upcoming events

 • 18 April/Saturday : Fishing Season begins in Connecticut. You can get your license online at the DEP Fishing license web link. Please note the link will tell you other places where you can buy a license as well. You'll also be able to download a copy of the 2009 Angler's Guide.
NOTICE! DEP staff will be stocking at various Trout Parks on opening day. People are encouraged to join them. A great way to introduce your children to outdoor activities.

 • 18 April/Saturday : MSC April Game Dinner. We'll start serving at 6:00 pm [1800 hours] but you want to get there earlier to get your seat and meet and greet one another. As of 10 a.m. today, a couple of seats have opened up. But you want to be quick about it. Call us at the club [the phone number is on the right] but be quick about it.

 • 22 April/Wednesday : 1st Annual Sportsmen’s Day, Connecticut State Capitol Building, Hartford. 1030 am to 500 pm. Connecticut’s sportsmen spend $339 million a year on their recreation, which helps support 5,500 jobs in the state [Why else would Cabela’s open a retail store in the middle of our state?]. The event will be hosted by the Connecticut Sportsmen’s Caucus. Caucus members include state Senator Eileen Daily and Representative Linda Orange.

 • 26 April/Sunday : Major Work Party. Members especially, but anybody who wants to join us for wood splitting, scrape-and-paint, improving the target range backstop and other work around the club are welcome.

 • 3 May/Sunday : Children's Fishing Derby, at the pond, which has been stocked again. - 4 cooks needed, 4 pond monitors needed - 7:30 am to 12:30 pm

 • 28 June/Sunday : The Shad Bake. Our annual spring festival. Come hungry, you won't leave hungry.

laws and legislation

Don't be the target, be on target!
Your legislators need to hear from you regularly!

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On the downside: the effort to ban leg hold traps is still alive and active. On the up: saving trapping has positive economic benefits to the state

In Haverhill, Massachusetts, a sewage pipe sustained damage as trees fell on a beaver dam, causing it to collapse. [Ron Trainor, KC8CEV, Photo]

Thanks to some deceptive emotionally based lobbying, anti-hunting activists have been pretty successful pushing to ban trapping, including prohibiting Conibear traps, which are not leghold traps. Presented with strong approval before the Connecticut Environmental committee Senate Bill No. 994 "An Act Concerning Leghold Traps." In essence, the bill effectively proposes to ban trapping altogether. If enacted, the ban would take effect on July 1, 2009. Banning trapping would have an almost immediate impact on the environment, especially where beaver populations build dams. A late entry to the discussion deals with adverse economic impact on state revenues and costs associated with varmint control. We cannot afford to have wildlife management tools banned because of ill-informed emotional appeals. It is vital you let legislators know what impact such a ban would have on good land conservation management practices.

If you don't know who your legislators are, click on the Connecticut Sportsmen's Association link learn who to contact and how and let them know NOW! You can also find your legislators, and what committees they serve on at the Connecticut General Assembly web page.

Massachusetts has already had the experience of finding out the immense cost of removing traps as a wildlife management tool. The state is now trying to find other ways to deal with beaver damages. Since the habitat range of the beaver is widespread, the potential for damage is extensive.

Read more about the impact of this proposed legislation, as well as more on the Conibear trap at Jeff Serena's Nature Examiner web page.

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UPDATE : As of Wednesday, 15th April, I'm told that "...The leghold trap bill died for lack of action in the Judiciary Committee on Wednesday afternoon. There may be an effort to revive it as an amendment, but legislators REALLY don't want to vote on it..." Let's remain vigilant, for the session is not over until it's over and you never know who will tack parts of this bill onto something else as a "Rat" amendment. [A legislative "Rat" is a bill or an amendment slipped in quietly to favor a friend or special interest].

THANKS TO: Bob Crook with the Coalition of Connecticut Sportsmen for keeping us all informed about this subject. I also want to thank another, unnamed, lobbyist for additional tracking of Bill 994.

firearms trainings

This coming Saturday, 11th April 2009, Defense Associates staff are holding a pistol course, Concealed Carry Realities at the Blue Trail Range in Wallingford, CT. Here's a description of the class:

As part of the process to obtain a concealed carry permit, most states now require the applicant to complete some form of training, usually a NRA Basic Handgun Course or the equivalent.
     While these courses do teach the fundamentals of handgun operation and their safe handling on a target range, they do not come close to preparing the student for carrying a weapon in public. Inappropriate display (even unintentionally) or use of a weapon can result in consequences ranging from a simple loss of your permit to bankruptcy and/or prison time.
     CCR is an informal, one day seminar which combines material from both the 3 Day Defensive Handgun Course and Massad Ayoob's LFI1 to provide permit holders with an understanding of the skills - physical, tactical and intellectual - needed by those who carry a firearm for self-defense.
     Included are a wide variety of topics including weapon selection and carry techniques, the use of deadly force, shooting techniques, interacting with the police and much, much more. Includes both classroom and live fire range work.

     The cost of the course is $135. Download and print out the registration form, complete it then fax it [1-203-261-8719] to Defense Associates when completed.

Thanks to Emmett for bringing this to our attention. PHOTO CREDIT: Defense Associates website