SPORTS
SCHEDULE
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
College
football
Oregon St.
Civil War
Oregon
Ducks vs.
Oregon State
Beavers, Eu-
gene, 1 p.m.
WEDNESDAY
November 25, 2015
Oregon
Friday,
Nov. 27
B1
Word on the Street
The Eagle asked people in Grant County: Who do you think will win the Civil War game, and what will the score be?
High school
Basketball
Friday,
Dec. 4
Dayville/
Dayville/Monument
Monument
@ Echo at
Fossil Tourney, girls var-
sity 3 p.m./boys varsity
4:30 p.m.
Beavers, 42-0
Paige Shaw, 11
Prairie City
Prairie City
Prairie City
vs. Redmond
JV in Prairie
City, girls
varsity 5
p.m./boys varsity 6:30 p.m.
Dorran Wilson
Prairie City
Ducks, 56-24
Tahnee Helms
John Day
Ducks, 43-16
Jay Colson
John Day
Santa Claus
North Pole
Optimistic team works
on ‘no-quit attitude’
Dayville/Monument @ Pilot
Rock at Fossil Tourney, girls
1 p.m./boys 2:30 p.m.
By Angel Carpenter
Prairie City vs. Burnt River
in Prairie City, girls 2 p.m./
boys 3:30 p.m.
Blue Mountain Eagle
Grant Union vs. Redmond
JV in John Day, girls varsity
2 p.m./boys varsity 3:30 p.m.
Grant Union
Wrestling
Dance
Grant Union presents
Holiday Showcase in
John Day, 6:30 p.m.
‘
Ducks, 32-7
Panthers plan to blaze nets
Saturday, Dec. 5
Grant Union
@ Irrigon
Duals in
Irrigon, TBA
Ducks, 28-24
We’re trying to build
a winning attitude
in everybody this
season, and we
expect nothing
less than a state
championship.’
Ethan Camarena
Prairie City senior
PRAIRIE CITY – The Prairie City
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and hoping their hard work and attitude
take them far this season.
The 1A-8 High Desert League team
is led by new head coach Jonathon Gill,
with assistant coaches Bob Hassmiller and
Charles Lawrence.
The squad includes four freshmen, one
sophomore, one junior and three seniors.
“Everyone is playing varsity,” Gill said.
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in the long run, we’ll get a better product –
I’m excited about our four freshmen.”
Hassmiller said they’re training the
team to work as a unit.
“We’re trying to build a foundation
with fundamentals – solid passing and
dribbling and everyone knowing their role
and place on the team,” he said. “We are
really glad to have Dorran Wilson back.
He balances the team and creates offense,
not just for himself, but open shots for his
teammates as well.”
Wilson, a sophomore, was out early
last year with an injury.
The team’s seasoned seniors include
Ethan Camarena, Garrett Hitz and Bran-
don Gillihan.
Each has played basketball since sixth
grade, and they all said they’re optimistic
about the team this year.
“We’re trying to build a winning at-
titude in everybody this season, and we
expect nothing less than a state champi-
onship,” said Camarena. “We have a great
Ethan Camarena
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Prairie City Panther Lane Williams works the ball in practice last
Friday. Players in back are Jonathon Lawrence, left, Dorran Wilson,
Garrett Hitz, Wyatt Williams and Levi Burke, with coach Jonathon
Gill on the sideline.
group of kids, and we get along great. It
helps a lot as a team when you’re like
brothers – like family.”
Hitz said the team is developing a “no-
quit attitude.”
“I look forward to playing with the
younger kids – they have a lot of grit,” he
said.
“I think we’re headed to be great this
season and think we’ll do really well,” said
Gillihan. “We have a great team, and I’m
happy to be with all the players.”
Gill said the Panthers are working on
ball movement, reducing turnovers and
defense.
“We’re going to be the aggressor and
bring the action to the opponent,” he said.
He added that they also work to have
fun and said sportsmanship is one of their
core principles.
“It’s all about discipline in how you car-
ry yourself on and off the court,” Gill said.
Hassmiller added, “Our kids are so
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out of them.”
All the coaches agreed they’d like to
see the fans in the stands for the girls and
boys basketball games.
Gill said although the boys team has
had some down years, they are competi-
tive this year and believe in themselves.
“The league will be competitive, and
we want to be one of the top three teams,”
he said.
Garrett Hitz
Brandon Gillihan
Deer, elk serve as buffer to livestock attacks
By Eric Mortenson
Capital Press
They weren’t on the agenda when
the Oregon Department of Fish and
Wildlife Commission voted Nov. 9
to take wolves off the state’s endan-
gered species list, but Oregon’s elk
and deer population likely will be
key factors in wolf management de-
cisions in the years ahead.
Mark Henjum, a retired wildlife
biologist who was ODFW’s origi-
nal wolf program coordinator, said
healthy deer and elk populations are
a buffer between livestock and the
state’s increasing number of preda-
tors.
Oregon has 25,000 to 30,000
black bears, an estimated 6,200 cou-
gars and a minimum of 82 wolves,
according to ODFW.
Biologists fully expect the state’s
wolf population to continue grow-
ing. Wolves occupy only 12 percent
of their potential range in the state,
and continued dispersal from North-
east Oregon will put them in con-
tact with elk and deer and possibly
in competition with other predators.
Bears and cougars are much more
widely dispersed in the state.
Sharp, localized drops in ungu-
late prey, as deer and elk are known,
could drive predators to attack sheep,
cattle or other domestic animals,
Henjum and other biologists say.
Bears are primarily omnivorous
but will take young deer and elk,
especially in the spring. Cougars,
meanwhile, are solitary ambush
hunters and can take just about
any animal at will, Henjum said.
“They’re amazingly good at what
they do,” he said.
Wolves travel in packs and chase
down prey. They can kill solitary
adult cougars, or females and kit-
tens, and chase cougars off carcass-
es. Pressure from wolves can force
cougars into steeper, brushier terrain.
The competition for ungulate prey
could produce a bad turn for live-
stock.
Biologists say wolves prefer elk,
but attacks on livestock are what an-
ger cattle and sheep producers and
gain media attention. From 2009
through June 2015, Oregon’s con-
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herd protection dogs. Ranchers be-
lieve wolves are responsible for
much more damage, saying livestock
often disappear in wolf country. In
addition, many livestock attacks are
written off as “probable” or “possi-
ble” wolf depredations.
“This buffer thing is one of the
main reasons we haven’t seen so
high a rate of loss of livestock,”
Henjum said. “I think down the
road, trying to maintain the ungu-
late populations is something that’s
going to be more important as we
move on.”
Although wolves were taken off
the state endangered species list,
their existence in Oregon is still
governed by a wolf management
plan. Hunting and trapping are not
allowed, and there’s no sport sea-
son for wolves. The plan does allow
“controlled take” of wolves in cases
of chronic livestock attacks or de-
creases in prey.
Phase 3 of the wolf plan, the next
step after delisting, calls for wolves
to be managed “in concert with its
wild prey base,” a move strong-
ly supported by groups such as the
Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation.
“Oregon’s wolf population is rapidly
approaching the point where human
tolerance and unacceptable impacts
upon the wolf’s deer and elk prey
COME SEE THE CREW AT LES SCHWAB IN JOHN DAY, 551 W. Main
base must be addressed,” the foun-
dation said in a letter to the ODFW
Commission.
Jerome Rosa, executive direc-
tor of the Oregon Cattlemen’s As-
sociation, said his organization’s
members report seeing fewer deer
and elk in some areas, and more in
others.
What’s ahead for wolves might
be found in Oregon’s cougar man-
agement plan, which allows for tar-
geted killings to address problems.
In October, the ODFW Commission
authorized killing 95 cougars in four
wildlife management units during
2016. One area was chosen because
of human, livestock and pet safety
concerns, and three were selected to
help mule deer recover. The kills, to
be done by ODFW employees, fed-
eral wildlife service agents or con-
tractors, are in addition to whatever
other cougar deaths occur.
John Day
541-575-1346
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