What a difference a day makes! The Mahar Fish’N Game Club was prepared to host a crowd of 300 people Thursday evening when all would enjoy a great meal of wild game and fish. Club members and volunteers had put in many hours preparing for the event, cutting meat and organizing the donated fish and game into chunks for braising, meatballs, chili and season fish and other delicacies including the world’s best pheasant pie. While taking part of that process, it was obvious to me that the food would be as good, if not better, than had ever been featured at the club’s game supper which has been a fixture for over a decade.
High school club advisor Evelyn Cunha and middle school advisor Gerry Duguay had every detail accounted for and the club officers and members had worked diligently to the make the evening a success. Then came Thursday, when the World Health Organization declared COVID-19 a pandemic and every government entity around the world raced to out-cancel each other. One by one, with long-standing events including the NCAA Tournament, the Boston Marathon, Major League Baseball, the National Basketball Association, the National Hockey League (with the Bruins leading in points!) and Massachusetts interscholastic high school spring sports all getting stopped, the Fish’N Game Club never had a chance!
This may sound like sour grapes but please understand as a former teacher, coach club advisor and having a degree in school administration I do not intend to underestimate the severity of the health issue. However, I watched the process as the club took strong actions to modify the supper to mitigate the risks to those attending. Always done “family style,” the food would instead be served using the modern sanitary stations the school cafeteria uses every day. All the volunteers handling, cooking and preparing the food are ServSafe trained and every precaution to minimize contact with food, utensils and plates was taken. It was truly a lesson that was not lost on the club members and the meal was set to go off with every detail taken care of in advance. In my opinion, the club advisor should have been given a chance to present the many steps taken before any decision was made with a broad stroke that canceled the event without any consideration of the safety measures in place and the impact of the cancellation. One day earlier and it would have been no issue. If the issue was feeding a group of people, every restaurant in Orange and Athol should have also been closed starting Thursday.
But that is water over the dam. As of press time, the food has been frozen and “Plan A” is to reschedule after the panic (which led to a run on supplies like toilet paper Thursday which left Walmart shelves empty by mid-morning!) has subsided. Let us hope calmer heads prevail.
Meanwhile, the warm weather has led to a much earlier ice-out at local lakes and ponds and trout stocking is already underway! You can go to the MassWildlife website and get daily information on where the stocking trucks have visited. This is certainly a major change from the days when Massachusetts fishing season began with “Opening Day” on the third Saturday of April.
In 1974, a certain outdoor writer decided to get married. Aware of the opening of fishing season on the third Saturday, the nuptials were scheduled for the second Saturday of April so the wedding, honeymoon and all that stuff could be history when fishing season opened. Wouldn’t you know that year, Easter, and the school vacation, were early and the kids would be out of school the week before fishing season opened! In their wisdom, the Massachusetts Fisheries and Wildlife Board, to help the kids out, changed, for that year only the opening day to the second Saturday, someone’s wedding day! There were men wearing waders on the groom’s side of St. Mary’s Church in Orange. So, I (or some un-named fisherman) missed opening day, but the couple survived that rocky start and will celebrate another anniversary on April 13.
Last weekend, I took the dogs out looking for woodcock and worked one local cover and did not move any timberdoodles. I know they are coming in and we will be back at it this weekend. I really love running the dogs on the spring migrants as it is great exercise for both of us. Those who enjoy getting out to observe the spring mating aerial “dance” of woodcock get a treat. They fly up with the distinctive whistle of their wings and then plunge back down to impress the females. Go out at dusk in places where openings abut the wet earthworm-rich habitat the birds seek. It is a bit early now, but all dog activity stops at the first sign of nesting activity.
Looks like spring is here. Get out and enjoy it!