Turkey hunting is closed for the year, but hunters and anglers still have plenty of opportunities to contribute to the Thanksgiving Day feast in the days ahead.

Late buck season, already under way in Eastern Washington, starts Nov. 17 on the west side of the Cascades for deer hunters using modern firearms. Early snow has moved both deer and elk down from the higher elevations, which should improve hunters' chances of success during the modern-firearms season as well as those for archers and muzzleloaders later this month.

"Hunting conditions were very good during the recent elk hunt and we expect the same to be true of the upcoming late seasons," said Dave Brittell, assistant director of the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW) wildlife program.

Cold, wet conditions are also bringing more waterfowl into the state from Canada, and goose hunters are reporting high success rates - particularly in Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. Pheasant hunting is also picking up, particularly in Eastern Washington.

While fish may not be traditional fare on Thanksgiving, it certainly is in season. Anglers fishing the Snake River are averaging one hatchery steelhead for every 4.5 hours invested, and chum salmon are crowding into rivers and streams throughout Puget Sound.

In fact, this is a great time for non-anglers to observe the annual ritual of salmon spawning in local streams. The Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail between Olympia and Shelton is well know for its prime viewing opportunities, but other streams throughout western Washington are also choked with chum salmon these days. An afternoon of bird-watching, whether in the Skagit Valley or on the Columbia Plateau, is also good preparation for a big holiday meal.

For more information on these and other opportunities for outdoor recreation in the coming weeks, see the regional reports below.

North Puget Sound

• Fishing: For North Sound anglers it's all about chum and blackmouth. Anglers have a chance to catch chum salmon in the Green, Nooksack, Skagit and Skykomish rivers, as the peak of the chum season nears. A lack of rain, however, could limit fishing opportunities. "Watch those stream gauges," said Steve Thiesfeld, a WDFW biologist. "Those rivers could drop down and that would keep fish from moving in. If that's the case, I'd recommend going blackmouth fishing instead."

  Puget Sound blackmouth fishing, however, continues to be slow. The one bright spot was Nov. 13 when a creel check showed 43 anglers hauled in five blackmouth at Seattle's Armeni boat ramp - not bad compared to other areas. Elsewhere, two anglers accounted for two chinook at the Everett boat ramp on Nov. 8 and one chinook was checked at the Shilshole Ramp on Nov. 13. Low angler effort is one of the reasons for the small blackmouth catch numbers in North Sound, said Thiesfeld. "Another reason could be the high cost of fuel," he said.

  Fuel prices didn't keep anglers from participating in Everett Bayside Marine's salmon derby a couple of weeks ago. One hundred and eleven derby tickets were sold and 31 fish were weighed. Dan Welty's 13-pound blackmouth took first prize and earned him $2,000. Bob Coolbaugh finished second with a 10-pound, 1-ounce fish, and Todd Silverwood finished third at 9 pounds, 12 ounces.

  In the past, a two-week closure would interrupt salmon fishing in Area 10 at the beginning of December. This year, however, there is no closure and anglers will have a chance to hook salmon straight through December until the end of January, said Thiesfeld. "We changed it so we wouldn't have a closure in the middle of the season," he said.

• Hunting: Duck hunters are reporting a high degree of success throughout the region. "Winds, rain and cold temperatures in the region have made for good hunting," said Lora Leschner, WDFW regional wildlife program manager.

  WDFW conducted the season's first aerial survey of waterfowl in North Puget Sound. About 5,600 dabblers were counted in Port Susan, 28,000 in Skagit Bay, 135,000 in Padilla Bay and 105,000 in Samish Bay, said Leschner. The majority of the birds were pintails and mallards.

  Upland bird hunters have until the end of November to bag pheasant. WDFW is releasing 390 per week at Skagit Wildlife Area sites and 420 a week at Snoqualmie Wildlife Area sites. "Pheasant hunters who hunt these areas as hard as they would hunt native pheasants in eastern Washington are almost always successful," said John Garrett, manager of the Skagit Wildlife Area. For information about WDFW pheasant-release sites, see the Western Washington Pheasant Release pamphlet on the department's website. Forest grouse season runs through the end of the year.

  A late modern-firearms, black-tail deer season runs from Nov. 17-20 in the North Sound, Issaquah, Islands and Stampede Game Management Units (GMU). Any deer can be taken in the Islands GMU and any buck can be taken in North Sound, Issaquah and Stampede. Hunters took 1,741 deer last year, with the top areas being Islands GMU with 511 and North Sound GMU with 375.

  Muzzleloaders and archery hunters also have late-season opportunities to harvest black-tail deer, with both seasons beginning Nov. 23. Muzzleloaders in the North Sound GMU and Islands GMU can take any deer, and in the Snoqualmie GMU any buck. Archery hunters in the Sauk GMU have a two-point minimum or antlerless, while in the Snoqualmie GMU they are limited to bucks only. In the Stampede, North Sound and Islands units archery hunters can take any deer.

  Although much of the North Sound area is closed to elk hunting, hunters will have a few opportunities to head out in the coming weeks. A late muzzleloader hunt will open Nov. 23 in the Issaquah GMU, where any elk can be taken. An archery elk season also opens on Nov. 23 in both the Issaquah GMU and the North Sound GMU. Any elk can be taken in the Issaquah GMU. The North Sound GMU has a three-point minimum or antlerless.

• Wildlife viewing: Orcas continue to be spotted in the North Sound area. About 10 whales were spotted in the Sound between Edmonds and Kingston. "I think I saw one adult male at quite a distance and the whales were spread out quite far and seemed to be foraging, not traveling in any direction," one observer reported to the Orca Network website. The whales appeared to be traveling south, as a couple other observers spotted the orcas near Whidbey Island earlier that same day. "A large pod, I think about 15 or so," reported another observer.

  A birder reporting to the Tweeters birding website saw a female rusty blackbird on the Samish Flats in Skagit County. The rusty blackbird was "in a large mixed flock." Female rusty blackbirds are light brown and are rarely seen in Washington during the winter, according to the Seattle Audubon Society. The birds often nest in spruce bogs and may be seen in flocks of other blackbirds.

South Sound/Olympic Peninsula

• Fishing: Anglers will continue to focus on salmon for the next couple weeks before turning their attention to winter steelhead. Chum salmon fishing peaks around Thanksgiving, although plenty of the fish have already made their way into South Sound streams. Anglers fish estuaries and inlets, trying to head off chum en route to the lower reaches of small streams. While not the most highly-prized salmon, chum entice anglers through their sheer numbers, their size - which averages 10 to 15 pounds - and their spunk. Anglers often smoke the meat or release the fish. While chum can be found in virtually every small stream, the most popular places to fish include the mouth of Kennedy Creek on Totten Inlet (where 23 anglers were checked with nine fish on Nov. 9 and 10) and near the Hoodsport Hatchery on Hood Canal (where 58 shore anglers recently landed 87 chum).

  Fishing at Hoodsport should be good until Thanksgiving, then drop off rapidly, said Mark Cylwik, WDFW fish hatchery specialist at Hoodsport. "We have another couple weeks, before the fish heads downhill," he said. Kennedy Creek closes to salmon fishing on Nov. 30 from the mouth to the Highway 101 bridge. Other productive chum-fishing areas are outside Chico Creek in Dyes Inlet near Silverdale and in front of McClane Creek near Olympia. By the time those areas start tailing off, chum should be flooding the Nisqually River, said Steve Theisfeld, WDFW biologist. Minter Creek in Pierce County also offers a chum fishery through the end of the year from the mouth to the fishing boundary markers about 50 feet downstream of the hatchery rack. The limit is four chum per day.

  Chum are also being caught in the Skokomish, Puyallup and Aberdeen-area rivers, but coho are still the top prize. Most of the salmon have moved up the Chehalis River system, where angler effort has shifted upstream and into the tributaries, said WDFW biologist Rick Ereth, who recommends trying the Chehalis around Porter and Oakville or the Wynoochee and Satsop rivers. The chum in those rivers are striped but fresh; the chinook, which must be released, are dark but big; and the coho are bright chrome, Ereth said. Fish close to the bank around root wads, he suggested, and stay out of the main flow. "We're supposed to get about 10 days of decent weather," said Ereth. "If there's a time when it's going to get good, this is the time." The Dungeness River might be another good bet for coho. It's open until Dec. 31. The daily limit is four.

  Anglers have already pulled a few early-arriving winter steelhead out of area rivers, but don't count on "limiting out" on steelhead just yet, said Ereth, noting that the runs don't show up in earnest until after Thanksgiving. December is the big month for hatchery steelhead on the North Olympic Peninsula, including the Quillayute River system and Hoh River, said Mike Gross, WDFW biologist. The daily limit is two fish. Wild steelhead can be retained on several north coast rivers, but anglers should check the regulations for each area. On rivers where wild-steelhead retention is allowed, anglers can keep just one wild fish per license year (April 1-March 31) and are then ineligible to retain wild steelhead caught in any other river. Steelhead average 8 to 11 pounds, but can run as high as 25 pounds. There'll be some wild ones mixed in, but the bulk of the wild run generally doesn't arrive until spring.

  Rather be out on the bay? Blackmouth salmon fishing remains open in all Puget Sound waters except the San Juan Islands. The daily limit is two salmon with no more than one chinook except in Hood Canal, where the limit is four salmon and no more than one king. The strait and Admiralty Inlet will close Nov. 30. Tacoma/Vashon Island, South Sound and Hood Canal seasons extend until the end of the year. The limit in Bremerton/Seattle drops from two to one salmon on Dec. 1, but the season continues until Jan. 31.

  It's not too early to begin making plans for the next razor clam dig, tentatively scheduled Dec. 30-Jan. 1 on evening tides at Long Beach, Twin Harbors, Copalis, Mocrocks and Kalaloch beaches. A fourth evening of digging is planned Monday, Jan. 2, at Twin Harbors and Mocrocks. Final approval for all digs is contingent upon marine toxin tests that show the clams are safe to eat. The test results will be announced approximately one week before the proposed opening.

• Hunting: The extended buck season is the last hurrah for many big-game hunters, and it's setting up to be a good one. The late deer season runs from Nov. 17-20 for modern-firearm hunters and begins Nov. 20 for archers and muzzleloaders. The general season started off slow and never made up that ground, so there should be more blacktails available, said Regional Wildlife Program Manager Jack Smith. "There's a lot of bucks out there, especially the older ones," said Smith, noting that the rut seems to be later than normal, which could make this last weekend of hunting even better. Best bets are the Satsop, Wynoochee, Skoomumchuck, Capital Peak and Fall River game management units, Smith said. Hunting is best in areas that have been logged recently. With dry weather in the forecast, Smith recommends that hunters be patient and scope across canyons. "I hope a lot of people show up for the deer hunt because it could be good," Smith said. One of the most popular hunting spots, the Vail tree farm, is only open on weekends.

  Goose hunting has been "very, very good," Smith said, with a better-than-normal numbers of smaller species showing up at Grays Harbor and Willapa Bay. Duck hunting has been average, and some have moved away from the saltwater and up the Chehalis River valley as sheetwater has collected in the fields.

• Wildlife viewing: Contributors to Tweeters birding website are aflutter about a new visitor to our state - the Temminck's Stint. Birders throughout the state and beyond have flocked to an Ocean Shores sewage treatment plant pond to watch the small wader forage along the rocky shoreline. Until recently, none of the four stint species were on record in Washington. Then, in August of 2004, a Little Stint was spotted in the Tri-Cities followed by a Red-necked Stint at the Dungeness River mouth near Sequim in July and August of this year. The Ocean shores stint is a long way from home. The birds generally breed in northern Europe and Asia and winter in tropical Africa and south Asia. They're nondescript birds, similar to sandpipers, with short, straight dark bills and yellowish legs. They have grey-brown upper parts and white under parts. A birding book describes them as "distinctively plain." One Tweeters contributor called the Ocean Shores stint a drab, brown, puckered lemon on legs, but regaled at its sublime beauty. "Every brown mantle feather is edged neatly with darker brown, matched with a dark line up the center. Its breast is delicately lined with pale brown streaks, like fine crewel embroidery," she said.

  The time is now to get an up-close look at salmon. Pick a stream, any stream, and odds are you'll find spawning fish. If you'd like a tour, the Kennedy Creek Salmon Trail between Olympia and Shelton will be open weekends through Thanksgiving. Volunteer trail guides will be available to answer questions. The Kitsap Sun has an interactive salmon-viewing guide on its website, www.kitsapsun.com. It lists good viewing sites for several streams, some with video, and offers a form for viewers to submit their observations.

Southwest Washington:

• Fishing: While some anglers are biding their time until winter steelhead fishing revs up in early December, others are still out chasing salmon and sturgeon around the region - sometimes with good results. At Lake Scanewa, creel checkers tallied 42 boat anglers with 48 wild coho and 10 chinook jacks Nov. 9. One angler fishing the Cowlitz River near Barrier Dam two days earlier spoke of an "awesome day" of salmon fishing in a message posted on the Gamefishin.com website. "We hooked into some nice size late-run kings, silvers and early winter-run steelhead," he wrote. "Most kings were copper color and 20-plus (pounds). They were in there thick as pinks are on the Puyallup." Other options for late-season coho fishing include the Elochoman River, which opened for hatchery coho retention Nov. 11, and the Kalama and Washougal rivers, which reopened for hatchery coho last month. Anglers are required to release wild, unmarked coho on rivers throughout the region.

  One reason for the glowing reports from the Cowlitz is that Tacoma Power employees have been recycling thousands of salmon collected at the Cowlitz Salmon Hatchery back into the river. During the week ending Nov. 13, they released 1,410 hatchery coho at the Lake Scanewa day use site above Cowlitz Falls Dam, 260 adult coho and 43 jacks at the Franklin Bridge in Packwood and 127 adult coho into the Cispus River above the mouth of Yellowjacket Creek. Tacoma Power crews also recycled 81 adult coho at the Interstate 5 boat launch, 407 summer steelhead at the Olequa boat launch and 612 adult coho into the Tilton River at Gust Backstrom Park in Morton.

  Meanwhile, die-hard anglers continue to reel in sturgeon just below Bonneville Dam. A recent creel check found that 59 bank anglers fishing in the area had caught 11 legal-sized fish and released 14 sub-legals. While those catch rates pale compared to those on Oct. 1 when 404 bank anglers were counted with 151 legal fish, the fishery is still producing a legal-sized sturgeon for every five rods. Sturgeon retention continues from the Wauna Powerlines to Bonneville Dam on Thursday, Friday and Saturday each week. Sturgeon must be at least 42 inches and no more than 60 inches long to retain. Sturgeon anglers interested in next year's fishery in the John Day Reservoir might want to attend a public meeting scheduled 6-8 p.m. Nov. 17 in Umatilla. The meeting, which will be held in the theater of McNary Dam, 82790 Devore Road, will focus on a proposal to close the catch-and-release season for "oversize" sturgeon immediately downsteam of McNary Dam from May through July.

  When it comes to steelhead, anglers are eying both ends of the region. On the mid-Columbia above John Day Dam, creel checkers recently counted 47 boats with 22 hatchery steelhead aboard. "Those are summer steelhead," said Manuel Fariñas, WDFW regional fish manager. "The winter steelhead are just starting to arrive in the lower river." Through late December or early January, the number of winter steelhead moving into the lower Columbia will continue to grow, providing great fishing for hatchery fish on such tributaries as the Cowlitz, Washougal and Kalama rivers, he said. Last December, anglers caught nearly 3,000 hatchery steelhead in the Cowlitz River system alone, Fariñas said. "We are expecting another good run of hatchery steelhead this year," he said, adding that anglers must release any wild steelhead they catch anywhere in the region.

• Hunting: If the recent elk hunt is any indication, the late-buck deer season that runs Nov. 17-20 for hunters using modern firearms should be a good one, said Fred Dobler, regional WDFW wildlife manager. So should the archery and muzzleloader elk hunts that start Nov. 23. An early snowfall brought a lot of elk down from the higher elevations for the modern-firearms season that ended Nov. 13, resulting in high success rates for hunters, he said. "We expect the same to be true with deer," Dobler said. "It should be a good hunt." Normally, about a third of the region's annual deer harvest by hunters using modern firearms usually occurs during the four-day late-buck season, noted Eric Holman, regional wildlife biologist. "We have deer throughout the region," said Holman, noting that Game Management Units 522, 574, 578, 588 are open to special-permit hunters but closed to the general hunt.

  By contrast, the goose-hunting season that began Nov. 12 in Area 2A of southwest Washington got off to a slow start, Dobler said. "The geese were there, but we didn't see very many hunters," said Dobler, noting only four hunters checked birds at the Ridgefield Marina check station on opening day. Dobler speculated that the new limit of two cacklers per day might have had something to do with the low turnout in Area 2A, which includes Wahkiakum and Cowlitz counties along with part of Clark County. He noted that hunters will have 30 days to hunt geese in the area, compared to 18 days last year.

  To hunt geese in Area 2A, hunters must pass a goose-identification exam and bring their birds into established check stations to record biological data. Those regulations are in place to monitor harvest of Dusky Canada geese, a sub-species that has suffered severe declines, Dobler said. The season in Area 2A runs through the end of January, with a break of about 1½ weeks right after Thanksgiving. Hunting is open on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays, except in the Ridgefield National Wildlife Refuge, where hunt days are Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays. Hunting will be closed throughout Area 2A on Christmas and New Year's Day. Tests will be administered through Dec. 12, so hunters still have time to qualify for this year's season.

  Meanwhile, waterfowl seasons continue in Goose Management Area 5 (including Klickitat County) and Goose Management Area 3 (Lewis, Skamania, and part of Clark County). Looking for pheasants? The four pheasant release sites in the region are profiled in the Western Washington Pheasant Release Site pamphlet on the WDFW website.

• Wildlife viewing: Birders throughout the Americas are forming ranks for the 106th annual Christmas Bird Count, and those in southwest Washington are no exception. Birding circles from Vancouver to Lyle are sending the call for volunteers to help record every bird they see during a 24-hour period between Dec. 14 and Jan. 5. (The coordinator in Klickitat County is offering the enticement of a group meal of vegetarian chili and cornbread once the count is complete. He can be reached at http://community.gorge.net/birding.) The annual count, which began in 1900, is designed to monitor the status and distribution of bird populations throughout the Western Hemisphere. For more information, see the Washington Audubon Society's website. Birders in the Vancouver area might also want to check in on the Vancouver chapter.

Eastern Washington:

• Fishing: Low and clear water conditions in the Snake River drainage have resulted in good steelhead action for some anglers. Boat fishing above the interstate bridge on the mid-Snake near Clarkston produced an average of one steelhead for every 4.5 hours of effort among 112 anglers checked. Snake River tributaries saw similar action, although WDFW fish biologist Joe Bumgarner notes that angler sample size has been small. Among three anglers checked on the Touchet River on Nov. 13, it took an average of 4.3 hours of effort to catch a steelhead. The Tucannon River saw an average of 5.5 hours of effort per steelhead caught among 13 anglers checked over the three-day weekend (Nov. 11-13). For catch averages and other information about other tributaries and stretches of the Snake, see Snake River Steelhead Creel on WDFW's website.

  Big rainbow trout continue to respond to trolling by boat fishers on Lake Roosevelt, from the town of Hunters in southwest Stevens County down through the main reservoir. WDFW enforcement sergeant Dan Rahn reported that a check station conducted in the Creston area in Lincoln County over the Nov. 11-13 weekend included several contacts with fishermen coming from the Hunters area with trout over 18 inches. "Every boat had at least three fish," Rahn said, "and there were with a few limits of five trout, too."

  WDFW central district fish biologist Chris Donley says Whitman County's Rock Lake continues to produce nice rainbows and brown trout. Trout anglers should plan to hit the district's two winter-only lakes when they open Dec. 1, he said, because it will be "back to the good old days at both Hog Canyon and Fourth of July." Hog Canyon is a 53-acre lake a few miles southeast of the Interstate 90 Fishtrap exit in southwest Spokane County. Donley says it will provide great fishing for rainbows that average 12 to 14 inches, with many larger ones available. Fourth of July is a 110-acre lake two miles south of Sprague on the Adams-Lincoln county line that again has lots of even bigger rainbows. "The toughest thing about these two fisheries is that only two trout can be over 14 inches in the five-trout daily catch limit," Donley said. "At Fourth of July, in particular, that often means you only go home with two fish."

• Hunting: Whitetail deer late season modern firearm hunting in the northeast district is excellent, at least as measured by WDFW staff field and station checks of hunters. Over the weekend of November 12-13, a total of 242 deer hunters with 58 whitetails were checked at WDFW stations near Deer Park and Chattaroy. WDFW wildlife biologist Dana Base said that 24 percent success rate included 49 bucks (26 adults and 23 yearlings). "That's a reasonably healthy and high proportion of adult bucks in the harvest," he said. "Hunters report that the rut is definitely on and the cold, wet weather has been quite favorable for effective deer hunting." The season continues through Nov. 19 and Base noted that one more check station will be conducted that Saturday near Deer Park. "We urge all hunters going south on Highway 395 through Deer Park to stop at our check station at the truck scales whether or not they have bagged any deer," Base said. "We collect not only harvest and deer age and condition data to help us set future seasons, but also tissue samples for Chronic Wasting Disease surveillance."

  WDFW's Swanson Lakes Wildlife Area manager Juli Anderson reports that despite recent rain and snow, conditions are still pretty dry across the area. "It's slim pickings for waterfowl hunters," she said. "Upland game bird hunting is mostly for here, but be prepared for a lot of walking and bring a good bird dog along." Anderson reminded bird hunters that the area's sharptail grouse are protected with a closed hunting season, so identification of species before shooting is critical to avoid an accidental take. Pheasant hunting throughout the region continues to be productive and with increasing chances for snow cover, it will only improve.

• Wildlife viewing: WDFW central district wildlife biologist Howard Ferguson of Spokane reports that tundra swans are back in the region at traditional migration-stopover spots. "I saw about 50 of them - along with a lot of waterfowl - at the Reardan ponds," he noted. Swans have also been seen at Turnbull National Wildlife Refuge in southwest Spokane County and near Calispel Lake and the Pend Oreille River in Pend Oreille County.

  Recent calls to WDFW's eastern regional office in Spokane indicate that coyote watching has become an urban pastime. WDFW customer service staff have informed callers that the urban area has long supported some of these extremely adaptable, opportunistic animals. "They're drawn to our garbage, pet food, and even small pets," explained WDFW public information officer Madonna Luers. "Coyotes have probably been living among us for a long time, but they're usually nocturnal, or active at dawn and dusk, so we generally don't see them." Luers encouraged keeping garbage, pet food and small pets secure to avoid drawing coyotes, and to keep them from becoming bolder by making noise or throwing rocks to scare them off. There is no documented case of a coyote attacking a human in Washington, she noted, but it's not impossible, depending on human reaction to them. "Coyotes are part of eastern Washington's rich wildlife community," Luers said, "and we can learn to co-exist with them."

North Central Washington:

• Fishing: WDFW district fish biologist Bob Jateff of Omak reports that steelhead fishing has slowed down a bit on both the Methow and Okanogan Rivers during the first part of November. "Catch rates have averaged just one fish for every 10 to 12 hours of fishing," he said. Jateff reminds steelheaders that fish with an adipose fin present must be released, and that only two adipose-fin-clipped steelhead can be kept per day. Check WDFW's fishing regulation changes for all gear restrictions on both of these rivers. The Similkameen River will open to steelhead fishing on Nov. 15 under selective gear rules. Jateff also noted there are still a number of lakes in the Okanogan that are still fishable in November. "Davis Lake in the Methow area, Sidley Lake in the Oroville area, and Bonaparte Lake near Tonasket are three that are still producing rainbow trout," he said. "Rufous Woods Reservoir by Chief Joseph Dam is also good during the late fall and winter months for triploid rainbows up to five pounds.

• Hunting: Changing weather in the Columbia Basin should mean increased numbers of ducks and geese moving in and more opportunity for waterfowl hunters, says WDFW waterfowl biologist Ron Friesz of Ephrata. "Waterfowl hunters have been asking, 'Where are the birds?'" Friesz said. "And now with the colder weather and snow we're getting, they should be seeing more. Of course that also means that the protected, shallow waters are freezing up, so hunters will need to target the bigger waters, like Potholes Reservoir, Moses Lake, and the Columbia River, where the open water draws birds." Friesz reported three large flights of waterfowl settling into cornfields between Potholes and Quincy the week of Nov. 14. Another aerial survey of waterfowl is tentatively scheduled for the week of Nov. 21, he noted, so more information about where the birds are could be available then.

  Snow cover in the Okanogan district means the deer permit hunters should be doing well as they wrap up their season on Nov. 18, reports WDFW district wildlife biologist Scott Fitkin of Winthrop. Quail and partridge hunters are also doing well in the lower lying areas of the district, he said.

• Wildlife viewing: Snow in the high country of Okanogan County makes for good mule deer viewing in the Methow Valley, according to WDFW district wildlife biologist Scott Fitkin of Winthrop. Groups of dozens of mule deer are moving on to their traditional winter range in the valley, he explained, and they're very visible, even from the highway. "It's not only a good time to watch them, but it's also a good time to slow down while driving through the area to avoid hitting one," Fitkin said. Almost all long-time Methow Valley residents have deer-car collision stories, he said, especially from this time of year. "This is the peak of their movement near and across roads in the valley," he said, "but it's also become a year-round problem in recent years." Fitkin says it seems that after the harsh winter of 1996-97 that pushed even more deer on to the valley floor, more deer became year-round residents of the lower-lying part of the county. "Irrigated agriculture in the valley allows them to survive there year-round," he said. "We've also had a growing number of new valley residents who don't allow hunting access, so controlling the deer population has been more difficult."

  While those deer make for delightful viewing experiences for the passer-by, he said, they also pose problems with their foraging on everything from crops to landscape plants, and colliding with vehicles on valley roads. Fitkin recommended deer watching drives into WDFW's Methow, Big Buck and Big Valley Wildlife Areas. Viewers should also watch for a few wintering bald and golden eagles that have recently returned to the area.

South Central Washington:

• Fishing: Columbia River steelhead fishing, in the stretch from Highway 395 bridge at Pasco to the Old Hanford townsite wooden powerline towers, continues slow and steady. WDFW fish biologist Paul Hoffarth of Pasco reports interviewing 133 anglers with 32 steelhead through Nov. 13 in the Ringold area. "Anglers averaged 13 pole hours per steelhead," he noted. "The boat anglers have been doing much better than the shore anglers in recent weeks. Weekday boat anglers averaged six hours per steelhead, compared to bank anglers' 17 hours per steelhead. Weekend boat anglers averaged 13 hours per steelhead, compared to 34 hours per fish for weekend bank anglers."

  WDFW fish biologist Eric Anderson of Yakima reports that some year-round trout fishing lakes in Kittitas County just received some excess hatchery rainbow trout broodstock. These fish are about five to 10 pounds each and may readily bite any variety of baits or lures. North Fio Rito Lake, about three miles southeast of Ellensburg alongside Interstate 82, received 106 of the near five-pound trout and 24 of the 10-pounders. Mattoon Lake at Ellensburg, received 106 of the near-five-pounders and 25 of the 10-pounders. Both lakes provide easy bank fishing.

• Hunting: WDFW regional wildlife program manager Ted Clausing says more wintery weather is needed to move more ducks and geese into and around the region to improve opportunities for waterfowl hunters. The same conditions will also improve upland game bird hunting, he said, although pheasant hunting on the Yakama Nation has reportedly been pretty good. "We're kind of in that in-between time for hunters," Clausing said. "We need more rain, snow, wind, and cold weather to improve opportunities." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service aerial waterfowl surveys of the south Columbia Basin were made November 14, including good numbers of Canada geese at McNary National Wildlife Refuge near the Tri-Cities; see the full report on the WDFW website.

• Wildlife Viewing: Bighorn sheep are already gathering at WDFW's winter feeding site on Clemans Mountain, although no feed is being provided yet. WDFW regional wildlife program manager Ted Clausing explains that it's not just a matter of habit for the animals, but the south-facing slopes in that area draw the ewes, followed by the rams, as breeding season unfolds. Easy deer and elk viewing is available now right from Highway 12 through the Tieton River canyon and WDFW's Oak Creek Wildlife Area complex. "They're moving down to their traditional winter range," Clausing explained, "which is of course where our highways run, so it's easy viewing, but it's also potentially dangerous. Slow down to avoid colliding with one." U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service aerial waterfowl surveys of the south Columbia Basin were made November 14, including good numbers of Canada geese at McNary National Wildlife Refuge near the Tri-Cities; see the full report on the WDFW website.