It is now 2024 and I would like to tell our readers with young children why they should put attending one the Erie County Federation of Sportsmen’s (ECFSC) annual fishing clinics at Tifft Nature preserve and Chestnut Ridge Park in June. ECFSC members also assist at many other club fishing clinics when requested. The ECFSC clinics are unlike many fishing clinics which quite often amount to giving a child a fishing pole and letting them fish in a nearby body of water and walking around and helping them fish.

When you check into an ECFSC clinic the child is given a punch card. These punch cards have words like “casting” or “where to fish” written on them These are the various learning stations the child and his parent or guardian must go through before they fish. These cards are punched as the child goes through these learning stations. These stations are manned by fishing experts and many of these experts are members of the New York State Outdoorsman Hall of Fame. When the child finishes the learning stations, he then can obtain fishing equipment or use his own to fish. ECFSC members will be walking the shore and assisting the children in fishing where needed.

When the fishing is completed in one to three hours children will be given prizes based on their age. The ECFSC would like to extend many thanks to our sponsors like Cabela’s, Fraternal Order of Eagles Depew chapter, Erie County and of course many of the clubs and volunteers for their annual donations and help in making these events successful. These are great events, come to one you won’t be disappointed. I wish we had these types of events when I was young back in the depression!!

See you there!!!

Joseph Fischer

We have come to the end of 2023 and the Erie County Federation of Sportsmen (ECFSC) has accomplished a lot!! We finished off the year by awarding 12 lifetime sportsmen licenses to Erie County children. They can choose between hunting, fishing, trapping etc.  The federation has given away over 70 of these licenses in the last few years!! The ECFSC has also supported many of the trap shooting school programs throughout the county.

The ECFSC hosted 2 children’s fishing clinics, one at the Tifft Nature Preserve and the other at Chestnut Ridge Park and assisted many federation clubs in setting up and running fishing clinics throughout the county. The ECFSC puts a lot of time and effort in promoting these children’s clinics as they are the sportsmen of tomorrow and you need to reach these children before they become teenagers!!

Our webmaster Joe McAdams has created a great informative website, and we are receiving thousands of hits to the site every month, incidentally if you or your club wants to advertise or promote one of your upcoming functions contact Joe and he will advertise it on the website.

2024 is around the corner and it promises to be a a tumultuous year topped off by a presidential election in November. I am sure more anti-gun legislation will be coming so we must be vigilant and involved. The days of sitting in your hunting cabin and ignoring what’s going on are over. I know most people want to ignore politics but as once was said,” If you ignore politics, you will be ruled by your inferiors”; and as stated in a previous column, VOTE!!  (The sportsmen have been terrible in this regard.)

We all know what we are dealing with in New York State, so we have to be aware and reactive if necessary. The recent ammunition bill is a good example of a bill that has forcing smaller gun shops to close because of the incredibly burdensome paperwork which is exactly what it intended to do! Join a sportsmen’s club and better yet attend some of the ECFS meetings, the dates and times are posted on the website.

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO ALL!!

Joseph Fischer

Since my last article I had another birthday, and I really am a old man now as all the trees on my street are younger than me. I believe the street also is younger than me!! Being old I tend to worry a lot. I worry about the sportsmen in our state as their rights are slowly being eroded by anti-sportsmen laws such as the latest one regarding the purchase of ammunition. This law is causing a lot of small gun dealers to go out of business which I think was the actual purpose of the law. Many sportsmen are going to Pennsylvania to purchase their ammo because of this law. More possible antigun laws are in the works such as forcing you to have liability insurance if you have a firearm, this one has been around for a long time and is back under consideration.

Years ago, the sportsmen fought back against this type of legislation through groups like the New York State Conservation Council (NYSCC). This organization at one time had an office downstate and every county in NY was a member. The NYSCC had a Legislative vice president who lobbied in Albany against anti sportsmen legislation and the NYSCC membership was at that time in the thousands. They actually passed resolutions which were supported by the DEC. Some of these resolutions successfully brought the sportsmen Sunday hunting, Rifle big game hunting in some counties, crossbow hunting just to name a few accomplishments. This large group of organized sportsmen was recognized by the NYSDEC and the DEC regularly attended the NYSCC annual convention and their spring meeting. Unfortunately, membership and with-it money declined to where it is today which is a small statewide organization with very little money struggling to survive. The good news is its still a viable organization which is on the upswing and truly deserve our support as the only statewide organization representing sportsmen which as you know, we need now!! Look up their website at https://www.nyscc.com and check them out!! I will have more on the NYSCC in a future article.

The Erie County Federation and all its members wish you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!!

Joseph Fischer