunt ran from Oct. 12-22. Applications totaled 378. Other areas • N. Wenaha has 1 tag — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31. The 2019 hunt was from Sept. 7-22. Applications totaled 601. • Strawberry Mountains has 1 tag — 2020 hunt will run from Sept. 1 through Oct. 31, the same period as for 2019. Applications totaled 1,936. Pronghorns: Tougher Than They Look Photo and caption by Jim Ward Pronghorns are not the delicate creatures they appear to be. They prosper in some of the harshest conditions. Their coat consists of hollow hair and provides insulation that would insult your best goose down jacket. In a sprint, their enlarged heart and respiratory system takes in 4 times more air than the best Olympic runners. The pronghorn would give the African cheetah a run for his money and leave him panting in a long-dis- tance chase. Their eyesight would challenge your best binoculars. The photo depicts a small portion of the Grande Ronde Valley herd, which has grown to over 50 animals in recent years.
