I recently had a reader write in and said they’d been reading my crappie fishing articles and had been prompted to go out themselves and had caught a good mess as well. They requested that I write an article and list some of my favorite crappie recipes. So, that was what prompted the topic of today’s article.

Crappie are a light flaky white fish and provide for some awesome table fare. To begin though let’s touch briefly on preparing your fillets. As a kid, dad made us save the whole fish, he thought too much meat was wasted if you filleted a fish. (And actually, I don’t think I ever heard of filleting fish until after college while fishing with a guide).

Dad made us scrape the scales off of our fish with a spoon then cut off the head and gut them and fry them whole. Don’t go that route; fillet your fish. It’s a whole lot faster and it’s a lot easier to fry fillets than it is whole fish.

To fillet your fish is easy. If you only have a few, then buy a Smith’s Consumer Products 6-inch Boning Knife. If you’re catching a whole cooler of crappie, then also buy a Smith’s Electric fillet knife to fillet your catch and use the boning knife to remove the rib cage. Using an electric knife is the only way to go.

OK, let’s get to cooking! These recipes will work for many species of fish but are some of my favorites for crappie.

FRIED FISH

This is the most popular way to cook crappie. Most of the time, I will just roll them in corn meal and throw them into a hot skillet of oil. I like frying them in a cast iron skillet for better heat distribution properties. I like the oil to be hot but not smoking hot. I don’t like them too crispy. I like the finished product to be moist inside. While frying, I sprinkle on Tony Chachere’s seasoning. My family loves Tony’s.

Periodically, I will mix it up and use a different batter such as Panko or mix-up some pancake batter and dip the fillets in it. As with all fried food, serve hot. Usually, we eat French fries and fish. We may also whip out some fresh asparagus when in season.

CRAPPIE MEUNIÈRE

I got a variation of this recipe from a Cajun years ago while fishing in Louisiana but she cooked speckled trout like this. Lightly dust fillets in flour and throw into a hot cast iron skillet. In the skillet you want a little oil so they don’t stick. Pour in a few tablespoons of Worcestershire Sauce and a few of Balsamic Vinegar. Sprinkle on some Tony’s spices. Also throw in a few tablespoons of Capers. This is good.

WHO KNOWS THE NAME OF THIS ONE!

Early this year my brother gave me this recipe. It is easy peasy and awesome! It may be my favorite recipe now. I can’t believe how simple it is and yet how good the end product is. You can use a baking sheet but I use a brown stone cookie sheet. (I think my wife’s is a Pampered Chef Rectangle Stone or something like that).

Preheat the oven to 350. Lay the boneless fillets on the pan. Spread Mayo over the fillets. Semi heavy. Sprinkle with Tony’s. Slide into the oven. I put a cookie sheet under the stone pan for it to drip into. I started sprinkling a few capers over the fillets now. I think it sets it off well.

FISH TACOS

This is a good one, too! Fry your fish like in the first recipe. I like to heat my tortillas up before eating. We’ll put a little bit of grease in a skillet or butter and heat on both sides. We like flour tortillas. As the tortillas heat up, lay them out and put one-and-a-half fillets on them. Sprinkle on a little cheese and lettuce (we use a salad mix out of a bag).

Then squirt on some Sweet Baby Ray’s Secret Dipping Sauce. I don’t know what is in their sauce but it is perfect for fish tacos. Then fold over the tortilla and indulge! You’re going to love these fish tacos. I’ll usually fry up more than enough fillets and that way I have enough leftovers to make tacos for lunch for a couple of days.

Well, there you have it. My favorite crappie recipes. Enjoy.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

If you read my articles then you know that I took Katy crappie fishing last Saturday and we had the best fishing trip ever. We found one spot and out of 125 casts only four to six casts didn’t produce a hit. It was the best fishing trip that I’ve ever had.

Then Monday I went mushroom hunting and only found one morel! Tuesday I went to my hotspot whistle pig hunting and either the plague had run through and wiped them out or the birds of prey had eaten themselves out of house and home but I literally did not see one whistle pig in this spot. That has never happened before.

Which brings up a word of advice. Nature has ups and downs and we need to adjust accordingly. Here’s what I mean by this. I may have wanted to hit all three activities this week. Crappie fishing, mushroom hunting and whistle pig hunting. But if only crappie fishing is good, then I need to hit the crappie. I can’t tell you how many times I’ve gone out fishing for this or that species and stumbled upon the mother lode of a different species. Be fluid. Adjust. Don’t be so regimented that you can’t enjoy a different agenda.

I could give a million examples but one time I was teaching a junior high Sunday school class. I had off a day and had taken the boys out doing something or another. We found a sandpit that had a mulberry tree on the dam. The kids (not me of course) were picking mulberries and painting up themselves.

After squeezing the mulberry and painting ourselves we flipped it out in the pond. A fish hit it. This repeated itself a few times and it soon became apparent what was happening. As the wind blew, it shook loose mulberries which fell into the water and the fish were setting under it feeding. I told the boys to jump in the T-Bird. We raced home and grabbed an armload of fishing rods and raced back.

Over the course of the week after this discovery I think I caught 75 carp and a bass or two and maybe a catfish. We’d hook a squeezed mulberry on a bare hook with no weight and flip it out in the water under the tree. It’d slowly sink and as soon as it disappeared, we’d have a hit. Numerous species of fish were lying in wait under the tree feeding on falling mulberries.

I forget what we were doing that day but we improvised and had a memorable experience. This will happen to you when you’re outdoors. If you see a once in a lifetime event happening, drop what you’re doing and improvise. Don’t be a stick in the mud and say nope, here’s what is on the agenda today or you may miss a once-in-a-lifetime outdoor event.

So with that said, I improvised and dumped the whistle pig and mushroom hunting this week and ran back out Wednesday by myself and boated 277 crappie. Wow! The fishing is unbelievable right now. I didn’t keep track but I bet for one to two hours I got a hit nearly every cast. It was totally unbelievable.

Then Saturday, I took Kolby (my daughter) and her boyfriend, Joe Chappell, crappie fishing. We fished for a few hours and then it started storming with lightning, which is never a good thing while out on the lake in an aluminum boat.

I remember once I was fishing in Nebraska with a guy and a storm blew in. My line was floating about 10 feet high due to the static electricity in the air. Pretty soon, I noticed that when I moved my rod it’d make a sound like a Star Wars sword and shock you if you touched it. Wuh row, we were about to get zapped with lightning. We fired up the motor and zipped to shore.

So this trip we hid underneath a rock column and waited until the lightning stopped and then headed in. I was wanting the kids to rack up like Katy and I had done, but still, I guess we had a good day. We boated 85 in a few hours and I think the kids had fun.

So, you get my drift. You can want to do whatever you want but, if it isn’t in season then you’re barking up the wrong tree. Do what is in season and right now crappie are in season.

Used to, when I got home from a fishing trip I stayed up until some ungoshly hour fileting fish. Now, I throw a bag of crushed ice over the fish. Then the next day I wake up refreshed and filet my catch. In the past I’d stayed up until after midnight fileting them while Kolby held the flashlight.

So, even though the numbers are down, I’d still recommend you go crappie fishing. And now that it has slowed down a bit, start using an attractant on your jig like the ProLine Baits Crappie Series. Crappie makes some super table fare. Good luck.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

If you’ve read my articles for the last 20 years then you know that every spring, I always write a “Spring is Magical in Idaho” article (or one titled something to that effect) due to all of the outdoor opportunities that she offers us. In fact, I just wrote one about seven weeks ago. But after yesterday’s fishing trip, I had to say it again. But I really, really mean it this time!

I’d been gone for a couple of weeks and got home and told Katy that I was dying to go crappie fishing. She said she’d be free that afternoon but had to hit the big garage sale at the fairgrounds first with her buddy Janet. I had a product review or two I had to get in to Ammoland Shooting Sports News first anyway so I told her that would work fine.

I had the Black Pearl and all of the gear loaded up by the time she got home and we peeled out for the lake. There were a bunch of bank fishermen where I normally like to go, so we headed up to a spot Katy and I found last year. Gee, it’s nice to finally have a gas motor. We’ve had the Black Pearl since 1985 and have always had an electric motor but about two years ago we got a Honda 2.3 hp gas motor. It zips along twice as fast and you aren’t limited in how far you can go due to the battery dying.

We got to our spot and started getting some hits and then Katy started hanging so many I stopped fishing for a bit and just boated her fish. After a while I guess she tired out and started reading a book.

OK, this will sound unique but Katy is a school teacher and the best reader that you’ve ever seen. On road trips she’s always read to us while I’m driving. One time we were fishing and she was reading and this boat kept following us and getting closer and closer. Finally the lady in the boat said could you please turn up the tape a little louder? We’re really enjoying that book but it’s hard for us to hear. They were surprised to find out that it wasn’t a tape but Katy reading. She’s that good. Someone ought to hire her to record books on tape.

Anyway, by now she was reading “The Great Reset” and I was fishing again. Suddenly the wind whipped up so we snuggled in behind a rock column for 10-15 minutes and let it die down. Since we were there, I started fishing. I started doing pretty good. And then real good. Every now and then I tell myself OK, you’ve got to start counting so you don’t exaggerate and have a general idea of how good this or that trip actually was.

I got a little mixed up but out of 125 cast, only 4-6 cast I didn’t get a hit. I kept casting but got tired of counting. It was unbelievable. I’ve never seen anything like it. I don’t know how many I kept out of that one hole but you couldn’t even tell it’d been fished. It was still red hot after probably over 150 casts but I thought I’d move out and try the bass for a while. Wow, I’ve never been bored because I was catching too many fish!

If you haven’t been crappie fishing yet you really need to get out. I had another article about the Black Pearl I wanted to run this week but we’ll run it next week. But I’m going mushroom hunting tomorrow and if it’s good hunting, I’ll run the Black Pearl in three weeks. Wow, like I say, there’s just too much going on in Idaho in the spring. I could write an article per day.

Normally right now I’d recommend using an eighth ounce jig (red, yellow, black or chartreuse) about 12-18 inches below a pencil bobber. I don’t know why but I catch three times as many fish on a pencil bobber as I do on the ol’ red/white round bobber.

Tip the jig off with a two-and-a-quarter inch Mister Twister plastic tail. Yesterday we did good on silver, white or blue/white plastics. If it’s slow, I’ll put a Pautzke Fireball’s on the hook. There was no need in doing this yesterday.

Crappie are called papermouths because they rip off so easily so usually I use a dip net to land them, especially on the big ones but yesterday we were catching so many so fast I just netted the big ones.

Normally, I fry, bake or make fish tacos out of my crappie but my brother gave me a recipe using a pesto sauce. So today, I fried some filets lightly dusted in flour and broke them up over spaghetti doused in a Pesto sauce and then we did the same with an Alfredo sauce. I guess it wasn’t too bad, it all disappeared.

I’ve got to get to bed. Have to head up to the mountains tomorrow for mushroom hunting. Idaho is going to wear me out!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in Many newspapers. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

It has been said that the two happiest times in your life are when you buy a boat and when you sell the boat. I’ve owned a few boats in my life, so let’s go over the trials and tribulations of owning one so I can help you skip some heartache.

Let’s draw up a boating schedule for the average Idahoan. Unless you’re floating the rivers up North steelhead fishing, you probably fish April through August. That’s 22 Saturdays. If you’re lucky there’s only one Saturday per month with bad weather such as rain or typhoon type winds. Now we’re down to 18. Then let’s say you have to work maybe eight Saturdays. Now we’re down to 10. Then some animal lover will schedule a wedding or graduation in the middle of primo fishing season. Now we’re down to only getting to fish eight Saturdays.

You can make adjustments to match your individual scenario but you get my drift — our days fishing are limited and precious. I say all of this to point out, buy a new(er) boat motor. You don’t want to spend your few precious free days sitting at the boat dock working on a boat motor or getting hauled to jail because in a fit of rage you emptied your 30-06 into a dysfunctional boat motor while witnesses filmed you.

Katy and I had just gotten married when we bought a decent looking boat at a ranch auction. Our first free Saturday, we went to the lake only to discover that the motor was froze up. After a trip to the boat house and $2,500 later we were headed back out two weeks later.

Same scenario. Boat wouldn’t start and me and Katy’s grandpa blew across the bay.

Back to the boathouse, stern talk to the scalawag mechanics and we were finally in the saddle. Not that I recommend watching this movie but shortly thereafter Katy and I watched the show “Money Pit.” It was about a young couple that bought a house and all of the fiascos that they encountered while remodeling it. I think they drew up the plot around what we had encountered with our newly purchased boat and we never received any royalties!

I learned then, no more free time than I have, I’m not going to buy a boat with an old motor. In fact, I’m in the market for a new boat right now. Sure, I wouldn’t mind buying a used one if I could find one 1 to 3 years old in pristine condition but other than that, I’m going to buy a new one. It’s not worth the pain to get a good deal on a 400-pound paper weight called a boat motor.

Which brings us around to my old faithful, tried and true 12-foot little jon boat. We bought it the first year we got married 37 years ago. It is great for sandpits, small lakes and floating smooth rivers. We’ve caught boatloads of fish in it. Up until two years ago, all that we’ve ever had were electric motors. Then two years ago we got a 2.3 hp Honda motor, which was a slice of heaven.

So according to me, it’s been a great fishing/bowfishing boat. To winterize it, flip it on its side against the fence and that’s it. It doesn’t have to be stored inside. Snow means nothing to it. The sun can’t hurt it. Sure, once me and the kids were floating the Boise River and went over a diversion dam and knocked a hole in the bottom and had to get that patched but that’s the only maintenance required other than spray painting it every few years with two or three cans of $1.50 spray paint.

In case the haters happen upon this article I guess that I’d better go ahead and mention a few wee downsides to the boat that we affectionately named the Black Pearl and hoist a pirate flag up her flag pole — well, dowel rod — when she is on the high seas.

According to the scoffers of which there are many, they’ve come up with derogatory names such as “The Coffin,” “Carp 1” or “The Edmund Fitz Terror.”

One time while walleye fishing we’d barely gotten out of the sheltered bay where the boat launch was and encountered some gale-like winds and 2- to 3-foot waves. My buddy told me to take him back. He said he’d seen a pay phone. He’d call his wife to come get him and I was free to keep fishing.

Another time my buddy Ron Spomer and I were bowfishing on Lake Lowell. Well, the winds blew up and we had a good mile to go to get back to the truck. Ron was up in the bow singing the Edmund Fitzgerald song while changing the words to Edmund Fitz Terror and free lanced in a few other words. He swears there were 5-foot waves but I think they were only 3 ½-foot. But it is a little disconcerting when you only have 2-inches of clearance in the back.

And then a couple of times the electric motor died right when I got within 50 feet of the dock and I blew off into oblivion. One time on Lake Lowell luckily there were two firemen watching that fished me out when I blew up in the logs and almost lost everything.

Then multiple times I’ve blown up on shore with a boat full of water which even in a little Jon boat can be tough to flip over to dump.

So, there are a couple of minor inconveniences with operating a little jon boat on the high seas. So, if someday you’re zipping to the dock trying to beat an incoming storm and see a semi floating jon boat, please stop and rescue the women and kids off the sinking craft. Don’t worry about me, I’ve driven it submarine style numerous times. I’ll be OK.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

The trail we were hiking was high above the creek bottom. This gave us a great vantage to look down on some of the open spaces of grassy meadows dotted with a few juniper trees and rocks.

In one section of brush maybe 50 yards away, I spotted large, donkey-like ears poking up. I studied it for a minute and noticed a long face staring up at me. It was a moose bedded down in the grass and brush. It seemed to be looking at us and wondering if we were something to worry about.

Julie and I were out on an afternoon hike up Bear Creek on the southwest side of Palisades Reservoir last week. It was one of those spring days when you got a dose of nearly every kind of weather. The temperatures weren’t too bad when it was sunny, but then it would change to cloudy, windy, sprinkle a bit of snow, think about raining and go back to being pleasantly sunny — all in the space of half an hour.

The moose was about 2.2 miles up the canyon and started to stand and move after we gawked at it, snapped photos and asked it how it was doing. It appeared to be on the skinny side and had odd discolorations. Sadly, I think the creature was having some health issues.

All of the peaks in the region were still snow-covered above 8,000 to 9,000 feet. There’s still plenty of snow to melt off. Bear Creek is running high with murky spring flows. It will be a while before it becomes appealing to hiking anglers.

Bear Creek can be a fun fishing outing in late spring and early summer when spawning cutthroat trout swim up the creek. The spawners return back to the reservoir usually shortly afterward. There is a resident population of trout in the stream, but they tend to be smaller.

A few horseback riders have already braved the stream crossings this year. Hikers can avoid the several stream crossings on trails built higher along the canyon. I would rate the trail easy to moderate most of the way.

The trail is also open to mountain bikes and motorbikes.

At 2 miles up the trail, the canyon widens to some nice meadows and you come to the Forest Service Currant Creek station. Getting to the cabin requires crossing the stream.

About another 3 miles up the creek, you come to the North and South forks of Bear Creek. The trail forks here and the North Fork trail eventually leads to the Fall Creek trail system. The South Fork trail continues all the way to Skyline Ridge Road. Expect several stream crossings along the South Fork route. Unless you’re on a horse, the stream crossings can be a problem until the creek calms down in mid-summer.

Bear Creek is a popular trail in summer and is usually day-hiked or biked, but farther up the canyon, there are some attractive backpacking campsites. Julie was picking out a few sites to put her tent on an overnighter.

A good resource for directions for this trail and other regional trails can be found on the Caribou-Targhee National Forest website. Look for the summer recreation map and guide.

Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.

I don’t want this to be a Dr. Phil article, but have you ever set down and thought about why you enjoy getting out hunting, fishing, backpacking and mushroom hunting? There’s something rewarding about getting outdoors, living off the land and feeding your family. But it’s also a good excuse to get out and enjoy God’s creation.

But then I think another factor is that we live in a high-speed world. I know I do. For the last two and a half years, I fly out three weeks and am home a week. On top of that, I have to get in 325 articles per year — just picked up 46 more articles in January — and conduct 40 to 60 seminars per year. And I’m not the only one that lives a high-speed life.

I think a big reason we like to get out is to clear our heads of all of the worldly bull. When you’re outside we don’t worry about psycho bosses, 401Ks, America’s current situation or whatever other stresses you’re currently enduring. When you get outdoors you can escape from it all and live a simple life.

But even then, if you’re a writer, the world tries to invade your quiet time. I remember once I’d been running, gunning non-stop for a few months and came home and took my daughter backpacking. Just me and her. One day I thought uh-oh, I’ve got to get to filming, I had 19 items to test on this trip. I made a commitment on that trip that I was going to get in control of things. Sure, if a company sponsors you then you have to perform but to me getting outdoors is something pure. Some of the best memories of my life are when my family hunted/fished. I want to keep things simple like that and not commercialized.

So with the above said, I just got back home from a whistle pig hunt out in the ranch country in southeast Oregon. I’d just got home from a three-week trip and it was nice to get out with not a care in the world. I’m on Pro-staff with Umarex airguns. They’ve labeled 2022 as “The Year of The Airgun” and are hitting it hard. We were planning a TV show on airgun hunting for whistle pigs. Things didn’t come together but hunting whistle pigs on a regular basis in the spring is a big deal for me, so I took off for a couple of days this week.

If you can get away for a few days or can only slip out for an afternoon, there’s nothing more relaxing than an airgun whistle pig hunt. Just by the very nature of airguns you expect it to be a kicked back fun hunt.

It’s also a great hunt to take your kids on. They don’t have to be quiet, or set still for hours and you won’t be encountering frigid weather. You’ll have some great daddy/daughter talks. It’s the ultimate daddy/kids hunt and hunting with airguns adds the icing to the cake. Plus, airguns are quiet so you don’t even need to wear hearing protection.

If your little girl doesn’t want to kill anything, no biggie. There are a ton of cool airgun targets on the market now. Spinners, shooting galleries and so forth. Or, if you’re on a tight budget take a bagful of tin cans and plastic bottles filled with water. I still like shooting them, don’t you?

I went on this hunt by myself and had a great time even though the hunting was tough. There just weren’t many whistle pigs on this ranch, which is not the norm. Usually there are thousands upon thousands. The plague must have swept through this year, which happens periodically in colonies.

But despite the low numbers, I did get enough shooting to make it fun so I’d highly recommend you go this week. Due to the ammo shortages/exorbitant prices the last couple of years, hunting with airguns is the perfect way to go and almost makes the Umarex slogan “2022, The Year of The Airgun” prophetic!

If you’re a kid on a paper route budget all you need is an airgun and a tin of pellets. But like all of our outdoor endeavors, if you can afford them, these items will enhance the hunt and make you more successful. Here’s some gear I’d recommend.

AIRGUNS

On this hunt I took the Umarex .25 cal. Gauntlet and .22 cal. Origin. I like PCP airguns but they are more expensive and complicated. The cheapest airguns to shoot are the break barrels. I have a Ruger Blackhawk. I’d recommend using a .22 or the .25 is even better. The .177 doesn’t have as much whoomph.

OPTICS

A lot of airguns come with a scope. My Origin didn’t so I put a Burris Droptine 4.5-14x on it. I like higher magnification because you’ll be shooting small game. Make sure your scope is airgun compatible. Spring action break barrels can be tough on scopes. You’ll want binoculars to help find the little prairie rats. I like 10x binoculars.

MISCELLANEOUS GEAR

You’ll want a bi-pod to shoot off of. I use the Bog Adrenaline. If you’re a kid, get two ½-inch dowel rods and tape them together 6-inches from one end and spread them out to shoot off of.

Take a pad to set on. Or better yet a lightweight backpacking chair so you’re elevated and can see over the brush.

All pellets are not created equal. I’ve tested a million brands and JSB are the most accurate. Check out their Hades or Knock-Out pellets. Or their Diabolo Dome shaped pellets work great too.

And lastly, while you’re out in the high desert country, slow down and enjoy your surroundings. I saw a boatload of white-faced ibis on this hunt. One time my 87-year-old buddy Roy shot a whistle pig. I was watching through my binoculars and said you got him. About that time a hawk swooped down and snatched him up so I corrected myself and said: “You had one!”

Once, a badger ran out and grabbed one. Badgers are beautiful but they’re the Michael Tysons on the high desert. Stay away from them.

Now’s the perfect time to grab an airgun and get out and enjoy nature. Have fun.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

Two weeks ago in the article titled “Bear Hunting: Part I” we talked primarily about a bear’s spring appetite and about how to bait for bears. This week let’s cover spotting and stalking. There are a few hunting units in Idaho in which we can’t bait. In some of the units that makes sense and in some it doesn’t. I understand it not being smart to bait in grizzly country. It’d be dangerous for you and for someone else if they happened to stumble upon your bait after a grizzly had claimed it as their “kill.” But in a few of the units I’m not clear why we can’t bait. But regardless, spotting and stalking can be a fun and intense way to hunt.

If you’ve never heard of spotting and stalking, here’s how you do it. You need to climb up on top of a mountain or ridge and get set-up. To really be able to glass you’ll need a good spotting scope. Everyone is on a budget but on this purchase, don’t leave any pennies in your pocket and you’ll never regret it. I’m going to be using Burris optics this year. Most optic companies offer multiple options from lower price points on up to their elite line but again, buy the best that you can afford.

Spotting scopes come with straight or angled eyepieces. If you’re sitting in a blind in flat country or checking shot placement on the range, a straight eyepiece works fine — but for glassing the mountains, I’d recommend an angled eyepiece.

You determine what you prefer but I’d recommend a 15-30x for most glassing opportunities here in Idaho, but granted out in the Owyhees you may want a higher power. Spotting scopes come in variable powers such as 15-30x, 20-60x, etc. But remember, if you buy one that is too big and bulky it will be a pain to lug around.

Due to their high magnification you’ll need to use a tripod to stabilize them. You can spend as much as you want on tripods. Some of the carbon fiber ones are well over $1,000. I have a cheaper one!

You may be glassing for extended amounts of time so if you’re not comfortable, then you won’t be able to hold still. At the least, carry a foam pad to set on but a couple of years ago I started using an Alps Mountaineering Dash backpacking chair. It is lightweight and low profiled. A backpacking chair is better than a foam pad because it slightly elevates you off the ground so you can see over the grass and brush.

To really cover the actual art of glassing itself would take a whole article in and of itself. I’ll have an article on “Glassing For Big Game” within the month on the Burris website so you can read it to learn more but, in a nutshell, here are a few tips.

To glass for bears in the spring, most people run up after work and glass in the afternoons. You’ll want to climb up on top of a mountain or ridge where you can have some good viewing. Don’t set right on top of the ridge where you’re sky lined. Set right off of the top. Get behind a rock, log or small bush so you’re semi-concealed.

Bears will start moving about bear-thirty (near dusk). They’ll come off of their beds and move out into open areas to graze. It will almost remind you of a cow grazing except they’ll be by themselves and not in groups.

As the snow melts, green grass starts popping out. It is fresh and tender so they’ll follow the snow line up. By this, I don’t mean that they’ll be right at the snowline but somewhat so. I don’t know what they’re called, but they like to eat the yellow flower tops off at this time.

I’ve walked up on bears grazing like cows. One time I got within 17 paces of one. He was grabbing grass by the mouthfuls and ripping it loose like a wolf. When you spot one you need to study the situation right fast. Is it moving along quickly? If so, by the time you hike one-half to one mile over to it, the bear will likely be gone. Is it grazing in one spot? If so, great.

It may look like the bear is in the wide open but start to sneak up on it, suddenly when you get closer the terrain will look totally different than over on the ridge when you were glassing. So look around right fast for some landmarks. A patch of yellow flowers, burnt stump or a big tree. That way when you get over there you can more quickly locate your bear.

If possible, it’d be nice to have a buddy stay at the spotting scope and direct you to where the bear is. It’s against the law to use radios for this purpose but you can use predetermined hand signals. For instance, pointing to the right means the bear is to the right, straight up means it is up higher and so forth.

When you get close, be looking for a solid rest to shoot off of.

Well, as is the norm we still have a lot more info but no more room. Good luck!

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.

Sometimes you have to endure some sour to enjoy some sweet.

That was the case with last week’s trip to some of Utah’s fun backcountry haunts. We had to pass through lots of urban sprawl to get to the wonderful outdoors.

Our excuses for driving down to Utah Valley last week where we once lived about a hundred years ago include: The weather was a bit better (at least it wasn’t snowing down there), we had friends and family to visit, there were two fun canyons filled with rock climbing routes and we had a wedding anniversary to celebrate.

At first we thought about staying at an Airbnb, a bed and breakfast or a motel, but we didn’t realize that it was graduation week at Brigham Young University and the pickin’s were slim. So being the cheap rascals that we are, we crashed at my brother’s house. It turned out to be a type of bed and breakfast after all.

The first day we drove up American Fork Canyon toward the north end of Utah Valley. This canyon features dozens of hiking trails, Timpanogos Cave National Monument and nearly 1,000 bolted rock climbing routes.

The narrow winding canyon is mostly National Forest land featuring several campgrounds, picnic areas and trailheads. A fee is charged to use the facilities, similar to a national park. We avoided the fee areas and parked at a pullout alongside the road and hiked up to one of the limestone cliffs. The canyon is also popular with cyclists.

There is a guidebook for climbing in the canyon but it is not up to date. It was printed in the late 1990s and climbing route development has nearly doubled since then. The only up-to-date guide is the online information found on Mountain Project. Warning: Download the information to your phone or other device before entering the canyon because cell service is spotty once in the canyon.

Despite it being the middle of the week, and the middle of the day, we were not alone at the crags. We chalked that up to it being a rare nice spring day and the fact that, like us, Utahns would rather play than work.

Because we lacked specific info about the climbing area, we used the iffy method of finding fun rock climbs: We winged it. We walked past the routes and said, “That one looks fun, let’s give it a go.” A couple of local dudes (a technical name for rock climbers) showed up at the wall we were climbing at and climbed a nearby route they said was named “Platinum Blonde” and recommended it. In my book, platinum blonde are a bit suspicious but this route turned out to be the best climb of the day.

The second day of our Utah Valley adventure was spent in Rock Canyon. This narrow canyon winds up into the Wasatch Mountains just behind The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints Provo Temple. That landmark makes it an easy canyon to locate. It features popular hiking trails and hundreds of rock climbing routes — many of which have been developed in recent years. Once again, the online Mountain Project is your best guide, unless you have a local “dude” to show you around.

We found a couple of walls to climb on not far from the trailhead to occupy us for several hours. Looking around we realized that we barely scratched the surface of things to explore in this canyon. Some climbers we met were launching into some tall, multi-pitch bolted routes in the canyon, while others, like us, were sticking to single pitch climbs.

If you go here, expect to see people. Because of two nearby universities, people have a variety of schedules allowing them to get outside at all times of the day and during the week. We noticed a steady stream of people entering the canyon during our Thursday morning visit. Plus, Utah Valley has lots of people. Expect some company.

Jerry Painter is a longtime East Idaho journalist and outdoorsman.

If we can get a light shower and then it turns warm for a couple of days — then it should be mushroom season, yippee!! The problem is, you think it’s about to bust loose and then it gets cool. I don’t know what to think and I don’t think the poor lowly mushrooms do, either.

In an effort to really lower your self-worth, think about it this way. It’s embarrassing enough to get outsmarted by a fish with a brain the size of a pea, how much more is it when you get outsmarted by an inanimate object — for instance, a mushroom!

As alluded to above, to kick off the mushroom season we need a light rain and then for the temp to get warm for a day or two. With this magic formula, it seems they can pop up overnight. Being a mushroom hunter is the most frustrating, and at the same time, rewarding outdoor activity there is.

I’ve been a mushroom hunter for 43 years. You’d think that I could write a knowledgeable article on the subject but some years I feel like a beginner. It drives me nuts to see some bozo write an article on finding morels. According to their article you just have to go out in the woods, look around old logs and then proceed to fill a pillowcase. I read an article like that and want to brand BOZO on their forehead. They’ve obviously gone out one time with someone that knows what they’re doing, found a mess and are instantly setting themselves up as the world’s leading authority on mushroom hunting.

Granted, my mushroom picking self-esteem is a little low right now. I went out for a little bit yesterday afternoon to see if any were out yet, even though I knew they wouldn’t be but I don’t want to take a chance of missing the short season. I found zero. Zilch. I feel like Punxsutawney Phil, the groundhog. I stuck my head out, didn’t find any mushrooms and am ducking my tail and going back down in my hole for another week or so.

But despite painting such a doom and gloom picture, surely any day now they are going to start popping up. And when they do, you want to be there. Morels are the tastiest fungi in the world next only to the truffle in England. They are not only my favorist (is that a word?) outdoor food but probably my favorist food ever.

Mushroom hunting gives you an excuse to go hiking in the mountains and if you’re up there bear/turkey hunting why not kill two birds with one stone? To my knowledge there are about eight to 10 edible mushrooms in Idaho. I only feel safe picking two species. One time I thought, you know, this is dumb. I’m up there going to all of the expense and spending time hunting so why not learn to identify all of the edible species? So I found out about a mushroom picking club and started attending their meetings. Unfortunately, I still only feel comfortable picking my original two species.

So to get you started, the first season go with an experienced picker that can train you. If you don’t and make a mistake and pick the Angel of Death … let’s just say, you and God had better be on pretty good terms because you will be in the judgment room muy pronto.

So where do you find them? I’ll tell you some generalities but as soon as I say that, I’ll find them in some random spot. When you find them at one elevation everyone will tell you to move higher after a few days. I do find some by old logs but I also find plenty just randomly throughout the woods. I find a few on the uphill banks on old logging roads.

I don’t recommend looking on grassy slopes but one year I found a ton on a grassy hillside in the forest. But I haven’t found them there since. Usually it’s smart to go recheck the same good spots every year. Check out old stump holes, especially in old burns. My old buddy Roger Ross said to look under firs. Problem is, I can hardly differentiate the difference between a pine tree and an aspen.

I’ve got one spot on an old logging road that isn’t a low spot but slightly so. I find them there every year. I find them in semi open areas that are somewhat shaded.

The indisputable world’s best scenario is last year’s forest fires. They can be magical. I remember at one such old fire I found 17 almost underneath a fallen lodgepole. The stump holes had a million. The open burn area had a quadrillion. So if you know where old burns are from last summer/fall, hit them. If you don’t know of any, go check with the Forest Service.

One year, I knew where some prescribed burns had taken place. No one else had hit it yet. I thought that I had scored big time. Unbelievably, I didn’t find a one there.

If you find some on a steep hillside, check above and below. The spores will flush downhill and I’ve found a bucketful in one spot in this scenario.

I’ve never actually done this but one time I was theorizing with a lady at the Forest Service office. We were kicking ideas back and forth and she said she’d always been tempted to check the soil temp but kept forgetting to. I bet she is onto something. I bet their popping up is directly linked to the temp of the soil.

Well, we’re out of room. Good luck.

Tom Claycomb lives in Idaho and has outdoors columns in newspapers in Alaska, Idaho, Utah, Nevada, Colorado and Louisiana. He also writes for various outdoors magazines and teaches outdoors seminars at stores like Cabela’s, Sportsman’s Warehouse and Bass Pro Shop. He can be reached via email at smileya7@aol.com.