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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Jan. 1, 2003)
Smoke Signals Tribal Bow Hunters Get An Adrenaline Rush Practice is more traditional than using today's high-powered, high-tech weapons. 4 JANUARY 1, 2003 By Ron Karten A bond that Tribal bow hunters share is the expe rience of elk or deer running by so close that the hunters can just about reach out and touch them, but they are too close to actually pull up the bow and arrow and shoot. When it comes to equipment like calls, there are plenty of opinions and maybe the only definitive thing you could say is that Tribal member Nathan Rolston has the winner name with the "hoochie momma" that his dad, Cliff, recommends. "The only draw back," he said, "is you've got to stop to get your hands on the bow when (an elk) gets close." For that very reason, Tribal member Bryan Lan gley likes a mouth reed which he can keep calling while he gets his bow in position. And Tribal mem ber Shonn Leno uses a variety of mouth reeds. "I look forward to it all year," said Langley. "I'm always looking for new places to hunt." He also stud ies with the professionals to improve his techniques. Most recently, he took a course with Larry Jones on how to locate elk using topographical maps and stud ied different kinds of calls. Of course, some days you can call until you're blue in the face and the elk just won't answer. Langley recalls walking with his wife through a trail of "thick stuff' when "a whole herd jumped up and took off." "Sometimes," he said, "you may only get one shot opportunity the whole season." It took Rolston a few years to get into it. Cliff Rolston always hunted with a bow, and interested Nathan five to six years ago, but then the interest flagged for a few years before he came back to it. This year, he guesses he went out "probably 12 times," but still awaits his first kill. Langley and Leno take off to Eastern Oregon when time during hunting season allows and most hunt locally as well. Rolston goes out to the lower Trask area, "as close to Tillamook as you can get without crossing Highway 6." Part of the attraction of bow hunting is that the woods are still pretty much wide open during the season. Langley has hunted with rifles before, but "there's less hunting pressure" with bow and arrow. "Fewer people in the woods." Even at that, Langley said that he is starting to see "a lot more archery hunters." His perception is correct. According to a recent report in The Oregonian, the number of bow hunt ers has more than doubled in the last 10 years. More lift am if'wj 7 mil VlmW ? mm 1 Setting Their Sights Tribal members Bryan Langley (left), Nathan Rolston (center) and Shonn Leno (right) display their various bow hunting styles. The three Tribal members are at various stages in their hunting experience as well with Langley and Leno having more experience and Rolston steadily learning the craft. Rolston has been hunting with his father Cliff and hopes to bag his first kill sometime soon. Be Ready For Anything According to bow hunter Bryan Langley (left), a decent shot at an elk can be rare so a hunter has to be prepared when that shot comes. and more, Langley said, he is seeing "archery road hunting" where archers call elk or deer from a truck on the road. Although he hunted without a kill from 1988-98, in the last four years, he has brought home an elk every year. For Langley, elk is "a good source of food and a lot of fun to hunt. It's an adrenalin rush when you get a big 800 pound elk 10 yards from you, and you're not sure what you are going to do with this itty bitty stick in your hands." Rolston agrees. "All of a sudden something came rushing but you don't know if it's a bear then reality sets in you've got this string and piece of aluminum and you've got to kill this animal. A gun would be a lot easier but I guess that's the fun part." , Culture Language Specialist and Chinook Tribal member Tony Johnson hunts with bow and arrow "only for the food," he said. ' Others are out there year to year as well. Tribal members Doug and Mike Colton bofv hunt, and in fact, it is Doug Colton's elk head in the atrium of the Governance Building, but they declined to talk about it for publica tion. ' Leno, a Natural Resources Technician, has been hunting with bow and arrow for 12 years, since he was 15. Like others, he also has hunted with rifles and muzzleloaders, but acknowledged "archery is probably the most challenging. You feel the most accomplished when you do harvest an animal (with a bow). There are a lot more variables. You have to close the dis tance on the animal without being detected, and you have to make a vital shot on the animal." He has been a lot more successful with a rifle and uses one "out of necessity, for the deer meat every year. I just don't feel the same accomplishment." For Leno, the time of year, with really cold weather and snow, draws him to hunting. He said he started using a muzzleloader "mainly to prolong my hunt ing season." (State law sets different seasons for bow, muzzleloader and rifle hunting.) Because of the broad interest in bow hunting, the Natural Resources Department allotted some prop erty last year for an archery range. It is now half finished, said Leno, with seven targets up and seven to go. The targets consist of 4 cedar bales and targets. Bryan and Dale Langley and friends have volun teered a lot of time to build the prac tice range and a youth crew laid down the bark dust on the main trail, Leno said. For safety reasons, it is only available after work hours. Experienced Langley and one of his trophy kills. " AJ ( 1 I Fishing and Hunting Licenses For 2003 On Sale Now Prices for 2003 are the same as the past two years, according to the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife. However, sportsmen and women will notice two changes for 2003 that are the re sult of requests from hunters and anglers . First, hatchery harvest tags may be purchased at any license agent through the Point-of-Sale li censing system. In the past, these tags were sold separately from the computerized system and many agents chose not to sell them. The hatch ery harvest tag allows the harvest of 10 adipose fin-clipped hatchery salmon or steelhead. Anglers must hold a fishing or combination license and a combined angling tag to purchase the hatchery harvest tag. The price is $12 for both residents and non-residents. Second, hunters and anglers who purchase a SportsPac may choose to hunt either the controlled spring bear season or the fall general bear season. In previous years, SportsPac holders did not have the option of obtaining a spring bear controlled hunt tag with their SportsPac. The SportsPac, which costs $105 for Oregon residents, provides the holder with a combination hunting and angling license and tags to hunt bear, cougar, elk, deer, upland birds, waterfowl and spring turkey, and to fish for salmon, steelhead, sturgeon and halibut. Also on Dec. 1, hunters may begin purchasing chances to win a deer or elk tag for a long hunting season over multiple hunting units. Tickets for the Access and Habitat Deer and Elk Raffle Hunts go on sale Sunday at license agents and ODFW offices. The following raffle hunts are offered: statewide deer, statewide combination deer and elk, north east Oregon deer, southeast Oregon deer, cen tral Oregon deer, northeast Oregon elk, high desert elk, western Oregon elk and statewide elk. Winners have from September 1 November 30, 2003, to fill a tag. Hunters and anglers are reminded to bring a copy of their 2002 license with them to buy their new license and tags. While not required, this simple step speeds service at agent counters be cause all the information necessary to issue a new license is located on the old license. ODFW also reminds Oregon resident license buyers to bring a picture identification with them prove residency. 4
