Going back in time

Back on December 6, I wrote a column entitled, “Fishing Buddies.” It was an easy story to write, in fact, too easy. When it was finished I realized it was longer than space would allow. Alas, I had to ruthlessly cut one of my pals from the article.

Malcolm Muggeridge once said that, “in the future everyone would have 15 minutes of fame in the media.” So, here is a fleeting moment of fame for the fellow who had to be left out.

On many of my more recent fishing excursions I’ve been escorted by a member of the National Park Service. No, not to arrest me. The Tangler is too wise an old bird to break the law in front of a gun-toting employee of the feared National Park Service. This gentleman and I have been doggedly pursuing the trout of the Main Stem for three years. The fishing and the company have been great, but the catching has been nothing to brag about.

In 2001 when I hooked and successfully played my largest trout ever, it was Don who netted the fish for me. He was also kind enough to take a picture of me, trout in hand, moments before it was returned to the water. The 19 1/2-inch Rainbow was taken off the mouth of ..............Creek. (Don has threatened to sic his attack dog, Cedar, on me if I ever gave away the exact location,)

I recently berated the Pennsylvania Fish & Boat Commission (PF&BC) for polluting and degrading the finest fishery for large, wild Brook trout in the entire state of Pennsylvania; namely, Big Spring. I wonder how many of you noticed the pusillanimous, unsigned article that ran alongside my piece. Talk about “political correctness.” That article stated that there would be fewer hatchery trout stocked this year due to “water quality problems within the hatchery system.” Water quality problems my foot! After years of denial, the PF&BC finally was forced to admit their Big Spring hatchery was polluting a wild trout stream to produce rubber trout. To see that as a “water quality problem within their hatchery system” is fiction. The Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) has ordered the Big Spring hatchery closed until the PF&BC can prove the discharge from the hatchery meets state standards. To make this as clear as possible, The DEP has ordered PF&BC to cease polluting Big Spring. Period, end of report.

Turkey season is upon us. Let’s see how you do on this Turkey Trivia Quiz. Answers are printed upside down at end of quiz. Don’t be a turkey and peek before answering.

1. Turkey poults will only recognize the hen that hatched them as their mother.

2. You can tell a hen from a gobbler by looking at its droppings.

3. It’s better to hunt turkeys from an elevated blind than by sitting on the ground.

4. Turkeys can swim before they can fly.

5. Turkeys are native only to North America.

6. Partridges, quail, grouse and pheasants are close relatives of the turkey.

A persistent myth of American history is that Ben Franklin championed the wild turkey as a symbol for the nation’s shield. Franklin did complain that the artist in charge of creating one of the early images of the bald eagle for the seal produced something that looked more like a turkey than an eagle, and went on to enumerate the bad points of the eagle and the good points of the turkey. However, this was done in a letter to his daughter in 1784, years after the eagle came to adorn the nation’s shield.

The information contained here on the wild turkey was gleaned from the March 2002 issue of the Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine.

Answers
(Click and drag your mouse to highlight and read the text below):

1. False. Poults will imprint on, or recognize as their mother, the first creature that gives them parental care—even a human being.

2. True. This is helpful when scouting. A gobbler’s droppings are usually in the shape of a J or an L. Hen droppings are looped, spiral or bulbous. Turkey droppings include both urine and feces. The “white stuff” in turkey droppings is urine.

3. False. Most turkey danger comes from above in the form of hawks or owls, so they are extremely wary of movement above them, even the tiniest flash of a face or a hand. You can get away with a little more movement, though not much, at ground level.

4. True. They can swim at the age of three or four days and fly in about a week. This enables them to keep up with the hen when she crosses creeks. The bugs are always juicier on the other side.

5. False. There are two species of wild turkeys. The North American turkey has five subspecies. The Central American wild, or ocellated, turkey, is the other species.

6. True. All of these birds are called gallinaceous fowl, which means they prefer to feed by scratching the dirt.