BERNIE KUNTZ

Wolves getting unneeded help

It was no surprise to members of the hunting community two weeks ago when U.S. District Judge Donald Molloy placed the gray wolf back on the Endangered Species List, thus ending the modest wolf hunting seasons that had been established in Montana and Idaho. His decisions have not been “hunter-friendly” in the past.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , August 20, 2010

Salmon fishing in British Columbia

The trip began with an 850-mile drive from our home in Bozeman, Mont., to Vancouver, B.C. A day later we boarded a cramped Beechcraft 900 plane for the one-hour flight to Port Hardy on the northern end of Vancouver Island, then transferred to a DeHaviland Beaver floatplane. Laurie, who never had been in a floatplane before, was nervous about the flight, but it went without incident and soon the pilot landed the plane in a cove near Pendleton Island located between Darby Channel and Rivers Inlet — the location of Legacy Lodge, where we would be spending the next four days.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , August 13, 2010

Taking care of your catch

Nowadays, many newer model fishing boats are equipped with one or more live wells, so taking care of fish during a day’s outing is a simple affair. However, if you are a “geezer” like me who operates a boat that was manufactured long before invention of the live well, you have to resort to other measures.

By Berie Kuntz, Outdoors , August 06, 2010

Remembering the ones that got away

When I was a youngster, my father and I were fishing one blustery day in southeastern Manitoba where the Whiteshell River exits Betula Lake. Trolling some wobbling plugs, I soon had a strike and had a heavy fish on the line. The battle see-sawed for several minutes, I was gaining line, straining to see the fish in the murky water of the outlet . ..and then, just like that, the fish became unhooked! I never caught even a glimpse of the fish, and to this day, do not know its size. But I do remember the incident almost 50 years after it happened. There is something about missed shots and lost fish that causes us outdoorsmen to remember them even more clearly than the shots we made and the fish we caught.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , July 30, 2010

Looking forward to Amisk return

The hard rain of morning has ceased, so Laurie and I slip into the old Lund boat, I fire up the engine and while we motor to Warehouse Bay she pulls the plug on the boat, draining the rainwater from it — a trick she taught me when I met her in Alaska 28 years ago.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , July 23, 2010

Go hunting while you can

It troubles me a great deal to come to grips with reality, but 3-1/2 years after getting my right hip replaced, and four months after a right knee replacement, I cannot envision ever again scrambling around in the bighorn sheep country of northwestern Wyoming — nor in the Colorado Rockies where I have applied for a permit since the mid-1990s.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , July 16, 2010

Court vote is an ominous one

Almost two years ago in District of Columbia vs. Heller, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 that the right to keep and bear arms extended to all “federal enclaves,” but left open the question regarding states, cities and towns. Well, two weeks ago the Court again ruled 5-4 that the Second Amendment does indeed apply to localities. Specifically, the Court determined that Otis McDonald, a 76-year-old black man who lives in Chicago, can legally own a handgun. McDonald had sued the city for taking away his right to protect himself. I saw McDonald interviewed on TV a couple months ago, and he said that his neighborhood is infested with gangs, and claimed the city was not protecting him. So he needed to protect himself.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , July 09, 2010

Family, fun and fishing on Amisk

(Part 2 of 2) “Elmo!” I say to my two-year-old grandson Ben. “Cookie monster!” he replies. His eyes are laughing. Daughter Katrina, her husband Brad and little Ben are fishing with me at Amisk Lake, Saskatchewan — a lake I have frequented almost 40 times since 1967. I first took Katrina here when she was eight, and she has made almost 20 trips with me since.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , July 02, 2010

Aboard the old Lund on Amisk Lake

(First of two parts) With all the things that can go wrong on a fishing trip, I was a little concerned beforehand — taking grandson Ben on a boat, for example, at age two years and four months. And relying on a pair of 28-year-old outboard motors on a 40-year-old Lund boat that had been parked in the Saskatchewan bush for the last three years. (I brought along a new marine battery and properly gapped spark plugs — as it turns out, none of which I needed.).

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , June 25, 2010

Trip worth troubles along the way

It always has been fishing the wonderful lakes that has lured me northward to the Canadian Shield rather than any pretense at making the journey to enjoy accommodations along the way.

June 18, 2010

Rain not all bad in moderation

People in southwestern Montana are getting a little testy about the weather this spring. It rained almost four inches during the month of May, which involved a number of days with constant drizzle and no sunshine, and many of the folks don’t like it. Stand in line in the grocery store and you can hear people grumbling about the rain and snow. Even my wife Laurie has complained about the weather.

By Bernie Kuntz , June 11, 2010

The luck of the draw

The “luck of the draw,” or lack of it, has long intrigued me. With big game permit drawings going on right now in most western states, I hear from friends and acquaintances about their successes and failures. A young friend of mine named Ed just drew a coveted elk permit in Nevada and is still reeling from his good fortune. (Depending on how you calculate things, with five preference points going into the drawing, and Nevada’s squaring of an applicant’s points, he beat odds of several 100-to-1.)

June 04, 2010

King salmon befitting its name

The first year I fished for king or chinook salmon was 1983 and I caught 25 of them up to 30 pounds. But I don’t want to tell you how many days it took me to catch those fish. If I remember correctly, it took me 17 trips on the water before I caught the first one!

May 28, 2010

Birthdays for the pampered Labs

“Well, happy birthday, boneheads!” Labradors Lucy and Oscar sit and watch me expectantly. They share birthdays two days apart in May, black Lucy turning six years old, and Oscar, the yellow, celebrating his first birthday. Laurie and I take them to an open field a mile from our house, and there they get to go for a long walk, smelling, marking their spots, all the time with Labrador “smiles” on their faces. Then, it is back to the house and the backyard for some individual fetching. Oscar “The Biscuit-Head” goes first, happily retrieving the training dummy while Lucy “The Loose Goose” watches from inside the door as she emits piteous whimpers and groans.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , May 21, 2010

Gadgetry gone way too far

It caught me by surprise when I noticed on a Field & Stream blog written by Scott Bestul that trail cameras were declared illegal in the State of Montana this year. I had seen nothing in the news about the ban, probably because few hunters in this state care, unlike the gadget-minded easterners and “southern boys” one sees on all the outdoor channels, complete with their cute little goatees and camouflage everything.

By Bernie Kuntz, Outdoors , May 14, 2010