Guns/Hunting

Bend Bulletin: Duck Hunting is About More Than The Kill

Duck hunter Chris Dittman, camouflaged in leaf patterns and wearing waders, was lobbing pieces of duck sausage to his dog when a common goldeneye duck touched down in the nearby Crooked River. Despite the easy shot, Dittman, 43, who’d streaked his face with black and green paint, left his camo Remington Versa Max shotgun where it lay at his side.

Bend Bulletin: Central Oregon Taxidermists Preserve Hunt, Camaraderie

Shaun Lewis placed two lifeless wood ducks on the counter of McLagan’s Taxidermy. He had shot the pair of drakes on a hunting trip with his buddies last autumn in the Umatilla National Wildlife Refuge. The electric company foreman stashed the spectacularly colored birds, which are “especially sought after,” in his freezer until he had $600 to preserve the hunting memories — the rain, the cold and the camaraderie — forever.

“It’s an exciting thing,” he said. “Going into a taxidermist, you always have a good feeling because you’re taking something you want turned into memories.”

Bend Bulletin: Prineville Preteen Fills Coveted Bighorn Sheep Tag

Jordan Phillips had trekked four days on foot and four-wheeler over challenging terrain in southeastern Oregon. Accompanied by her father, Matthew Kline, the 12-year-old was on her first hunt for a bighorn sheep.

Jordan shouldered a 15-pound pack, along with her .257 Weatherby rifle, through a wasteland of sagebrush and fluctuating elevations.