By Bill Hilts Sr.
John
Long
“Walks On”
Summer 2007
A true “Giant” has passed! The North Americana
Bear Foundation BEAR Journal lost a big chunk of its heart on August 29,
2007, when it was time for John J. Long Sr., to “Walk On” to that Happy
Hunting Ground where all great
sportsmen go to spend eternity. The author and creator of the very popular
series: “The Legendary Long Files”, suffered a severe stroke in early
August, from which he never recovered. He died at Niagara Hospice
House in
Lockport, NY, with his loving family at his side. That facility he strongly
supported
ever since its inception.
I am proud to say that John Long has
been a close friend for many decades and
we had numerous outdoor adventures together, including starting our own
outdoor television show, at a time when outdoor shows were just starting to
blossom on the outdoor scene. We called it “Outdoor World” and it took us to
choice
hunting and fishing destinations all across North America. It aired on NBC
WGRZ-
TV Channel 2 in Buffalo, NY on Sunday afternoons.
John Long is a legend. There are few things in this
world he hasn't done. He has hunted and fished all across the face of this
earth. He was probably best known for his very successful bear hunting camp
located in far northern Ontario, Canada. For many
years he showed hunters, young and old, how to successfully take a trophy
black bear. I shot my first bruin while staying at his camp in 1983. In fact
I used his favorite rifle, a Winchester 30.06 to collect my prize, on my
first hunt.
He knew bears and
bears knew him. Over the years more than 300 bruins were harvested from the
wilderness areas around his camp near Kirkland Lake, Ontario.
One old friend commented, when I notified him of John's passing, “Everyone
is sad! The only happy ones are the bears!”
This past April, John was inducted into the NY State
Outdoorsmen Hall of Fame, which was a most appropriate honor for a most
deserving individual. Several years ago he was
named the NY State Conservationist of the Year, by the NY State Conservation
Council. In real life John was an officer in a very successful
insurance agency. Several years ago he merged the family owned business with
several other agencies which are now called United Insurance Agency. He
served as vice president of that business
and still worked every day. John was 74 when he died. He belonged to
several organizations and associations, many of them attached to the
insurance industry, but his
passion was really with the sportsmen/conservation/outdoor writer groups.
He was past president of the NY State Outdoor Writers Assn. and a member of
the Outdoor Writers Assn. of America and Assn. of Great Lakes Outdoor
Writers. He was a life member of the National Rifle Assn. and NY State
Conservation Council. He was past chairman of the NY State Fish and Wildlife
Management Act Board and held many offices in his
home club, the 3-F Conservation Society of Youngstown, NY.
John was a member of the board of
directors of the North American Bear Foundation.
For the past several years, John served as chairman of the NY State
Conservation Fund Advisory Board. He was still vice chairman at the
time of his passing. He also liked to get involved with politics and
from 1996 to 2000 he served as chairman of the Niagara County Republican
Committee. He is survived by his children and grandchildren, all of
whom he loved dearly: John J. Long Jr. (Sue) of Lockport, NY; Joan
Long-McCoy of Clarence, NY; James Long of Ransomville, NY; Amy Long-McCalister
and Jessica Long, both of Youngstown, NY; 12 grandchildren; and a sister
Nancy Long of Lewiston, NY and a brother Harry Long (Kitt) of Youngstown,
NY.
We all shall miss our dear friend John
Long, but we all are much better and wiser people for having known that
great man. We love you John! To draw on an original phrase, coined by
my old buddy: “It's time to cut a trail!” We will meet again, where the
trees and
grasses are forever green, where the air is pure, waters run cool and clear
and the trails are all down hill. Rest in peace my friend! John
J. Long Sr.
*****
New York has a Banquet - Winter/Early Spring 2007
Once again New York State has a chapter in the North
American Bear Foundation. Early this year, the group was reorganized and
they held their first banquet in March at the
wonderful Conference Center in downtown Niagara Falls, NY.
The group is called the Niagara Frontier Chapter of
the North American Bear Foundation. Temporarily, this writer is
serving as chairman with Bill Hilts Jr. as co-chairman. Our group held
a wild game dinner at the new Conference Center and it proved to be a
most successful event, raising several thousand dollars for the Foundation.
Around 200 showed up for the evening and 130 of that number became new
members of the NABF. We also added at least three new Life Members from that
group.
The menu featured bear
meatloaf and stew, venison steaks and chili, duck soup and much more. It was
a mighty fine meal for an equally fine group. Plans are already in works for
another wild game dinner next year. The group is also considering a pig
roast sometime this summer. We plan holding quarterly meetings with programs
at each event.
How is your chapter doing? Let us know. If anyone would like to organize a
chapter to help the bears, contact the NABF headquarters for guidance,
assistance and direction.
LAST ISSUE OF BEAR?
This could be your last issue of BEAR! Check the address label and if it
does not have the year 2007 on it, then your membership has expired. Time to
renew NOW! This will be your final issue of the BEAR Journal! You can
renew easily by going to the Foundation website at: www.nabf.org <http://www.nabf.org/>
, or by filling out the
application in this magazine and returning it to headquarters. Do it
... we need you!
If you have questions call the Foundation at: 218.330.1353. Or, e-mail
us at nabf@nabf.org.
JOIN NABF
If you don't already belong, come join us at NABF and help us to help the
bears! We need your help! We also need members to form NABF Chapters.
We have just reorganized in New York State and it certainly would be nice to
see chapters blossom in each state in the country. Last year Alaska came on
board. They are most fortunate to have a dynamic young man to take over the
position of director in Greg Petrich. We also have chapters in Minnesota and
Wisconsin with plans moving forward to organize new chapters in Arkansas and
Montana. Another group in eastern New York State is
contemplating organizing a second Empire State group. If you are planning to
organize a chapter, contact headquarters and we will help all we can. We
will also have someone at your first meeting to help get the ball rolling.
Remember this is all for the bears. They need our help. If we don't do it,
no one else will!
********
Bear goes to Bear Forum - Fall 2006
BEAR Journal, and of course the North American Bear
Foundation, participated in the New York State Annual Bear Forum held in
late August in the Adirondack Mountains of northern N.Y. State. The White
Otter Fish and Game Club in Woodgate, hosted the day-long session, which has
been held annually for nearly a quarter century.
BEAR also delivered the keynote address at the Annual
Conference of the N.Y. State Fish and Wildlife Management Board in Waterloo,
N.Y., and dispensed information at the Wildlife Festival held Sep. 22 & 23
at the New York Power Authority's Niagara Power Project in Lewiston, NY.
Cohost for the event is the Niagara County Federation of Conservation Clubs.
More than 23,000 people attended the two-day event which was also National
Hunting and Fishing Day.
At the
Bear Forum, Alan Woodruff, perennial chairman of the event, said this was
his 20th presentation and also the largest, when over 100 people attended.
The bear-minded attendees, quickly picked up several hundred back issues of
BEAR Journal, which proved to be a most popular item.
The varied program included a keynote presentation by
veteran bear biologist Lou Berchielli. His Power Point presentation covered
the hunting of the black bear in New York and the future of that fascinating
animal. Angie Berchielli, a talented wildlife photographer presented a
fine exhibit of her work and also gave a Power Point
presentation on New York wildlife. For information on her work go to her
website:
www.customvisuals.net/view.
Mark Shoemaker, past president of the N.Y. State
Outdoor Guides Assn., gave a talk on bear hunting in New York. He discussed
rules and regulations and cited several
experiences and offered information on planning and participation in an
Adirondack bear hunt. Other topics covered included the black bear
life cycle, dealing with bear problems, tips for bear hunters, how to cook
bear meat, etc.
For information
on the 2007 N.Y. State Bear Forum, contact Alan Woodruff at 315/392-4592.
The NABF is anxious to meet you. If you are having a “bear function”, invite
us and if we can fit it into our schedule, we will be there. Contact
information is in the front of this journal.
*******
New York White Deer Herd Needs
Our Help - Summer 2006
The NABF Mission Statement says:
“The NABF is dedicated to the native bears and other wildlife populations of
North America, by promoting public awareness, education and sound management
of our natural resources ...”
In the last few editions we have published a
public service ad, telling the plight of a most unique herd of white deer,
located in central New York State ... “National Treasure at Risk! Help Save
the White Deer.”
Some
readers felt the ad was funded by anti-hunting organizations. Also, they
fear the “albino” deer are inferior and should be destroyed.
To answer the critics we went
to an old friend, Dennis Money, who is chairman of the Seneca White Deer
group, the organization that he formed to save the deer and the unique area
they are located, from developers.
Dennis tells us why it is so
important to save this most unique herd of white deer, which is already
drawing researchers, biologists, etc., from all over the world.
“When the first white deer
were seen at the Seneca Army Depot (located in the Finger Lakes Region of
central N.Y. State) in the early 1950s, the commanding officer was so
enthralled with the two white fawns that he forbid the GIs to shoot them, or
the GIs risked being sent immediately to Greenland,” notes Dennis. “Thus,
through the protection of the U.S. Army, over the years the white deer
population multiplied and survived and today it is the world's largest herd
of white deer. This was accomplished due to a new form of biology that was
developed at the Depot. It was called 'deer wildlife management'. The Seneca
Army Depot was the birth place in North America for learning how to properly
manage the whitetail, whether brown or white. Since the mid 1950s a
fall hunt continues to keep the population within its carrying capacity and
that hunt continues these many decades later. The annual hunt and
proper habitat management are the two most important reasons why this unique
herd of white deer has survived and are probably the two reasons nearly
every other white deer herd has disappeared in the world because those other
populations were not properly managed. The only white
deer herds of any size, besides the Depot, are found in Ireland and number
less that 50 animals. These white fallow deer are protected on estates.
Whether hunting is allowed, I
am not sure, but if it is, it would be for the wealthy and not for the
general public.”
Dennis
states emphatically that the Seneca White Deer group is not anti-hunting. He
has been a hunter all his life and even crafted his own handmade bow with a
rawhide string before he was old enough to have a gun. Today he practices
QDM on his farm and his 10 buddies who hunt there abide by those rules.
Dennis states that the critics are missing
an important point, that being that any good hunter is first and foremost a
conservationist and that is exactly who we are and represent.
“The white deer of the Seneca Army Depot are
a world class treasure,” says Dennis, “and a destination which could be used
to educate the public, the majority who are non-hunting, about the value of
wildlife and habitat. If we don't continue to work to showcase the beauty of
wildlife to the increasing population of urban dwellers, our future as
hunters is doomed.”
Speaking on the suggestion by critics that white deer are inferior and
should not be protected, Dennis replies, “Don't they realize that people
will come and spend tourism dollars to see the white deer, not brown deer?
That money can be used to develop educational programs, produce wildlife
videos, etc.”
While the
annual hunt at the Depot continues today each fall, it is only open to
military personnel, or retired military. The public can't hunt the
Depot. Under the Seneca White Deer groups plan proposal, they would create a
lottery hunt open to the public. Once again, that money would be used for
habitat management, operations and maintenance of the infrastructure. Since
white deer are in high demand, a special lottery might be held for an
opportunity to have a chance to hunt them, according to the Chairman.
Dennis concludes his remarks by stating
...”Seneca White Deer prides itself on working ceaselessly to protect the
vast array of natural resources, open space and military history of the
former Seneca Army Depot. We have been working on this project for over
seven years without reimbursement and we will continue to fight the good
fight because the white deer are a world treasure and deserve to be
protected for the people of the world to enjoy.”
This writer
fully supports the efforts by the Seneca White Deer group
and we hope our readers will agree that this is a resource
well worth saving. Let's all lend our support to this dedicated
group of volunteer sportsmen and women in their struggle
to save the white deer herd and their habitat. Learn more
about the project by going to: www.senecawhitedeer.org.
North American Bear Foundation
9960 390th Street
Pillager, MN 56473
218-746-3774
