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If you want a better hunting situation, then speak up

4 min read

Often, a person gets what he or she deserves. This is true in everyday life and carries over to hunting and fishing.

I don’t ask this question lightly, but how long has it been since you did something for the environment you hunt and fish in? Not for pay, but just because you wanted to right a wrong. We are a silent majority when we hear or see of something happening to pollute the environment; we don’t put our opinions down on paper to protest to our legislators or others. It is easier to look the other way.

The person who walks by and spots a candy wrapper lying on the berm of the road and doesn’t pick it up is just as guilty as the person who dropped it there. Am I the perfect guardian of the treasure we have? I am only human, but I am also a very vocal person and I do allow my voice to be heard.

Yes, I hear the complaining from my fellow sportsmen and women everywhere I go about the new archery season. I even have had a few archers ask me about the new rules. My answer to you is do something about it. Do not just tell me about it. Write to the Game Commission or call them. Ask them your questions, be vocal. To tell the truth this is not the fault of the archers but of those who wrote the rules. They aren’t following their own guidelines and we who hunt don’t have any answers as to why. It would be very interesting to see how each commissioner voted. I’d sure like to know.

If you do not know what I am talking about, just look at the change in archery season. The commissioners passed new seasons for archers giving them so much more of the hunting season. They are now permitted to hunt the rut. Their own scientists and biologists and rule book state that this is not a good idea so why are we doing it?

I have been a hunter a long time and in the upcoming days before the start of deer season, there would be a long line waiting to use the benches. The COVID-19 pandemic might affect some of this, but it is a fairly safe outdoor sport.

Just last Saturday I went over to the club with worries about getting a spot to shoot. Based on history, the rifle range should have been crowded but to my surprise there was exactly no one but me there. Where did everyone go? A few days later, I went back and there were two of us. This lack of shooters can also be seen in the number of licenses purchased. These hunters are all complaining to me about the archers having so much pull with the game commission. Their complaint is voiced to the wrong person; it needs to fall on the ears of the game commission.

It is bear season and again Mike Weber of Scenery Hill has bagged his bear on the first day of the season. It was taken in McKean County. I asked Mike what rifle he used and was surprised to hear he used an old Winchester Model 71 in the .348 caliber. I have shot rifles with Mike and did not even know he owned one of these highly collectible Winchesters only to find out that he bought the rifle 3 days before the bear season began. It has been a long time since I even laid eyes on a 71 but I know if one can take the recoil from this rifle, it makes a perfect bear rifle. I guess Mike broke his in the right way.

One last thing I want to mention. The George Block Conservation Scholarship is in full swing this year. With all the bad news this year, it is good to have something positive to end this article with. If you know of a deserving youngster 18 or younger in Washington or Greene County who loves the outdoors and has done something good, get them an application and let them write me a page about their accomplishments.

Send it in by the first of the year. This year, the Washington Crown Center is still planning to have a sports show January 22-24. We are still planning to give the award there on that Saturday at noon. Hopefully, some of this year’s troubles will be looking a little better. Either way, we will be wearing masks and socially distancing but, hopefully, we will have a winner to present this award to. I am still hopeful that the youth today are the answer to our environmental problems and I still plan to be there to thank one of them.

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