Sarley: Issue goes way beyond Cabela’s

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The article that I wrote regarding the proposed Cook County ordinances that would ban gun sales and most already-purchased guns, brought more responses than any topic I have ever addressed.

Almost all of it was positive, and I thank everyone for their tremendous response. I was a little distressed, though, when reading about the issue on various sportsman’s message boards.

I’ve read things like “Who cares about a mega-conglomerate like Cabela’s?” “Cabela’s should have known better than to move into Cook County.” “What’s the big deal if I have to drive to another county to buy ammo? It’s only another 20 minutes.”

To answer some of those misguided souls I have to state that this is not only about the new Cabela’s store in Hoffman Estates, it is about every one of the smaller independent gun dealers. They are going to be shut down. What will the owners and the employees do to feed their families?

Cabela’s couldn’t have been more surprised, in my humble opinion, to have this bombshell dropped on them. When you are being offered incentives for locating in a particular area, how could you possibly imagine that another government body has plans to close you down?

Drive another 20 minutes? How far will you drive when the next county after Cook decides to ban gun and ammo sales? How long will it take you to get a couple boxes of pheasant loads when the State of Illinois decides to enact a similar ban?

Here is the bottom line, my friends. Cabela’s employs more than 300 people, about half of them are full-time. Four million dollars in taxable wages will be lost if the ordinances roll on through. The annual tax revenues of more than $3 million to the state, $1.8 million to Hoffman Estates and $675,000 to Cook County will be lost. Yes, this is the same Cook County that is penniless and is begging at the governor’s doorstep for additional funds.

This is something that, as sportsmen, we need to get behind. You are urged to call Todd Stroger’s office at 312-603-6400 to voice your dismay at the county’s goings-on, or you can e-mail the Board’s secretary at pamatel@cookcountygov.com. More information is available by accessing cabhoffmanestates.com.

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Brent Beckwith of Crystal Lake is a rare individual. He loves to fish, but even more, he loves to raise money for charity. He is able to combine both by staging the fourth Annual Walk on Water Ice Fishing Benefit.

I have watched Beckwith tirelessly working the floors of the sport shows, trying to build support and obtain sponsors. At the same time, he frets nervously over the possibility of our odd weather patterns causing safe ice to disappear. This year, through an awful lot of prayers from friends and supporters, the event should come off without a hitch.

The benefit runs from 7 a.m. to noon Saturday on Bangs Lake in Wauconda. It will cost $15 to get in on the fun, and all proceeds go to the Andrea Lynn Cancer Fund. If you go to andrealynn.org and don’t get a little choked up, you should check your pulse to prove you still are alive.

Children fish for free, and there will be plenty of food, beverages, raffles and prizes to satisfy all. For more information, go to icebenefit.com.

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It was a sad day when news that the Trap Attacks had been canceled, tore across the Internet. The Trap Attacks were America’s premier ice fishing tournaments, culminating in the North American Ice Fishing Championship.

Under tremendous pressure and having to work at breakneck speed, directors Jack Baker, Mike McNett, “Smitty” Smith, Tim Carter, Brad Buys, Kevin Winkler, Kevin Meyers and the legendary Dave Genz, have scheduled a series of quality tournaments to fill the void. Best of all, the tournaments are designed to be qualifiers for the New American Ice Fishing Championship.

The new group is moving quickly and doing a lot of things on the fly. Winnings at each event will be figured after expenses are met, as the group is working with an initial budget of – zero! Sponsors are being lined up and further arrangements are being made. If I had to bet, I would wager that this round of NAIFC qualifiers will be as good as any that happened in the past.

The planned tour schedule includes: Illinois/Channel Lake on Feb. 3; Wisconsin/Upper Turtle Lake on Feb. 10; New York/Silver Lake on Feb. 24; Minnesota/Chisago Lake on March 9. The Championship site and date are yet to be announced.

A Web site is being set up, so for now, please go to the Web site of local champion Mike McNett – thefishyspot.com. Go to the message boards for all information on the new NAIFC series of events.

• Kane County Chronicle outdoors columnist Steve Sarley’s radio show, “The Outdoor Experience,” airs live from 8 to 9 a.m. Saturdays on AM-560. Sarley also runs a Web site for outdoors enthusiasts, OExperience.com. He can be reached by e-mail at sarfishing@yahoo.com

Illinois Federation forOutdoor Resources to endorse Kirk Denz

The Illinois Federation for Outdoor Resources, an Illinois Statewide Conservation organization with more than 75,000 members statewide, including anglers, hunters, boaters, equestrians and numerous other outdoor user recreational groups, has announced it is endorsing Kirk Denz for the District 5, Lake County, Illinois Board race, Feb. 5. Although IFOR does not normally endorse individual candidates for public office, its Board of Directors unanimously voted to endorse Denz for his outstanding contributions of protecting Illinois outdoorsmen and women’s sporting/recreational rights as well as the public lands bought by taxpayers.

Deer season archery numbers down, antlerless numbers up

The Illinois deer hunting season numbers are in. The 31⁄2-month archery season was a tad down, but last week’s antlerless-only hunt was up. Illinois hunters took a preliminary total of 64,217 deer during the 2007-08 archery deer season compared with 65,179 last year. Preliminary figures show hunters took 11,506 deer during the Antlerless-only Deer Season, conducted Jan. 18-20.

 This late-winter season was open in 73 counties. 8,892 deer were harvested in the late-winter season in 2007. Hunters in the seven counties open for last week's Special Chronic Wasting Disease Deer Season (Jan. 18-20) harvested 883 deer.  The totals for 2007 and 2008 were 808 and 361 respectively. 2007 shotgun hunters took 116,708 deer, muzzleloaders took 4,333 and the Illinois Youth season gave up 897.