General turkey hunting seasons are closed for the year, but hunters and anglers still have plenty of opportunities to contribute to the Thanksgiving Day feast in the days ahead.
     Recent storms likely have pushed more ducks and geese from the north into the Columbia Basin, improving chances for successful waterfowl hunting, according to the state Department of Fish and Wildlife.
     Goose hunters throughout the region, where goose hunting is available only on Saturdays, Sundays and Wednesdays, get a few extra days this month with the Thanksgiving holiday.
     Thursday, Nov. 22, and Friday, Nov. 23, are open to goose hunting in that zone.
     Pheasant hunting continues throughout the region, with opportunities boosted by periodic releases of farm-raised roosters.
     The birds are released at 10 sites throughout the Columbia Basin and in Okanogan County, including the Sinlahekin, Chiliwist and Quincy wildlife areas.
     Release site details are available at www.wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/water/ewapheas.htm. The Eastern Washington Pheasant Enhancement Program booklet also is available through the department’s Ephrata office, 1550 Alder St. N.W., phone 754-4624.
     Late archery deer hunting opened Nov. 20 in select game management units. Details are available in the Big Game Hunting Rules Pamphlet at wdfw.wa.gov/wlm/game/hunter/hunter.htm.
     Moose hunting ends Nov. 30 for more than 100 special permit holders in about nine select units in the north half of eastern Washington.
     Fishing has been slow for hatchery steelhead on the Wenatchee River, where angler participation and catch rates have dropped recently.
     Art Viola, district fish biologist, said water temperatures have decreased and a number of fish seem to have moved upriver.
     “The water temperatures have dropped into the high 30s, and that may be part of the reason the fishery has slowed,” he said. “But it’s just hard to say exactly why.”
     Viola said he estimates the catch rate on the river has fallen to more than 10 hours of effort per hatchery (adipose fin-clipped) steelhead caught.
     The special season for hatchery steelhead runs through March 31 from the mouth upstream to Icicle Road bridge west of Leavenworth,
     For wildlife viewers, Scott Fitkin, district wildlife biologist in Winthrop, said mule deer are moving down to their winter ranges in the Methow Valley.
     Fitkin reminds wildlife viewers that some of the highest deer-car collision rates in the state are in that area through the winter.