OLYMPIA -- Young hunters in Washington will get a jump on adults this weekend with the annual two-day, youth-only season for waterfowl, pheasant, quail and partridge.
The special youth-only season is open to hunters under age 16 who are accompanied by an adult.
The adult is not allowed to hunt during the special youth season today and Sunday.
Washington's Department of Fish and Wildlife has joined the Washington Waterfowl Association, Pheasants Forever and other hunting organizations to arrange adult mentors for young people who want to hunt but don't have anyone to teach them.
Young people 16 or under, or their parents, can get more information about this program by calling the department at 360-902-2515.
Other hunting seasons scheduled to open:
-- Today: Early muzzleloader season for deer in selected game management units statewide.
-- Oct. 3: Early muzzleloader season for elk in selected game management units statewide.
-- Oct. 3: Season opener for quail, chukar and gray partridge in Eastern Washington.
-- Oct. 17: General hunting seasons for ducks and geese (except in specific areas of southwest Washington).
-- Oct. 17: Deer-hunting season with modern firearms in selected game management units statewide.
-- Oct. 24: General hunting season for pheasant in Eastern Washington.
Refuge area to open for youth waterfowl hunt
BURBANK -- Columbia National Wildlife Refuge will open an area south of O'Sullivan Dam for the annual youth Canada goose and duck hunt today and Sunday.
The area, Marsh unit I, includes eight ponds created by diverting Lower Crab Creek into shallow wetlands.
Youth hunters must be accompanied by an adult 18 years or older who is not hunting. For more information, call 509-488-2668.
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"Waterfowl biologists are predicting the best fall flights of migrating ducks since 1955," Greg Schirato, deputy director of the wildlife program, said in a news release. "The opportunities haven't been this good in most hunters' lifetimes."
Schirato said the bounty is due to good rainfall in northern waterfowl breeding grounds last summer, as well as favorable conditions here for duck and goose production.
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OTHELLO -- The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service is preparing a new management plan for the Columbia National Wildlife Refuge, which could mean changes for campers, hunters and anglers.
It has released a draft of a 15-year management plan for the 29,596-acre refuge just south of the Potholes Reservoir in Grant and Adams County. The refuge includes wetlands that attract birds, including Sandhill cranes.
Fish and Wildlife proposes three alternatives for management of the refuge in the draft plan, and the final plan is expected to be a combination of alternatives two and three. The first alternative is to keep management the same, although all three alternatives would end overnight camping at the refuge.
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Outdoors briefs: Outdoorsman Expo starts Friday at TRAC
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PASCO -- A new consumer show geared to anglers, hunters and campers is planned at TRAC in Pasco.
The Outdoorsman Expo is from noon to 9 p.m. Friday, from 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Saturday and from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday.
The show will include guides, boat dealers, ATV dealers as well as a climbing wall and an indoor shooting range. There will be an outdoor cooking area with special demonstrations on barbecuing.
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MARYSVILLE -- Justin Ristine, 11, might be the best one-armed hunter around.
If ability is judged by percentage of shots fired compared to deer taken, he's as good a hunter as there is, one arm or two.
On his first hunting trip earlier this month, he fired one shot and bagged one deer. The buck died instantly.
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