Syracuse.com - Figura writing about the Eastern Finger Lakes, the Safe Act and alligator wrestling (March 20-24)

[HuntingNY-News]

I will be at the Eastern Sports Camping and Outdoors Show this weekend from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday at the Turning Stone Casino Resort in Verona. See you there!

Jimmy Riffle, veteran alligator wrestler and star of the "Gator Boys" TV show on Animal Planet, will be at the Turning Stone Resort Casino this weekend.  

Usually, March is a pretty slow month. Not this year, There's a lot of outdoor issues and events to deal with lately.

Here's what I've been working on (along with my intern Sarah Taddeo) this week:

- I attended one of the "State of the Eastern Finger Lakes" meetings held Monday at Bass Pro Shops.

- I interviewed Jimmy Riffle, ace alligator wrestler and star of the new Animal Planet TV show, "Gator Boys." Riffle will be on hand Saturday and Sunday at the Eastern Sports Show at the Turning Stone Resort Casino in Verona. ((I will also be at the show, meeting with readers from 1 to 4:30 p.m. Saturday. See you there!))

- I've been interviewing local gun/ammo dealers along with sportsmen/gun enthusiasts about what's currently going out there recently concerning firearms and ammunition sales.

- I'm working on an update on the Governor's "gag order" on the DEC.

- I hear the taxidermy program at FInger Lakes College, the only one offered at a community college in the state, has been discontinued.

- I'm preparing stories for the upcoming trout fishing season opener on April 1.

- Commercial gill net fishing for perch. There's still a few individuals who are licenced by the state to do this and I hope to get out with one of them soon.

For next week and beyond:

- DEC study on wild turkeys

- The over-abundance of gizzard shad in Oneida Lake and what that means for this spring's walleye fishing.

- A proposal to turn Onondaga County into a rifle county for deer hunting.

ANYTHING ELSE READERS OF THIS REPORT WOULD LIKE TO SEE ME WRITE ABOUT?

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