Outdoors
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Learning
patterns
The Observer & Baker City Herald
• Kinney Lake, 2,500
legals, 250 trophy
• Honeymoon Pond,
500 legals, 50 trophy
• Phillips Reservoir,
3,000 legals, 750 trophy
• Wallowa Lake, 6,000
legals, 300 trophy
• Luger Pond, 450
legals, 100 trophy
• Teepee Pond, 500
legals, 50 trophy
• Taylor Green Pond,
200 legals, 100 trophy
• South Fork Burnt
River, 1,000 legals
nook returning to the river.
A total of 802 spring chi-
nook have been counted
at TMFD so far this run
year, with 530 over the
past week. Fishing has
been slow up to date, but
there have been anglers
out trying to take advan-
tage of the early bright fish
and the fish are starting to
show up in the past week.
The flows in the Umatilla
came up significantly in
the past week from recent
rain, but flows should start
to drop and this is when
anglers should really con-
centrate their efforts as the
increase in flows tends to
move fish into the system.
Anglers should start to
find success as the clarity
of the river improves and
the river starts to drop.
The Umatilla River is con-
sidered from the Highway
730 bridge and upstream,
the section below that is
considered the Columbia
River and is currently
closed. Most anglers use
egg set up with a slinky
weigh bounced off the
bottom or a some have
found success with spin-
ners with water tempera-
tures being relatively cold.
Trout fishing on the Uma-
tilla River and its tribu-
taries opens May 22. Bass
and other warmwater spe-
cies remain open all year.
May 30-June 3
Wallowa River
EO Media Group
LA GRANDE — Many
ponds, lakes and rivers
in Northeastern Oregon
received a fresh stocking
of rainbow trout this week,
just in time for some of
the nicest weather of the
spring.
The Oregon Depart-
ment of Fish and Wildlife
has recently stocked thou-
sands of rainbow trout,
including trophy fish,
which are 15 inches or
longer.
The majority of the
trout released are “legals”
— at least 8 inches long,
and thus legal for anglers
to keep.
The trout stocking
schedule, which is subject
to change:
BRAD
TRUMBO
UPLAND PURSUITS
S
A wild turkey’s keen vision
and hearing makes for a chal-
lenging hunt. Turkeys are noto-
riously difficult to call, and suc-
cessful hunts often require years
of practice to perfect call tech-
niques and positioning for the
bird’s approach. Embracing and
learning from failure is part of
the game, but scouting flocks
and identifying their patterns
on patchwork landscapes gives
the hunter an advantage, par-
ticularly when hunting the Rio
Grande (Rio) turkeys of the
Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountain foot-
hills provide cover, shade, and
nightly roosting trees while
allowing safe access to the grain
fields and grassy slopes along
brushy creek bottoms. Spotting
a flock can be easy in the morn-
ings and afternoons. Rio often
stick to routine preferred covers
within a home range that aver-
ages between 370 and 1,360
acres, according to the National
Wild Turkey Federation, and
learning a flock’s daily move-
ment and whereabouts makes
the right time and place two
easy ingredients for success.
Just past five in the eve-
ning, a passel of toms and hens
erupted in discordant gobbles
Saturday, May 21, 2022
Trout stocking continues
in Northeastern Oregon
a key to
tricking
turkeys
pring is upon us,
and with the return
of hummingbirds
and the onset of flower
and fruit tree bloom comes
the wild turkey breeding
and hunting seasons. The
thunderous gobble of a
dashing mature tom (male)
puffed up and strutting to
impress the ladies induces
heart-racing, palm-
sweating, and immense
anticipation for the fanatic
turkey hunter.
B
Week of May 16-20
Brad Trumbo/Contributed Photo
Every last detail of a wild turkey is interesting and beautiful. This bird has modest spurs
but a scar on his leg and intricately-laid feather patterns.
and yelps up the canyon ahead.
Like clockwork, the birds were
stirring for their evening rou-
tine. Timber concealed them, so
I kept watch over the open rid-
gelines. Fire had swept through
about five years prior, thinning
the timber and leaving open
slopes with biscuitroot in full
bloom and blackberry thickets
leafing out in the draws.
A gray hen decoy stood off to
my right. Over my left shoulder,
I spied a red head pop up above
the ridgeline, hundreds of yards
distant. It was a lone tom and gut
instinct whispered that I would
come to know this bird well
before the evening ended.
In the span of about 10 min-
utes, the tom worked his way
down to a logging road that fol-
lowed the canyon bottom. It
was then that I decided to strike
up a conversation. A series
of questionable, high-pitched
yelps drifted from my box call,
which I had rigged to work in a
pinch after busting a key com-
ponent. The calls sent the cadre
of love-sick gobblers into panic
mode but the tom I had spotted
first simply kept quiet, flipped a
U-turn, and started in my direc-
tion. Wow, “Quiet Tom” is actu-
ally coming, I thought, nearly
out loud.
The logging road suddenly
became a turkey lek. Seven toms
spewed from the timber onto the
road, puffed up into full strut,
sidled up to the ladies, and gob-
bled at every call. Hens began
filing by and an old girl piped
up with a unique rough voice
like playing a güiro. The flock
soon started my way, but Quiet
Tom was ahead of them all. He
had skirted the masses, popped
out on the road below them, and
spied my decoy.
His black, rope-like beard
bounced against his chest as he
closed the distance. Preparing
for action, I shifted slightly, dis-
engaged the safety on my black
Stevens 12-gauge, and steadied
the bead around the decoy. The
brush pile I sat behind blocked
me entirely from the end of the
road. The only place a bird could
get an eye on me was alongside
the decoy, and by then it would
be too late.
Quiet Tom reached 40 yards
and pecked a few small gravels
before committing to the decoy.
A well-timed kissing sound
caused him to stretch his neck
out in curiosity. An eye-blink
later, I stood to retrieve my first
turkey of the year and gave
thanks for the blessing of a stun-
ning young tom.
See, Turkeys/Page B2
• Balm Creek Reser-
voir, 2,000 legals
• Teepee Pond, 500
legals, 50 trophy
• Marr Pond, 1,000
legals, 250 trophy
• Morgan Lake, 1,250
legals
• Victor Pond, 500
legals, 50 trophy
• Honeymoon Pond,
500 legals, 50 trophy
• Wallowa Lake, 6,000
legals, 300 trophy
• Magone Lane, 1,000
legals, 1,000 trophy
• Weavers Pond, 1,000
legals, 50 trophy
Schedules and maps
for trout stocking plans
later in the year are avail-
able at https://myodfw.
com/fishing/species/trout/
stocking-schedule.
Fishing conditions
and forecasts
Morgan Lake
Opened for fishing on
April 22.
Umatilla River
Summer steelhead
fishing is closed until
Sept. 1. The spring chi-
nook season opened on
April 15. There is a pred-
icated run of approxi-
mately 3,000 spring chi-
Steelhead fishing closed
until Sept. 1. Fishing for
trout and whitefish can be
good in the spring. Fishing
conditions will be best
when flows are lower, and
fishing may be more dif-
ficult when the weather
warms and the river rises.
Wallowa County
ponds
Fish at Kinney Lake
that overwintered will be
available to shore anglers
and anglers in nonmotor-
ized boats (motors are not
allowed on Kinney Lake).
Kinney Lake and ponds
throughout the county will
be stocked with rainbow
trout over the next couple
months.
Wallowa Lake
Fishing has been good
for rainbow trout near
the south end of the lake.
Anglers have had success
using both flies and lures.
Anglers can have good
success wading out from
shore and casting lures or
flies near where fish are
rising. Boat anglers will
have better access to more
of the lake and may find
fish near areas where the
See, Trout/Page B6
Get outside for a whistle pig hunt
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
I
don’t want this to be a Dr. Phil
article but have you ever sat
down and thought about why
you enjoy getting out hunting,
fishing, backpacking and mush-
room hunting? There’s some-
thing rewarding about getting
outdoors, living off the land and
feeding your family. But it’s also
a good excuse to get out and enjoy
God’s creation.
But then I think another factor
is that we live in a high-speed
world. I know I do. For the last
2-1/2 years I fly out three weeks
and am home a week. On top of
that I have to get in 325 articles
a year — just picked up 46 more
articles in January — and conduct
40 to 60 seminars per year. And
I’m not the only one that lives a
high-speed life.
I think a big reason we like to
get out is to clear our heads of all
of the worldly bull. When you’re
outside we don’t worry about
psycho bosses, 401k’s, Ameri-
ca’s current situation or whatever
other stresses you’re currently
enduring. When you get outdoors
you can escape from it all and live
a simple life.
But even then, if you’re a
writer, the world tries to invade
your quiet time. I remember once
I’d been running gunning non-
stop for a few months and came
home and took my daughter
backpacking. Just me and her.
One day I thought uh-oh, I’ve got
to get to filming, I had 19 items
to test on this trip. I made a com-
mitment on that trip that I was
going to get in control of things.
Sure, if a company(s) sponsors
you then you have to perform, but
to me getting outdoors is some-
thing pure. Some of the best
memories of my life are when my
family hunted or fished. I want to
keep things simple like that and
not commercialized.
So with the above said, I just
got back home from a whistle
pig hunt out in the ranch country
in southeast Oregon. I’d just got
home from a three-week trip and
it was nice to get out with not a
care in the world. I’m on Pro-staff
with Umarex airguns. They’ve
labeled 2022 as The Year of The
Airgun and are hitting it hard.
We were planning a TV show on
airgun hunting for whistle pigs.
Things didn’t come together but
hunting whistle pigs on a regular
basis in the spring is a big deal
for me so I took off for a couple of
days this week.
If you can get away for a few
days or can only slip out for an
afternoon, there’s nothing more
relaxing than an airgun whistle
pig hunt. Just by the very nature
of airguns you expect it to be a
kicked back fun hunt.
It’s also a great hunt to take
your kids on. They don’t have
to be quiet, or sit still for hours
and you won’t be encountering
frigid weather. You’ll have some
great daddy/daughter talks. It’s
the ultimate daddy/kids hunt and
hunting with airguns adds the
icing to the cake. Plus, airguns
are quiet so you don’t even need
to wear hearing protection.
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo
There were hundreds of white-face ibis out on the prairies during a recent whistle
pig hunt in Southeastern Oregon.
If your little girl doesn’t want
to kill anything, no biggee. There
are a ton of cool airgun targets
on the market now. Spinners,
shooting galleries and so forth.
Or if you’re on a tight budget take
a bagful of tin cans and plastic
bottles filled with water. I still
like shooting them, don’t you?
I went on this hunt by myself
and had a great time even though
the hunting was tough. There
just weren’t many whistle pigs on
this ranch, which is not the norm.
Usually there are thousands upon
thousands. The plague must have
swept through this year, which
happens periodically in colonies.
See, Hunt/Page B2