Image provided by: University of Oregon Libraries; Eugene, OR
About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Nov. 2, 2011)
Page 2 The The INDEPENDENT, November 2, 2011 INDEPENDENT Published on the first and third Wednesdays of each month by The Independent, LLC, 725 Bridge St., Vernonia, OR 97064. Phone/Fax: 503-429-9410. Deadline is noon the Friday before each issue. Publisher Clark McGaugh, clark@the-independent.net Editor Rebecca McGaugh, rebecca@the-independent.net Printed on recycled paper with vegetable based dyes Opinion Veterans Day, November 11 Veterans Day is November 11 and is not one of those holidays that have been moved to the closest Monday to make for a long weekend…that was tried for a couple of years, but it didn’t take. Veterans Day started as a celebration of the armistice between the Allied nations and Germany that stopped the fighting in World War I, called “The Great War” or “the war to end all wars”. That war actually ended on June 28, 1919, when the treaty was signed, but the armistice went into effect at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month, or November 11, 1918. In 1954, the 83rd Congress changed the name from Armistice Day to Veterans Day. Veterans Day is set aside to display the flag and to be dedicated to the cause of world peace. It has also become a day to honor veterans for their patriotism, love of country, and willingness to serve and sacrifice for the common good. People tend to confuse Veterans Day with Memorial Day. Memorial Day (in May) is set aside to honor serv- ice members who died in service to their country, or as a result of injuries received during battle. Those veter- ans are included in the Veterans Day remembrances, but Veterans Day honors all veterans who served, whether in times of war or times of peace. Veterans of any of our wars or conflicts, may want to consider participating in the Veterans History Project, which preserves Veterans’ personal accounts. Those accounts are accessible so future generations can hear directly from veterans to better understand the re- alities of war. This project was created by the U.S. Congress in 2000. Civilians who actively supported war efforts, such as USO workers, medical volunteers, flight instructors, and the like, are also invited to share their stories. For more information on this project, go to http://www.loc.gov/vets/ . This year, the eleventh hour of the eleventh day will fall on November 11, 2011, or 11/11/11. It is a good day to thank our Veterans for their service and for the sac- rifices they have made to keep all of us safe. It is also a good day to think about how world peace would make those sacrifices unnecessary. So thank a veteran, and remember. It seems particularly pertinent with our troops coming home from Iraq at the end of this year. Thank you, Veterans. Ike Says… By Dale Webb, member Nehalem Valley Chapter, Izaak Walton League Well I knew it was go- ing to be tough and I was certainly right. So far this year hunting Blacktails has been a walk in the woods, which isn’t so bad, but I can do that any time of the year. My count so far is nine deer in eight days of hunting, with most of those days actually being half days, in the morning. I’m just not a big fan of sweating in the hot afternoon sun. The weather this year, while offering up some rain early on, has not giv- en us some nasty Blacktail hunting weather. I have been basically watching some prime clear- cuts and snooping around areas with higher deer traffic, which I observe from tracks. When I say high traffic, please remember this terminolo- gy is relative to the basic lack of tracks in much of the area that I am traveling through. To say the deer population is low is an understatement. It sounds like ODF&W is finally starting to get the message in regards to our Blacktailed deer situation. ODF&W staff (Salem) has proposed eliminating the harvest of female deer during archery season, and also eliminating the harvest of deer by disabled hunters in the Saddle Mt., Scappoose, Wilson, Trask, Stott Mt., Alsea and Siuslaw units. These harvest cuts, along with cuts that have already been made to antlerless rifle tags, should go a long way towards taking the pressure off of the deer herds. Whether or not it will make any difference will remain to be seen. Frankly, my belief is that it is too late; the deer herds are so far down that the local preda- tor populations are keeping them there. I justify this belief by the fact that much of the area that I hunt is in road closure areas that see little, if any, Doe harvest, yet the deer numbers in my hunt areas are just as low as areas that do see some antlerless harvest. While that may sound like the antlerless harvest then has no effect, it really does not behoove us to continue to ham- mer on the obviously distressed antlerless pop- ulation. One of my buddies got a first hand look at the local predator situation. He was high up glassing a clear-cut that had a road at the bottom of it. He noticed something on the road and put his glass- es on a Bobcat walking up the road. He thought that was neat to see and continued glassing the clear-cut when, once again, he noticed some- thing on the road that was going in the opposite direction from the first bobcat that he had seen. It was another Bobcat, soon followed by three more Bobcats. Evidently the second group was a female with semi-grown young. Later in the day, he was watching another clear-cut just be- fore dark and decided to move around to anoth- er vantage point where he thought a buck might be hanging out. On the way to the new spot he looked down a spur road and noticed something near the end of the spur. Putting his binoculars on it, his first thought was a raccoon, then he no ticed a dark tip on the tail Please see page 3