Outdoors

On February 20th 2014, Richard “Rich” Jack Walker passed doing what he loved, enjoying God’s great Outdoors, running and w...

If you’re a fisherman or fisherwoman, it’s that time of the year to remind you to purchase your Nevada 2014-2015 fishing license. That new fishing license year begins on March 1 and will run through the last day in February, 2015.

As a special tip you would be well advised to purchase that new license ASAP, because if you forget, go fishing after March 1 and get checked by “The Friendly Old Game Warden,” he isn’t going to be happy nor will you.

One of Lake Tahoe's biggest funding mechanisms for clarity and restoration efforts, as well as millions for parks, trails and firefighting efforts in the state, money drawn from the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act, is under threat by members of the U.S. House Natural Resources Committee.

Nevada Sen. Harry Reid on Wednesday denounced House efforts to gut the Southern Nevada Public Land Management Act as part of the Tule Springs legislation mark-up to take place Thursday morning.

This is an annual reminder of my all-time favorite fund raiser. The highly-popular and fun-filled, Carson Valley Chukar Club fundraiser will be held at the Douglas County Fairgrounds on Saturday, March 1. This year’s fund raiser will be its 28th version.

Chukar:
If you are brand-new to this area, about now you are probably wondering what in the world is something called a "Chukar?"

If you're not into traditional winter sports such as ice fishing, ice skating, downhill skiing, snowboarding, cross country skiing, snowshoeing or snowmobiling, there is not a lot to do in late winter...for most people.

Some choose to stare out the window, complain about the snow, ice, frost and darkness of wintertime and stay glued to their TV sets. However, there are plenty of activities to take your mind off our cold weather, dark mornings and evenings, if you would like to do so.

Feb. 9, 2014 marks a special day in the life of yours truly. It is my three-year anniversary, writing about the Great Outdoors at Carson Now.

Three years! Time certainly flies when you are having fun, and it has been both a totally enjoyable and memorable three years of writing about all kinds of activities in the Great Outdoors, both near and far away.

University of Nevada Cooperative Extension’s Bootstraps Program has received the 2013 Partners in Conservation Award from the U.S. Department of the Interior, one of only 20 programs across the nation to receive this award for achievements in conservation of natural resources that include collaborative activity among a diverse range of entities.

This is an annual reminder for fishing in nearby waters: Feb. 8 is the opening day of the 2014 fishing seasons for the following waters in Lyon County:

While the short-term forecast shows a change this week from the overall stubborn pattern of warm and dry conditions over the region, the drought for this part of the far west is severe and unless we get a lot of snow in the coming few weeks, we're going to face much more serious issues this coming summer.

Hours after an early morning fire at Lake Tahoe's north shore chewed about a half-acre on Forest Service land, a man in the Prison Hill area of Carson City lit some paper on fire to warm up and in doing so touched off a small blaze.

With persistent drought conditions and no clear sign of when the next rain and snowfall will be, fire officials say the potential for wildfires is worsening ever day and the public needs to be aware of the danger.

For several years, Elaine and I have fled Carson City for a short time in the month of January or February to escape the cold, snow and ice of our area in the wintertime. This year was no exception, except, sadly, there is no snow.

We had been invited to be guests at the home of my cousin Lorraine and her husband Bob Scholes of Dayton, who spend the winter months in Indio, Calif.
If you, too, would like to temporarily escape winter in Carson City for the next couple of months, here is what we did:

Carson City to Lone Pine:

Mark Saturday, Feb. 1 on your calendar to be a contestant in the annual ice fishing tournament at Davis Lake in Plumas County, Calif.

How to get there: Davis Lake is about 80 miles from Carson City by a combination of I-580 and
U.S. 395 north to Hallelujah Junction. At that junction, take California S.R.70 to the west and travel through Chilcoot, Vinton and Beckwourth toward Portola.

If you are like me, I would be willing to bet that by now, you are feeling trapped in your home by our winter weather.

And, as a die-hard winter addict, I love cold days, frosty nights, frigid temperatures, deep snow, thick ice, long hours of darkness and the starkness of our landscapes in the wintertime. However, I must admit that sometimes our winter season even wears me down a little bit.

So, when I am tired of browsing on the internet, playing card games on my computer and feel like the walls are closing in on me, I take some remedial action that you, too, might try.

Elaine Quilici of Carson City, wife of Outdoors editor Don Quilici, took these photos of mule deer on Monday, Jan. 6. The first photo is of a buck standing just off the Kings Canyon Road.

Other photos are deer in the general area of the Governor's Mansion on the west side of Carson City.
Note the mail man and mail truck in photo No. 05.

Happy New Year. This is the first day of January and this is also a good time for all of us (including me) to make some personal resolutions for the year 2014.

Most importantly, remember that if you do make any resolutions, be sure to follow through with what you resolve to do in this new year. Resolutions are easy to make, but sometimes hard to accomplish.

As I have done for many years, my last article of the year is to present the Annual Q Awards for a number of different reasons. Those reasons include such assorted things as: Outstanding, memorable, good, not so good, questionable, bad, serious, funny, dumb, head-scratching, are-you-kidding, etc.

The Winter Solstice in Nevada is this Saturday, at 9:11 a.m. The Winter Solstice occurs when the sun reaches its most southerly declination of -23.5 degrees. In other words, it is when the North Pole is tilted 23.5 degrees away from the sun, according to timeanddate.com.

Depending on the Gregorian calendar, the December solstice occurs annually on a day between December 20 and December 23.

This is my annual pre-Christmas reminder that Topaz Lake, which is located along U.S. 395 at the Nevada-California state line, will open its 2014 fishing season, one half hour before sunrise, on Wednesday, January 1.


If the weather is decent, if you don't have a massive hang-over, if you like to fish and if you don't have anything else planned, this could be a fun way to start the New Year. Are you interested?

This is a reminder that if you are planning to fish in the State of California in 2014, be aware that you will need a new license as of January 01. You can purchase that license and any applicable stamps at a number of local outlets or on the Internet.

If you need to buy a license and stamps, here is some info:

With all of the crazy “Black Friday” shopping madness (shootings, knifings, fights, etc.) now behind us, we can begin, once again, to think rationally about ideas for Christmas gifts for that special person(s) in our lives.

So, if you were not part of that frenzied mob scene on the day after Thanksgiving, or if you are still scratching your head about what to get for that person, here are some “Don Q” suggestions for Christmas gifts:

The California Department of Fish and Wildlife reminds veterans that service-related injuries need not keep them from enjoying wildlife and the great outdoors. America’s disabled veterans get a break on the price of sport fishing and hunting licenses and are provided some special opportunities.

CDFW offers reduced-fee hunting and fishing licenses to both resident and nonresident disabled veterans.

As I look forward to the year of 2014 with high expectations, hopes and dreams, this is a good time to reflect back on some selected personal memories from the rapidly ending year of 2013.

Here are my top memories of this year, ranging all the way from Carson City to British Columbia and the Yukon in Canada:

With winter weather creeping around the corner, and with many California waters closed for the year as of November 15, this is an annual reminder for those fishermen who are done fishing for the year.

Many of you prefer not to fish during the winter months or have absolutely no interest in ice fishing, so this article is specifically written for you. (Hmmm, come to think of it, this article is also worth reading by those of you who plan to continue fishing until the weather warms back up, again).

This is my annual reminder that November 18 is a very significant date in the lives of some 4,212 hardy Alaskans (as of the 2010 census).

Those folks live in a unique location known as Barrow, Alaska, which is the northernmost community in the United States.

It is located in the Far North, on the edge of the Arctic Ocean, about 320 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and roughly about 1,300 miles south of the North Pole.

On November 18, the sun sets below the horizon at Barrow and it will not peek back up over the horizon until January 23 (weather permitting).

Elaine and I spent an enjoyable day in the Great Outdoors last Sunday, which included spincasting for trout and taking photographs.

It was a fun-filled day that you might want to replicate in the near future, before Old Man Winter arrives with all of his cold, frost, snow and ice.

If you are a trout fisherman, you might want to consider taking a fishing trip (or more than one) to Pyramid Lake this month to fish for Lahontan Cutthroat trout that can run up to double digits in weight.

Old timers told me, many years ago, that the two months of November and March are the best times of the year to fish at that large desert lake, north of Reno-Sparks. And, through the years, I have found that to be true, even though I have fished at Pyramid many other months of the year.

This is my annual reminder that many California waters will close to fishing on Friday, November 15. So if you want to fish any of them, you better hustle because you are rapidly running out of time.

Those waters will not re-open until the last Saturday in April next year (April 26, 2014), and that is a long, long time to wait to wet your line. Here is a partial list of some of the nearby waters that will be closing:

For the record, four adults (Chuck and Barbara Van Hise, plus Don and Elaine Quilici, all of Carson City) were crying at the Van Hise home on the afternoon of October 21. And, then the following afternoon, we would be joined by my son Jim, crying at his home.

Why was everyone crying on those two fateful days in late October?
Was it because someone had died? Nope.
Was it because someone had a serious illness? Nope.
Was it because someone had a serious injury? Nope.
Was it because there had been some bad news? Nope.

Elaine and I recently returned from an interesting, three-day, two-night visit to Elko, way over in Northeastern Nevada. We are both members of the Board of Directors of the Nevada Operation Game Thief (OGT) Citizens Board.

That OGT Citizens Board has been in existence since 1987, and it is the small, private group that pays rewards for information that leads to the conviction of poachers of Nevada's wildlife.

Agencies and schools throughout Carson City will participate in an earthquake drill Thursday morning. Along with millions of people worldwide, Nevadans are encouraged to “Drop, Cover and Hold On” at 10:17 a.m. on Oct. 17 for the 2013 Great Nevada ShakeOut.

State agencies throughout the Carson City area, as well as the Public Health Preparedness Program of the Nevada Division of Public and Behavioral Health, the Nevada Division of Emergency Management, and the Department of Conservation and Natural Resources plan to participate in the earthquake drill.