The first wild flowers of spring are starting to pop up in the low elevation areas of the Lewiston Clarkston Valley.

I shot these pictures of yellow bells and butter cups near Nisqually John Canyon Saturday. The canyon is about 15 miles west of Clarkston. This morning I saw yellow bells at the Hells Gate Habitat Management Unit near Lewiston. There weren’t very many yellow bells at Hells Gate but I imagine in a day or two they will be easy to find.

Last year I first found yellow bells at Hells Gate around March 6.

Sorry for the poor quality of the pictures. I didn’t have my SLR and shot the pictures with my cell phone.

Looking to rid swamps of an unwanted invasive predator, the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission approved a python hunting season in the Florida Everglades.

Anyone with a Florida hunting license and a $26 access permit can hunt Indian reticulated, northern and southern African rock, amethystine or scrub python, green anacondas and Nile monitor lizards.

The non native reptiles, released by exotic pet owners, have become a problem in the Everglades where they compete with native fish and wildlife for food and habitat.

Hunting seems like a great way to  try to eradicate the reptiles or at least keep their populations in check. It reminds me of a situation in Idaho where state wildlife officials used hunters to control wild hogs. Back in 2002 someone released about a dozen feral pigs in the Clearwater Valley near Kamiah. Feral pigs or hogs have been known to damage habitat and property when released into areas where they are not native.

The Idaho Department of Fish and Game was so concerned it enlisted hunters to help. But Fish and Game officials went a step further than their counter parts in Florida. They simply ruled that feral pigs are not a native or desirable game species managed by the state. That meant anybody who wanted to, could hunt them. No license needed. In a matter of weeks the hogs were all dead.

Florida is requiring a hunting license, access permit and has approved a season from March 8 through April 17. Perhaps if they really want to get rid of these snakes Florida officials  should just say “go kill em. no questions asked.”

For more about the python season click here for a story from the Miami Herald.

Three wolves in the Imnaha Pack of north eastern Oregon were captured and fitted with radio collars last week.

Collars were placed on the 115-pound alpha male, another adult male weighing 97 pounds and a 70-pound female pup.

“The wolves were in good body condition and the capture went well,” said
Russ Morgan, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife wolf coordinator.

Morgan believes there are 10 wolves in the pack, including five pups. The pack’s alpha female migrated from Idaho and was previously fitted with a radio collar.

Oregon wildlife officials are also tracking a pack in the Wenaha Wildlife Management Unit near Troy, Ore. The Imnaha and Wenaha packs are the only confirmed wolves in Oregon, but wildlife officials are continuing to look for more wolves and have found evidence of individual wolves dispersing in the state.

A video of the Imnaha wolf pack was taken last year.

I get lots of strange pictures sent to me via e-mail. Most of them involve wildlife or the outdoors and it is often difficult or impossible to track down the photographer and verify where the picture came from.

That is the case from this picture of circular ice that according to the e-mail it was sent with, was taken on the Salmon River. It certainly looks like the Salmon and it’s a curious photograph. I appears a slow moving eddy may have created this formation. Who knows?

Enjoy it for what it’s worth.

The International Game Fish Association confirmed that Japanese angler Manabu Kurita tied the all-tackle record for largemouth bass– the holy grail of bass fishing accomplishments. Continue Reading