Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, October 9, 2021
The Observer & Baker City Herald
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 tribu-
tary 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 ant-
lers, for the flick 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
disappeared, they had turned
around and begun to run back
to where they started. A hun-
dred fifty yards across the little
prairie. James shot the first buck.
My crosshair swung through the
second buck and I fired.
When the echoes died away we
started up through the trees and
found them where they’d come
to rest, five 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 Wash-
ington. 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 fictional John Macnab, and
a challenge to poach a red stag
or a salmon from a landowner’s
favorite beat with the landowner’s
Gary Lewis/Contributed Photo
A hunter with a deer tag, an upland bird stamp and a fishing license can pull off the
Macnab Challenge in one day, but it can take a few seasons to get everything to line
up right.
full knowledge.
So the Macnab has come to
embody the classic challenge
to take a red deer, an Atlantic
salmon and a partridge, all in
one day, between sunrise and
sunset. But the challenge changes
depending on the environment.
In Eastern Oregon, for example,
Ed explained, the hunter must
tag a mule deer, catch a steelhead
and shoot a chukar. In the finest
sporting tradition, the fish must be
caught on a fly, 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 morning to
avoid flushing them and maybe
spooking a deer. They were still
there. The birds flushed and I
James Flaherty/Contributed Photo
Flyfishing on the bank of the Imnaha, angling for a trout to complete a trifecta.
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 to walk back up on the ridge and find a blue grouse.
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 finished 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 floated it down the
foam lines and a trout took the
fly. It was a small fish, 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 fly. Pack a shotgun,
bring the pointing dog and take
the fly rod too.
Gary Lewis is the author of
“Bob Nosler Born Ballistic,”
“Fishing Central Oregon” and
other titles. To contact Gary, visit
www.garylewisoutdoors.com
Mixed bag for upland bird hunters as season gets underway
By JAYSON JACOBY
jjacoby@bakercityherald.com
The upland bird hunting
season is more than a month old
but for some wingshooters, the
true season starts today, Oct. 9,
when several species join forest
grouse on the list of legal species
to pursue.
The season for blue and ruffed
grouse started Sept. 1.
But hunters have had to wait
until now to try their shotgun-
ning skill with fast-flying quarry
including chukar and Hungarian
partridges, rooster pheasants and
California and mountain quail.
Bird populations vary across
Northeastern Oregon, according
to reports from the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife
(ODFW).
Although the dry spring was
conducive to a healthy hatch of
chicks — cold, damp weather can
kill the delicate newborn birds
— a summer of drought was less
than ideal for birds.
The season continues through
Jan. 31, 2022, for most species
(see breakout box, “More Infor-
mation,” for details.)
Following are prospects
for upland birds from ODFW
biologists.
Baker County
Upland game bird hunters
should see a better than average
year in Baker County. A mild
winter and favorable spring con-
ditions led to good chick produc-
tion. Birds had good reproduc-
tion, chicks were of good size, and
broods were generally large.
Quail seem to be still trying to
recover from the hard winter of
MORE INFORMATION
Chukar and Hungarian partridge
Open season: Oct. 9 through Jan. 31,
2022
Daily bag limit: 8 (possession limit, 24)
Rooster pheasant
Open season: Oct. 9 through Dec. 31
Daily bag limit: 2 (possession limit, 8)
California and mountain quail
Open season: Oct. 9 through Jan. 31,
2022
Daily bag limit: 10; no more than 2
mountain quail (possession limit, 30; no
more than 6 mountain quail)
Blue and ruffed grouse
Open season: Through Jan. 31, 2022
Daily bag limit: 3 of each species (pos-
session limit, 9 of each species)
2016-17 and their numbers have
been down the last several years.
Hunters should expect to see birds
scattered in pockets of good hab-
itat. Access and Habitat proper-
ties offer good upland hunting and
access to public land.
Grant County
Trend counts for quail, turkey
and chukar are all stable for the
2021 season while forest grouse
were difficult to find in surveys.
However, they tend to follow the
same pattern as other birds and
are likely stable as well. While
the area did experience a drought
this year, it appears not to have
affected game bird production.
Turkey and chukar offer the
best opportunities this season
for upland hunters, with turkey
widely distributed through the
county. Turkeys tend to congre-
gate in large numbers in the John
Day Valley, Ritter area, and Mon-
ument during winter months.
However, many of these birds are
on private land so hunters must be
Rick Swart/ODFW
Ringneck pheasant.
sure to obtain permission before
hunting. New for this year, within
Grant County only, fall turkey
opened Sept. 1. This change was
made to allow hunters the oppor-
tunity to harvest turkeys on public
lands before turkeys migrate to
private lands.
The Philip W. Schneider Wild-
life Area is open to the public and
offers good bird hunting. Quail,
both California and mountain, can
be found in brushy and riparian
areas throughout the county but
hunters will have to work to
flush them out of cover. Hunters
will find grouse throughout the
national forest with blue grouse
on ridge tops, like Strawberry
Mountain or Vinegar Hill, and
ruffed grouse along brushy creek
bottoms, like Murderers Creek or
Camp Creek.
Malheur County
Last winter was very mild and
dry. This was good for overwinter
survival for upland bird, but lack
of late winter/early spring mois-
ture was not good for providing
good quality forage for pre-
nesting hens.
• Chukar — Surveys on estab-
lished routes yielded 25 birds
per 10 miles, a 14% decrease
from last year and 47% below the
10-year average of 46 birds per 10
miles. Brood production was good
at 11.1 chicks per brood but total
number of brood classified was
significantly lower than previous
years.
• Pheasant — Surveys along
established routes yielded 3.9
birds per 10 miles, a 9% decrease
in number of birds observed from
last year’s survey and 39% below
the 10-year average. Chick pro-
duction was great at 4.8 chicks
per brood. Hunting prospects will
vary depending on the farming
practices in the area where you
have permission to hunt. The out-
lying areas around Willow Creek
and Vale have higher bird num-
bers than areas closer to Ontario
and Nyssa.
There are very few public
lands in the area available to
pheasant hunters and the few par-
cels that are available tend to get
hunted daily.
• California quail — Surveys
on established routes yielded 39
quail per 10 miles, a 24% increase
from last year and 4% below the
10-year average. Production was
good at 9.8 chicks per brood with
most of the production observed
in agricultural lands.
Umatilla County
The majority of upland hunting
is on private land, so be sure to
ask permission prior to hunting.
Hunters looking for public land
can access the Columbia Basin
Wildlife Areas, including Power
City, Irrigon, Coyote Springs
and Willow Creek. Cold Springs
National Wildlife Refuge is also
an option for upland hunting.
Surveys indicate that the
pheasant population is way down
this year in Umatilla County, but
data gathered outside of regular
surveys indicate brood numbers
to be fairly normal. California
quail hunting in the county should
be average this year also. Quail
surveys indicate the population
to be around 72% of the ten-year
average. There are some Hun-
garian partridge and chukar in
suitable habitat in the county but
none were observed on surveys
this year.
Union County
The best hunting opportu-
nities are pheasant on the Ladd
Marsh Wildlife Area and forest
grouse on national forests.
Hunters should work ridge tops
above 5,000 feet for blue grouse
and stream corridors with heavy
cover and water for ruffed grouse.
Ladd Marsh is open
Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday
and federal holidays through Jan.
31, 2022.
It’s looking like a moderate
upland season on the Marsh, with
good brood sizes, but they’re few
and far between. We are seeing
good brood sizes but they’re
few and far between. A historic
drought has left Union County
and the marsh with low numbers
of broods.
• Pheasants — Surveys showed
some very good sized broods
around the area, with birds
ranging in age from a few weeks
to almost completely grown.
• Mourning doves: — It looks
like another stellar year on Ladd
Marsh for doves, with very large
numbers congregating around
See, Birds/Page B2