Community
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
A7
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Karl Coghill is the new superintendent/principal at Long
Creek School this year.
Long Creek teacher
now leads school as
superintendent/principal
Contributed photo
Columnist Dale Valade, left, and Zarom Bruce shot these bucks on the last day of the season.
S HOOTING THE B REEZE
By Angel Carpenter
Last day at Juniper Gulch
By Dale Valade
For the Blue Mountain Eagle
We’ve all had seasons
where you have to just about
give up before the “magic”
happens. This year for me
was the dictionary definition
of enduring to the end.
I had two opportunities
at younger bucks at different
times but just couldn’t do it.
Since this was the first qual-
ity buck tag I had drawn in
five years, I scarcely wanted
to punch it on a button buck.
At times I regretted that de-
cision, wondering if I was
getting too greedy. Still I felt
I should stick to my resolu-
tion and hold out for a mature
buck.
Things went pretty sta-
tus quo until the last day of
buck season. My friend Za-
rom Bruce and I decided to
hunt together to make a final
go of it. Early on, we passed
on some young bucks, yet
ran into large herds of both
antelope and elk. The big
bulls were bugling and gath-
ering their hordes while the
billies and nannies raced on
by. The wide open country
allowed one to see for miles,
yet was dappled with juniper
and conifers providing mixed
cover.
It was almost noon when
Zarom spotted a 3x4 mu-
ley buck bedded down on a
ridge top at just a little over
200 yards away. We dropped
down to take a look, and after
a brief evaluation we decided
to take him. Zarom had never
killed a buck so we decided
he should take the shot. The
buck was bedded down, and
so only his head and neck
were exposed. This is not an
ideal shot to take, but Zarom
can shoot. I’ve mentioned
one of his many long range
coyote exploits in a previ-
ous article. Taking a steady
rest with his 6.5 Creedmoor,
while I spotted through my
binoculars, he squeezed off
a shot. He nailed the buck
squarely in the neck deliver-
ing an instant kill.
No sooner had he shot
when two more bucks stood
up. They gazed around curi-
ously trying to locate where
the sound originated from.
What a pleasant surprise!
Quickly I abandoned my
binoculars in favor of Old
Reliable. Zarom, still peer-
ing through his rifle scope,
informed me that the one on
the right was the best of the
two as I chambered a round
and got on target. Once I
found him and steadied my
crosshairs, I squeezed off a
shot. He jumped and kicked,
ran a few feet and dropped
dead. My bullet had met its
mark, and we had two great
trophies on the ground.
Karl Coghill
leads Long
Creek School
The whole event didn’t
take 30 seconds to unfold,
but that’s a moment I will
cherish for a lifetime. Those
two bucks fell only yards
apart from one another. It
was only when I saw him
on the ground that I fully
realized how great a buck
this old 4x4 was! To see my
friend Zarom take his first
buck with such a good shot,
combined with being able to
fill my own tag with a such
great buck in a matter of mo-
ments, was simply euphoric.
We literally could not stop
smiling. What an epic finale
to buck season 2018!
How did you do this sea-
son? We would love to hear
from you! Email us at shoo-
tingthebreezebme@gmail.
com!
Dale Valade is a local
country gent with a deep love
for handloading, hunting and
shooting.
Blue Mountain Eagle
Karl Coghill has taken on
the new title of superinten-
dent/principal at Long Creek
School this school year.
From 2015-2017 he taught
history, health and PE and
was the middle school head
teacher.
Over the last two years,
Coghill completed his mas-
ter’s in education administra-
tion through Northwest Naz-
arene University in Nampa,
Idaho.
Before working at Long
Creek School, he was em-
ployed at the Caldwell School
District, teaching special ed-
ucation, and before that he
worked for the Idaho Depart-
ment of Corrections.
“I’m a rookie,” he said, but
added the staff’s support has
been “phenomenal.”
“We do a lot of collabora-
tion to ensure that we’re doing
things for the best interest of
the school and the students,”
Coghill said. “The bottom line
is the students. Without the
students, we have no school.”
Long Creek School has 35
students this year, down from
40 last school year.
Included on the school ros-
ter this year are six foreign ex-
change students from Germa-
ny, Mexico, Thailand, China,
France and South Korea.
Coghill said he enjoys liv-
ing in Long Creek and know-
ing the students and their par-
ents.
“The small student body
allows me to get to know each
student,” he said. “I know
their strengths and weakness-
es, so I know how to address
those.”
He hopes in the future to
develop a cooperative learn-
ing situation with the North
Fork John Day Watershed
Council and with the Native
American Council in Pendle-
ton “to create a holistic learn-
ing environment, studying the
lives of early Americans and
how they used the land and
how that environment has
changed and how that has im-
pacted food sources.”
His goal for the students is
to teach self-reliance “when
they leave here, to give them
the ability to learn and teach
themselves because we won’t
be as accessible to the stu-
dents once they graduate, so I
want them to have that inde-
pendent skill,” he said.
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