By CHRISTOPHER MICHELOlean Times Herald

OLEAN — The Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce’s Outdoor & Rec Sports Show will return soon.

The annual event, the chamber’s seventh, is scheduled for 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Saturday and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sunday at Good Times of Olean.

As in past years, the two-day event will feature presentations to help area residents make the most of their time outdoors. Exhibits will cover a vari-ety of outdoor activities, including camping, paddle sports, hiking, cycling, all-terrain vehicles, hunt-ing, snow and water skiing, snowmobiling, bird-watch-ing and fishing.

This year’s featured presenter is Jim Beverly, a retriever trainer with 50 years of experience.

Beverly is a regular at the annual outdoors show and is a favorite among many attendees, said Meme Yanetsko, GOACC’s chief operations officer.

“We always want to have Jim at our outdoors show,” Yanetsko said. “People real-ly enjoy the different dem-onstrations he does with his dogs. It’s really neat to see how he’s trained his dogs and how they stay focused even with all the people around.”

Beverly is slated to give several retriever training seminars during the out-doors show, displaying his team of dogs and their abil-ities. He’ll also be available to speak with attendees throughout the show.

Chamber officials report 42 vendors have signed up for the event.

Vendors, many of which were present at the chamber’s previous outdoors shows, include: Pacific Mountain Farms, Enchanted Mountain Chapter of the National Wild Turkey Federation, Braymiller Builders, John's Guns, Reloaders Anonymous, Stretch Bottle Art, Pfeiffer Nature Center, Westfield Bait & Tackle, WPIG-FM, Gourmet Creations by Kim, Allegany and Cattaraugus counties pistol clerks;

Adventure Calls Outfitters, MIDA, Allegany Mountain Resort, Cattaraugus County S.C.O.P.E., Twin Tiers Outerwear, LeafFilter North of New York, Buffalo Bob's Wild Game Jerky and Meat Stick, Bath Fitter of Erie, Burning Asphalt Sauces, KR Communications, Arcade Chamber of Commerce, Air Ivanhoe, WMXO-FM, Microtel Inn & Suites, Olean Times Herald, Enchanted Mountains of Cattaraugus County, Red House Brook Chapter Trout Unlimited, Canadian Brook Trout Fishing;

Numzaan Safaris, Hy-Haven Criations, Spectacular Sports, Red Barn Gun Shop, Bobcat of Kane, Retriever Training by Jim Beverly, Leisure Time Powersports, Cutco KA-BAR Visitor Center, Country Squirrel Outfitters, Glarob Blade Inc., Eagle Dream Rehab Center, Foxy's Knives and Wade Robertson.

“We have four more vendor spaces available,” Yanetsko said. Anyone interested in reserving ven-dor space can contact the chamber at 372-4433.

Country Squirrel Outfitters has again signed on as the show’s official outfitter. The Ridgway, Pa.-based outdoors store will have on-hand kayaks, bicycles and hiking sup-plies information; snow-shoes and cross-country skis; and hunting acces-sories. Country Squirrel’s staff plans to give several demonstrations show-goers can participate in, such as a skiing and snowshoeing workshop, as well as semi-nars on kayaking.

Leisure Time Powersports of Limestone will be the show’s official snowmobile vendor. It will bring down its prod-uct lines of snowmobiles and ATVs and accessories. Leisure Time will also give show-goers the opportunity to try out their snowmo-biles, weather permitting,

OLEAN TIMES HERALD MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016 PAGE1Outdoor Show

Annual show returns this weekend to Olean

Olean Times Herald file photoA family looks over a display of firearms on the first day of the 2015 Greater Olean Area Outdoor & Rec Sports Show. This year’s event is scheduled for Saturday and Sunday, again at Good Times of Olean.

Greater Olean Area Chamber of Commerce

Jim Beverly, retriever trainer with 5 decades of experience, this year’s featured presenter

Please see Show, page 2

Hunting season has wound down, and the long months until trout season lie before us.

We have been extremely fortunate in the weather department so far, but worse is bound to come, I’m afraid. With these thoughts in mind, what can you do that’s constructive over the next three months and keep yourself busy and maybe even have some fun while doing so?

ONE OF THE THINGS I’ve gotten hours of enjoy-ment from and actually caught fish as a result of was making and creat-ing my own fishing lures. Catalogs like Net Craft and others offer every part needed to create your own lures in a variety of shapes and sizes.

These companies carry plain, unpainted or painted bodies for surface lures; crank baits; stick baits; buzz baits; spinner baits and spinners. The spinner blades come in many shapes, sizes and col-ors, enough to give any lure builder large doses of ner-vous indecision, but they also allow you the opportunity to create a special lure no one else has.

When I felt really creative, I used old, wooden broom-stick handles and cut them to different lengths, whit-tling and shaping my own design of lure bodies. Some didn’t work well at all, and others worked very well. My wife used to laugh at me when I’d fill the bathtub and pull my lures back and forth in the water to check their action. Light woods like cedar or pine work best, being more buoyant than denser woods.

You can even modify existing lures to change their swimming pattern. Changing hook size, shape of the diving plane, thick-ness or height can improve or ruin a lure, but after a while you get a feel for what works and what doesn’t.

My greatest success story was changing a double-joint-ed pikie minnow to a triple-jointed muskellunge lure. My wife has caught her biggest muskies, 20 pounds and big-ger, on that lure and had a giant muskie on in Canada that makes me still feel sick to my stomach whenever I think of that hulking fish throwing the hooks. It was simply huge — I truly, hon-estly, without the slightest exaggeration feel it was 6 feet long with a head like a crocodile. That muskie was a giant — bigger than you ever dreamed of getting or even believed existed, and the beast struck the lure I created. Well, there’s a small victory.

ANOTHER WINTER PROJECT I have enjoyed is refinishing rifle and shotgun stocks. If the firearm is a collector’s item I’d suggest leaving the original finish on it, but maybe you don’t care about that or the fire-arm will never be worth a fortune. Or perhaps the stock is so badly dinged the value will never be there. Just think before refinish-ing firearms such as a Fox or Parker shotgun or pre-64 Model 70. That might not be wise.

PAGE 2 MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016 OLEAN TIMES HERALDOutdoor Show

Olean Times Herald file photoThe great outdoors will be under one roof Saturday and Sunday at Good Times of Olean. Organizers said 42 vendors have signed up to show their products and services.

SATURDAY10 a.m. to 5 p.m.

n 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., WPIG Mark Thompson, emcee for the Sports Show.

n Noon, dog retrieval basics by Jim Beverly; “Fly Fishing, What A Delight,” by Steve Skvarka.

n 12:45 p.m., open fire cooking by Susan Avery; “Kayaking — Basic to Advance,” by Country Squirrel Outfitters.

n 1 to 3 p.m., radio remote broad-

cast by WXMT The Mountain.n 1:15 p.m., hunting deer strate-

gies by Wade Robertson.n 2:30, open-fire cooking by Susan

Avery.n 3 p.m., fly fishing in Kinzua coun-

try by Steve Skvarka.

SUNDAY10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

n 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., WMXO, emcee for the Sports Show

n Noon, “Kayaking — Basic to Advance,” by Country Squirrel Outfitters.

n 12:15 p.m., dog retrieval basics by Jim Beverly and “Fly Fishing, What A Delight,” by Steve Skvarka.

n 1 p.m., “Birds of Prey,” by Mark Baker.

n 1:45 p.m., “Turkey Hunting: Calling & Tactics,” by Randy Opferbeck.

and ATVs.Red Barn Gun Shop will

be back for its second year of sponsoring the show raffle. It will display its product lines of guns and rifles as well as accessories. Allegany and Cattaraugus County pistol clerks will be on the floor both days.

Cutco Cutlery and KA-BAR Knives also return as a show sponsor and ven-dor, showcasing its wide vari-ety of household and hunting knives.

Additionally, the cham-ber is hosting a raffle during the sports show. The raffle includes a chance to win one of many prizes: grand prize, Savage Model 111 .270 Trophy Hunter with scope; and sec-ond prize, 2016 Cannondale Mountain Bike Catalyst 4 aluminum frame with disc brakes and 21 speeds. Additional prizes include a KA-BAR Zombie Swabbie, a KA-BAR Becker Crewman, a KA-BAR USMC Utility Knife and a Cutco Gut Hook Hunting Knife.

Raffle tickets are $5 or five for $20, with a limit of 500 tickets. The drawing will be held Sunday. Tickets can be purchased now at GOACC and at the show.

Admission to the show is $3 for adults and $2 for students and seniors. Only children 12 and under receive admission when accompanied by an adult.

(Contact City Editor

Christopher Michel at cmichel@oleantimesherald.com. Follow him on Twitter, @OTHChris)

Continued from page 1

show5 winter projects one can consider

SCHEDULE OF EVENTS

Wade Robertson

Please see Winter, page 3

(BPT) — Is your winter tree mainte-nance limited to trimming the Christmas tree? If so, you’re missing out on one of the season’s most important home projects. Many homeowners pay little attention to their trees and bushes once colder weather arrives, but seasonal maintenance done during these months can be incredibly ben-eficial, not only for the plant but for you as well.

So grab your tools and your gloves because it’s time to get started on your win-ter tree pruning.

Why is winter tree pruning important?Think of winter tree pruning as a head

start. Pruning trees and shrubs during the dormant cycle ensures they will have a full growing season when spring arrives. In addition to the longer growing season, winter is also a good time to prune because colder temperatures reduce the risk of dis-ease or pests attacking the plant.

Finally, pruning your trees during winter is also an easy way to protect your home from dying or diseased branches that may

pose a falling risk. This is especially true in regions where heavy snowfall is common.

What trees or shrubs should you prune during the winter?

There are several species of trees or shrubs that can be pruned during the win-ter months, but you can categorize them into three easy-to-remember groups:

n Hardwood trees. Pruning hardwood trees in the winter is easy thanks to their lack of foliage. Branches should be cut just above the branch collar - the space where the limb and the tree come together. This area of the tree is rich in anti-microbial chemicals to help the tree heal from the pruning without suffering decay. Clippers can be used to trim smaller branches, but for larger sections or dying plants, use the Husqvarna 450 chainsaw. This all-around powerful saw features the X-Torq engine for lower fuel consumption and emission levels without a drop-off in power. Its auto

Refinishing a stock is an article in itself; Google the subject for all the steps. However, here are some hints you can think about. A lot of the old Savage rifles had a thicker, fatter stock than was necessary and were cheaply finished. However, they shot very accurately, and many peo-ple have such a rifle.

I’ve removed the old fin-ish with a knife, then used a wood rasp, carefully thin-ning the forearm sides. This removes weight, but more importantly makes the fore-arm easier to grasp in your hand. I continued rasp-ing and thinning the stock sides to the butt plate. Be careful, keeping the stock sides straight and flowing. Having a picture of a stock design you like or a rifle on hand to measure and con-sult is a good guide.

Once thinned down, you will immediately feel the difference in your stock and notice the more flow-ing lines of its shape. You

may wish to slightly con-cave the fore end from the front of the magazine to the tip, again giving the stock smoother, more flowing lines.

Most of those stocks are birch and desperately need a good coat of walnut stain to darken them as well. Done properly, the old Savage can become much sexier with a little weight loss and some TLC. I hope this doesn’t prompt the bet-ter half to tell us the same thing!

IF YOU’RE AN avid fishermen you probably, as I do, have far too many tackle boxes; drawers filled with lures, many still in their original packag-ing; lure parts; reels lying around in profusion and a broken rod tip or two. Now may be a good time to gather it all together and organize, repair, sort and even toss some wreckage in the garbage or prepare a garage sale for the surplus.

I am usually delighted to find things I have totally

lost track of, lures I should be using or extra hooks I don’t need to purchase since I already have 300 or more safely tucked away and forgotten about.

Sort through the morass and make piles of similar items, then clean out and organize your existing tackle boxes. A quick trip to the store for plastic orga-nizers can really help. It’s a lot like Christmas as you find little treasures here and there and lures that bring back some special memories.

ANOTHER NICE PROJECT might be plan-ning a hunt or fishing trip for this year. Many people have a dream trip, even a modest one. If you don’t make your mind up right now to do it, you might never end up going. We never know about jobs, health, family cares and concerns; our world can suddenly become a con-fusing place. So grab your best friend or family; talk it over; and decide where you want to go, what you can afford to spend and start the research project in January.

You need to save the money, be in decent shape, and know where and what you want to do. Talk to as many people as possible who have gone to the same area or had a similar trip. Do you need a guide? How will you get the game back? Are you driving or flying? Seemingly a thousand little details need answered, but like the journey of 1,000 miles, you simply take the first step to get started and the rest takes care of itself.

A FINAL LITTLE project you can begin is keeping a journal of your outdoor activities. You can begin by buying a college notebook and thoughtfully writing about this year’s hunting and fishing activities, good and bad. Note anything special you learned or noticed, how you felt, what you bagged or caught. This could be pretty interest-ing and take a few phone calls to help refresh your memory.

As much as possible try and remember the weath-er. I always try to note the temperature, type of clouds, wind and feel of the day. This year I am going to watch the barometric pressure, moon phases, humidity and any other detail and begin searching for less obvious patterns I may have been missing. Birds, fish and animals are affected strongly by things humans have trouble sens-ing. I would like to become much more sensitive to that “unseen world” we live in but can’t detect.

After you have kept this journal a few years, it could be a wonderful expe-rience to read and relive your experiences and look for those clues for which all great hunters and fish-ers are constantly on the lookout.

(Email correspondent Wade Robertson at wj.robertson@netzero.net.)

OLEAN TIMES HERALD MONDAY, JANUARY 18, 2016 PAGE3Outdoor Show

Continued from page 2

Photo by Wade RobertsonTyping up a winter projects list on one’s computer is way to keep busy and productive dur-ing the cold-weather doldrums.

winterWhy season of white is great time to think green

Please see Trimming, page 4