SPORTS
East Oregonian
B2
Saturday, October 9, 2021
A Scots tradition, acted out in the Imnaha Unit
GARY
LEWIS
ON THE TRAIL
“Let’s stay 30 to 50 yards
apart,” I whispered. “Watch the
horizon.”
James walked the edge
where the canyon dropped away
to the creek 2,000 feet below us,
a tributary of the Imnaha. My
path took me through groves of
yellowed aspens. Brittle leaves
rattled in the breeze.
We walked and stopped and
took a few steps and started
again, on the lookout for the
horizontal line of a back, for the
shine of antlers, for the fl ick of
an ear. What we saw were cattle,
mostly black Angus, and after
we had walked better than half
a mile, we turned and retraced
our steps.
We had a cow between us, a
short-horn white-faced old girl.
She looked at me then swung
her head and looked at James.
Then she stretched out her neck
as if to vent her displeasure. She
bawled, long and loud.
Alerted and spooked, two
mule deer broke from cover and
ran across the opening we’d just
walked through. James had his
binocular up.
“They’re bucks,” he whis-
pered.
And as soon as they’d disap-
peared, they had turned around
and begun to run back to where
they started. A 150 yards across
the little prairie. James shot the
fi rst buck. My crosshair swung
through the second buck and I
fi red.
When the echoes died away
we started up through the trees
and found them where they’d
come to rest, 5 yards apart. It
was the work of an hour to skin
and quarter the animals. And
half the day left.
I remembered the Macnab
Challenge. I had accomplished
it once on a hunt in Eastern
Washington. Up here in the
Imnaha Unit, I guessed, I might
be able to pull it off again.
The late outdoor writer Ed
Park told me about it. A hunters’
tradition out of English litera-
ture, the Macnab is named for
the fi ctional John Macnab, and
a challenge to poach a red stag
or a salmon from a landowner’s
favorite beat with the landown-
er’s full knowledge.
So the Macnab has come to
embody the classic challenge
to take a red deer, an Atlan-
tic salmon and a partridge, all
in one day, between sunrise
and sunset. But the challenge
changes depending on the envi-
ronment. In Eastern Oregon,
for example, Ed explained, the
hunter must tag a mule deer,
catch a steelhead and shoot
a chukar. In the fi nest sport-
ing tradition, the fi sh must be
caught on a fl y, the bird must be
taken on the wing.
Because it was early, and
because I was in the Imnaha
Unit, I took a shotgun and
walked up to the ridge top where
I had found the buck rubs and
where I had seen blue grouse.
In fact, I had walked around the
blue grouse early in the morn-
ing to avoid fl ushing them and
maybe spooking a deer. They
were still there. The birds
fl ushed and I picked one out
and shot it going away. I had to
climb over a barbed wire fence
to pick it up. I carried my prize
back to camp, cleaned it and
then fi nished getting my deer
meat on ice. When our deer
meat was cooling, my friend
James and I drove down to the
Imnaha River.
It was early October and the
river was low. Steelhead and
salmon were out of the ques-
tion. I tied on a grasshopper
pattern and fl oated it down the
foam lines and a trout took the
fl y. It was a small fi sh, but it was
a rainbow and it completed my
second Macnab.
Sometimes it all lines up.
A hunter in the breaks of the
Snake, the Imnaha or the
Minam could pull off a Macnab
this fall. It can happen all in one
action-packed sunrise to sunset
span. A buck deer or bull elk,
a partridge on the wing and a
trout, steelhead or salmon on
a fl y. Pack a shotgun, bring the
pointing dog and take the fl y
rod, too.
———
Gary Lewis is the author of
“Bob Nosler Born Ballistic,”
“Fishing Central Oregon” and
other titles. Gary’s podcast is
called Ballistic Chronicles.
To contact Gary, visit www.
garylewisoutdoors.com
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
A hunter with a deer tag, an upland bird stamp and a fi shing license can pull off the Macnab Challenge in one day, but
it can take a few seasons to get everything to line up right.
James Flaherty/Contributed Photo
This small rainbow trout
obliged by taking a deer hair
hopper pattern on the surface,
completing the Macnab Chal-
lenge before sunset.
James Flaherty/Contributed Photo
In pursuit of the Macnab. After taking a mule deer buck in the morning, it was the matter of a few minutes walk to go
back up on the ridge and fi nd a blue grouse.
Pink:
Bulldogs:
Continued from Page B1
Continued from Page B1
At Ione/Arlington, the
Cardinals are going pink
on Oct. 14 in their Big Sky
League match with Condon.
“Our funds are going to
the Susan G. Komen Foun-
dation,” I/A coach Dawn
Eynetich said. “We will have
a 50/50 raffl e, and the girls
are also taking sponsors for
a serve-a-thon.”
Pilot Rock, which is
hoping to be back in its gym
for the fi rst time this season
on Oct. 14, will host Heppner
for its pink night.
Hermiston will go pink
on Oct. 12, when they host
Kennewick in a Mid-Colum-
bia Conference match, while
Blue Mountain Community
College will host its Dig
“Cydney is such a phenom-
enal runner,” Blackburn said.
“She has had health issues that
have held her back. Hailey has
had to drop out of the last two
races. She did 400 miles this
summer. We just have to keep
her feet under her. We have a
strong group of girls. If one
goes down, there’s another one
there to take her place.”
Serna has been the No. 2
runner for Hermiston, with
junior Ashley Treadwell,
freshman Elizabeth Newman,
and sophomores Madeline
Franke and Jacqueline Garcia
Sandoval figuring into the
scoring on a regular basis.
“Alexia is miss consis-
tent,” Blackburn said. “She
had been in the mid-20s since
Kathy Aney/East Oregonian
Pendleton head volleyball coach Amanda Lapp talks to her team between matches against
Redmond on Thursday, Oct. 7, 2021, at home on Warberg Court.
Pink night on Oct. 13, when
Walla Walla Community
College comes to town.
BMCC will welcome
back fans for the game after a
COVID-19 outbreak closed the
ilders
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campus for a couple of weeks.
Irrigon will hold its pink
night Oct. 15 against Burns.
her sophomore year, and now
she’s in the low-20s. Liz did
cross-country last year for
three weeks. Every week she
is getting faster and faster.
Ashley fought injuries the fi rst
two years, now she is healthy
and has been really consistent
for us and is a team captain.”
Serna fi rst started running
cross-country in the eighth
grade, and now is a leader for
the Bulldogs.
“I don’t lead by my words,
but by my actions,” Serna said.
“We all work together and
hold each other accountable.
We work as a team. Megan has
gotten so much faster since I
fi rst started running with her.”
Serna said she is a little
nervous and excited for the
race Oct. 9.
“I’m excited for my compe-
tition to see how much better I
have gotten,” she said.
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541-519 -2968 • Elkhornbarns@gmail.com • 509-331-4558