Outdoors
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
Gift tips
for the
outdoor
enthusiast
on your list
O
ne fun thing about being an
outdoor writer is that I get
to test a lot of new gear. It
amazes me how many new items
come out every year. I have semi-
nars at all of the big shows in Jan-
uary, the Dallas Safari Club Conv.
& Expo, the SHOT and the Safari
Club International Convention in
Vegas. So of course, 99.999% of
the manufacturers will be there
displaying their new gear for 2022
as well as their old tried and true
products.
If you just met an outdoorsman/
woman and don’t know what to
buy them for Christmas don’t
panic, Santa’s little helper is here
to help you out. In some ways
outdoors enthusiasts are easy to
buy for. We love our gear. And
if we just had the latest, greatest
item, we’re convinced that we
will finally be successful. But —
it does have to be the exact item
or you might as well burn your
money and give them a bag of
rocks because it will have the same
effect.
But the good news is, you don’t
necessarily have to spend a bundle
to light up their eyes. Everyone has
a budget. So I will list some eco-
nomical gifts on up to the blow-
their-socks-off items. Here are
some items that tested out well for
me over 2021 or items that have
stood the test of time.
• Fishing lures. Make sure you
get the exact ones/colors that your
angler prefers
• Browning hiking socks. Great
for hunting, fishing, backpacking
or hiking
• 5.11 tactical pants. Katy and
I both love these. They’re nice
looking, durable and functional
• XGO base layers
• Axil electronic hearing
protection
• Smith’s knife sharpening gear.
I use their fine diamond stones.
They’re the best
• Smith’s electric knife sharp-
ener for the kitchen
• Otis Lead Free Wipes
• Flashlight — the ASP Dual
Fuel Raptor
• Hi Mountain Seasoning —
they make awesome jerky and sau-
sage seasoning packs. The best on
the market
• Real Avid cleaning rods
• Caldwell sand bags
• Trulock shotgun chokes
• Alps Mountaineering Taurus
2 tent, Blaze +20 sleeping bag,
Nimble air mat and Dash back-
packing chair
• Versacarry holsters
• Boyds’ gunstocks, they make
some cool wood stocks
• Blackfire clamplights, great
for working on your truck in the
dark or in camp while backpacking
• Chard Jerky Gun
Knives
• Knives of Alaska Professional
Boning Knife
• KOA Elk Hunter
• If you want some economical
folders check out the line up from
Smith’s Consumer Products
• For a nice kitchen set check
out the Smith’s Cabin and Lodge
Cutlery Set
• Spyderco Counter Pups, great
kitchen knives
• Benchmade Claymore, nice
assisted opening knife
Ultimate gifts
If you want to cut out the chaff
and blow him/her out of the water
here are the ticket items:
• Mantis X10 Elite Shooting
Performance System. The Mantis
X10 is a great tool to help you
become a better shot
• Diamond Blade knives They
have too many cool ones to list
but check out their Summit, Heri-
tage or Surge knives. DB has won
See, Claycomb/Page B2
Rec
B
Saturday, December 18, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Turkey Tactics
Hunting tips for NE
Oregon’s Rio Grandes
BRAD
TRUMBO
UPLAND PURSUITS
A
heavy fog hung in the
pines, cloaking the
40-some birds high above
my brushy ground cover in their
evergreen roost. Turkeys had
flocked up for winter, and like
clockwork entered their routine
of roosting in a small pine strip
along a creek bottom.
Soft yelps and clucks wafting
from the canopy were barely
audible above the babbling water,
but evolved into a boisterous
cacophony as the sun fought to
tear through the fallen ceiling.
Having never mastered the art
of calling turkeys, I sat quietly,
awaiting the birds’ vacation from
roost.
As visibility increased to about
30 yards, the unharmonious
ruckus from overhead fell silent.
Had I moved? Had they heard
me? My mind raced with the
paranoid cogitations of a turkey
hunter familiar with failure.
Moments later, the pines erupted.
Turkeys spewed from all angles
in unison, hidden entirely by fog;
their heavy wing beats showering
the understory with the mist
deposited among the pine nee-
dles. A short glide carried them
to a nearby wheat field where
tender green sprouts topped the
breakfast menu. Waiting and
glassing patiently allowed the
birds time to feed back into the
timber. Time to make a move.
Believe it or not, turkeys
that flock up in the fall are far
easier to hunt in brushy and tim-
bered cover than in the spring.
You can get away with move-
ment that would never fly when
trying to call that lovesick tom. I
sprang from my seat beneath the
shelter of a pine and weaved into
Brad Trumbo/Contributed Photo
The author with a colossal fall Rio hen, taken with his Grandpa’s Ithaca Model
37 pump.
the timber along the edge of an
old road.
Movement through a tangle of
downed pines, rose, and service-
berry prompted me to dive behind
a large tree trunk while three Rio
Grande hens emerged onto the
old road clearing. My peering
around the trunk caught the birds’
attention but merely held their
gaze, allowing me to raise Grand-
pa’s old Ithaca model 37 pump to
shoulder and settle on the biggest
old hen. A single shell of 2¾-inch,
four-shot steel secured my prize
destined for a baking dish with
garlic, spices, and local bacon.
Sound like a “once in a blue
moon” opportunity? That was my
assumption, given my inability
to remain concealed from these
birds during spring. But year
after year I’ve filled turkey tags
in the same general area, waiting
in the dark for the birds to leave
roost and making a move on them
just as I would a mule deer buck,
using terrain and vegetation to
close the distance.
Wild turkeys are not native to
Oregon and our local Rio Grandes
were introduced in 1975. They
thrive in the Blue Mountains foot-
hills because the narrow riparian
strips with a mix of trees and
shrubs flanked by dryland crops
resemble their native south-cen-
tral US and Northern Mexico
habitats. These thick covers also
provide ample concealment for
slipping in on a flock of fall birds.
Although not expressly stated
in literature, turkeys often select
conifers for roosting, and having a
basic understanding of fall habitat
and forage preferences is more
than half the battle for fall hunting
success. Spotting a flock is rela-
tively easy, and in my experience,
they generally remain within
close proximity to their preferred
winter food sources.
Fall calling tactics include
busting up flocks and calling
them back with hen yelps, but sit-
ting and calling are two activi-
ties that I have failed to master.
Spot-and-stalk is far more pro-
ductive for those of us unable to
remain still, and is highly effec-
tive on flocks of 10 or more birds
as safety-in-numbers appears to
be a mindset for the Rio Grande
turkey. Hens have pegged me
nearly every time I move in on
the flock, but a quick stand-still
allows unsuspecting turkeys to
filter by. The lack of alarm from
the oblivious bystanders typically
puts those on alert at ease, and
I have even seen a flock ignore
the panicked “puts” of those who
have me pegged.
The fall turkey season in Ore-
gon’s Northeast hunting units is
in full swing and runs through
Jan. 31, 2022, on private lands.
One turkey of either sex can be
harvested. If you are looking
for something new and exciting
and have never tried spot-and-
stalk turkey hunting, get out and
give it a shot. You are guaran-
teed to enjoy the challenge, and
fall quickly in love with the Rio’s
rich hues of copper, emerald, and
auburn, the tail fan tipped with
an elegant caramel band, and
the exceptional table fare of this
beautiful wild turkey.
———
Brad Trumbo is a fish and
wildlife biologist and outdoor
writer in Waitsburg, Washington
For tips and tales of outdoor pur-
suits and conservation, visit www.
bradtrumbo.com.
Group gives update on trail work
By BILL BRADSHAW
Wallowa County Chieftain
E
NTERPRISE — A regional
trails maintenance group
received a positive response
after an update on their activi-
ties to the Wallowa County Board
of Commissioners at the board’s
meeting Wednesday, Dec. 1.
“The trails association has a
mission to maintain trails and
conserve heritage sites in North-
east Oregon,” said Rick Bom-
baci, director of the Wallowa
Mountains Hells Canyon Trails
Association. “It began in 2016
in a partnership that was com-
posed of Eastern Oregon Uni-
versity, Wallowa Resources and
the Forest Service and this, as
yet, unformed organization, and
the trails association became the
fourth leg of that stool. We had
meetings at Cloud 9 for about a
year over lunch … in 2017, we
actually started doing work in the
field. We are incorporated as a
501(c)(3).”
Since that field work started,
the trails group has had 747 vol-
unteers working 11,277 hours
in the field. They’ve cleared 479
miles of trails, brushed 159 miles
of trails and assessed another 212
miles. They have removed nearly
3,500 trees, manufactured 44 trail
signs, installed 24 of those signs,
repaired three bridges and had six
work sessions on historic sites.
Bombaci said those statis-
tics are required to be kept by the
group for the U.S. Forest Service
since that agency is the primary
source of its funding.
He described the partnership
through which the trails group
works and receives its annual
budget of about $30,000. He said
the group receives that funding
Wallowa County Chieftain, File
Wallowa Mountain Hells Canyon Trails Association volunteer David Cook carries a
4-by-4 across the Wallowa River en route to a new one-log bridge that the group
helped the Forest Service construct across BC Creek.
from the Forest Service; private
foundations and other organiza-
tions, such as Cycle Oregon, the
Eastern Oregon Visitors Associ-
ation, Travel Oregon, the Wild-
horse Foundation and the Oregon
Hunters Association. Other gov-
ernment money comes from the
National Wilderness Stewardship
Alliance and directly from Wal-
lowa County.
Volunteers and outreach
The group has had volunteer
workers from Eastern Oregon
University, the University of
Idaho, Trailkeepers of Oregon
and Wallowa County Community
Corrections which has sent work
crews doing community service.
Commission Chairman Todd
Nash expressed his appreciation
on behalf of the board after the
presentation.
“We certainly appreciate the
work your group has done,” Nash
said.
He also pointed out that Sage
DeLong, a new field represen-
tative for U.S. Rep. Cliff Bentz,
R-Oregon, was visiting at the
meeting and urged Bombaci to
make Bentz aware of any of the
group’s needs through DeLong
for “largest wilderness in the
state of Oregon.” Nash also urged
Bombaci to continue to make the
commissioners aware of any way
the county can assist the group.
“We’re making a difference,”
Bombaci said. “The Forest Ser-
vice hasn’t been able to field
more than about three people per
trail crew for the past decade or
so. There’s no way they can keep
up with more than 1,200 miles of
trails. We’ve probably doubled or
tripled the amount of work that’s
getting done. … But that still
isn’t enough to keep up.”
In his presentation, Bombaci
updated the commissioners on
the trails group’s status.
“Currently we have two part-
time staff, that’s me and Asch,”
he said, introducing co-worker
Asch Humphrey. “I work out of
an office at Wallowa Resources.
The organization initially was
active just in Wallowa County,
but we have been expanding and
now we have just about as much
activity in Union County as we
do in Wallowa County.”
He said the group also is
beginning to make contacts in
Baker County.
“But right now, we’re taking
things slow and trying to make
sure we have a good volun-
teer base in Union and Wallowa
counties first,” he said. “Right
now, we have about 125 paying
members. More or less half of
them are in Wallowa County,
a quarter of them are in Union
County and the rest are scat-
tered all over the place around
the state and the Northwest. It’s
mostly people over 50. ... I’d say
the average age of our volunteers
is someplace in the 60-year-old
range. We have a pretty even
split, almost exactly 50-50
male-female so there’s a lot of
participation out there.”
The group has supporters far
beyond the active volunteers.
“We have an email list of
about 450 folks,” Bombaci said.
“A portion of them are active.
Many of them are just ‘win-
dow-shoppers’ who are following
along and cheering us on.”
Social media also provides
support, he said, introducing
Humphrey as the group’s social
media outreach specialist.
“I’ve been working on social
media over the past year and one
reason is that we’ve been trying
to bring some folks into our orga-
nization so we can continue to
grow,” Humphrey said. “It’s been
neat to see how having a regular
presence on Facebook and Insta-
gram and also our website so we
can do updates ourselves. We’ve
also been able to create online
forms for projects.”
See, Trail/Page B2