THE SPOKESMAN • TUESDAY, OCTOBER 4, 2022 A9
REDMOND
Ben
Brown
and
Liesl the
pudel-
pointer
on a
hunt in
north
Central
Oregon.
More than 900 participants left Redmond High School Oct. 2 for a 5k that
raises funds for cancer services in Central Oregon.
Photos by Tim Trainor/Spokesman
Gary Lewis/
For The
Bulletin
Hit the breaks for
chukar: Drift
north, climb uphill
BY GARY LEWIS
For The Spokesman
More than 900, run, walk
in Heaven Can Wait 5k
Event raised more than
$30,000 to support local
cancer services
BY TIM TRAINOR
Redmond Spokesman
Even before the starting
gun sounded, there were al-
ready plenty of winners at the
Heaven Can Wait 5k on Sun-
day in Redmond.
The more than 900 partici-
pants — which includes more
than 100 cancer survivors —
had already raised more than
$30,000 to support cancer ser-
vices in Central Oregon.
The fundraiser, traditionally
one of the largest in Central
Oregon, was forced into a vir-
tual format in 2020 and 2021. It
reemerged from the pandemic
Redmond Rotary donates
shoes, coats to local students
By SPOKESMAN STAFF
For the fourth year in a row,
Redmond Rotary has donated
clothing to help keep local stu-
dents warm this winter.
According to Rotary member
Marv Kaplan, the organization
supplied 500 pairs of shoes and
50 warm coats. The Rotary club
works in conjunction with the
Family Access Network to facili-
tate the project.
The donations were dropped
off Sept. 27 at Redmond School
District headquarters. The
goods are then sent to the stu-
dents who have the most need,
which can be anywhere from
Tumalo to Terrebonne.
“We coordinate with the
school advocates of the Red-
mond School District at each
school and they distribute based
on the needs of the children,”
said Kaplan.
The roughly $9,000 needed
to fund the program is raised
throughout the year by the lo-
cal Rotary club. Its major fund-
raiser is a May event titled “Sips
for Soles” — which features
wine tasting in conjunction
with Stoller Winery.
A matching grant with Ro-
tary International helped the lo-
cal dollars go farther.
The Family Access Net-
work passes along the need for
that school year. Rotary order
clothes and shoes in August,
which arrive in September for
the start of the next school year.
Currently, the program is
geared for students ranging
from kindergarten through
eighth grade, though Kaplan
said they are looking for larger
size and to expand to higher
grade levels next year.
“Children love the bright col-
ors of their new shoes and bring
a sense of ownership and dig-
nity to each,” said Kaplan. They
feel good about themselves.”
█
Reporter: nrosenberger@
redmondspokesman.com
in a new location, moving from
Bend to Redmond for the first
time.
Heaven Can Wait raises
money for Sara’s Project, a
fund of the St. Charles Foun-
dation that helps provide ser-
vices to people in Central Or-
egon who are battling breast
cancer. Over its 23-year exis-
tence, the event has raised ap-
proximately $100,000 a year
for assistance to under-insured
patients, as well as therapies
such as therapeutic massage,
acupuncture, yoga, and reiki.
█
ttrainor@redmondspokesman.com
When chukar hunters gather,
we talk about places like Juntura
and Riverside and the Snake
and the Owyhee, but there are
chukar in Central Oregon too,
in the lower Deschutes River
canyon from Madras north to
the Columbia.
Bird numbers are stable and
good hunting can be found
throughout the season, but
access can be tricky. The first
thing to do is study a BLM map
and look for pockets of hunt-
able public land.
Sometimes a drift boat can be
a better chukar hunting vehicle
than a pickup.
Part of the west bank is
off-limits. Starting north of Ma-
dras, the Deschutes is bounded
on the west by Warm Springs
tribal lands to a point 16 river
miles south of Maupin.
From the bridge at Warm
Springs, this section of river is
usually referred to as the Warm
Springs to Trout Creek drift
and can be drifted in just a few
hours with a shuttle and take-
out at the Trout Creek ramp.
The next drift is from Trout
Creek to Maupin, a multi-day float
that should only be attempted by
experienced boaters. This is the
stretch of river that contains White
Horse rapids, which claims many
boats each year.
Highway 197 crosses the
river at Maupin and it’s here the
traveling wingshooter can find
miles of river to explore. The
river is most accessible from the
east bank and a good road fol-
lows down from town to Sher-
ar’s Falls and beyond.
The road continues down-
stream from Sherar’s Falls to
Pine Tree, the beginning of a
popular float called Pine Tree
to Mack’s Canyon that can be
accomplished in a one-day (or
stretch it out to two days) drift
to Mack’s Canyon. Another op-
tion is to put in at Mack’s and
float out to Moody Rapids (the
last rapids on the river), typ-
ically called the Mack’s to the
Mouth float.
Chukar are Oregon’s
most-harvested upland bird
with an average of more than
41,000 bagged each season.
People will drive from one end
of the state to the other, just
for a chance to put birds in the
air. It’s a great economic boost
— with hunters buying ammu-
nition, boots, tires, restaurant
meals and hotel rooms, just so
they can top out these ridges
and enjoy the wide-open coun-
try. Chukar season runs Oct. 8
through Jan. 31.
█
To contact Gary Lewis, visit
www.GaryLewisOutdoors.com