Outdoors
Rec
B
Saturday, April 2, 2022
The Observer & Baker City Herald
A basket of memories
Reviving Grandpa’s
wicker creel also spurs
fond recollections
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
Snow-Charged Streams and
Days Gone By
S
pringtime in the Blue Mountains
heralds the sound of passerine
songbirds and snow-charged
streams. While nature’s blessings
brighten the spirit, sunlit days even-
tually remind of need to catch up on
chores conveniently ignored over the
darkness of winter.
Entering a garage cluttered with
fishing gear and wood-working proj-
ects, my eye catches on Grandpa Har-
ry’s ancient willow creel, aka fish box.
I pull the creel down from the wall
and lift its creaky lid. Bits of dried
fern and the faint glitter of aged fish
scales greet me. The syrupy sweet
odor of fair-caught rainbow trout
wafts from its interior like bacon
grease plated on a cast iron skillet.
Fish boxes, as willow-weave creels
were referred to in the “olden days,”
are designed to hold a limit of fresh-
killed trout. Their open weave design
allows for water to drain off when
dipped in the stream and for evapo-
rative cooling of the day’s catch. A
few decades ago, a basket-type creel
was an important accessory for every
serious angler. Nowadays they’re
as obsolete as horsehair line. Not to
mention that any self-respecting fly
fisher who kills a fish in public waters
stands a good chance of being ostra-
cized by his peers.
A careful review of Hugh Cha-
tham and Dan McClain’s classic refer-
ence, “The Art of the Creel,” provides
insight on the origin of Grandpa’s
creel. Such features as a “side-hole,”
a single leather strap around the front
and lid, reinforced back corners, and
a 3-inch-wide leather flap hinge, sug-
gest it’s a “Hazeldell,” product of the
so-called king of the creel-leather
business, George Lawrence Company
of Portland, Oregon.
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Brother Dusty casts into the tongue of the river’s current, hoping to hook a trout that he can slip into his willow creel.
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photo
Grandpa Harry’s restored fish box, wading stick, and fly rod are ready for action by the front
steps of the family cabin.
It would be difficult to prove the
creel was made by G.L. Co. because
it lacks a metal cartouche, engraving,
or similar stamp of authenticity.
Assuming the creel is an early
G.L., though, it would be a No. 3
or the smallest of four sizes origi-
nally offered, having a capacity of
20 pounds (their largest, No. 7, was
introduced in 1929 with a 40-pound
capacity!). Since the horizontal weave
or “weft” of Grandpa’s creel is whole
willow, not split, as were early ver-
sions built in the wickerwork or
French weave style, it closely con-
forms to No. 14x in the wicker-weave
series, first built by G.L. in 1941.
The heirloom creel represents
the last of Grandpa’s angling legacy
after brother Dusty dumped a rubber
raft on the Deschutes River and
Grandpa’s bamboo fly rod sunk to
the bottom of Whitehorse Rapids.
The rub of it though, is the creel has
fallen into disrepair. It’s not so much
I ignore it when I pack my fly rod and
vest, but why strap on a bulky creel
in a catch-and-release world? Not to
mention the occasional raised eye-
brow when someone senses my goal
is to fill a frying pan with a brace of
trout. And, if and when I decide to
keep a small trout for breakfast, it’s
easy to slip the fish into the inside
pocket of my fly vest.
See, Memories/Page B6
It’s almost turkey time in Oregon
April 15 isn’t just
tax day for hunters
EO Media Group
Never mind those pesky taxes.
April 15 is a milestone of a dif-
ferent sort for many hunters in
Oregon, marking the start of the
statewide spring turkey hunting
season.
The general season continues
through May 31.
Hunters can take male turkeys
or turkeys with a visible beard.
The season limit is three turkeys.
A youth turkey hunt, for
hunters 17 and younger, will
precede the regular season, on
April 9-10.
For the youth hunt, an adult
21 or older must accompany each
youth hunter, and the adult can’t
hunt.
Youth hunters need a 2022
youth spring turkey tag. Youth
hunters who have an unfilled
tag after April 10 can also hunt
during the general season April
15-May 31.
Youth participating in the Men-
tored Youth Hunter Program are
not eligible to participate in the
April 9-10 youth hunt.
Wild turkeys are not native to
Oregon, according to the Oregon
Department of Fish and Wildlife.
But since their introduction in
1961, and the first turkey hunting
season in 1987, turkey hunting
opportunities have increased more
than tenfold.
The first turkeys introduced
Jim Ward/Contributed Photo, File
A male turkey grows a tuft of stiff feathers in the middle of its chest referred to as a
beard. Mature males sport beards 9 to 12 inches long.
into Oregon were the Merriam’s
turkey, native to the pine for-
ests of Arizona and New Mexico.
In 1975, Oregon began intro-
ducing the Rio Grande turkey,
and the two subspecies have
hybridized widely.
ODFW’s management strategy
for wild turkeys focuses on the
Rio Grande subspecies.
Spring is prime turkey hunting
season. This is breeding season
and successful hunters often set
up in a well-camouflaged location
and try to call a male turkey into
shooting range.
Shotgun or bow?
Turkey hunters can use either a
shotgun or a bow (recurve, com-
pound or long; crossbows are
illegal).
For shotguns, 12-gauge and
20-gauge models are the most
popular. Shot sizes 4, 5 and 6 are
typically used for turkey hunting.
For big, stationary targets like
turkey, a full choke is the best
choice and is usually included
with the purchase of a new
shotgun. This choke concentrates
the pellets into a small pattern,
ensuring more pellets hit the
target zone.
Many turkey hunters prefer
a better sight on their shotgun
than the typical one or two metal
beads on top of the barrel. Tur-
keys are normally a stationary
target — unlike a flushing
pheasant or a decoying duck —
and ideally hunters try for a head
shot that doesn’t spoil the meat.
Two popular kinds of sights to
help you acquire your target and
shoot accurately:
• A fiber optic sight is brighter
than a metal bead, making it
easier to locate the sight and line
it up with the head of a turkey.
Many shotguns designed for
turkey hunting come with a
single fiber optic sight mounted
on the front of the barrel. You
also can buy aftermarket fiber
optic sights to install on the gun
you already have, as long as it
has a ventilated rib and metal
bead on top of the barrel. Pop-
ular colors are orange, yellow
or green.
• A red dot sight contains an
illuminated dot inside a sight
housing. These are considered the
most accurate sights for turkey
hunting. A red dot sight is typi-
cally very low power; some have
no magnification. Some need a
battery to operate, some don’t. In
Oregon, a battery-operated sight
or scope is legal on a shotgun as
long as it doesn’t project a beam
onto the target.
Turkey tagging options
Hunters can use either paper
tags or electronic tags.
• Paper Tags — Successful
hunters must immediately vali-
date the tag by writing on the tag,
in ink, the date and time of har-
vest, and the unit where harvest
occurred; and attach the tag in
plain sight securely to the turkey.
To keep the tag legible, one
option is to place it in a plastic bag
to protect it.
Paper tags must be signed upon
purchase or prior to use in the
field.
It is unlawful to have in posses-
sion an unsigned tag and/or repro-
duction/photocopied/resized tag(s).
• Electronic Tags — Suc-
cessful hunters must immediately
validate the tag by pressing the
“Validate” button on the image of
the tag in the MyODFW mobile
application. Follow the prompts
and complete the tag validation
process by clicking “Save.” After
validation a confirmation number
will become visible.
In addition to validating a tag
electronically, the tag owner’s
name, date of birth, ODFW ID
number, harvest date, and confir-
mation number must be written
in ink on material of the tag own-
er’s choice (options include flag-
ging tape, duct tape, and paper
in a plastic bag to protect it), and
attached in plain sight securely to
the turkey.
See, Turkey/Page B6