Outdoors
& REC
The Observer & Baker City Herald
Chasing
Cutthroat
An adventure
in the Idaho
Panhandle
DENNIS
DAUBLE
THE NATURAL WORLD
W
hat a difference five years makes! No
more sleeping in a leaky nylon tent,
cooking on a cranky camp stove, and
washing under a lukewarm solar shower. This
quest for cutthroat trout of the Idaho Panhandle
will be launched from a time-share on the shores
of Lake Coeur d’Alene. Blues on satellite radio
seem appropriate for a three-hour, pedal-to-the-
metal drive through rain-soaked skies – the first
significant moisture seen since early June.
The two-bedroom luxury suite is empty,
kitchen counter a mess, and toilet seats up when
I show. My pals arrive soaking wet and grinning
after testing their luck on the North Fork Coeur
d’ Alene River,
“It rained all day, but fishing was good once we
figured out what trout were eating,” Ken said.
Ken often pumps the stomach of trout he
catches to improve his odds of matching the
hatch. Until then, it’s watch for rises, note flying
bugs (if any), and make your best guess. On our
previous camping trip to the St. Joe River, he con-
fessed trying 16 different patterns.
Variety is not a new concept for serious fly
fishers. According to one fly shop website, “must-
have” patterns for the St. Joe River include No.
10-14 Hopper (peach, tan and red), No. 14-18
Sparkle Dun, No. 10-14 Stimulator (olive, yellow,
orange), No. 16-20 Lightening Bug (purple, red,
silver), No. 14-18 Splitsville Caddis (olive, tan)
and a No. 14-18 Splitsville Flying Ant (black, red).
That’s 70 flies over six different patterns. At three
bucks apiece retail, you’d better tie your own.
While I warm up a take-out pepperoni pizza and
Ted takes a hot shower, Ken unloads a backpack
holding a dozen fly boxes stuffed with over 100 flies
each of nymphs, beadheads, dries, bucktails, wet
hackles, and streamers. “Why so many?” I ask.
“You never know,” he replies, as he covers the
dining room table with containers opened to let
hackles dry out.
I ponder my modest collection of flies. Many I
will never use because I always start with one that
worked last time out. Then the next favorite fly
and so on down the line until I find one that pro-
duces results.
Five years earlier we three senior citizens car
camped under a cloud of smoke on the upper
St. Joe River. Forest fires to the south tickled our
nostrils, lowered visibility to a half-mile, and
ABOVE: Although having less roadside access,
the scenic North Fork Coeur d’ Alene River
draws Ted Poston to test his luck.
INSET: A late September cutthroat trout from
the St. Joe River showcases colors of early
autumn.
Dennis Dauble/Contributed Photos
pushed the air quality index into the unhealthy
zone. I packed an oversize cot with a 3-inch-thick
foam mattress. Ken and Ted’s cots had a lower
price point, which led to an uncomfortable night’s
sleep. They got even with me by placing my be-
longings next to the exit door of the tent. “Zip,
zip, zip, zip” all night long. Sleep deprivation of-
ten results from excessive libation around the
hypnotic glow of an LED lantern.
Idaho Highway 50, a two-lane paved road,
parallels most of the upper St. Joe River with reg-
ular turnouts every half mile or so. Staying be-
hind guard rails protects from hell-bent logging
trucks that thunder by. However, clambering up
and down uneven, steep slopes lined with frac-
tured granite and quartz rock is hard work. The
thought of a coil of rope to assist descent and as-
cent comes up.
See Cutthroat / B2
B
Saturday, November 5, 2022
Forest Service
waives some
user fees on
Veterans Day
EO Media Group
SALEM — The U.S. Forest Service
will recognize the service of America’s
veterans by waiving standard amenity
fees for all visitors to national forest and
grassland day-use areas on Veterans
Day, Friday, Nov. 11.
“Many veterans spend time with
their families and connect with nature
while hiking, hunting, boating, and
exploring the range of outdoor recre-
ation opportunities national forests
and grasslands have to offer,” said Tracy
Calizon, regional assistant director of
recreation for the Forest Service in the
Pacific Northwest.
Making Veterans Day a fee-free day
gives everyone an opportunity to reflect
on the service of the nation’s veterans
while spending time on America’s pub-
lic lands, Calizon said.
The Forest Service offers fee-free ac-
cess a few times each year to encourage
everyone to explore educational and
recreation opportunities available on
national forests and grasslands.
On fee-free days, standard amenity
fees normally charged for day use sites,
such as picnic areas, developed trail-
heads, and destination visitor centers,
are waived. The waiver does not apply
to special recreation permits, cabin
rentals, or campground reservations,
nor does it include expanded amenity
fees charged for certain highly-devel-
oped sites, service charges, or fees as-
sessed by independent concessionaires
operating on National Forest land.
Approximately 98% of national for-
est land can be enjoyed fee-free, year-
round. Where fees are assessed, more
than 80% of the money raised is re-
invested at the site where they’re col-
lected, where they provide for necessary
maintenance and services or are saved
to pay for future improvements.
Fee-free public lands access, in-
cluding access to National Forests and
Grasslands, is available year-round to
U.S. military service members and their
families, veterans, and Gold Star family
members.
The Interagency Military Pass is
available at no cost to all active-duty
military personnel and their families.
This pass is honored nationwide at all
Forest Service, National Park Service,
Bureau of Land Management, Bureau
of Reclamation, and US Fish & Wildlife
Service sites charging standard amenity
or entrance fees.
Veterans may present an approved
ID at any Forest Service location sell-
ing interagency annual passes to re-
ceive an Interagency Veterans Pass that
is valid for one year from the date of
issue. Forms of accepted ID include a
valid Department of Defense Identifica-
tion Card (CAC Card), Veteran Health
Identification Card (VHIC), Veterans
Affairs ID Card, or a Veteran designa-
tion on a state-issued U.S. driver’s li-
cense or identification card. (Veterans
presenting proof of disability may also
be eligible for a no-cost Interagency Ac-
cess Pass, which has no expiration date.)
Folding knives a traditional gear option for hunters
TOM
CLAYCOMB
BASE CAMP
T
ruth be known, we outdoors-
men are slow to change. Is it
because of nostalgia? Family
tradition?
Sure, with some gizmos we’re all in
but with a lot of gear we’re slowww to
change. Years ago, I read an article in
which the author beseeched the readers
to embrace the AR into their hunting
world. He said something to the effect
of “Come on guys, after WWII the sol-
diers came home and wanted to hunt
with the rifles they’d used overseas and
were comfortable with. Our boys used
an M16 in Vietnam and are wanting to
use it to hunt. And dang guys, Vietnam
was back in the 60s. It’s not a new rifle.
It’s going on 50 years old.”
Maybe we are slow to change.
I’m going to use the same logic with
you on today’s topic which is folding
hunting knives. When I started using
a folding knife to clean my deer 30 to
35 years ago that was a new concept. I
didn’t know of anyone else that used a
folder except one of my early mentors,
Mr. CC Teague.
Mr. Teague was the coolest guy I’ve
ever met next to my dad. He took me,
dad and my brother deer hunting from
the time I was 9 years old on up until
he died. If it wasn’t for him, we never
could have afforded to deer hunt as
grade school kids. He gutted
his deer with an old wood,
black-handled folder called
a Sodbuster. Sixty years
ago it was unheard of to
use a folder to gut deer.
Maybe it was his influ-
ence that caused me to use
a Bucklite 110 back in the
late 80s/early 90s to gut/skin
my deer. That was revolution-
ary. So, like the author mentioned
above while encouraging people to em-
brace the AR, I’m going to encourage
you to try out some of the modern fold-
ers. There’s a lot of benefits.
• Lightweight.
• Compact.
• Can strap them on your backpack
for easy access.
• Safer to carry in case you fall/horse
wreck. A straight blade knife might
poke through a cheap sheath.
The thing that enhanced the popu-
larity of folders is that now some com-
panies offer them with functional blade
designs. Until recently, everything I
ever saw had a clip point. About nine
years ago I got a Diamond Blade fold-
ing Summit. It has a definite drop point
and yet the spine is ground down so it
has a definite point.
There’s a lot of dysfunctional out-
door folders on the market so be care-
ful when buying. Determine what job
you want to do.
Let’s start off with the EDC knife.
The Buck 110 helped revive folders
and put Buck on the map. It is a rough
and tumble clip point knife.
Tom Claycomb/Contributed Photo
Daily tasks require stabbing jobs such
as cutting holes in leather, opening feed
bags etc. so I like a clip point. I favor
a 3½-inch blade with a bigger handle
so I have a good grip or you may want
to carry a more discreet, smaller knife.
Not a right or wrong, it’s just what you
favor.
Designs
Now let’s cover what designs to look
for in our hunting/fishing folders. For
skinning an animal, a lot of people fa-
vor a 3½-inch clip point blade and I’ve
skinned over 100 deer with one. The
old Buck 110 is one of the first popu-
lar clip point folders. At last count they
had sold over 10,000,000 and it’s the
knife that put Buck on the map.
But if you want to save the hide,
you’ll want a drop point. The Dia-
mond Blade Summit is the best skin-
ning folder on the market. It has a
drop point but also the spine is ground
down so it has a point for cutting
the pattern. Then there are
smaller folders such as the
KOA Featherlight Hunter
with a drop point for skin-
ning smaller animals (al-
though you could skin a
deer with it).
KOA makes a Feath-
erweight Bird/Trout folder
that has a straight cutting edge
for breasting out birds and would
also work for cleaning your trout when
backpacking. If you favor a 6-inch
blade for filleting your fish, Smith’s
Consumer Products makes a folding
fillet knife as well as Elk Ridge. Not that
this is the best design for the task but
last week at Pheasant Land Lodge in
South Dakota the guides used 6-inch
folding fillet knives.
While on the topic of folding fillet
knives, the thought of a folding bon-
ing knife has always intrigued me. I
tried to get a couple of companies to
make one but none ever took me up on
the offer. So the only two viable bon-
ing knives are straight blades made by
KOA and Smith’s. Here’s a link to a TV
show that we did on the KOA boning
knife: https://www.highroadhunting.
com/the-high-road/step-up-your-wild-
game-cooking
Opening options
In the old days all folding pocket
knives were opened two handed us-
ing a thumb groove on the spine of the
blade. You’d dig your thumb nail into
the groove to pull it open. Now we have
more options.
• The old thumb groove
• Thumb stud
• Assisted open
• Flipper knife
• Spyderco thumb hole
• Auto
Blade locking options
Lockback folder. The blade locks
open by means of a lock on the back of
the handle. Some lock in the middle,
some on the rear end of the handle.
Liner lock. When the blade is open
the liner slides over in the middle of the
back of the blade. To close it, push the
liner over with your thumb nail which
allows the blade to close.
Slide button locks like the KOA
Onyx.
Multiple bladed folders
Here’s another twist-interchangeable
blades. For an example check out the
Elk Ridge XCHANGE folding knife. It
offers three blade options.
Another feature to look for, does
it provide a good grip? I like a tex-
tured handle, finger guard and thumb
grooves on the top of the spine stabilize
my grip. You’re usually skinning your
deer in the dark. Add in the blood and
you’re handling a sharp object in the
dark that is cold, wet and slippery.
See Knives / B2