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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Oct. 7, 2004)
Page 2 The INDEPENDENT, October 7, 2004 The INDEPENDENT Serving the upper Nehalem River valley. Published on the first and third Thursdays of each month, by Public Opinion Laboratory Ltd., 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064, as a free newspaper. Publishers, Dirk & Noni Andersen. Editor, Noni Andersen. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410, email: noni@ the-independent.net Display Advertising, Clark McGaugh, email: clark@the-independent.net Classified Advertising, Rebecca McGaugh, email: rebecca@the-independent.net Opinion Many candidates and important measures on the Nov. 2 ballot Because of the number of candidates combined with some very important state measures and, for the Banks area, local measures as well, The INDEPENDENT is going to take a somewhat different approach to explanations and endorsements. Voters’ pamphlets have already been mailed so, if you are so inclined, you can start familiarizing yourself with the material. If you didn’t get a Voter’s Pamphlet in the mail, they should be available at government buildings such as the post office. Ballots will be mailed to registered voters sometime between October 15 and October 19 In the October 21 issue of The INDEPENDENT, there will be a special pull-out section with coverage of all ballot measures and as many candidates as will fit. All local candidates will be included. Of particular importance will be candidates for two Columbia County Commissioner positions, Banks and Vernonia mayor and councilors, and the interesting contest for the state representative from District 32. So look for the October 21 issue and join us for some election coverage. You may agree with our con- clusions or you may think we’re all wet. Our primary interest is in getting as many people as possible to start thinking about, and participating in the future of our government — federal, state, county, city and dis- trict. Remember, “…of the people, by the people and for the people” doesn’t work unless the people are involved. The last day to register to vote in the Nov. 2 General Election is Tuesday, October 12, 2004. Ike Says… By Dale E. Webb, Member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League Well, a new season will have begun when you read this article; yep hunt- ing season is here. Actually, it has been here for some time, if you’re a bow hunter. By the sounds of it the bow hunters have done fairly well this year. Thanks to Longview Fibre Company for opening most of the gates on their lands. Shame on the rest of you timberland own- ers, the truth is out. With the heavy rains in September there was little just cause to keep hunters gated off of the timberlands due to fire danger. I will have more to say about this later in the article. While talking about hunting, I am pleased to report that my friend, Jim King, took a nice ram on his once-in-a-lifetime hunt for sheep. He took his time and bagged a ram on the eighth day of the trip. He will have a lifetime of memories from his trip. Unfortunately he will also have memo- ries of another hunter degrading the hunt. The other hunter had a sizable gang of friends with him and they took full advantage of their four- wheelers and an ultralite aircraft, which they used both before and during the hunt. While, technically, laws may not have been broken or at least not proven to be broken, ethical hunting behavior was. It is sad to see this occur during a once-in-a-lifetime hunt, but it only shows that slobs are everywhere, even in premium hunts. I finally got the statistics for last year’s hunting season. Rifle buck hunters took 432 bucks in the Saddle Mountain unit last year, which was a slight increase over the year before. I thought it might be lower due to the declining deer herd, but let’s wait and see what this year brings be- fore we start celebrating. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife has again started keeping stats on horn size, after quitting that practice years ago. The break-down was 214 forked horns, 159 three-points and 59 four-points. Interestingly, the ratio of forked horns compared to three-points and above was practically the same. This is not what I have been observing locally. My observa- tions have been heavier toward bigger bucks, with very few young bucks in the population. Time will tell if the deer herd has hit a low plateau and now will be able to sustain itself, or if this is just a bump in the road to oblivion. Elk hunters faired well last year in the Saddle Mountain unit, at least during the second sea- son. First season rifle hunters took 167 bull elk, 4 three-points, 75 four-points, 75 five- points and 13 six-points plus. Hunters had a very success- ful second season with 270 bulls taken with a break-down as follows: 32 three-points, 135 four-points, 103 five-points and nothing bigger than a five-point being reported. Understand, this information is from phone surveys and a small sample of hunter reports is extrapolated to fit the known number of tags sold. Total bull har- vest fell short of my prediction of 500, made last Please see page 3