Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The Baker County press. (Baker City, Ore.) 2014-current | View Entire Issue (April 3, 2015)
FRIDAY, APRIL 3, 2015 Outdoor Recreation Submitted Photo. A rabbit snare, purchased online from Amazon. Submitted Photo. Setting the snare in some brush. Rabbit snaring with the kids rabbits. When I was a young boy, I read books about trap- pers disap- pearing into the woods for weeks check- ing their trap lines from small log cabins they had built with only an THE OUTDOOR COLUMN ax. It was By Nick Myatt defi nitely a romanti- cized view Editor’s Note: This of trapping, but to me it week’s guest columnist, represented an old way of Nick Myatt, is a local life and the lost art of bush father, husband, wildlife craft. I doubt trapping will biologist, and lifelong hunter introducing his kids ever be one of my major hobbies, but it has always to hunting. He runs been on my bucket list to GrowingHunters.com, a try. popular blog. Readers can After researching “how go there to sign up for his to snare rabbits” exten- blog for free! sively on the internet, I purchased “1 Dz Dakota- One of my goals for line Rabbit Snares” from 2015 was to try a new Amazon. There is plenty outdoor activity with my of information online family. A few weeks about building your own ago, we checked another snares, but when you can activity off our life list by get a dozen snares for $20 taking the kids out and setting snares for cottontail I fi gured why bother. While I waited for the UPS man (known by our kids as Santa) to arrive with the snares, I pondered where to set our snares. I settled on the land of a friend who recently complained about rabbits eating tree seedlings that he had planted. The snares soon arrived and now all I needed was some new winter snow to help identify the best rabbit runs. We waited, waited and waited for that snow to come. While the rest of the country was getting blasted with record break- ing snow and cold, Oregon was experiencing one of the warmest and driest winters ever. The snow never came, so we ventured out anyway. My plan was to set our snares in the most obvi- ous runs in the grass and fi nd some remnant snow patches along north slopes shaded from the sun. Hunting for rabbit runs was just as much fun for the boys as actually hunt- ing rabbits. They enjoyed slipping through the brush and looking for rabbit sign. I spent two hours teach- Why advertise with us? • Low rates per column inch & promotional deals • Free color ads as space permits • Friendly, professional sales staff Wendee Morrissey wendee@thebakercountypress. com or call 541.805.1688. David Conn david@thebakercountypress.com or call 541.523.5524 Family owned and operated. Packed with local news! • All display ads are also posted to our Facebook page, which means thou- sands of individuals see your ad from that source alone. We’re the only paper in town that offers this additional service! ing the boys to read the sign and setting the snares in the highest use runs we found. As we made our sets, I was impressed with how well Chase could locate rabbit sign and by the end of our trip he was selecting the best set locations on his own. As the sun dropped low we returned home, all of us wondering what the next day would bring. The next day we returned to the site to check our snares. My bar for success for the day was pretty low. All I really wanted to do was get the kids out, teach them about setting snares, and if we actually caught a rabbit it would just be icing on the cake. I felt pretty good about my sets, but the amount of rabbit sign on the property was pretty low and the conditions made things dif- fi cult. The boys were ea- ger with anticipation as we checked the fi rst few sets. With each empty set, their enthusiasm slowly died but as young boys always do, they shifted their attention to other things like throw- ing rocks in the stream or turning sticks into swords. We pulled our snares and headed home without a single snare even being bumped by a rabbit. March may be too early to set a goal for 2016, but I can already tell you that one of my goals for next winter is going to be to become profi cient in snar- ing rabbits. Over the next year, the boys and I are going to scout out some productive locations, buy some more snares, and hit it hard next winter. I just dipped my toe into rabbit snaring this year, but I can already tell it is going to be a very exciting experience for the boys in the years to come. Have any of you snared rabbits? Any tips to share? THE BAKER COUNTY PRESS — 7 ODFW Recreation Report BAKER COUNTY The warm and dry winter has left much more county snow free that usual. Green up has also begun to appear in the lower elevations. The mild weather may also have BEARS out and more active in the early part of the season. Cougars can be found throughout Baker County but hunters should target areas with high concentra- tions of deer and elk. Setting up on a fresh kill or us- ing distress calls can all be productive techniques. Hunters are required to check in the hide of any cougar taken, with skull and proof of sex attached. Remember to pick up a 2015 tag. Coyote numbers are good throughout the district. Try calling in early morning and late afternoon. Remember to ask for permission before hunting on private properties. GRANT COUNTY The P.W. Schneider Wildlife area is closed Febru- ary 1st through April 14th. Herbicide application to stop spread of invasive annual grasses is happen- ing on the wildlife area, more information. BLACK BEAR: Most of our snow is gone from mid and low elevation areas of the district, roads can be easily accessed. Bears will begin waking up soon and will be in search of food. The best strategy for fi nding them this time of year is to sit on a spot with a good view of open canyon sides and use binoculars or a spotting scope to locate them. The animals will feed off and on dur- ing all daylight hours and patience is the order of the day when spotting spring bears. Hunters are reminded all bears are required to be checked in within 10 days of harvest. TURKEY numbers have been on the rise for the past few years in the district. Most of our snow is gone from mid and low elevation areas of the dis- trict. By opening day the turkeys will begin to move from their wintering areas up into nesting areas. The best strategy for fi nding them this time of year is to travel the forest roads or hike into areas where turkeys might be and call for them or just listen for their calls early in the morning. Cougar hunting remains open. Successful hunt- ers should remember that check-in of the hide with skull and proof of sex attached is mandatory; see the regulations for details. Remember to pick up a 2015 tag. Coyote numbers are good in most of the district. Coyotes may respond to distress calls. Try calling in the early morning and late evening. UMATILLA COUNTY Bears will be distributed in forested stringer areas throughout the mid elevations. Low to mid elevation forest roads are accessible from numerous access points throughout the county, thus providing an earlier opportunity for scouting those mid elevations for upcoming spring bear season. Foraging bears can be observed by glassing open hill slopes with a south/southwestern aspect. Earlier in the season bears can be observed throughout the day. Bear numbers will begin to increase towards last half of April and should persist until the end of the season. Hunters are reminded all bears are required to be checked in within 10 days of harvest. Turkeys are scattered throughout the forested areas of Umatilla County, look for turkeys along ridge tops crossing between drainages. Listen for gobbling turkeys within early hours of daylight from atop high elevation spots above those drainages. Less than average snow levels may provide earlier access to mid and upper elevations. Cougar are well distributed in forested areas of the Walla Walla, Mt. Emily, and Ukiah units. Hunters will have best success by fi nding a fresh naturally made kill and sitting on it, or by using predator calls. Some success has come from following tracks until the cougar is located. UNION COUNTY Cougars are common in Union County. Focus on game rich areas with long ridgelines or saddles that cats typically travel. Setting up downwind of a deer or elk killed by a cougar can be productive. Nonresident hunters can include a cougar tag with others tags for only $14.50. All cougars taken must be checked in within 10 days of harvest; call for an appointment before check in. Remember to pick up a tag for 2015. Coyote numbers are good throughout the district. Try calling in early morning and late afternoon. Remember to ask for permission before hunting on private properties. WALLOWA COUNTY. BLACK BEAR: Spring bear season starts in a two weeks, and a good density of black bears exists throughout the district. Most of our snow is gone from mid and low elevation areas of the district and bears will begin waking up and making forays away from their dens in search of early season foods, such as green grass, ground squirrels, and roots and tubers. In spring, black bears are fair weather fellows and really only venture out of their dens on warm, sunny days. The best strategy for fi nding them this time of year is to sit on a spot with a good view of open canyon sides and use binoculars or a spotting scope to locate them. The animals feed off and on during all daylight hours and patience is the order of the day when spotting spring bears.
