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MEETINGS AND DEADLINES

Next General Meeting – June 6th, 7:00 PM at Richland Public Library

Next Board Meeting- June 20th, 7:00 PM at Griggs Pasco Hunter Ed room

July Newsletter Contribution Deadline is June 22nd.   

email:  admin@richlandrodandgun.org

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June 6th General Meeting Presentation

7:00pm at the Richland Public Library

 

Our June program presenter will be RRGC and Pheasants Forever member Kelley Merrick discussing the Pheasants Forever Women on the Wing initiative.  Kelly is the Washington State Coordinator for Women on the Wing, an initiative designed to encourage and support women on their path to the Uplands. 

 

This will be out last general membership meeting before the summer break so we hope to see you there.  We will have the annual Club Picnic at Leslie Groves Park in Richland on August 8 and our next general membership meeting after June will be on September 5, the day after Labor Day.  Please save the dates on your calendar now.

 

Annual Catfish Challenge and Potluck Fish Fry, June 23 and 24

 

The Rules:

1. In order to be officially entered in the RRGC Catfish Challenge you must be a member of the Richland Rod and Gun Club or invited as a guest of a member of the RRGC.

2. Participants must first inform either Richard Sharp by text at (509) 551-6785 or Matt Cummings by text at (509) 948-4905.  You will receive confirmation. 

3. Catfish Challenge fishing hours begin at 3pm on Friday, June 23 until weigh in on June 24.

4. Weigh in is at 3pm on Saturday, June 24, at 73534 N. Pederson Rd. West Richland. (Directions to the weigh in location are shown below.)

5. Any and all waters are open for the Challenge.

6. You can fish as an individual or as a team.

7. There is no entry fee.

8. Prizes for the biggest catfish weighed in are solely Bragging Rights and recognition on the RRGC Facebook and webpage.

 

Directions to Weigh In and Potluck Location:

The best way to get to the Cummings Property at 73534 N. Pederson Rd. West Richland is to turn off of Van Giesen St. in West Richland onto Grosscup Road and head north to N. Pederson Rd. to the Fire Station at the intersection of 62nd and N. Harrington.  Follow the Richland Rod and Gun Club signs from there.  Google Maps also will take you right to the property.  Just make sure to turn down the gravel driveway towards the river at the RRGC

signs.

 

Potluck and Fish Fry:

For those who don’t plan to participate in the Challenge this year, we encourage you to turn out for the weigh-in and fish fry.  Persons with last names beginning with A-M please bring a salad or side dish.   Those with last names beginning with N-Z please bring a desert.  Dinner will follow the weight in, around 4pm.

 

Pikeminnow Fish-In Results

 

A small flotilla of boats launched into the Columbia River near Richland early on the morning of May 20 in search of the not-too-easy to catch Northern Pikeminnow.  Most headed to the lower Yakima River and dangled hooks baited with worms, shrimp, crickets, walleye innards, and chicken livers.  It was a hot day and most of the fishermen retreated to shade by late morning but Rick Libby, Monte Kelsey, and Rich Sharp stayed at it until around 3:00 p.m.  Several pikeminnows were caught, along with three catfish and a bass.  Rich Sharp caught the most pikeminnows.  Pete Workman caught the big fish of the day, an 11 pound channel catfish.  An after-event picnic was held at the gazebo in Columbia Point Park with Chef Dave Myers flipping burgers.  Monte Kelsey donated apples that Dale Schielke transformed into his always popular dessert in his Dutch oven.  Thanks to Dave Myers for proposing this event to the RRGC Board, for reserving the gazebo, and for coordinating with our friends at the Columbia Basin Fly Casters Club.  Thanks also to everyone who brought side dishes to help make the picnic a success.  Most of all, thank you to each of the fishermen who braved the heat to learn better how to catch those light biting, salmon eating, wily pikeminnows.    

 

RRGC Memorial Scholarships Awarded

 

The RRGC Board of Directors has awarded $1,000 scholarships to three University of Idaho College of Natural Resources students. 

 

Brianna Winkel is a graduate student pursuing a Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) in Natural Resources.  She received her Bachelor’s degree in Natural Resources with an emphasis on Fish and Wildlife at the University of Illinois and earned his Master’s degree in Forestry at Southern Illinois University. Her Master’s thesis title was Cougar Recolonization of Eastern North America: Habitat Connectivity and Human Dimensions. She has a Hunter Education certificate from Illinois and is a certified Hunter Education Instructor in Illinois and Idaho. She is currently teaching Hunter Education classes to fellow UI students. Brianna’s PhD project is researching what is limiting southern mountain caribou population growth in British Columbia’s herds and whether reintroduction in U.S. states including Washington, Idaho, and Montana is possible. (The species was extirpated from the lower 48 in 2019.)  Her goal after obtaining her PhD is to work for a state of federal agency as an ungulate ecologist. She is an upland bird hunter, an archer, and has harvested deer and elk in multiple states. Brianna earned maximum available points in our evaluation.

 

Garret Homer is a community college transfer from Ridgecrest, California who is finishing his junior year at UI. He is majoring in Ecology and Conservation Biology. He was recently issued an undergraduate research award by UI to study how recreational use and water quality impact the fishery of McCall Lake in central Idaho and was instrumental in starting a student chapter of the Society for Ecological Restoration at UI. Garret is an Eagle Scout, has his Hunter Ed certificate, and is committed to a career reducing habitat loss to the detriment of big game hunting, fishing, and outdoor recreation in general. He is an older student and has worked more than seven years, some as a store manager, at sporting goods stores including Tri-State Outfitters in Moscow, Idaho to help fund his education.

 

Eika Willis was raised in Bonners Ferry Idaho. During her senior year of high school she commuted to North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene twice a week (about 80 miles each way) to graduate high school with a two-year college Associate’s degree. Thus, at age 19, she is completing her junior year of college at UI this spring pursuing a career in Wildlife Ecology. She is on track to graduate in May, 2024 and then plans to pursue her Master’s degree and a career in natural resource management. Eika got her Hunter Education certification at age 9, has shadowed several Fish and Game employees and a Wildlife Refuge Manager doing their jobs, and has assisted in tagging and monitoring burbot populations on the Kootenai River.

 

KOE Kids Fishing Event Results

 

Marilyn Steele, KOE President, reported to the RRGC Board that 822 kids registered for the event and fished on Saturday, April 22.  There were approximately 200 ARC of the Tri-Cities special needs clients and approximately 70 students who fished on Friday, April 21.  Thus, nearly 1,100 youth and special needs fishermen participated at Columbia Park Pond this year.  Marilyn said there were more volunteers at the event on Saturday this year than there were last year.  Thanks to everyone who assembled rods or helped at the event for helping make this year’s event successful.  

Guzzler Repair

 

Larry Martin submitted these before and after pictures (see photo gallery further down on this page) of fire damaged guzzler #88 which is the last of seven repairs resulting from a major wildfire a few years ago southwest of Prosser, McKinley Springs, Farmum Road area. Greg Herrin is shown in the photo before the repair. Bob Gerhard, Tim Ervin and Larry Martin are shown with the repaired guzzler.

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Wood Duck Project

 

Dale Schielke says “It is Wood Duck nesting season!” and submitted this status report. The team is busy checking boxes for hens that can be banded. Additionally we have been setting up in-box cameras to capture live streaming video of nesting activities and of course “the JUMP.”  So far we have watched and recorded the jump from 4 nest boxes.

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1.       May 5th at 10:50 am 5 ducklings jump from Box 412; Hen 1035-34691 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=22tCAQXuGYk

2.       May 6th at 8:30 am 14 ducklings jump from Box 509; Hen 1265-14742 https://youtu.be/jrODnSqqMD8

3.       May 16th at 6:30 am 12 ducklings jump from Box 367: Hen 1265-14802 https://youtu.be/O64gJu3V36g

4.       May 20th at 8 am 9 ducklings jump from Box 493; Hen 1265-14764 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjyuCwFOO8U

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Ducklings jumped from Box 564 on May 24 and hens are currently incubating eggs in Boxes 517, 518, and G57. The live streams can be viewed at https://youtu.be/N_oON7oeZck and https://youtu.be/liy514R2ltg. We also have a screech owl in Box 528 that has 3 owlets which can be viewed at https://youtu.be/oF4w6uRUuXU until they fledge in about 2 weeks.

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While performing banding checks on Richland Rod and Gun Club nesting boxes at Barker Ranch, we discovered an un-banded hen in Box H7 that had a web tag (see photo gallery later on this page). The web tag is marked TBR 430. We installed a new band on this hen with band 1265-14851. Upon researching the web tag number in our records, the web tag was one of 14 web tags installed on ducklings in nest box 355 on 6-21-22. The duckling's mother was banded on 5-25-22 in Box 355 with band 1265-14798. Checking back on our records we recaptured hen 1265-14798 this year in Box 355 on 5-6-23.

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Dale sends out a notification email when there are hatches started, jumps pending, and recordings posted. Send Dale a request at dahlialou@msn.com if you wish to be added to the notifications. We may be able to provide in-box streaming until late June.

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If you want more information on locations of the 575 RRGC nest boxes, past usage data for each box, or recording from past years, go to www.rrgcwoodducks.org

 

Hunter Education

 

RRGC Chief Hunter Education Instructor Ron Ruth has announced that due to personnel schedule conflicts there will not be a June Hunter Education class.  The next class is tentatively scheduled for the week of September 4 and will be an evening class. 

 

Ron reported that WDFW held their annual Hunter Education In-Service Training (IST) meeting the weekend of April 28th – 30th, 2023 at the Wenatchee Convention Center in Wenatchee, WA. The meeting was attended by four (4) members of the Richland Rod & Gun Club that are certified hunter education instructors. The IST covered a variety of subjects including 1) State of Hunter Education, 2) Recruitment, Retention, and Reactivation (R3), 3) North American Non-Lead Partnership Presentation, 4) and a presentation by Kalkomey. Kalkomey is a software company utilized by WDFW for the registering of students, and several other indices that status of numbers of students, hours spent in class, hours per instructors, etc., 5) International Hunter Education Association (IHEA) which is a follow-on to hunter education once you are certified getting the students out in the field hunting and shooting, 6) How to become a Chief Instructor, Duties, and Building a Team, 7) Master Hunter Permit Program Overview, What it is, What it isn’t, and 8) an awards presentation of years of service of hunter education instructors.

 

Of note, the presentation put on by Kalkomey had a section on their software called “Huntwise app” that is very similar to onX Hunt except their app has a weather segment. Kalkomey now has a program for students that have passed hunter education and can’t find their certification. They claim that if you took hunter education 20-30 years ago and can’t find your certification card, they can find you in their system and you can get a new certificate. I believe the cost is now $10.

 

We learned that IHEA does not have any type of liability insurance with their membership. This is a change from what it used to be.

 

One of the statistics shown by WDFW was that 39% of the hunter education graduates do not purchase a hunting license. There were several thoughts given as to why that was such a large percentage, but no definitive reason was agreed upon.

 

The presentation by North American Non-Lead Partnership was very interesting from what lead can do to humans, how it gets in the eco-system, and particularity what happens when a lead bullet hits something and how it disintegrates in what it hits.  In summation the hunter education instructors from the club found the conference to have some interesting topics and be worthwhile attending.

 

 

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“Update My Contact Information”.

Richland volunteer opportunities for members (richlandrodandgun.org)

 

 

Get involved in one of our Committees:

Salmon in the Classroom: Gene Van Liew – e.van-liew@hotmail.com

Wild Game Dinner:  Marilyn Steele – momhoops46@gmail.com

Wood Ducks:  Dale Schielke – dahlialou@gmail.com

KOE – Kids Fishing Day:  Marilyn Steele – momhoops46@gmail.com

Hunter Ed:  Ron Ruth – RonRuth.HunterEd@frontier.com

Guzzlers:  Larry Martin - larry49martin@gmail.com

Youth Conservation Camp - larry49martin@gmail.com

Scholarship:  Mike Estes - estesm34@gmail.com

Website: Ron Moore – admin@richlandrodandgun.org

Lunker Lake: Matt Cummings – riverviewcounsel@gmail.com

Dale Schielke – dahlialou@gmail.com

 

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RRGC Club Upcoming Activities

Catfish Challenge – June 23 and 24 (See Article in this Newsletter)

Club Picnic – August 8 at 5:00 p.m., Leslie Groves Park Gazebo #2

Hunter Education night class at Griggs Pasco – Week of September 4

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