Inspiring Lifelong Outdoor Kids

The topic of our impromptu confab outside Ellensburg’s Bi-Mart was “getting and keeping little kids hooked on outdoor stuff.” Homey, hand wrapped around a couple shiny new youth fishing rod/reel sets, had two questions. “Yeah,” he said, “I really want to get my...

Of California Condors and Turkey Vultures

You no doubt heard this last week that the decades-long effort to revive the nearly extinct California condor has hit a milestone – the 1,000th condor chick hatched recently in Zion National Park, in southern Utah. In 1982, 22 California condors existed in the wild....

Butterflies and Moths

Frankly, with the cool – thus far – and cloudy summer in Central Washington, I have not seen my normal bounty of butterflies and moths. On the other hand, several homeys have reported seeing various “flowers of the air” in the Yakima River Canyon, up on and around...

Finding Safe Shooting in Paradise

This is the time of year that most of us start seriously planning our fall big game hunts. That planning and preparation generally starts with making sure our firearms are shooting as well as we intend. That “target practice” is also about reacquainting ourselves with...

About Hunter Education and Examination

It has long fascinated me. It’s that “synchronicity” thing, when suddenly from different directions come bits of information that respond to some question floating around in my mind. A week or so ago, after an extended closure, Washington’s Department of Fish and...