| Tuesday, February 9, 2010 |
None of my outdoor experiences has left a more vivid memory than watching four coyotes, who were unaware of my close proximity, as they attacked a frantic fawn mule deer.
Within seconds after fleeing into the open, the young deer was hamstrung, eviscerated and brought down before my eyes. One coyote raised its bloody muzzle to the sunset and yodeled in triumph as the others began ripping into the still-twitching carcass.
Unnerving as it was, that attack was no more ruthless and messy than the recent National Rifle Association-led feeding frenzy on Jim Zumbo.
Even though many hunters, including myself, own semi-automatic firearms, Zumbo pointed out that the assault-style weapons conjure up images of "terrorists" among the general public.
The average hunter wouldn't raise an eyebrow at this statement because it's logical.
But the gun world went ballistic.
Zumbo probably went too far in suggesting that wildlife agencies ought to ban assault-style rifles from use in hunting. It would be difficult if not impossible for rules to distinguish between the "looks" of the AR-15 or AK-47 and the identical one-shot-per-trigger-pull function of my 50-year-old J.C. Higgins .22 semi-auto plinking rifle.
However, limiting the number of rounds a rifle hunter can fire before he must stop and think for a moment merits discussion. Waterfowl hunters have been limited to three-shot magazines in their pumps and autoloaders for as long as I can remember.
But the Zumbo debate didn't get that far.
Inflicting criticism toward any legal firearm is a damnable offense in the gun world.
With the speed of the Internet, Zumbo's 40-some-year career was shredded and discarded with a scary ring of intolerance.
Despite Zumbo's groveling apology and pledge to explore hunting with an AR-15 as soon as possible, the NRA disowned its long association with Zumbo and banned his work in its publications.
Outdoor Life let him go after an iconic presence on its pages dating back to 1962. Remington, Mossy Oak and other outdoor-industry advertisers severed ties and his internationally broadcast TV show is off the air.
Now the feeding frenzy continues, as gun zealots emerge to pile on with name-calling, insinuations and outright lies.
Zumbo jumped in bed with the gun industry and he's paying the price for dreaming that he could have his opinion and think in the best interests of hunters.
Clearly the gun world has its own rules in defending the Second Amendment, and the rules have little regard for protecting the spirit of the First Amendment.
Ethical journalists must remain an arms-length from this mind-controlling, information-squelching culture.
Most hunters are at least skeptical, too.
Ethical sportsmen are willing to stand up for their gun rights. But they want the freedom to distance themselves from the gun world's unsavory elements, many of which are raising their bloody mugs in cyberspace during the Zumbo assault.
That's why there are about 70 million gun owners and 20-some million hunters, but only 3-4 million of them belong to the NRA.
Clark Fork pike bite: A few fly fishers have been startled recently to learn something fish biologists have known for years: Northern pike are hanging out in eddies and frog water throughout much of the Clark Fork River.
A fly-fishing guide, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of a shunning by trout purists, said he'd never thought of targeting pike until recently, when he saw a bait fisherman soaking smelt in a big eddy near Superior, Mont.
The fly fisher fetched a 4-inch trout streamer pattern from his fly box, tied it onto his 9-foot, 12-pound leader and gave it a try.
On the second cast with a floating line and a 5-weight trout rod, a pike approaching 20 pounds slammed the leech.
"It was a pretty epic battle," the angler said. "The biggest fish I've ever caught on a fly."
The exhilaration over landing the toothy monster transformed to shock as the angler and his partner eventually hooked 15 northerns (while the bait fisherman caught two).
"I couldn't believe there were so many," he said, noting that he bonked every one of the pike.
"It seems like this is a new thing, but then I ask myself how often I've cast a Bunny Leech into a back eddy this time of year."
Ladd Knotek, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks fisheries biologist in Missoula, said he's not surprised at this and similar stories he's been hearing from fly fishers recently.
"Pike have been in the Clark Fork system for quite a while, but in low numbers," he said. "Only recently have more people started to notice."
That's probably because the pike population is expanding.
"In about 2000, pike really took off in Milltown (Reservoir)," Knotek said. "We've been reducing their numbers for the past three years pretty effectively to prepare for the removal of the dam, but every drawdown flushes some pike downstream.
"Pike numbers are high below the dam and we've found pike intermittently all the way to the Flathead."
The good news for trout anglers is that the Clark Fork in the St. Regis region is a single channel that doesn't have much pike habitat.
"But anywhere you find big eddies or backwaters, you'll find pike," Knotek said.
Electrofishing surveys routinely find 10- to 12-pound pike, but generally in areas where they probably aren't a limiting factor to trout, he said.
The fly fisher I interviewed generally confirmed this in several subsequent outings to target Clark Fork pike.
"I've caught pike every time," he said, noting that he's gone to a 7-weight rod and 20-pound leader, but has yet to land a 15-pike limit. "They've been from 4 to 20 pounds. I open them all up and they don't have trout in their stomachs, just whitefish – up to 15 inches long."