Well, summer’s coming to a close fast, at least for the kids who'll be back in school within two weeks. Remember the first assignment, "what did you do on your summer vacation?" Well, before summer closes out, here's your assignment: "What outdoor activities did you do with your kids on your summer vacation?"

There will be a lot of you are hard-pressed to answer that. Really, think about it, what outdoor activities did you do with your kids, grandkids or even great-grandkids? I hear it all the time that kids don't do the outdoor stuff that we used to do. Kids sit in front of the television, video, nintendos and the like, the "electronic babysitters.” But whose fault is it? Not theirs.

I read hiking reports every week from several of the area hiking clubs. I've even gone on a few hikes. Who is it on the hikes? The older people, many of whom say that kids don't hike anymore. But the irony of it is that these same hikers never bring along their kids. In the half dozen hikes I was on this year no one brought along their kids. What a shame that we did not introduce our kids to the outdoors via one of the least stressful, least consumptive, least costly activities like hiking. So, I challenge you, Mr. and Mrs. Hiker to bring a kid along next time! Maybe they'll take an interest and you'll have another member in your hiking club.

I spent five days at the sportsmen's area at the Chenango County Fair earlier this month showing folks who were interested how to use a crossbow. While I was there, on three occasions Sam Scafidi and Gary Sweet from Trout Unlimited gave their time to tie flies with kids. Hey, how easy is that, you don't even have to tie the fly, someone else is teaching your son or daughter how to do it. I hope you didn't just take it home and let your kid put it on the dresser. I hope you took them down to the pond with their fishing rod and let them spend the day casting their own homemade fly. Maybe they'll take an interest and they'll be another member in the fishing club.

My 11-year-old nephew came up from New Jersey for my birthday back in July. He was excited to see me shooting my crossbow. So I went and got him a $29 kids compound bow to get him started. It came with three arrows. Within an hour he'd lost one of the arrows, hit a rock with another and was down to one. We quit and the next day I went down to Mayhood’s and got him 15 more. He shot his bow every day for the week while he was here. He now wants to know how to go bowhunting! It cost me less than $100 to introduce him to archery, and now he'll be joining a bow shooting club!

I got a couple of low-tech, low-price binoculars and went bird watching with my two nieces when they came up from N.J. last summer. Boy you can't ask for an activity that costs so little. A book to identify birds, and some used binoculars, and the two gals were so excited to see "through the glasses" birds that you and I take for granted – crows, blue jays, chickadees. We sat in a double-seater treestand I have for a little while and spied some chipmunks and a grouse. When the gals came back in the fall, they wanted to dress up in camo and go sit in the same stand to see if we could see a deer. We only saw squirrels, but I now have two devout wildlife watchers on my hands, at 10 and 11 years old. Perhaps someday they'll join a bird watching club?

Last week I was invited to a camp in DeRuyter where a bunch of friends from Long Island were up riding four-wheelers. I asked if the kids there would like to shoot, and so I brought along my .22, 20-gauge, and crossbow, a few boxes of shells, a brick of .22's and a case of clay birds. You should have seen these city kids have a go at shooting the Henry Golden Boy and my Franchi semi-auto. The kids literally had a blast busting claybirds. Mikey Minnick hit 9 of 10 during one round. Not a big deal, eh? Well, Mikey only has one arm! I think when he gets back to the Island, he'll be looking in at joining a gun club!

So, what outdoors activities did you do with your kid this summer? There is still time to get in a hike or a day of birdwatching. Not sure what to do or where to go? Head up to Rogers Environmental Center and talk to some of the volunteer naturalists there. They are open Thursday-Saturday from 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. It doesn't cost an arm and a leg to go hiking or birdwatching. Even trap shooting is pretty cheap. Hey, a box of claybirds down at Mayhood’s yesterday was $13.99 for 135. So, stop the excuses and put on your boots and get the kids interested in the out of doors. Interested in joining a Rod and Gun club? Contact Warren Smith, President of the Federation of Sportsman's Clubs of Chenango County. Warren will set you straight on what clubs are in your area and when their meetings are. You can reach him at smithwo@hotmail.com.

Interestingly, another new DEC hunting policy, initiated this year, permitted young hunters to participate in a special three-day youth gun hunt over the Columbus Day weekend in an attempt to gain new hunter recruitment. But sharing the woods for three whole days out of 47 (archery seasons length) is simply not acceptable to the NY Bowhunters Inc., so they got a state legislator to introduce a bill stopping the youth hunt from occurring during the bow season.

That anti-youth hunt bill, A10583-A (S7705-A) passed the state senate and assembly, and will go to the governor's desk very soon. NYB has alerted its membership to send letters of support for the governor's signing of the bill that would do away with the DEC-recommended and already approved three-day youth hunt in October. A slap in the face for youth hunting. How about joining me and writing, calling, emailing the governor (his phone number is in the book), and tell him we want a youth hunt and NOT to sign that bill! Now there's an organization NOT to have your kid join – New York Bowhunters, Inc.