(In March 2001, Topeka Capital-Journal outdoor writer Jim Ramberg penned this birthday bouquet. Ramberg, a friend of my Dad’s and a regular visitor in the final days, passed in 2007. To read writer Rick Dean’s excellent obit in the C-J, click here.)
Outdoor notes compiled while coming up with a tribute to fellow columnist Dick Snider, who celebrated his 80th birthday a couple days ago.
Let’s see. Dick Snider is …
Well, let’s start off first with some outdoor notes while I think about this.
The Like Father, Like Son fishing circuit is starting up with a tournament on March 31 at La Cygne Lake. Hey, if you don’t have a son, take your daughter.
The tournament is open to any combinations like father/son or father/daughter or mother/son or mother/daughter as well as grandfather or grandmother/grandkid teams.
There will be six tournaments on the circuit. The schedule for the other tournaments: April 21, Banner Creek; May 12, Hillsdale; June 2, Cedar Bluff; July 14, Wilson; Aug. 25, Milford.
There are three divisions — Senior Bass, Junior Bass and Pan Fish. Entry fees are $50 per team. For more information on the circuit, contact Kansas State Director Dennis Hammersmith at (785) 486-2851 or write Like Father, Like Son at 401 Central Ave., Horton, KS, 66439.
Back to Snider. He always dresses well and only rarely shows up in public with his zipper undone.
THE SENECA CHAPTER of Ducks Unlimited is having its 27th annual banquet and fund-raiser Saturday. Happy hour starts at 6 p.m. at Valentino’s, 604 N. 11th, Seneca.
Most DU banquets in the state take place before the duck season, but Seneca has traditionally had its banquet in March. It’s always well attended and the auction items can sometimes be a steal.
For tickets, call chairman Tom Lierz at (785) 336-6438 or fax him at (785) 336-2132.
Back to Snider. He claims to be 80, but just about anyone will lie about their age. I remember him talking once about meeting President Roosevelt. I thought he was talking Franklin D., but it turned out it was Theodore he was talking about.
The Eudora Masonic Lodge is holding a European-style pheasant hunt at Cokeley Farms on March 31. The fund-raising event is open to the public.
What’s a European-style hunt? Hunters are stationed in a wide circle around a tower. Hundreds of pheasants are released (not all at one time) and shooters are periodically moved to new shooting stations.
Entry fee is $80 per shooter. Deadline for entering is Saturday. For more information, call Cokeley Farms at (785) 771-3817.
BACK TO SNIDER. The news that the Menninger Foundation is moving to Texas caught a lot of people by surprise. Not Snider. He has been a test subject for several years there. A complete failure on their part over the years to help him kick the habits of drinking, smoking, cheating at cards and golf scores, slandering his fellow writers (ahem), completely broke the spirits of the Menninger administration. Red-faced at their failure, they thought it was time to move.
The Kansas Department of Wildlife & Parks has scheduled a series of mini sessions on Becoming an Outdoors Woman. The workshops range from fly tying to family camping. For more information, contact Connie Elpers at (316) 684-5499, ext. 107 or e-mail atcelpers@ink.org.
Back to Snider. His wife, Barbara, is nice. She smiles a lot and is soft spoken. I’ve met his kids. They’re nice, too. I’ve even met some of his grandkids. And they were nice and not all that loud and certainly not obnoxious.
There is a mystery here. How could such a family turn out like they did when they had to put up with such a …
Well, I won’t go there. This is a tribute, after all.
JIM RAMBERG
Outdoor writer