Outdoors

Although snow has been scarce this winter, snow still has been on my mind, and snow  brought to mind  something I really enjoyed in my younger years — snow ice cream. The fact is, I still enjoy it.
Sometimes March produces some big snows. They don’t last long, but long enough for ice cream.
Growing up, ice cream was a real treat. It was something very special.

Often people have described a boat as a hole in the water in which to throw money — or something like that. And, there is considerable truth in the saying.
As I sit at the computer writing this column, the boat repair guy is due on Monday to work on my old 60-horse motor. There’s always something to repair, to spend money on.
But, on the flip side, my boats have always given me lots of pleasure fishing the Ohio River, skiing, exploring river banks for a picnic spot, watching birds or just enjoying the scenery at Kentucky Lake or Green River.

When crappie fishing from a boat, is it better to push your lines or pull your baits? Why use all the same rods? Why number them? Why fish the rods out the front of the boat when trolling rather than the sides?
These were some of the questions that Bill Braswell, a former Kentucky conservation officer, answered at a recent Crappie Master seminar at Bass Pro Shops store in Orlando, Fla. His tournament trail fishing partner, Dan Dannenmueller, also provided information and answers during the seminar.

Few people could have envisioned the success of the elk reintroduction effort in Kentucky. It has succeeded the dreams of even the most optimistic planners.
Elk once roamed the eastern Kentucky hills, valleys and mountains, but then for decades disappeared from the landscape. Then Kentucky biologists and the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation began discussing and planning the reintroduction, which resulted in transplanting seven elk from Western Kansas in 1997.