sports

outdoors with Lou Rodia — — — — — — — — _ __ , 4*

Club Hunting: A Great Tradition Lives

There is a stereotyped image implanted in the minds of lots of sportsmen which indicates that the average hunting club is made up of wild-eyed, less than sober middle aged and old men who pour forth from their clubhouse in'the morning to shoot up everything in sight, including each other. The image is compounded by the few slob (hunter(s) who give a lot of the others of us a bad name There are slob fishermen. slob tennis players-, slob joggers and slob people. None, however, get the attention of the slob hunter who has a potential to deal death in his hands. But, fortunately for the sport of hunting and for society in general, the percentage is

very low compared to all of the attention of the slob hunter gets. I ,*AM IN my second generation of club hunting. Counting my sons, three generations of us have been club hunters. In my hunting club at the moment are several three-generation combinations Grandpop, dad and the kids all belong, all hunt and all enjoy the benefits of hunting with a club. Club hunting is not for everyone First and foremost. club hunting is definitely not for loners. Once you become a member of the group you find yourself submerged in club activity where the whole group joins for the common good and each individual's effort is joined

with the efforts of others to i achieve a goal which benefits everyone. The lame, the young and the weak as well as the elderly all get caught up in the activity. The stronger help the ones who are less able. That's what groups are for. CLUB HUNTING once provided the bulk of the deer hunting activity in south Jersey. Many clubs which were formed as deer hunting clubs have fallen by the wayside because the traditional club hunters failed to foretell a change and failed to alter the club attitude to meet changing times. A lot of the clubs which have tried to be essentially deer clubs are still hanging on, some just barely. The strong clubs are those which recognized the newbreed of hunter and restructured to accommodate him. In my own club, which is well over 65 years old, we once had as a basis of membership - a group of almost exclusively farmers. At one time three members of the club actually held jobs which required appearance every day. Deer hunting for that trio had to be part of the vacation. Whichever members were not farmgrs were businessmen-'wh'cN made their own time arrangements. TODAY. NEARLY 40 years later ( I started with my club in 1946) there is but .one farmer. We still - have some business people, but a bigger percentage of the club is now made up of job holders. How has this altered the club structure? First, the club no longer has a big nucleus of farmer members who could spena countless hours in the woods ahead of the deer season to scout out new territory. We no longer have a half dozen or more of trucks or other vehicles to transport us in the woods. We always had a few farm-used trucks which were ideal for rougri roads and muddy terrain. They were already scratched and dinged and on their last legs The fanners who had them used them during the week of deer season as a prelude to turning their, in. Now we have four wheel drive vehicles in the hands of members but they are too new, too fancy and too expensive to use as woods cars for the club. TO MAKE THE club work effectively, the tenor of the club had to change, and ours has. It is still basically a deer hunting club. However to meet a diversification of interest in the membership we have added a trap range, a rifle range, a place to practice shooting a bow , a cadre of black powder shooters, ana we are planning some out of state hunting trips for some of the members We have also added a Monday night dinner which features something special each week plus the always present spaghetti. It is a time for cameraderie and the Monday nights actually outdraw in attendance the opening morning of deer season. We have about six social functions on either a Fri-

i day or a Saturday night. These are spaced out over the year. We have a SuperBowl Sunday party which »s already sold out for the 1985 event. The club has sponsored picnics, casino ous trips, a couple of disc jockey dances, and several . fishing trips. IT IS THE social side of the club which has held it together. Our deer club has a 65-year tradition of getting out there into the woods on the opening day of deer season despite the weather and no matter the other conditions. It is still as intense about the hunting as it was 65 years ago. What makes us, the members, want to be a part of it? There are pictures on the wall which tell the story. Many of the older members have gone. The tiny tots in the pictures of 30 or 40 years ago are now parents themselves and their kids are showing in the photos. There are mounted deer on the walls, each with its own story to tell: One goes back to 1922. The club itself represents a threegeneration tradition. The present building is 31 years old. My own sons started spending nights, there when th6ywere zip S years old. THERE As tradition therenpw. There are meprtSries now. The thres^■Wld is worn from thousands of feet pounding on the wood. The club honor roll lists members long jjone. Their sons and grandsons still mill around in the hall, sleep in the dormitory- and eat meals at the dining tables. They, too. get up early in the mroning and head for the woods with the rest of us to hunt as their grandfathers did. There is a caring and a -- sharing because the club ties are also family ties. The wives socialize and share in club events. Parties are for the whole family and the club is for the whole family. Families use the club facilities for family parties. The building has hosted weddings, christenings, family reunions and class reunions — all activities which are memberrelated. FOR MANY of the youngsters now grown up, the club was a maturing time, and a part of the rite of passage. Kids find themselves in adult situations and have to learn to handle 4 them. They are given and must accept responsibilities. Work has to be shared — be it carrying firewood for the big airtight stove or sweeping or setting the table or washing the dishes :' Kids of members have II

become lifelong friends. There is a lot of social intermingling and the club atmosphere cuts across the diversification in background. The laborer shares social time with the farmer and the surgeon. Politics and religion are left outside the door and one never argues them at the clubhouse. The common denominator — deer hunting — has drawn this diversified group together and from it the club has been formed. We have labored together to build a massive building — 40 by 80 feet by outside measurement and two full stories high. Members drove every nail, mortared up every block and nailed down every shingle. It is all ours — belonging totally to the 35 members and their families. It will be passed down to the sons and to the grandsons still unborn so they can savor the many moments of cameraderie. good food and fellowship. THERE ARE no stab hunters here, hunting ethics and hunter safety are preached an*y repreached. Good woods behavior is like a religion. Hunters are well trained before they go into the woods. There is no alcohol allowed during hunting and little is consumed outside the hunting period. Food is excellent and plentiful. It is prepared by the members and consumed in great quantities. Members share and members care. They show up at the weddings and the christenings and sadly, at the funerals as well.

I have entered my 48th year of hunting. Most of it has been in a clu> atmosphere. WithBOt the club, and its/ countless benefits, perhaps there would be no more hunting for me. Next week, we'll talk a little about how the club hunt operates in a typical hunting situation and some of the differences between club and still (pot) hunting. A Standoff In Softball CAPE MAY - Because it is so late in the season and play is competing with football and cheerleading, the manager of the Sudak Swingers and the Delias Demons has called the Greater Cape May Softball League championship a tie between them. At the time of the decision, the Swingers held a one-game lead with more games to be played. Election Set ■ CAPE MAY - Election of the 1985 league president of the Greater Cape May Little League will take place the night of the banquet to be held 6 p.m.Saturday, Nov. 10. in Convention Hall. Anyone seeking the office or wishing to nominate a candidate can do so at that time or call ahead to Margie Delias (884-4895) to have the nomination announced at the banquet.

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MOON PHASES/POSITIONS The Moon's affect on the Tide it grea test when closest to Earth (in perigee I and when in direct alignment with Sun < earth (full t new rrpon phases I On and about their dates, low pressure Jvitemj and/or strong windi I depending upon direction) mayresult in flooding, and rxt reme/v low tides Moon Ptinn FirMQuartrr 1.31 Fall Moon <. I Quarter , |j New Moon 24 Perigee Z3 Apogee a TU»E TABLE Computed for Cape May City beachfront, for other areai. see Correction Timet DATE HIGH LOW 24 Wed 8 14- 8 33 1:47- 2:18 25 Thu 8:00- 9 22 2 34- 3 09 26 Fn 9 47-10:09 3 21- 3 58 27 Sal 10:37-11 01 4 06-4 47 28 Sun 10:27-10:56 3:52- 4:36 2S MOD 11 20-11:52 4 41- 5 31 30 Tl* -12 :15 5 38- 6 32 31 Wed 12:52- 1:11 6 45- 7 36

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CORRECTION TIMES Compute approximate timet of high 4 low water for your area by adding or aubtracting the following number of minutes for each tide phase in the Tide Table LOW HIGH Great Egg Harbor Inlet Minus 12 piuslO' Ocean City tWhSt Bndgei plus 35 plus 22 Corson Inlet (bridge i plus 21 phis 7 Sea Ule City Ludlatn Thoro Bndge > plus 66 plus 43 Sea Isle City Beach minus 2 minus 21 Townsend Inlet plus 21 plus 4 Seven Mile Beach plus 15 0 Stone Harbor (Great Channel Bridge > '' plus 43 plus 40 Hereford Inlet (Angleseai plus 19 0 Wtldwood Beach Minus 2 minus 17 West Wlldwood (Grassy Channel bndgei plus 46 plus 43 Cape May Harbor plus 1 minus 4 Five Fathom Bank plus 11 plus 1 Cape May Point plus 46 plus 34 McCne Shoal plus a plus 22 . Delaware Bay Bayshore Channel (Bay-Canal Junction i plus 31 plus 36 Miami Beach plus 75 plus 71 Dennis Creek Entrance plus 98 plus 84 Brandywine Shoal Light plus 77 plus 52 -/ 1111

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