I’m not in the Catskills, as most would think. My town sits north
of the mountain range. Actually we are in-between the Catskill mountains
and Adirondacks, dead smack in the middle of a major snow belt. Most local
folks consider this area to be the Leatherstocking region. Cooperstown,
the birth place of baseball fanatics is only 20 minutes up the road.

The winters here in central New York are long, cold and brutal. Snow
starts flying around late October and is always in the forecast until
the month of May.

My life’s interests involves the outdoors. I love to bass fish
and go bass fishing basically from April after ice out, all the way until
around September. I fish for both smallmouth bass and largemouth bass.
My fishing waters include the Susquehanna River, Goodyear Lake, Otsego
Lake, and a few smaller lakes and ponds that sit within Otsego County.
During the really hard cold winter months, I do a little ice fishing for
perch, trout , walleye, bass, and pickerel.

I love to hunt spring turkeys during the month of May when New York holds
it’s annual spring turkey hunting season. Hunting during an early
crisp, spring morning while listening to the toms gobble, from the surrounding
ridges is like no other outdoor experience. It really sends shivers up
my spine when a big boss tom lets off at the crack of dawn.

During the month of October into the third week of November you can find
me hanging out in my tree-stand, bow hunting for whitetail deer. I am
not a trophy hunter by no means, but the fact is I love venison meat.
I live on venison most of the year. Venison is lean, low on fat and high
in protein. New York deer hunters help food pantry’s with the donation
of thousands of pounds of venison annually. It’s called Project
Venison and those deer hunters who wish to donate their deer can. This
venison is used to feed the homeless folks who are unfortunate.

Other outdoor activities I like to do is gardening and if actually believe
it, cut firewood. I love to cut and split firewood. 90% of my home heat
comes from firewood. The woodstove starts up in Octobers and really never
goes out until mid-May.