Public lands along the Columbia offer excellent goose hunting, as this hunter shows with his lesser Canada geese. Photo by Jacob Childers/Wild at Heart Photography.

Oregon and Washington share 300 miles of the largest river west of the Mississippi. The Columbia runs from dry wheat fields and basalt cliffs in the east, pushes its way through the Cascade Mountains and continues on to the Pacific Ocean. This huge waterway's fish and wildlife have drawn humans to its banks for more than 31,000 years. Goose hunters still come to the river, following the birds.

Public land abounds along the Columbia with thousands of acres located northwest of the Portland-Vancouver metropolitan area. Even miles from the Pacific Ocean, the river is subject to strong winter tides.

Kristine Massin, the outdoor recreation planner for the Lewis and Clark, Julia Butler Hansen and Willapa refuges, cautions hunters to get familiar with tide charts, carry them along and know the area before you hunt.

WDFW has a keen web feature at www.wdfw.WA.gov/mapping/gohunt/index.html that provides maps of Game Management Units, public-water access sites, private lands available for hunting, wildlife areas, aerial maps and a whole lot more.

Here is a sample of public access land on the lower river:

EWIS AND CLARK NATIONAL WILDLIFE REFUGE
This sprawling 35,000-acre refuge on the lower Columbia River estuary provides wintering habitat for local and migratory waterfowl. Accessible only by boat launched from John Day Point or Aldrich Point in Oregon or Skamokawa in Washington, the Refuge is a 27-mile long maze of mud flats, islands, sloughs, tidal sandbars and islands.

All of it is exposed to strong winter tides, rollicking Pacific storms, and commercial boat traffic. In a winter high tide, you can drive your boat over Russian Island. But at low tide, you can hunt from its shoreline.

It's easy to get disoriented or stranded, so it makes sense to go with someone experienced and to learn how to use a GPS.

In return for braving the hazards, you can set up on an isolated upland area with a shot at the geese heading into nearby grass fields. In February and March, the area boasts 50,000 ducks and 5,000 geese.

For more information, call (360) 795-3915.

JULIA BUTLER HANSEN
Created in 1972 near Cathlamet, Wash., for the protection of the rare Columbian white-tailed deer, this 5,600-acre refuge is made up of pasture, forested tidal swamp, brushy woodlot, marsh and slough. It's home to 300 deer, a small elk herd and waterfowl. Goose hunting is allowed along the shoreline of Hunting Island in Washington and Wallace Island in Oregon. Both are accessible only by boat from Cathlamet Boat Basin and Skamokawa in Washington or Aldrich Point in Oregon.

Tidal flows, storms and commercial boat wakes require skillful boat handling while getting to and from the island.

Once on the islands, hunters may construct temporary blinds, which would then be available on a first-come, first-served basis.