Outdoor Digest.

Byline: The Register-Guard

AUDUBON PLANS BIRD COUNT: The Lane County Audubon Society is inviting nature enthusiasts to help out with the 102nd annual Christmas Bird Count. The first count, held in 1900, involved 27 conservationists in 25 localities. A century later, more than 50,000 volunteers from all 50 states, every Canadian province, and many other countries pitch in to help record every individual bird and bird species seen during one day during a 2 1/2 -week period. Eugene's count will be held Dec. 30. About two dozen teams will be in the field, assessing the bird population inside a 15-mile radius. In addition, a number of home counters will contribute information on the numbers and species of birds that they may be feeding in their yards. Volunteers are needed in both categories. For information or to sign up, call Herb Wisner at 344-3634. One need not be an expert at bird identification to participate.

RAFFLE HUNT TICKETS GO ON SALE: Tickets are now on sale for the Oregon Access and Habitat Program's deer and elk raffle hunts. Up for grabs in the 2002 raffle are nine special tags: statewide deer, northeast Oregon deer, southeast Oregon deer, Central Oregon deer, northeast Oregon elk, high desert elk, Western Oregon elk, statewide elk and a statewide combination deer and elk hunt. Tag winners will be able to hunt in several units between Sept. 1 and Nov. 30, 2002. Single ticket prices are $4 for deer hunts and $6 for elk hunts, but discounts are available by purchasing multiticket packs of six, 15, 50 or 100 tickets. Packages up to 15 tickets may be purchased at any ODFW license vendor. Order forms for larger ticket packages are in the 2002 big game regulations booklet. The winning tickets will be drawn at the 19th annual Oregon Hunters Association convention, to be held June 1 at Seven Feathers Casino in Canyonville. All money raised is used to fund wildlife habitat and hunter access projects.

CLATSOP CLAMMING REOPENED: Razor clam digging has reopened on Clatsop County beaches closed since September due to unsafe levels of domoic acid. Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife shellfish biologists say a low abundance of clams larger than 4 inches is available and that digging will be moderate. However, a large set of juvenile clams on the beach, the second set in two years, point to the potential for good harvests next fall and the spring of 2003. Harvesters are reminded that ODFW regulations require clam diggers to retain the first 15 clams, regardless of size.

BIGHORN SHEEP TO BE MOVED: The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife plans to capture and release 100 bighorn sheep next month as part of a plan to return bighorns to their historic ranges. Twenty sheep are headed for the Mutton Mountains on the Confederated Tribes of Warm Springs reservation. Other areas getting 20 sheep each are the Fort Rock Basin southeast of Bend, the Sheepshead Mountains in southeast Oregon, Birch Creek in the Owyhee River Canyon in Eastern Oregon and Kit Canyon on the west side of Warner Valley in southeast Oregon. All the sheep will be captured in Eastern Oregon by a net gun fired from a low-flying helicopter. The sheep are California bighorns, which are believed to have once numbered in the millions in Oregon but were extinct by 1912 due to unregulated hunting and diseases transmitted by domestic sheep. The ODFW started transplanting California bighorns in 1971, and they now number about 2,900. Money for January's transplant is coming from a variety of hunting organizations and the sale of the bighorn auction tag, which sold for $67,500 last January.

ARCHERS AIMING FOR NEW YORK: About 500 archers from around the world are expected to compete in the 2003 World Outdoor Target Archery Championships in New York. The competition, announced recently by the sport's international governing body, is a world championship event and an Olympic qualifier for the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece. The championships will be held in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx, July 13-19.