Game Warden Ride-Along

I'm a bit slow getting to this blog post.

On a cold snowy day, I had the privilege of riding along with a Oregon Fish and Wildlife State Trooper in Wallowa County, Oregon.

When I first contacted the trooper, he'd suggested we might go down on the Imnaha River and check the fishermen catching steelhead. When I arrived for the ride along a call had come in about trespassers on an elk refuge in the northern part of the county. So we headed north.

Weneha River

Once we left the highway the roads were bumpy, snowy, and muddy. The trooper explained that an area owned by the ODFW (Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife) and used to feed elk to keep them from getting into the ranchers stack yards and ruining stacks of hay was off limits to the public at this time of year to keep the elk from leaving the leaving the area.

Elk feeding on the refuge

It was the best time for "shed" hunters to be out. Shed hunting is when people go out looking for the antlers the deer and elk shed this time of year. Shed hunters go out looking for the shed antlers to either keep for themselves or to sell to people who make things out of them. Because the large herds of elk stay in the refuge, the antler hunters will trespass to find the larger antlers.

Elk feeding on the refuge

We didn't find anyone trespassing. But the trooper wrote down the make, model, and license plate of any vehicle that was parked as if they were out looking for antlers. When we arrived at an area where he had satellite reception, he put that information into his computer to see if any past trespasses or violations came up on the owners of the vehicles.

3 female mountain sheep with tracking collars

From the elk refuge we headed to the Wallowa River and the trooper wore a microphone so I could hear his conversations with the fishermen as he asked them for fishing licenses, steelhead tags, and those with boats for their invasive species permit.  I learned the language of the items asked for and had a fun time listening to his banter with the people.

Along the Wallowa River

The 8 hours I spent with the trooper I learned a lot about the job, the nuances that could keep a trooper safe in certain situations, and I heard stories about situations that became out of hand.

It was an enlightening and informative day. I've already started incorporating the information I gleaned into the first book of the new Gabriel Hawk mystery series coming out in 2019.

Joesph Oregon

   

"Rolling Thunder and Toma" by Dave Manuel

On a recent trip to visit my dad who lives in Wallowa County, Oregon, we wandered the streets of Joesph, named for old and young Chief Joesph who were the chiefs of the band of Nez Perce who lived along rivers and the lake during the summer months, grazing their horses on the meadow grass and lived in the canyons of the Snake, Imnaha, and Grand Ronde rivers in the the cold winter months.

The town of Joesph, population 1,054, has gone from a lumber and tourist town to a tourist and art mecca. Walking the streets there are a large number of art galleries, knick knack and souvenir shops, and restaurants. The town sits on the only road to pristine Wallowa Lake. A clear blue lake of melted snow from the Eagle Cap Wilderness.

"The Sentinel" by Austin Barton

The streets of Joesph are lined with flowers, trees, brickwork, and bronze statues depicting the area. The statues are donated by the artists. There is a man on a bucking horse, a farmer and his dog, Young Chief Joesph, and Young Joesph and his wife Springtime. Along with other statues.

Walking the streets was relaxing and enjoyable and brought back memories of  picnics at the lake and Chief Joesph Day parades we watch when I grew up in the county.

The statue "The Sentinel" by Austin Barton has been my favorite ever since I saw it at my brother's art studio. He molds, welds, and patina's bronze pieces for other artists and creates his own statues. But "The Sentinel" spoke to me and when my first mystery is out you will recognize a statue in the story that is similar to this one.

If you haven't visited NE Oregon and Wallowa County you are missing out on beautiful scenery, relaxed atmosphere, and crystal clear air. There is a reason the white man didn't start homesteading in the valley until the 1860's. It is surrounded by mountains, deep gorges and wide raging rivers. It is an isolated area which many of the locals like even if their main means of income is tourism now that the logging has dwindled.