EUGENE -- The Oregon rifle deer season opens today, and it appears that after a generation of declining numbers, the number of deer hunters in Oregon is on the way up.

In Washington, elk hunters are grouped into the "haves" and the "have nots."

Ryan Spaniel recoiled when he stared into his net at the unusual fish he caught in the Columbia River near the cable bridge.

PORTLAND -- The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program paid out $40,000 in special awards to 20 lucky anglers in September, the Bonneville Power Administration announced today.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife announced today the closure of a 21-mile section of the Yakima River bordering the Yakama Nation Reservation to non-tribal fishing for fall chinook and coho salmon.

PENDLETON -- Blue Mountain Wildlife in Pendleton will have its 11th annual Fall Open House from noon to 4 p.m. Oct. 4.

WHITE PASS -- Clearing work is under way in the Hogback Basin where the White Pass Ski Resort is moving forward with its effort to build two new lifts, a lodge and several new runs.

On a day when a federal fishery agency issued a lengthy proposed plan for restoring threatened steelhead in the Middle Columbia River -- including the Yakima River -- a renowned expert on fish and their habitats offered his own solution.

For the first time in more than 20 years, anglers will be allowed to catch and keep fall chinook from the Snake River in Washington, starting today.

BENTON CITY -- They won't be dueling at high noon, but the fastest and most accurate gunslingers in the Northwest are bringing their six-shooters, rifles and shotguns to the Rattlesnake Mountain Shooting Range this week.

RIMROCK -- Roll on, mighty Tieton, roll on -- at least through the end of the month.

The Columbia National Wildlife Refuge will open a popular area south of O'Sullivan Dam for youths to hunt Canada goose, duck and coots today and Sunday.

BILLINGS, Mont. -- The government is planning to retreat for now from its attempt to take gray wolves in the Northern Rockies off the endangered species list, a federal wildlife official said this week.

RICHLAND -- Dave Kromm's wait has been well worth it, and a good day of fishing this afternoon could be worth $100,000.

Dave Kromm has been looking forward to this week for ... well ... about a year now.

Most of Lake Roosevelt's 1.4 million annual visitors have come and gone for the season, and what many of them left behind will make you wince.

A federal oceanographer says a flip-flop in atmospheric conditions is creating a feast for salmon and other sea life off the West Coast, reversing a trend that contributed to a virtual shutdown of West Coast salmon fishing this summer.

Officials of the Okanogan-Wenatchee National Forest are warning hunters to be aware of a potential hazard in the woods this fall.

Will 2009 be the year that general-season whitetail deer hunters in Northeastern Washington will be limited to shooting only bucks with at least four points on one side of their antlers?

HEPPNER -- Authorities are looking for someone responsible for illegally killing six deer and leaving them to waste in Morrow County.

A boon to rafters on the Tieton River and a hazard to a part of the Yakima River, the Yakima basin's annual flip-flop is getting under way.

YAKIMA -- Seldom do conservation groups applaud a road project.

For the first time since the late 1970s, Washington mourning dove hunters won't have to cram their hunting into two weeks.

The Richland Rod & Gun Club will have its first meeting of the fall at 7 p.m. Tuesday at the City of Richland maintenance facility, 2700 Duportail.

In his seven years as a backcountry ranger in North Cascades National Park, Tom Corbett saw a lot of injured hikers and campers.

The Northern Pikeminnow Sport Reward Fishery Program is adding weekly cash prizes to increase incentives for anglers to catch and turn in pikeminnow.

Most of the Pacific Northwest's Columbia River Basin continues to see good returns of adult salmon as they head back to their native streams or their hatcheries to spawn.

WASHOUGAL -- Chinook and coho salmon releases in the Washougal River will be reduced by 70 percent or more as part of a hatchery reprogramming effort to boost wild fish recovery in lower Columbia River tributaries.

Ending a decade of negotiations, U. S. District Court Judge Garr King in Portland has approved a 10-year agreement governing the catch of salmon and steelhead in the Columbia River between the four tribes with treaty rights and non-Indians.

One leg was made of a shell casing wrapped around a metal block.

Fishing may still be foremost on your sporting calendar, but visits to a shooting range now will help ensure fall hunting success.

Steelhead fishing could pick up and high-lake trout fishing is heating up in Eastern and South Central Washington, according to the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife.

SEATTLE -- When Pamela Almli set out for a hike on a popular trail north of Seattle, she may not have been aware that bear hunting season had begun the day before.

A glaring void in the region's outdoors information scene has opened with the closing of Fishing & Hunting News.

Washington's Fish and Wildlife Commission has extended for another three years a pilot project authorizing cougar hunting with the aid of dogs in Chelan, Okanogan, Ferry, Stevens and Pend Oreille counties and allow other counties to request inclusion in the project.

The U.S. Fish and Wildlife office that administers the Mid-Columbia River National Wildlife Refuge Complex has moved from Richland to the Burbank area.

Waterfowl hunting opportunities will be similar to last year in Washington under seasons adopted recently by the state Fish and Wildlife Commission.

LAKE WENATCHEE -- One of Washington state's most popular sockeye salmon fisheries is drawing to a close.

ROSLYN -- Anyone pining for some green trees, a few glaciers and views to take your breath away (no, it's not just the altitude) might consider taking a hike to the top of Thorp Mountain in upper Kittitas County, about three hours northwest of the Tri-Cities and about 15 miles off Interstate 90.

After tumbling from the summit of Oregon ski areas, Mt. Bachelor has lowered season ticket prices -- especially for teens and young adults -- joining a nationwide trend of appealing first to local skiers and snowboarders.

OLYMPIA -- The Washington Parks and Recreation Commission has voted to raise fees for camping in state parks, beginning in November.

Walleye are biting in the Columbia River.

MEDFORD, Ore. -- Rowing a driftboat or raft through Blossom Bar is the wildest ride on the Wild Rogue River, a rapid so wrought with pitfalls and intensity that every piece of water, every rock and every maneuver has its own, often ominous, name.

LAKE WENATCHEE -- The first sockeye salmon fishing season on Lake Wenatchee in four years may be short-lived.

A pair of West Richland teens and their fathers are relative newcomers to mountaineering, but they're already reaching some impressive heights.

NACHES -- The Forest Service has banned all campfires in the Naches Ranger District outside of wilderness areas because of increased fire hazards, officials said.

YAKIMA -- Keith Rieff knows what a nightmare sounds like: The crunching of bones in the black of night.

Only five groups have attempted Mount Rainier's scenic, 93-mile Wonderland Trail this year, and all have turned back because of snow.

Genetic tests have confirmed two adult animals located and radio-collared July 18 in western Okanogan County are wild, gray wolves, confirming the presence of the first wolf pack in Washington since the 1930s, the state Department of Fish and Wildlife announced.

Nova, public television's science program, will focus on the channeled scablands of Eastern Washington on Sunday.