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LABEL
NEWS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, December 11, 2019
A9
WEDNESDAY
December 11, 2019
Grant Union boys win opener against Burns
Morris scores
19 in game
By Rudy Diaz
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Tristan Morris runs through the Hilanders to score 2 points with a layup.
The Grant Union Pros-
pectors claimed a 42-37
victory over the Burns
Hilanders Dec. 4 in a game
that came down to the final
seconds.
Defense carried 2A
Grant Union as the team
held 3A Burns to less than
40 points in the Prospec-
tors’ opening game of the
season in John Day.
“Tristan Morris, with
19 points, he attacked the
The Eagle/Rudy Diaz
Devon Stokes looks to pass
against the Burns Hilanders
Dec. 4.
basket really well tonight
and handled the pressure
extremely well with some
defensive stops, and Devon
Stokes’ defense was stellar
and did a great job both-
ering the best player from
Burns,” said Grant Union
head coach RC Huerta.
In the first half of the
game, Grant Union and
Burns were close with
both defenses dominating.
Grant Union had slight
lead, 25-21, at the half.
The Prospectors took off
in the third quarter, scoring
13 points with 6 from Mor-
ris. The team held Burns to
5 points in the quarter.
Grant Union had a
12-point lead at the start
See Win, Page A13
SPORTS PREVIEW
Tiger boys basketball team
returning strong, confident
By Angel Carpenter
Blue Mountain Eagle
DAYVILLE/MONUMENT
TIGER BOYS BASKETBALL
SCHEDULE
D
ayville/Monument Tiger
basketball head coach Jeff
Schafer said this year’s
motto is still holding true as in
previous seasons:
Play as a team.
“It’s the same
thing I say every
year,” he said.
“It’s just life,”
said the coach
who is in his
Drew
seventh year of
Wilburn
coaching the var-
sity team. “If you
focus on your-
self, you’re only
going to go so far,
but if you focus
on everybody else
and work as a unit,
then you can go
Wesley
quite a bit farther.
Adams
It’s just unselfish-
ness. You see things from a dif-
ferent point of view.”
The Tigers lost Gabe Walk-
er-Hopkins and Cade Milton to
graduation. Returning starters are
senior Drew Wilburn and juniors
Donovan Schafer, Mark Thomas
and JT Hand. Another senior on
the team is Wesley Adams.
Ten Tigers make up the team
with three sophomores and two
freshmen rounding out the roster.
Wilburn and Donovan Scha-
fer both scored well in the district
game against the Adrian Ante-
lopes at last year’s 1A High Des-
ert League District Tournament.
It was a 57-49 loss for the Tigers,
but Wilburn garnered a game-
high 16 points, Schafer scored
Dec. 12: vs. Condon/Wheeler in Mon-
ument, 7:30 p.m.
Dec. 13-14: @ Arlington Tournament,
TBD
Dec. 19-21: @ Union Tournament, TBD
Dec. 27: vs. Alumni in Monument,
6:30 p.m.
Jan. 3: vs. Horizon Christian in Day-
ville, 6 p.m.
Jan. 10: vs. Four Rivers in Dayville,
6:30 p.m.
Jan. 14: @ Sherman in Moro, 5:30 p.m.
Jan. 17: @ Prairie City, 7:30 p.m.
Jan. 18: @ Harper, 3:30 p.m.
Jan. 23: vs. Sherman in Dayville,
5:30 p.m.
Jan. 24: @ Ukiah/Long Creek in Long
Creek, 6:30 p.m.
Jan. 25: vs. Huntington in Monument,
3:30 p.m.
Jan. 31: vs. Crane in Monument,
6:30 p.m.
Feb. 1: vs. Adrian in Dayville, 3:30 p.m.
Feb. 7: @ Four Rivers in Ontario,
6:30 p.m.
The Eagle/Angel Carpenter
Dayville/Monument Tiger Jaydon Hoffman passes the ball in a practice scrimmage last week with Mark Thomas,
back left, and Drew Wilburn in the action.
15 points, and all of this year’s
returning players scored in that
contest. The team went on to beat
the Huntington Locomotives in
consolation.
Jeff Schafer said winning the
district is always the goal, and
this year he’d like to see more
wins.
“I would love to see my team
go to state, but most of all I want
these young men to feel success
and love the game,” he said.
With a total of 10 teams in the
league, each team will only face
their opponents once during the
regular season.
The coach said he’d prefer
facing the other teams more than
once. He said the competition
will be challenging.
“Crane is always tough, Prai-
rie City, Jordan Valley — they’re
the normal ones who are always
tough,” he said. He said one
See Tigers, Page A10
Feb. 8: vs. Prairie City in Dayville,
3:30 p.m.
Feb. 14: @ Jordan Valley, 2:30
Feb. 15: @ Burnt River in Unity, 2 p.m.
Feb. 20-22: HDL District Tournament
in John Day, TBD
Feb. 26: State playoff, first round, TBD
Feb. 29: State playoff, second round,
TBD
March 5-7: OSAA State Tournament in
Baker City, TBD
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Elk hunting with good friends
A
fter drawing a perfectly good Murder-
er’s Creek second-season elk tag, I nat-
urally had more spring to my step this
summer. I daydreamed of branch bulls and the
thought of hunting up something nice. How-
ever, after hunting five straight days in the
warm November weather without seeing a sin-
gle elk on the hoof or hanging in anyone’s
camp, I was contemplating breaking out the
tag soup recipe book. Having exhausted my
vacation, I returned to work empty-handed.
Still, there was a glimmer of hope.
Although I’ve just recently perused the
2020 ODFW regulations and realize the dam-
age control tag situation may change, for this
year I was able once again to trade in my
unpunched elk tag for a private lands dam-
age tag. This time of year, the snow is deep,
the daylight fails before 5 o’clock and the elk
are especially cautious since they have had to
dodge arrows or bullets since August.
Joining me were my two good friends Zach
and Baldy, who also had elk tags burning a
hole in their pockets. Zach had just recently
finished developing a fine new load for his
.338 Lapua Magnum rifle. In the initial load
workup, he decided to use the grandiose 270-
grain Hornady ELDX bullet
and a healthy dose of pow-
der. It shot well, and thanks
largely to the muzzle break,
which looks like something
that belongs on a field how-
itzer, the recoil is quite man-
Dale Valade ageable. Despite having it
around for a couple of years,
he had yet to have taken any big game with it.
Although I instinctively grabbed my trusty
.30-06 for this freezer-filling endeavor, I feared
that the wariness of the elk, the position-betray-
ing high winds and wide open country could
prove to be more than a match for my capabil-
ities with my favorite firestick. It was mutually
decided that the .338 Magnum would accom-
pany us for the extra power and reach afforded
by its long-range scope setup. Although I don’t
encourage long-range shots of a flippant nature
as a rule, a hunter or huntress armed with an
accurate rifle of sufficient power and a prop-
erly calibrated rifle scope for the game they are
engaging can ethically take longer-than-usual
shots with confidence on big game.
Baldy, on our first hunt, took a cow elk at
just over 600 yards with a single, well-placed
shot. There was no wind, lots of time to set up
a rock steady rest and take the shot on the dis-
tant, oblivious cow elk.
A few days later, I connected on my cow
elk with the borrowed .338 Magnum. I chose
to tote it along that evening expecting an
opportunity like Baldy’s but ended up tak-
ing a 325-yard shot near dusk after a long hike
through steep, rocky country. Although I could
have made the shot with Old Reliable, it was
neat to try something new. With my friend’s
rifle, it was one and done, and like all of you
elk hunters know, that’s when the work began.
Only your truest and best friends will help you
pack out an elk. It’s good to know I have some
I can count on.
Upon further inspection of the synopsis,
it looks like the state created quite a few new
hunts starting next year. Maybe it’s time to call
up a buddy and plan your elk hunt. Maybe they
will even help you pack it out! Did you get your
winter’s meat this year or will it be tag soup?
Write to us at shootingthebreezebme@gmail.
com!
Contributed photo
Dale Valade is a local country gent with a
deep love for handloading, hunting Columnist Dale Valade took this cow elk with
and shooting. a borrowed .338 Magnum.