Well, here we are running out of time for this year--strange as it was--and likewise, the hunting seasons are dwindling. They’re not to the last gasp level, yet, but they’re getting there.

And sitting peacefully in the wings is the 2008-09 Indiana General Assembly, which will consider (hopefully) only three important measures (at least to those of conservation and hunting/fishing leanings).

Still, it is going to be an important year in many ways. We are almost a lead-pipe cinch to suffer through the brain children of some legislators and their followers “back home” (we call them constituents) before the crackpot measures go down the tube. (Actually, I haven’t heard of any of this kind of legislation yet, but you can bet it is bubbling below the surface in the bill caldron).

Ordinarily, this kind of legislation (aimed at benefiting a few people) dies a much-deserved death right where it started. The tragedy lies in the fact that hard-working people have to drop the important work they are doing to orchestrate bill-killing tactics. It has always been this way.

 "Still we let our business slide--as we dropped the half-dressed hide--to show a fellow-savage how to work . . ." -- Rudyard Kipling in The Neolithic Age.

At this point in the session, we will not attempt to tell you all of the intricate detail of the three measures (we have previously done some work in this area). With amedments and what-have-you the bills change fast. At times they are altered enough to become of no value and killed.

The three measures (all explained in the past) are another crack at the right-to-hunt concept, apprentice hunting license, and the Great Lakes Compact that deals with water (long overdue). As these measures unfold in the legislature we will have more elaborate details and other information. 
 

THE DEAN RETIRES--Sgt. Dean Shadley retired from the Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Enforcement last Friday after some 33 years of serving as a conservation officer and doing well several other jobs.

Shadley started as a field officer for Rush County (he still lives near his beloved Blue and Flatrock rivers), and is best known for his work as coordinator of the DNR’s TIP (Turn-In-A-Poacher Program). This program was operative when he assumed command in the 1970s. He took it to new levels in terms of finances and arrests and convictions of those who poached

Sgt. Shadley also did much work in public relations and was often in the eye of the public.

THE SEASONS-- As noted above, there still is good hunting opportunities out there:

• · Deer--Late bow season ends Jan. 6 (next Sunday).
• · Squirrel--Statewide season ends Jan. 31 (2008).
• · Rabbit--General state season ends Feb. 15 (2008); Rabbits may be hunted on many fish and wildlife areas and reservoir properties through Jan. 31. (See hunting guide).
• · Quail--(South Of Highway 26) Jan. 15. 
• · Ducks--North Zone, closed Dec. 18; South Zone, Jan. 10; Ohio River Zone, Jan. 20.
• · Canada Geese-- Southern James Bay Population Area, Jan. 5; Other North Zone Areas, Jan. 11; South Zone, Jan. 31; Ohio River Zone, Jan. 31. (Check special Canada Goose seasons with DNR).
• · White–Fronted Goose, Jan. 27.
• · Light Goose and Brant--Jan. 25. (Check special season with DNR).
• · Fox (Hunting, red, gray, statewide), Feb. 28.
• · Coyote --Hunting March 15. 
• · Raccoon, Opossum--(Hunt statewide) Jan 31.
• · Trapping--Regulations for fur-bearers complicated, but open, check DNR.