Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
Established as The Skamokawa Eagle in 1891
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I had to chuckle. I got a note and a photograph from an editor of mine who had come up from Oregon City on Saturday to chase spring chinook out of the Cathlamet morning. "This is what I'm doing this morning," he wrote. His words were accompanied by what I must say was a beautiful photo of an equally beautiful sunrise. In return, I sent him a photograph of my own of a house fully engulfed in flames and the conflagration surrounded by firefighters, EMTs, and fire apparatus. "This is what I'm...
Welcome, my friends, to the first week of April. It's gonna be a busy month. To name just a few of the many events taking place, there's a lowland trout opener, turkey season, spring chinook, salmon derbies, razor clam tides, clam festivals, sportsman's shows, and a plethora of nesting songbirds to watch. Fishing licenses If you fish and you're over the age of 15, as of Wednesday, April 1, you're going to need a new fishing license. New, albeit resurrected for 2026, is the Columbia River Salmon...
One of my favorite aspects about the outdoors is introducing new people to it; those unaccustomed to the activity at hand. Not necessarily, mind you, nimrods in the whole of the outdoors. Unfamiliar, one might say, with Mother Nature. No, just new to whatever 'this' or 'that' might be. Over the past quarter century, I've had the opportunity to play a role in any number of such introductions. My wife's first Canada goose, whitetail buck, rooster pheasant, wild turkey, and channel catfish. Still,...
My friends, I stand corrected. It was brought to my attention recently that Daylight Savings Time (DST) does not take a 24-hour day and magically transform it into a 25-hour day. No, sir. It does require most of us, if we want to hang with the "cool kids," to move our clocks ahead an hour and, as you know, move them back an hour in the fall. A gentleman by the name of Jerry kindly explained the error of my ways with the following illustration: if you cut the head off a 38-inch/22-pound chinook...
So what's the big deal with Daylight Savings Time (DST) nowadays? I'm seeing news story after news story about the depth and breadth of the mental anguish folks are experiencing due to the time change. It's an hour, for Pete's sake; and, it's not like it's something new. In fact, and thanks to Google, I learned that DST was first enacted in March of 1918 "as a World War I measure to conserve fuel by extending evening daylight." It was, she said, "a temporary wartime policy." However, DST was...
Has it really been yet another week? It's said that 'time flies when you're having fun.' If that's the case, I'm having, unbeknownst to me, a hell of a lot of fun out here in the Elochoman Valley. It's a busy time of year, especially when we have blue skies and 62 degrees. There's grass to be mown and trees to be pruned. It's certainly not too early to be planting tiny tomato seeds and potatoes. The steelheaders are still working the Elochoman, and the marina is starting, albeit slowly, to get...
Despite what I wrote a couple of weeks back about February (and March) being slow months in the outdoors, it seems there's quite a bit going on outside the front door as February winds down and we segue into March. I spoke with Britton Ransford, the communications manager for the WDFW's Region 5 (Ridgefield) office on Friday, Feb. 20. This was just two days after the agency's first-of-the-season morning smelt dip on the Cowlitz. To paraphrase, Ransford told me that as of the evening of Tuesday,...
I'm in Ohio again, and have been since Feb. 9. Pop had his second chemo/immuno treatment on Tuesday, Feb. 10. I've got to say he's doing amazingly well. He's eating like the proverbial horse, which is unusual for him. He's staying hydrated; again, unusual. These are two things he didn't do on "round one," and we think it might make a difference. Still, I'm just your average writer with a first name that gives one the impression I have a doctorate in something, which I don't. I do greatly...
More Random (Outdoor) Thoughts To be honest, I never much liked March. It's an in-between month, for the most part, for the outdoors enthusiast in the Pacific Northwest (PNW). Waterfowl season, all 107 days of it, is over. Turkey season is still six weeks away. It's a little bit too early to be thinking seriously about crappie and bluegill, which will happen about the same time turkey season kicks off mid-April. Smelt, you ask? The WDFW has given "we wielders of the long-handled nets" tentative...
Welcome to February, good people. As I write, it is Groundhog Day and, according to the smartly dressed folks in Punxsutawney, Penn., we're due for six more weeks of winter. That will take us into mid-March; but, considering I've mowed my grass twice already, we'll just have to see what the weatherman comes up with, eh? Seeing as how I have few monumental words of wisdom this week, let's do an extended Outdoor Speed Round, shall we? Johnson's One Stop in Naselle "I finally figured out who you...
As of Sunday, Jan. 25, Puget Island, much to the delight of some residents, grew quiet. So, too, did the waters surrounding Tennasilhe Island, Grays Bay, the Lewis and Clark National Wildlife Refuge, and more. The 2025-26 waterfowl season is now a thing of the past; she's "in the books," as they say. However, there are a couple more opportunities here in southwest Washington. A week-long goose season takes place in early February, and a unique, one-day hunt exclusively to recognize our veterans...
Just some random thoughts Almost weekly, I get feedback from y'all on the content of our Eagle Outdoors column. "That was nice," and "I wish you'd write about this." Once someone said, albeit politely, "How can anyone as dense as yourself find his way out of bed in the morning," finishing with the novel "Do you hide your own Easter eggs" comment. To be honest, Julie helps with the first part of that equation. As for the second, I've not thought of that; however, it might certainly increase the...
It was Dec. 3, and I was knee-deep in a tidal marsh, minding my own business (like I typically do). My phone rang, and it was my younger brother from Texas. "M.D., dad's been diagnosed with lung cancer," he said. Beyond my silent pause, the hummingbirds sipping from the yellow willow buds overhead were quickly forgotten. So, too, was the kingfisher sitting in the fir snag across the way. Geese flew in the distance as the silence continued. Given the latest, I was unsure as to my next move and wa...
"The World Through Your Eyes" Those words appear on the back cover of a new book written by April Vokey. On the same cover, Vokey describes herself as a "mother, storyteller, and outdoorswoman who believes the best adventures begin with wonder." The book is perfect for ages three to seven, and for grown-ups who need a reminder to slow down. Forgive me, as I'm getting ahead of both you and myself. No "newcomer" to the world of the outdoors and outdoor education, Vokey is the founder of Anchored O...
Looking back. Looking ahead. Let me assure you, I won’t be so “maudlin” as to say, “Well, another year in the books,” but - and with my apologies - here we are. It’ll likely be a month spent writing the wrong year atop checks and any and all paperwork requiring both signature and date. Maybe I’ll have it right by June. It’s been a good year; a typical year. Highlights with few downturns. I enjoyed the company of an excellent class of seniors, the Class of ’25, here at Wahkiakum #200. I’m so proud of my granddaughter, Adrionna, who was c...
Looking back. Looking ahead. Let me assure you, I won’t be so “maudlin” as to say, “Well, another year in the books,” but - and with my apologies - here we are. It’ll likely be a month spent writing the wrong year atop checks and any and all paperwork requiring both signature and date. Maybe I’ll have it right by June. It’s been a good year; a typical year. Highlights with few downturns. I enjoyed the company of an excellent class of seniors, the Class of ’25, here at Wahkiakum #200. I’m so proud of my granddaughter, Adrionna, who was c...
Christmas, circa 1976 So here we are; another Christmas. Pardon the cliché, but it only seems like yesterday we were looking forward to Washington's bottom fish opener. For those of you who might not know, that's the second Saturday in March. Now the year's about over. I reckon it's true; we can halt the progress of damn near everything, save time. It's been an interesting December; aquatic armageddon, wind, more rain, and a toilet that, albeit briefly, said, 'No' when asked to flush. My Decembe...
The saga of the diabetic chipmunk "All my candies are gone," read the first text of the morning from my wife, Julie. I was stymied, but then came the picture of an empty cutting board, an empty cookie sheet, and roughly 40 or 50 missing little paper baking cups. By the looks of things, she was right. They were gone. "They," to be more specific, were homemade chocolate covered cherries and peanut butter cups, both of which I would eat far ahead of anything containing any sort of nutritional...
Despite an earlier explanatory column, I sometimes have to be reminded just why I hunt. I have to be reminded - taken back, if you will - of what it was like in 1976 when I was 12 and the troubles of everyday life existed only far into the future. So it was on Saturday, Nov. 29, when I took my 12-year-old grandson, Wyatt, on his first hunting trip. A bright, articulate sixth-grader, Wyatt excels at many things, especially the building of moving and working objects and making art from ordinary...
First rattle out of the box, here's wishing each and every one of you a most wonderful, blessed, and safe Thanksgiving. If you and your immediate family see eye to eye, I hope y'all have a great afternoon. If not, remember the words 'tolerance' and 'patience.' I've been on both sides of the stick, and both can be...well...interesting to say the least. Thanksgiving reminds me of an outdoor story. Years ago, the late Tommy Weldon, with whom I used to work at the Ohio Division of Fish and...
First rattle out of the box, congratulations to the Wahkiakum high school boys football team for their overwhelming 78-38 victory against Moses Lake Christian last Friday. MLC came out of the blocks with the first TD within minutes of the game getting underway, putting at risk a friend's earlier prediction of a 60-6 Mules win; however, the Mules fought back, improvised, overcame, and never looked back. All in all, the boys played a tremendous game and, while I hesitate to name names, Stoddard,...
Some days, I just don't know where to go mentally or journalistically. It's not writer's block nor is it, to quote my Mother, "pure unadulterated laziness." It's just a matter of direction; of trying to guess, or second guess, what the readership may or may not want to peruse. It's like walking downstairs with good intentions of getting Subject X accomplished, arriving downstairs, and then having to ask the dog why you're there. Oh, yeah. It's progressed way beyond the traditional "Honey, have...
November? Already? It may be cliché, perhaps, but I truly don't know where the time went or goes. It was the end of August and we were fishing for salmon from the North Jetty. The first half of September, and it was mushroom time again. The final week of September and the Marina's Street Market, which began in May, was over. How did October get here, and now it, muzzleloader deer and elk seasons, and the waterfowl opener are all gone? It's now November. Here, the greenhouse is up and running,...
Apparently, at some point when I wasn’t paying attention, the wet season began. It’s raining as I write this on Sunday, Oct. 26. It was raining yesterday and the day before. Both of Julie’s 55-gallon rain barrels that hold the water running off the roof of the greenhouse are now overflowing. Local deer hunters - those trying to fill tags during this final weekend of modern rifle season - have been damp for a couple of days now. Puget Island has been surprisingly quiet. Still, it’s a transitional time of year for Mother Nature and her minions...
Allow me to preface this week's missive with a note. I'm not trying to be argumentative here, for I do believe that opinions, like elbows, are possessed by damn near everyone. That said, I read with interest the gentleman's heartfelt 'Letter to the Editor' in the October 16 issue of The Eagle expressing his dismay with hunters shooting geese on Puget Island. For the record, I believe his heart's in the proper position; however, there IS a couple of items I'd like to discuss. Yes, Puget Island...
