With the spring turkey season due to close next Tuesday, May 31, I suspect that many of those with unfilled tags will stay in bed that morning rather than face a another soggy day trying to bag a bird that has avoided them for weeks that normally involved hunting in the rain every day. Tends to wear even the most avid hunters down.

Anglers haven’t had it much better. With our main rivers high and roiled, fishing – actually catching?the most popular gamefish, such as walleye and pike, was reduced to mainly washing your fish lines and hoping for a strike. Ponds and lakes have been high and cooler than normal all month. Again, making for poor fishing success. Trout streams have been a bit better, but many sustained food damages earlier and have seen their characteristics change drastically. I realized just how the spring weather has affected fishing when a friend up along the St. Lawrence River said most anglers were disappointed with the quality of early bullhead fishing this year?normally an annual tradition that yields large catches of these tasty pouts, aas attested to by all the signs along the area’s diners and restaurants that announce “fresh bullheads served here.”

Poor old Harold Camping, the doomsday soothsayer who keeps predicting the exact date the world will end. His latest was May 21, 2011, but prior to that he chose 1994. Of course with each prediction falling flat on its face, he gets even more humiliated, but he keeps trying. His latest involves October of this year. You know, I can almost understand his gloom-and-doom mindset, considering all the natural catastrophes we’ve seen recently. Now, if a large comet decides to head our way …well, never mind. That’s been forecasted before, I’m sure.

But sometimes good news during a bad period can help, and surprisingly enough, this week’s good news doesn’t come from nature but from Albany. The governor signed bill S177A-2011 which reduces the required minimum age for obtaining a junior archery license from fourteen years to twelve years of age, thereby following the leads of other states to entice more youths into enjoying outdoor activities before sedentary activity interest become too ingrained.

New NYS Outdoorsman Hall of Fame display to open June 4

Terry Swierzowski Director of Fulton County Tourism and Ron Kolodziej, one of the Directors of NYSOHOF, are coordinating the event.  Many thanks to them for taking charge of this event.