SPORTS
MyEagleNews.com
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
A cow elk for the lady
M
y wife, Emma, is
quite a lady. As
many of our faith-
ful readers know, before we
started dating, Emma’s only
experience with a fi rearm
had been being the recipi-
ent of the butt end of a cruel
joke. Over the months and
years, with practice, she
really began to enjoy hunt-
ing, and
her shoot-
ing skills
improved
rapidly. In
2017, she
killed her
fi rst deer
Dale Valade and one
each in 2018
and 2019.
This year in August
we were blessed with the
arrival of a third member
of our family hunting party,
our son Andy. All through-
out the fall of 2019 as we
endeavored to fi ll our tags,
Andy came along with
us. He is a natural born
hunter, but as is the case
with infants, he has yet to
develop his skills of stealth.
Taking a newborn afi eld
presents many such chal-
lenges in the stalk. Needless
to say, we were wondering
if Emma was going to even
see an elk much less get a
shot at one.
Then there was the ques-
tion of Emma’s equipment,
namely her rifl e. The .243
Winchester, Emma’s favor-
ite deer rifl e, is legal to use
for elk hunting, but I feel
it is a bit too small to be
considered ideal for such
employ. Elk can take a lot
more persuasion to bring
down than your garden vari-
ety mule deer. After acquir-
ing a 7mm-08 Remington
I felt like we had taken a
huge step in the right direc-
tion. The fi xed 4x scope was
a touch to the small side,
but where Emma doesn’t
feel the need to shoot past
200 yards, I felt it was ade-
Contributed photo
Emma Valade shot her fi rst elk in 2019.
quate for the job.
On Dec. 23, Christ-
mas Eve eve, a coworker
and I were feeding cows
when we spotted some elk
a half mile off in the hills.
We both felt that as long
they were undisturbed
that we could put an eve-
ning hunt on them together
with Emma. When the time
came I handed my range-
fi nder to Baldy and gave
Emma a kiss for luck. It
was decided that Andy and
myself would remain in the
rear, observing from way
out of earshot while Emma
and Baldy made a hunt.
While I played with Andy,
I kept the radio close in the
cab of the pickup, certain
that I would get a call tell-
ing me happy news. After
about 30 long minutes, my
wife’s dream of getting her
elk came true.
As it was relayed to me
by a very excited huntress,
they covered the ground
quite quickly and qui-
etly but were nearly blown
out when a herd of ante-
lope were spooked and ran
toward the elk. Although
the elk were wary, Emma
and Baldy were able to
sneak into them at 235
yards. After some search-
ing, Emma spotted a lone
cow standing broadside
to them. She sat down
and, resting steadily on
her knee, sent a 140-grain
bullet directly behind the
shoulder of the cow elk. At
the shot, the cow jumped
and trotted off a few yards
before piling up. Just like
that, my hunting part-
ner fi lled her fi rst elk tag.
After calling us up, they
took pictures while Andy
and I drove up to meet
them. She couldn’t have
been more excited, and I
could not be more proud.
What a wonderful way to
end the year and start off
the Christmas holiday!
Do you remember your
fi rst elk? Write to us at
shootingthebreezebme@
gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local
country gent with a deep
love for handloading,
hunting and shooting.
Wednesday, January 22, 2020
A9
Report hunt results by Jan. 31
Blue Mountain Eagle
Every hunter who pur-
chased 2019 big game or
turkey tags needs to report
their hunt results by the
deadline, which is Jan. 31
for most tags.
Hunters are required to
report on each deer, elk,
cougar, bear, pronghorn
and turkey tag purchased
— even if they were not
successful or did not hunt.
Sports Pac license holders
need to report on each big
game or turkey tag issued.
Hunters who fail to
report deer and elk tags by
the deadline will be penal-
ized $25 when they go
to purchase a 2021 hunt-
ing license. This penalty
is assessed once, regard-
less of the number of unre-
ported tags.
Hunters have a few
ways to report:
• Online via Oregon
Department of Fish and
Wildlife’s Licensing Sys-
tem, the fastest and easi-
est way to report: Login
to an account and go to
“Outcome
Reporting/
Mandatory
Reporting.”
Then click to “License
Year 2019” to report on
tags. For diffi culties, use
the “Retrieve User Name/
Password” feature or con-
tact ODFW for account
information. Visit the ELS
FAQ page for directions
on initially setting up an
account.
• By telephone: Call
1-866-947-6339 to talk to
an ODFW licensing cus-
tomer service representa-
tive during normal busi-
ness hours. ODFW’s
Licensing
Department
now has a callback fea-
ture to provide better cus-
tomer service. When there
are longer hold times, any
customer who calls in by
3:30 p.m. can just leave
their number for a callback
while keeping their place
in line.
• At a license sale agent:
New for 2020, hunters can
now visit a vendor that
Contributed photo
Brenda Murphy harvested her fi rst elk in the Northside
Unit this hunting season. The Oregon Department of Fish
and Wildlife reminds hunters to report on tags that ended
in 2019 by Jan. 31.
sells licenses to complete
their mandatory reporting.
Reporting
deadlines
are Jan. 31 for all 2019
hunts that ended by Dec.
31, 2019, or April 15 for
all 2019 hunts that end
between Jan. 1 and March
31.
“The information hunt-
ers provide is used when
setting controlled hunt
tag numbers and hunt-
ing seasons,” said ODFW
Game Program Manager
Tom Thornton. “We really
appreciate hunters taking a
few minutes of their time
to complete the report,
even if they did not hunt or
were not successful.”
ODFW used to get this
data through phone sur-
veys, but these became
more diffi cult and expen-
sive as hunters moved or
screened their calls. While
reporting has been man-
datory since 2007, report-
ing rates dramatically
improved (from about 40%
to 80% or more) when a
$25 penalty for not report-
ing was added in 2012.
Information from the
mandatory reports is com-
piled and made available
to hunters at ODFW’s Big
Game Hunting Harvest
Statistics page, https://
m y o d f w. c o m / a r t i c l e s /
big-game-hunting-har-
vest-statistics.
As an incentive to
report, hunters that report
on time are entered into
a drawing to win a spe-
cial big game tag. ODFW
selects three names each
year, and the winners can
choose a deer, elk or prong-
horn tag. Hunters who win
get to hunt an expanded
area and extended sea-
son, similar to auction and
raffl e tags that can go for
thousands of dollars.
Last year, Ken Moyer
of Bend took an elk in the
Wenaha Unit after winning
the incentive tag.
“This tag gave me the
opportunity to hunt the
areas of the state I had
not hunted before. The
road closure and wilder-
ness area made for a great
secluded hunt,” Moyer
told ODFW after his hunt.
“This defi nitely was a
once-in-a-lifetime oppor-
tunity and should be an
incentive for hunters to
report on time.”
Pros
Grant County Snowballers - Event
Continued from Page A8
FAMILY FUN DAY AND
SKILLS TRAINING DAY
Team nominated for
sportsmanship award
Grant Union athletic
director and principal Ryan
Gerry announced at the
school board meeting Jan.
15 that a game offi cial nom-
inated the boys basket-
ball team for the Oregon
School Activities Associa-
tion sportsmanship award.
Game offi cials have
the opportunity to sub-
mit a form to OSAA for a
team that exhibited excep-
tional sportsmanship after
each contest. At the end of
a season, the OSAA sports-
manship award committee
selects a winner from each
sport.
According to Gerry, this
is Grant Union’s fi rst nomi-
nation. OSAA implemented
the award in 2018.
“Coach Huerta and his
coaching staff have brought
a newfound enthusiasm to
the program and high level
of expectations for players
on and off the fl oor,” said
Gerry.
Jan. 25, 2020 • 9 A.M.
ALL
ILERS
B
O
M
SNOW
COME
L
E
W
ARE
HOT D
O
WILL B GS
PROVI E
DED
The Eagle/Steven Mitchell
Grant Union head basketball coach RC Huerta on the side-
lines with his team Saturday against Weston-McEwen.
facebook.com/myeaglenews
THE JUNIPER ARTS COUNCIL / GRANT
COUNTY CULTURAL COALITION IS SEEKING
GRANT PROPOSALS FOR OREGON
CULTURAL TRUST GRANT AWARDS
The coalition has $6,300 from the Oregon Cultural
Trust to distribute in Grant County to organizations
for projects relating to culture and / or heritage.
Applications are available from Karin Barntish,
131 W. Main Street, John Day, Oregon, or call
Kris Beal at (541)932-4892 for more information
or an application.
Meeting at Summit
Prairie County Road 62
and USFS Road 16
Grant applications will be accepted until
February 5, 2020 5 P.M.
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