OUTDOORS
Blue Mountain Eagle
A8
SHOOTING THE BREEZE
Wednesday, May 25, 2022
Tribes sue over water releases
Good shooting accessories
are worth the extra weight
By GEORGE PLAVEN
Capital Press
T
echnology is always
uphill and downhill shots.
advancing and while
Mostly they take the guess-
I don’t pretend nor
work out of making your
predicate that greater skill
shots, whether you’re a bow
comes with the
hunter up close or
purchase of cun-
a rifl eman shoot-
ning gadgets, there
ing several football
are things that you
fi elds away. There
can buy that can
are various brands
be game-chang-
and designs start-
ers. For the sake
ing for around an
of brevity, I want
aff ordable $200 and
Dale Valade
to focus on three
going up from there.
extremely useful accesso-
They are certainly worth
ries you can carry on your
every penny.
hunt.
Third and fi nally, the
The fi rst is the binocular collapsible tripod. Many is
harness strap. Some hunt-
the time you’ve read that
ers minimize the carrying of I espouse using fi eld rests
binoculars at all. This to me and the four shooting posi-
is foolish, but I can empa-
tions; I assure you that
thize. Ounces make pounds advice still stands where
and after hiking the hills
possible. Once in a while
all day, any extra weight is
you may have a shot situa-
looked upon with the same
tion where you simply can-
withering gaze as dirty
not get steady from a fi eld
dishwater, but making sure
position or improvised rest.
of your target before you let
On my recent aou-
fl y is too important.
dad hunt I was caught in
Binoculars traditionally
a place where I could not
come with a lanyard, dan-
shoot prone, nor sitting,
gling the weight of your
nor kneeling. To stand
fi eld glasses around your
up would’ve betrayed
nape. Bino harnesses and
us to our quarry, which
harness straps are off ered
would’ve fl ed. Thankfully,
by multiple manufacturers
I brought my BOG Pod
and by design encourage
tripod, and with a little
bringing those weighty fi eld ingenuity we were able to
glasses along. Incorporating make the shot.
adjustable stretchy mate-
I’ve seen these tripods
rial, they rest the weight of
in action many times and
the binoculars upon your
in open country with lots
shoulders.
of uneven ground and tall
Your fi eld glasses are
brush, they can be the dif-
carried in a low yet quickly ference between feast or
accessible position on your
famine. The BOG Pod is
chest or abdomen. The har-
constructed of lightweight
ness works like a minipack, aluminum and plastic with
with pockets for whatever
quiet telescopic legs mak-
you deem important, while
ing stealth adjustments
the harness strap is purely
with ease.
for your binoculars.
Adding more weight to
The second and most
your hunting pack is hardly
expensive item on our list
an idea any of us want to
is the rangefi nder. My uncle entertain. But if you cut
Mick Jenison showed me
back to only 10 extra car-
the fi rst rangefi nder I ever
tridges and leave your
personally saw in the early
lucky set of horseshoes at
‘90s. It was about the size
home to make room for
of a red brick and kind of
the three aforementioned
a one-trick pony. Many
items, you’ll be able to dust
of you have been carry-
off those game bags for the
ing these since they became pack out. You may not need
widely available, but if not
them today, but the time
I assure you contemporary
will come that you do!
rangefi nders are better than
What are some gadgets
ever.
that you never leave home?
About one-quarter the
Write to us at shootingthe-
size of the fi rst one I saw
breezebme@gmail.com or
as a kid, the rangefi nd-
check us out on Facebook!
ers of today can be pro-
Dale Valade is a local
grammed with holdovers
country gent with a love for
for your cartridge and factor the outdoors, handloading,
in the angles of those pesky
hunting and shooting.
KLAMATH FALLS — The Klam-
ath Tribes are suing the federal govern-
ment under the Endangered Species Act
to halt water diversions from Upper Klam-
ath Lake for irrigated agriculture along the
Oregon-California border.
The lawsuit, fi led May 9 against the
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and Bureau
of Reclamation, seeks to protect two spe-
cies of endangered sucker fi sh, C’waam
and Koptu, that are endemic in the Upper
Klamath River drainage.
C’waam and Koptu are culturally sig-
nifi cant to the Klamath Tribes, used histor-
ically for food and ceremonial purposes.
Both species were listed as endangered
in 1988, and populations that once num-
bered in the tens of millions have since
declined to fewer than 50,000 surviving
fi sh, according to tribal estimates.
Reclamation operates the Klamath
Project, delivering irrigation water from
Upper Klamath Lake for 170,000 acres of
farmland straddling Southern Oregon and
Northern California. Farmers in the basin
grow potatoes, onions, horseradish, garlic,
mint and hay, among other crops.
As part of an environmental assessment
George Plaven/Capital Press
The Klamath Tribes are suing the federal government under the to halt water diver-
sions for irrigation from Upper Klamath Lake.
with the USFWS — known as a Biologi-
cal Opinion, or BiOp — Reclamation must
maintain a minimum surface elevation of
4,142 feet in Upper Klamath Lake during
April and May for C’waam and Koptu to
access shoreline spawning habitat.
However, with the basin suff er-
ing through its third consecutive year of
extreme drought, the agencies acknowl-
edged there is not enough water in the sys-
tem to meet that objective.
Despite this, Reclamation announced
in April it would release approximately
50,000 acre-feet of water for irrigators.
That is just 15% of full demand.
Despite the limited allocation the Tribes
argue the government is willingly violat-
UPLAND PURSUITS
Patterns key to tricking turkeys
By BRAD TRUMBO
S
pring is upon us, and
with the return of hum-
mingbirds and the onset
of fl ower and fruit tree bloom
comes the wild turkey breed-
ing and hunting seasons. The
thunderous gobble of a dash-
ing mature tom (male) puff ed
up and strutting to impress the
ladies induces heart-racing,
palm-sweating and immense
anticipation for the fanatic tur-
key hunter.
A wild turkey’s keen vision
and hearing makes for a chal-
lenging hunt. Turkeys are noto-
riously diffi cult to call, and suc-
cessful hunts often require years
of practice to perfect call tech-
niques and positioning for the
bird’s approach. Embracing and
learning from failure is part of
the game, but scouting fl ocks
and identifying their patterns
on patchwork landscapes gives
the hunter an advantage, par-
ticularly when hunting the Rio
Grande (Rio) turkeys of the
Blue Mountains.
The Blue Mountain foot-
hills provide cover, shade and
nightly roosting trees while
allowing safe access to the grain
fi elds and grassy slopes along
brushy creek bottoms. Spotting
a fl ock can be easy in the morn-
ings and afternoons. Rio often
stick to routine preferred covers
within a home range that aver-
ages between 370 and 1,360
acres, according to the National
Wild Turkey Federation, and
learning a fl ock’s daily move-
ment and whereabouts makes
the right time and place two
easy ingredients for success.
Just past fi ve in the eve-
ning, a passel of toms and hens
erupted in discordant gobbles
and yelps up the canyon ahead.
Like clockwork, the birds were
stirring for their evening rou-
tine. Timber concealed them, so
I kept watch over the open rid-
gelines. Fire had swept through
about fi ve years prior, thinning
the timber and leaving open
slopes with biscuitroot in full
bloom and blackberry thickets
leafi ng out in the draws.
A gray hen decoy stood off
to my right. Over my left shoul-
der, I spied a red head pop up
above the ridgeline, hundreds of
yards distant. It was a lone tom
and gut instinct whispered that
I would come to know this bird
well before the evening ended.
In the span of about 10 min-
utes, the tom worked his way
down to a logging road that fol-
lowed the canyon bottom. It
was then that I decided to strike
up a conversation. A series
of questionable, high-pitched
yelps drifted from my box call,
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His beard was twice the cir-
cumference and immaculately
full compared to the other toms
I had been watching. His spurs
were short, only a half-inch or
so, but as big around as a dime.
His tail fan and rump feathers
were fl awless, possibly because
he was a younger bird who
avoided tussles with the older
toms.
“I’m going to pretend that
bird came to my calling,” I
mentioned to my buddy Dean,
who had fi lmed the hunt, know-
ing that the screeching from
the box call would likely have
cost me that bird had it been
later in the season. Had I not
called at all, it’s a safe bet that
his evening routine would have
brought him to me regardless.
I had watched this fl ock
from the point of a lower ridge
for two days and knew where
and how they moved. The fl ock
was roosting and sheltering in
the canyon conifers and travel-
ing the logging road morning,
noon, and night. Thirteen toms
were visible from my vantage
and the seven that called that
canyon home would take turns
strutting in pairs in the open-
ing at the end of the logging
road. I set my hen decoy at the
mouth of the road and slipped
in behind the brush pile 30
yards adjacent while the birds
loafed in the timber. It was a
slam dunk.
Whether you are new to the
game of gobblers or you have
mastered sweet-talking the wis-
est old toms, scouting and pat-
terning Rios can be an ace in
the hole for bagging spring
long-beards in the Blues.
Brad Trumbo is a fi sh and
wildlife biologist and outdoor
writer in Waitsburg, Washing-
ton. For tips and tales of out-
door pursuits and conservation,
visit www.bradtrumbo.com.
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which I had rigged to work in a
pinch after busting a key com-
ponent. The calls sent the cadre
of love-sick gobblers into panic
mode but the tom I had spotted
fi rst simply kept quiet, fl ipped a
U-turn, and started in my direc-
tion. Wow, “Quiet Tom” is actu-
ally coming, I thought, nearly
out loud.
The logging road suddenly
became a turkey lek. Seven
toms spewed from the timber
onto the road, puff ed up into
full strut, sidled up to the ladies,
and gobbled at every call. Hens
began fi ling by and an old girl
piped up with a unique rough
voice like playing a güiro. The
fl ock soon started my way,
but “Quiet Tom” was ahead
of them all. He had skirted
the masses, popped out on the
road below them, and spied my
decoy.
His black, rope-like beard
bounced against his chest as
he closed the distance. Prepar-
ing for action, I shifted slightly,
disengaged the safety on my
black Stevens 12-gauge and
steadied the bead around the
decoy. The brush pile I sat
behind blocked me entirely
from the end of the road. The
only place a bird could get an
eye on me was alongside the
decoy, and by then it would be
too late.
“Quiet Tom” reached 40
yards and pecked a few small
gravels before committing to
the decoy. A well-timed kissing
sound caused him to stretch his
neck out in curiosity. An eye-
blink later, I stood to retrieve
my fi rst turkey of the year and
gave thanks for the blessing of a
stunning young tom.
What appeared to be jet-
black body feathers shone mar-
velous emerald, ruby, and
bronze when rolled in the
orange glow of the evening sun.
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ing the ESA while C’waam and Koptu
slip closer to extinction. In a statement, the
Tribes claimed they “see no alternative”
but to sue the federal agencies.
“When their own longstanding formula
(driving their own ecologically inade-
quate BiOp) showed that zero water could
be safely taken from endangered fi sh for
agriculture, (Reclamation) simply tossed
it aside and made the cynical political cal-
culation that they could ignore the ESA
with impunity, allocate water to Project
farmers and hasten the imminent extinc-
tion of fi sh that have lived here, and
only here, in the homeland of the Klam-
ath Tribes for thousands of years,” the
Tribes stated.
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