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THE ASTORIAN • THURSDAY, OCTOBER 10, 2019
Pheasant fans keep fall tradition alive
Hunting site
in Chinook
By LUKE WHITTAKER
Chinook Observer
CHINOOK, Wash. —
The fall hunting season has
started for a colorful game
bird from China that tastes
like chicken.
P heasant season offi -
cially began with a bang
in late September, but the
hunt is primed to continue
through November with
birds stocked weekly at
state-owned game land in
Chinook.
As the main salmon sea-
son winds down and clam-
mers eagerly await the next
dig, another fall ritual is
unfolding in the fi elds near
Chinook.
Each
year,
35,000
to 40,000 pheasants are
released as part of the West-
ern Washington Pheas-
ant Release Program across
about 25 sites, including
a state-owned 1,000-acre
property in Chinook, part
of the Johns River Wildlife
Area.
The purpose of the pheas-
ant program is to provide
upland bird hunting oppor-
tunities. Naturally sustained
pheasant populations are
limited in w estern Washing-
ton due to cool, wet climate
and lack of grain farming,
according to the Washing-
ton Department of Fish and
Wildlife .
Each Friday from Sep-
tember through November,
Steve and Tina Padel release
birds at designated spots at
the Chinook site. The Padels
have participated in the pro-
gram the past two years, typ-
ically releasing about 120
birds weekly .
The pheasants come
Photos by Luke Whittaker/Chinook Observer
LEFT: Ted Jones, of Olympia, prepares to hunt pheasant with his dog, ‘Ripley.’ RIGHT: Steve and Tina Padel release pheasants in Chinook.
from the Bob Oke Game
Farm in Centralia, where
43,000 birds are raised
annually on 160 acres. The
farm is the main source for
birds released in w estern
Washington.
The pheasant program
is essentially paid for by
pheasant hunters, like James
Joyce, 75, of Seaview, who
has hunted pheasants for
decades.
“It’s $85 for their ( birds)
rearing, which is a fair deal,”
Joyce said following a morn-
ing hunt on Saturday . “If they
didn’t do it, we wouldn’t
have this. I look forward to it
every year. And they’re very
good eating, like chicken.”
Many of the pheasants
live beyond the end of hunt-
ing season and have natural-
ized in the Chinook Valley
to some extent. They face
stiff predation by coyotes
and other species, but the
spectacular birds can often
be spotted from local roads,
casually walking along
like hitchhikers in fancy
pajamas.
The Chinook area faces
less hunting pressure com-
pared to other pheasant sites
in the state.
“The Vancouver area has
500 licenses hunting pheas-
ant out of the Vancouver
area,” Padel said. “Last year
there were 80 active hunters
for this ( Chinook) site that
have signed up through the
WDFW,” Padel said. “It’s
pretty lightly hunted. There
are a lot of people who don’t
realize this is here.”
By comparison, the Van-
couver area has about 500
licenses, he said.
A small game license is
not required to participate,
but a w estern Washington
pheasant license is, costing
$84.50 for adults and $40.50
for youth under age 16. The
bag limit is two pheasants of
either sex per day. A three-
day adult permit is offered
for $40.50.
Non resident licenses are
$167.
Supreme Court seems ready
to require unanimous juries
By MARK SHERMAN
Associated Press
WASHINGTON — The
Supreme Court began a
potentially contentious elec-
tion-year term this week in
seeming general agreement
that juries in state criminal
trials must be unanimous to
convict a defendant.
The justices took up a
quirk of constitutional law, a
47-year-old ruling in a case
from Oregon that requires
unanimity in federal, but not
state trials.
Meeting for the fi rst time
in public since late June,
the court opened a term
that could reveal how far
to the right and how fast
the court’s conservative
majority will move, even as
Chief Justice John Roberts
has made clear he wants to
keep the court clear of par-
tisan politics. The court is
beginning its second term
with both of President Don-
ald Trump’s Supreme Court
appointees, Justices Neil
Gorsuch and Brett Kavana-
ugh, on board.
The justices could be
asked to intervene in dis-
putes between congres-
sional Democrats and the
White House that might
also involve the possible
impeachment of the Repub-
lican president.
Roberts would pre-
side over a Senate trial of
Trump if the House were to
impeach him.
Its biggest decisions, in
cases involving abortion,
protections for young immi-
grants and LGBT rights, are
likely to be handed down
in late June, four months
before the election.
Those cases probably
will highlight the divisions
on a court made up of fi ve
conservatives
appointed
by Republican presidents
and four liberals named by
Democrats.
But on Monday, con-
servative and liberal jus-
tices appeared to agree that
the same rules should apply
in federal and state trials.
They heard arguments in an
appeal by a Louisiana man
who is serving a life term
for killing a woman after
a jury voted 10-2 to con-
vict him. Oregon is the only
other state that allows for
nonunanimous convictions
for some crimes.
Louisiana voters have
changed the law for crimes
committed beginning this
year.
The court has formally
held that most of the Bill
of Rights applies to states
as well as the federal gov-
ernment, but it has not done
so on the Sixth Amend-
ment’s unanimous jury
requirement.
“What about the con-
stitutional rights of people
in prison?” Gorsuch asked
Louisiana Solicitor Gen-
eral Elizabeth Murrill, who
argued that the state’s court
system could be inundated
with claims if the justices
rule against Louisiana.
A decision for defen-
dant Evangelisto Ramos
would result in his convic-
tion being overturned and
also would affect defen-
dants who are still appeal-
ing their convictions. But
the court is not expected to
say anything about defen-
dants whose cases are fi nal.
It would take another round
of lawsuits to fi gure that out.
Oregon Attorney Gen-
eral Ellen Rosenblum has
warned that hundreds if not
thousands of cases could be
affected if the court rules
nonunanimous verdicts are
unconstitutional.
Rosen-
blum instead wants voters to
change the state constitution
and end the practice.
Many legal scholars
believe the 1934 vote in
Oregon to allow nonunan-
imous verdicts has roots in
racism and anti-Semitism
and was intended to dilute
minority voices on juries.
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Tuesday, October 15 th
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Adults: $7
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BBQ PORK RIB DINNER
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Friday Oct 11 th
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325-5771