OUTDOORS & REC
2B — THE OBSERVER & BAKER CITY HERALD
STEELHEAD
Continued from Page 1B
Yanke said the Grande
Ronde and Wallowa rivers
would likely see that 3:1 ratio
of wild to hatchery steelhead,
while the Imnaha River was
likely to see roughly even
numbers of each.
Wild steelhead cannot be
kept by anglers and, when
caught, must be released to
spawn and die in their home
rivers, thus completing their
salmonid life cycle and depos-
iting nutrients into the local
ecosystem. Yanke said those
nutrients are important for
local plant and animal life.
Water from the Grande
Ronde and Wallowa rivers is
also used to irrigate farmland
throughout the region.
Yanke said that a driving
factor for the low steelhead
returns were poor ocean
GROUSE
Continued from Page 1B
The success of the SGI
equates to uplanders like me
continuing to have opportuni-
ties to hunt sage grouse where
their remaining populations
are strong. But wildfi re and
invasive species like cheat-
grass continue to threaten
sage grouse habitat. As fi re
SATURDAY, NOVEMBER 21, 2020
conditions, which he described
as being so complex that it
“would be a days-long phone
conversation to explain.” But
he did note that warm ocean
temperatures and a persistent
El Nino weather pattern had
contributed to poor survival
rates for Pacifi c steelhead.
“It’s good to talk about,”
said Yanke. “If Northeast
Oregon steelhead were the
only steelhead population in
the Columbia Basin that was
doing poorly, you’d expect that
there were some localized
things going on here. But it
kind of paints a picture across
the Columbia Basin of what’s
going on with anadromous
fi sh stocks.”
While hatchery fi sh might
prove scarce for Northeastern
Oregon anglers this year,
Yanke said there would still
be plenty of opportunity for
steelhead enthusiasts to land
one of the beauties, provided
they were willing to be fl ex-
ible.
“The great thing about the
Grande Ronde fi shery is that
those fi sh will take anything,
from nymphs, to swung fl ies,
to spinners, to jigs under a
bobber, to bait under a bob-
ber,” Yanke said. “There’s so
many ways you can catch
steelhead, don’t get too en-
grained in using one method.
If you can, throw a variety of
things at them, increase your
odds that way. Move around
a bunch, and just be willing
to put your time in. I think
that’s the most important
thing.”
Ever the challenge for the
angler, patience and deter-
mination might well prove
to be the difference between
Jeff Yanke/Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife
success and failure for North-
eastern Oregon steelheaders Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife fi sh biologist Jeff Yanke and his son, Brandon,
pose with a native-born steelhead that Jeff caught on the Grande Ronde River.
this winter.
danger and smokey air from
the Cascades region settled
over eastern Washington and
Oregon this past September, I
canceled my bucket list hunt
for which I had drawn an
Oregon permit.
Smoke settled thick, oozing
through the window cracks on
the homestead like pancake
batter late on Sept. 11. Burn-
ing tear ducts awakened me,
urging me to tape off windows
and doors.
Burns, Oregon, was slated
for the same air quality. I can
only imagine how uncomfort-
ably stuffy a camper, sealed
tight, encapsulating myself and
two setters might have been.
Historic sagebrush-steppe
fi res burned slow and cool,
benefi cial to the ecosystem.
But cheatgrass encroachments
TURKEY
etc. and asked me to smoke a turkey for
her. I told her I didn’t know how. She told
Continued from Page 1B
me all that she needed was for me to
So this year we will go back to me
put it on my smoker for 3 to 4 hours and
smoking the turkey. If you’ve never
then she’d come by that night and grab
smoked your own turkey don’t panic. It is it and take it home and fi nish cooking it.
super easy and will turn out delicious.
I was apprehensive but she told me to
Most likely you will run to the store to just smoke it and quit worrying. (At the
purchase your turkey but if you’re lucky, time I had a wood smoker. Now I use my
you may be smoking a wild turkey that Camp Chef pellet smoker)
you killed this spring. If so, realize that
The next day she brought me a
you will need to baby it a little bit more
sample. Oh my gosh, it was the best
than if you’re cooking a farm-raised fat
turkey I’d ever had. I have since cooked
Butterball turkey. A wild gobbler won’t
them as she instructed. Here’s how you
have as much fat as its farm-raised
do it. If you have a regular smoker throw
cousin so it won’t be as juicy.
it on the smoker at low heat for 4 hours.
I learned how easy it was to smoke
Then put it in a black turkey-roasting
turkeys over 40 years ago. A buddy at
pan in the oven all night at about 190-
work, her family raised turkeys and she 200 degrees.
knew that I smoked deer meat, sausage
Put a couple of cups of water in it to
have changed fi re cycles to
more frequent and hotter,
roasting mature plants and
damaging sagebrush regenera-
tion. Additionally, sagebrush
communities are slow-growing,
requiring invasive species
management and possibly
replanting to reestablish deci-
mated communities.
Fortunately, wildlife is re-
silient and persistent. Habitat
keep it moist. You don’t want it to dry
out. In the middle of the night check it
out. If all of the liquid has evaporated
add a couple of more cups of water. When
you wake up, if it pretty much falls apart
with a fork, it’s done. If not, turn up the
heat to 325 and cook until done.
When you put it in the oven sprinkle
with spices. I’ve cooked it like this for the
past 40 years. But this year, I’m going to
deviate and use this recipe that I found
on Hi Mountain Seasonings’ website:
https://himtnjerky.com/bourbon-glazed-
holiday-turkey/
It looks good.
I’ve ordered their Game Bird and
Poultry Brine Mix and their Poultry Rub
Blend to use. I can’t wait!
Happy Thanksgiving from the Clay-
comb house to yours!
and hunting opportunity to be
restored through the efforts of
dedicated partnerships like the
SGI. And the 2021 prospects
are looking good. I can see the
covey nestled among the but-
tery autumn grasses and milky
sage. A setter tail wafts gently
in the auburn glow of the sun
peeking over the Owyhee; the
location of the covey betrayed.
Circling in for the flush, the
covey materializes from the
sagebrush sea. Heavy wing-
beats trigger a swift mount.
The bead aligns with my right
eye as double barrels swing
through. Next year ...
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