HILTS: Hunting and fishing action kicks into high gear

By Bill Hilts Jr.

It’s one of those weeks where you have to pick what you want to do, with so many different outdoor activities kicking into high gear.

If you’re into hunting, the spring turkey season opens on Thursday in all of upstate New York. If you like competitive fishing, the Spring Lake Ontario Counties Trout and Salmon Derby (www.loc.org) begins on Friday and Niagara County is where you want to be for that event. If you want to fish for a cure, the First Annual Lewiston Steelhead Challenge being coordinated by Cystic Fibrosis will be run on Thursday, with a reception to kick things off on Wednesday evening. And if it’s just some fun you’re looking for, the annual Lewiston Smelt Festival is this weekend, expanding to two days — Friday and Saturday.



Safety is key for spring turkey season

While getting a bird or two during the spring turkey season certainly ranks high in anyone’s book, the most important thing for hunters afield will be safety — especially for turkey hunters. With everyone hunting bearded birds wearing camouflage, it’s of utmost importance to identify your target before you even think about pushing that safety off on your gun. Never shoot at sound or movement and take a second to look beyond your intended target to make sure something or someone isn’t in range of your shot.

Improve hunter safety education is one of the key reasons that the hunting accident rate has been dropping. The hunting accident rate per 100,000 hunters in the 1960s was 19. Since 2000, that rate has dropped to 6.3 incidents per 100,000 hunters. Last year, only 37 accidents were reported, making it the fifth safety year on record. Of that total, only five were related to turkey hunting — two in the spring and three in the fall. Let’s see if we can get those numbers down even further. Even one accident is too many.



Lewiston never smelt so good

“The smelt are running heavy,” said Dr. John Whiteman of Lewiston/Youngstown at the Niagara River Anglers Wild Game Feast over the weekend. He had just been out on his dock the night before and was impressed with the large schools of smelt making their way up river along the shoreline. Timing is everything and it looks like it will coincide nicely with the Lewiston Smelt Festival, set for Friday and Saturday.

Alan Hastings at The Silo Restaurant in the Village of Lewiston is chairman of the festival and he was quick to point out that they will be expanding their activities to two days this year. Friday night is the Niagara River Anglers smelt dip and fry at Lewiston Landing. Hastings has made arrangements for more than 500 pounds of smelt to be cooked up over the two days and area restaurants will also be participating in the festival by cooking up the tasty baitfish. They will have live music both Friday and Saturday evenings starting around 5 p.m. each night.



CF steelhead challenge set

Starting with an evening reception at the Barton Hill Hotel and Spa on Wednesday night and a fishing challenge on Thursday of this week, Cystic Fibrosis of Western New York will be Fishing for a Cure in Lewiston. While this fishing event isn’t for everyone, you can participate in the Wednesday reception where they will have some great food, drink and and an auction. Call 686-9400 for more information on how you can get a ticket.

The fishing action kicks off at 7 a.m. Thursday and boats will be competing for fun prizes. The big winner will be CF as they hope to raise in excess of $50,000 for this worthy organization. The Steelhead Challenge will be part of the Redbone Tournament Series. While the focus will be on raising money for CF, what a great way to help increase the awareness for the fantastic natural resources in the area.



Friendly Freds wins 3-F winter skeet league

Friendly Freds was the top shooting team this year as the 3-F Club ended their 2007-08 Winter Skeet League in fine fashion. Members of the elite team included Nick Granto, Fred Vanoni, Jr., Dave and Scott Sobiegray, Dennis Coffey, Jr., Bill Black, Chris Vanoni and Justin Smith. While they took top honors as a team, they also had some impressive individual shooters on the team, as well.

Bill Black of Wilson was the high gun with a scratch score of 494 birds out of a possible 500. Justin Smith of North Tonawanda led youth shooters with scratch score of 478 birds out of a possible 500, not bad for the 16-year-old.

As a side note, congratulations are in order for 18-year-old Scott Sobiegray of Wheatfield, too. During the course of the league, he managed to win the Don Parker Memorial Shoot at the club by beating his father, Dave, in a shoot-off. Both shot 49 out of 50. High Handicap shooter for the Parker Shoot was Chuck Brolinski of Lewiston.

Back to the Winter League: Other noteworthy accomplishments included Steve Besch of Lancaster tying Rick Siegman of Cambria for High Handicap in the league with a 469. Besch, who shot for the “Not Right” team, earned the win in a shoot-off. For the Youth Class, Ethan Borowicz of Niagara Falls was high handicap. In the divisional playoffs, R&R; Garage Door won Division 1 and Fox Fence won Division 3. Dave Alexander of Lewiston shot a most excellent 25 of 25 in the playoff, a unique shoot involving doubles at all the stations.

Division 2 was won by our team, Doug’s Outboard. A special congratulation goes out to Karen Cinelli of Newfane who was high handicap gun on our team. High gun did not go out to either Doug Stein of Grand Island or Mike George of Niagara Falls — both of whom vowed to win that achievement at the beginning of the season. If you see either of those aging shooters, ask them who beat them.

Bill McGrath 4/28/08 In the food department at the year-end banquet held at the 3-F Club, Jeff Baker led all eaters by consuming two whole prime ribs dinners as well as enough of everything else for two people, too! A good time was had by all. If you’re looking for a fun activity to help fill in the winter months, you might want to consider joining this league. Whether it’s a whole team of eight or one individual, the league officials are very accommodating. There were 14 teams in the league this past winter and there’s plenty of room for more.

Bill Hilts Jr. is the outdoor sports specialist with the Niagara Tourism and Convention Corporation. Contact him at bhiltsjr69@cs.com.