OUTDOORS
MyEagleNews.com
Wednesday, October 21, 2020
McCrackens take first
and second in North
Powder fall cutting
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Mistaken identity
Contributed photo
By Steven Mitchell
Blue Mountain Eagle
Two Grant Union High
School students took first and
second place in cow cutting at
the North Powder cutting com-
petition over the weekend.
Sam McCracken, a junior,
took first place in boys cow
cutting, while his sister Bailey,
a freshman, took second in the
girls division.
Cow cutting is an eques-
trian competition where a
horse and a rider demonstrate
before a panel of judges both
the horse and rider’s ability to
handle cattle.
Sam rode Buttercup, a
17-year-old horse he began
working with roughly a year
ago. Buttercup is about a year
older than Sam.
Bailey rode Cats Purry. In
other events, she has ridden
Chex.
Sam brought home the state
title in cow cutting at the Ore-
gon State High School Rodeo
State Finals in Prineville. In
June, he took third in reined
cow at the National High
School Finals Rodeo in Guth-
rie, Oklahoma.
Currently, Bailey ranks sec-
A prescribed burn on the Umatilla National Forest in 2019.
Prescribed fires
planned on local forests
Blue Mountain Eagle
Contributed photo
Bailey McCracken competes in
a pole bending contest earlier
this summer.
ond in the girl’s rookie cate-
gory, with an average score of
43.
Both Sam and Bailey train
with David Glaser in Star,
Idaho.
Bailey and Sam will com-
pete in another fall cutting
competition in Molalla on Oct.
31.
The fall cutting competi-
tion wraps up the fall rodeo
season. In total, three Grant
Union High School students
participated in a season mod-
ified and cut short by the
pandemic.
Prescribed fire operations
are planned on local forests.
Fire officials have deter-
mined that conditions are
within specific parameters,
including temperature, rela-
tive humidity, and fuel mois-
ture, to start prescribed fire
operations, according to a
press release.
Planned ignitions on the
Malheur, Umatilla and Wal-
lowa-Whitman national for-
ests can be viewed at https://
tinyurl.com/y8we6ntg.
For the safety of firefight-
ers and the public, roads and
areas of prescribed fire activity
will be signed — avoid these
areas so as not to interfere
with ongoing operations. For
safety, roads, trails and areas
may need to close temporar-
ily as firefighter operations are
taking place.
Smoky conditions may
also reduce visibility to a level
that would require additional
temporary closures. During
prescribed fire operations,
there is potential for impacts to
camping and hunting. Hunters
are advised to plan ahead. For
their safety, they shoul dnot
camp in or near an area of pre-
scribed fire activity.
With the potential for
smoke to settle in certain areas
during active operations, the
public can monitor the smoke
and air quality in our area and
across the state by visiting,
oregonsmoke.blogspot.com.
Additional
information
regarding prescribed burning
on the Malheur National For-
est is available on InciWeb
at https://inciweb.nwcg.gov/
incident/7216/ or by viewing
the USFS R6 Tri-Forest Pre-
scribed Fire Projects Map.
For further information on
the Malheur National Forest,
visit fs.usda.gov/malheuror
call the Supervisor’s Office at
541-575-3000.
REAL Oregon announces fourth class participants
By George Plaven
EO Media Group
The coronavirus pandemic will not
stop 23 new members of the Resource
Education and Agricultural Leadership
Program — otherwise known as REAL
Oregon — from attempting to hold
in-person gatherings at five cities across
the state beginning in November.
REAL Oregon announced its fourth
class on Oct. 8, including nine partici-
pants directly involved in production agri-
culture, five from agribusiness or other
natural resources organizations, three in
timber production and forestry, three in
the transportation sector for agricultural
products, two university faculty employ-
ees and one from a nonprofit foundation.
Greg Addington, REAL Oregon pro-
gram director, said this year will look
much different from the first three
classes, given the local and statewide reg-
ulations in place to mitigate the spread of
COVID-19.
However, Addington said he believes
each meeting can still be held on location,
with changes to ensure proper social dis-
tancing and facial coverings.
“I’ve been in contact with the facil-
ities. We tried to make sure the room
spaces are larger than we normally have,
for those people to spread out,” Adding-
ton said. “We may have to make adjust-
ments. We may have to shift to different
locations if we need to. But we’re going
to try to make it work.”
Established in 2017, REAL Oregon’s
mission is to showcase the diversity of
agriculture and natural resources state-
wide, while training future leaders in pro-
fessional development skills such as pub-
lic speaking, board governance, strategic
planning and media relations.
Trips are scheduled for Nov. 2-5 in
Klamath Falls, Dec. 8-10 in Roseburg,
Jan. 12-14 in Newport, Feb. 9-11 in
Boardman and March 16-18 in Salem.
A graduation ceremony will be held
later in March, if all goes according to
plan.
Field trip scheduled for Ellis Integrated Vegetation Project
Blue Mountain Eagle
The Umatilla National For-
est will host a field trip to the
proposed Ellis Integrated Vege-
tation Project Oct. 22. The pur-
pose of the field trip is to share
information about the Ellis
Project, discuss project objec-
tives and proposed alterna-
tives and to gather information
from the public about values
that they would like the Forest
Service to consider in project
development.
The field trip will begin at
10 a.m. at the Kelly Prairie pull
out, located on Forest Service
Road 53 (the Western Route),
approximately 2.3 miles west
of Coalmine Hill campground.
Those interested in attending
the public field trip are asked
to bring water and a lunch.
The field trip format will fol-
low current Morrow County
COVID-19 protocols for out-
door meetings.
The Ellis Project encom-
passes 110,000 acres spanning
both the Heppner and North
Fork John Day Ranger Districts
of the Umatilla National For-
est. The project is designed to
increase forest health and vigor;
enhance shrublands, aspen
and meadows; improve wild-
life habitat; decrease wildfire
risk; and provide timber to sup-
port local economies. Proposed
A13
actions for the project include:
forest thinning, prescribed fire,
improving elk distribution and
forage, placing large wood in
meadow streams, invasive spe-
cies management and road
modifications.
The Ellis Project planning
team is currently developing
draft alternatives. Theforest will
host a virtual community meet-
ing later this fall. Additional
information regarding the virtual
meeting will be forthcoming.
For additional information
about the upcoming public field
trip, please contact the Heppner
Ranger District office at 541-
676-9187 or cynthia.doherty@
usda.gov.
Additional information on
the Ellis Project is available
on the website at fs.usda.gov/
project/?project=41350.
Additional information about
the Umatilla National Forest
is available at fs.usda.gov/
umatilla.
C L A R K’ S
O
ne of the main
causes of firearm
related accidents
annually is detonations.
These occur for many
reasons but chiefly from
using incorrect or improp-
erly loaded ammunition.
And while that seems
like a no-brainer, it’s an
easy mistake to make at a
glance.
Some years back there
was an email floating
around wherein a shooter
with two identical rifles,
one in .25-06 and the sec-
ond in .308, experienced
a detonation while shoot-
ing targets from a bench
rest. The accompany-
ing photos made it look
as though he had tried
to rob Holly Holm in a
back alley somewhere;
they were graphic to say
the least. Near as anyone
could tell he had loaded a
.308 cartridge into the .25-
06 chamber and kaboom!
He’s lucky his head was
still attached to his body.
Obviously carelessness
was purely to blame in
that instance. Another
common whoopsie, if you
will, happens with shot-
guns and is known as the
12/20 burst.
It doesn’t help that
some firearms will safely
utilize multiple cartridges,
for example a .22 Long
Rifle will accept and fire
.22 Short, .22 Long or .22
Long Rifle ammunition. It
will not, however, cham-
ber nor fire .22 WRF and
.22 WMR. A .357 Mag-
num handgun will handle
.38 Colt, .38 S&W Long
or .38 Special but won’t
shoot .38-40, .38 Super,
.357 Sig or .357 Maxi-
mum. If you’re confused,
don’t feel bad. By failing
to investigate before tak-
ing uncertain ammuni-
tion to the range, you will
have plenty of time to feel
really bad when you blow
up your gun. A little bit
of care and research goes
a long way. Best practice
is to always take note of
what caliber you have and
shoot the proper corre-
sponding ammunition.
Further precautions
should include only hav-
Dale Valade
ing the proper caliber of
ammunition on the bench
rest while shooting that
particular gun. This is
especially important when
shooting multiple guns
of different calibers. Our
e-friend mentioned above
obviously failed to remove
the .308 rifle and ammo
from his bench before
bringing the .25-06 rifle
and proper ammo to his
shooting area. When tak-
ing new or inexperienced
shooters to the range, I
insist on being the only
party allowed to load the
guns, therefore costly mis-
takes are avoided.
Know your guns, be
educated about what cal-
ibers and styles of ammo
they require. Right now,
if you were to go into a
hardware store and say
you wanted a box of .300
magnums, that could apply
to over 10 different car-
tridges! And no matter
what Grandpa says, never
put a .410 shot shell in
your .45-70 rifle.
If something doesn’t
look right, double check
it. Whenever a round is
discharged, you are deal-
ing with a controlled
explosion mere inches
from your face. A little
extra care is a small price
to pay. Your guns and
appendages that maintain
their molecular assembly
will thank you.
What are some safety
precautions you take to
prevent detonations? Write
to us at shootingthebree-
zebme@gmail.com!
Dale Valade is a local
country gent with a love
for the outdoors, han-
dloading, hunting and
shooting.
Steel on the inside where it matters most.
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