The Eagle Outdoors

As of today, we're 10 days into the 2025 spring turkey season here in Washington. I don't have much from the field except for a handful of birds taken during the Youth Turkey Season, which was offered statewide to hunters ages 15 and younger from April 1 to 7. During our 18 years in Iowa, Julie and I 'sponsored' (per se) many young turkey hunters. To me, it was the most enjoyable part of the season. These kids asked questions, sometimes a lot of questions, but it reminded me of the basics of Mother Nature. The indigo buntings, the blue jays and cardinals, morel mushrooms, hands and knees, just looking at stuff. Yes, sir. It was mighty fun.

Boys "on the (C)lam"

On Friday, April 18, Kyle Hurley, Wahkiakum High School's man of many trades, and I took a quartet of young men down to the Long Beach Peninsula in search of the "two Es," education and entertainment. Following a quick drop in at Johnson's One-Stop in Naselle, we headed up Sandridge Road to Ocean Park. From there, it was a short drive north to "The Spot."

Not surprising, given the number of recent digs offered by the WDFW and, despite what I'd consider absolutely perfect t-shirt weather, the beach was amazingly quiet. We parked, off-loaded, and made our way down to the surf where we started the process of procuring some 90 fat bivalve mollusks, shellfish, and razor clams. I believe it was Mister Colin Odom who found the first clam divot.

Odom, dressed every bit the professional harvester, immediately went to work. Young Joseph Merz, experienced in the ways of shellfish, took WHS exchange student Gabriel Bonadiman of Brazil under his wing, showing him the finer points of the Long Beach Stomp, clam guns, and how not to turn your back on the ocean. Kaydin Jakshaw, grandson of the legendary Henry Blankenship, had no trouble finding his 15. Then there was Mister Hurley, overseer of all things. Back at this truck, we got a small fire going, roasted hot dogs and cheap sausages on sticks, and ate an entire tray of Julie's homemade chocolate chip cupcakes.

A good day? It most certainly was and on several levels. The weather, as mentioned, was perfect. Light wind. High blue sky. Warm, but not too warm. There were plenty of clams, all leaving 'shows' (holes) the size of a '65 Ford Galaxie hubcap. Even I could see these. The coals were hot, the hot dogs were as good as tubes of mechanically separated "pieces 'n parts" can be, and I left with the same number of people I arrived with; always a plus.

I'm sure they didn't realize it, but what the young men were doing, as they dug, was restore my faith in the general human population. To have them ask questions, to see them laugh and smile, and to see them genuinely engage themselves in Mother Nature at a pace that, to me, said they were enjoying their time outside; the fact that they wanted this day and the experience to last. There was no hurry, no complaints, and no phones. It was just the six of us, 28 miles of beach, and a thousand miles of ocean. It was, I'm thinking, two hours in the very best vacuum imaginable.

This trip, as will be three others this spring, was made possible by a grant from the Marine Resources Committee (MRC), in cooperation with the Washington State University (WSU) Wahkiakum County Extension Service. The MRC, along with the wonderful people who sit on its board and serve us (its constituency) has, during the 2023-25 biennium cycle (as they have in the past), offered grant dollars so that representatives of WHS - e.g. Jeff Rooklidge (retired biology/chemistry/environmental science), Kyle Hurley, and myself - are able to get students outside and in the marine environment, so that they might have a better understanding of the condition and critical needs of these fragile ecosystems.

What does all of this mean? Without funding from groups like WSU and the MRC, along with the unwavering support of the administration at WHS, these trips wouldn't be possible. Without these trips, some of these kids wouldn't have the opportunity to dig a clam, catch a trout, measure a ghost shrimp, ask a question, or eat a terrible Walmart hot dog and a cupcake covered in sand. Is this insignificant in the grand scheme of things? I don't think so, for these are the things, believe it or not, that shape men's minds. These are the things remembered when much else is forgotten, so thank you for helping me to not forget.

10th Annual WDFW trout derby

Mark your calendars for Saturday, April 26, the kick-off to WDFW's 10th annual trout derby. In Reader's Digest Condensed form, the WDFW tags a whole bunch of trout with little, orange so-called 'spaghetti' tags and then releases the tagged trout in over 100 lakes across the state. Catch a tagged trout, enter the number on the tag into the WDFW's webpage (going live soon) and see what you've won. Fill out the online form, hit print, and then take your paperwork, along with the orange tag, to the participating place of business that sponsored your particular prize and claim. There's no fee; it's as simple as that. More than 1,100 prizes totalling over $54,000 are on the table for this year's derby.

A list of derby lakes, along with other details, can be found at wdfw.wa.gov/fishing/contests/trout-derby. Local lakes on the list include Snag and Western lakes (The Radar Lakes), Horseshoe Lake (Woodland), Kress Lake (Kalama), and Lake Sacajawea (Longview), as well as Battle Ground Lake (Battle Ground) and Klineline Pond (I-5, Vancouver).