Youth Fish & Game Association is making campers happy

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Midway through Tuesday’s water safety lesson, pandemonium broke out on the waters of Pickerel Pond. And for the record, none of the 44 campers – all between the ages of 8 and 11 – was responsible.

The paddlers who couldn’t resist starting a good, old-fashioned water fight weren’t youngsters at all. Dave Georgia, a state game warden by profession, but a driving force behind Maine’s Youth Fish & Game Association, was one of the culprits. Club president Travis Roy, an Old Town police sergeant, quickly got involved.

After that, it was just a matter of time before several of the campers began taking good-natured paddle-swipes at the water, hoping to soak their new friends.

Welcome to the MYFGA’s first-ever youth summer camp where, sometimes, it’s hard to tell the instructors from the kids. Each group, it seems, is just too busy having fun.

“The weather’s cooperating, the kids are having a good time, and they’re going home really tired, so I guess we’re doing something right,” Roy said.

Roy said Monday – the camp’s opening day – all the activity proved too much for one tuckered camper.

“We had one fall asleep on the bus [back to town] last night,” he said. “The counselors had to wake him up to get him off the bus at the end of the day. So I’d imagine his parents are pretty happy with us.”

Roy said club members and directors began planning for a summer camp shortly after the MYFGA was formed five years ago.

This year, club officers hired Kevin McPhee to run the camp, and scheduled two week-long sessions of the day camp.

Next week 12- to 15-year-olds will take over the MYFGA facility on Pickerel Pond, 11 miles outside of Milford on the Stud Mill Road.

A few slots are still open for next week’s sessions, camp organizers said.

And those who show up will be sure to get a healthy dose of outdoor education, with plenty of leadership lessons mixed in.

“It’s really exciting at that age, to be able to have them have that ‘Aha’ moment [and] say, ‘Wow, it may be all right to help somebody else, too,'” McPhee said.

“The earlier we can get them and start working on those types of skills, the better off we all will be,” McPhee said. “Some day these kids will be teaching my kids, so I’ve got a very strong motivation to care, to know them by name, to be able to help them understand that we’re really proud that they’re taking the initiative to do a camp such as this.”

Teamwork is stressed, as are a few core rules: Listen when someone’s talking. Watch what they’re teaching you.

On Tuesday, McPhee set a group goal that may seem to have little to do with the outdoors. It did, however, have everything to do with the environment he’s trying to build.

That goal: Make three new friends by the end of the day … and be ready to tell McPhee who those new friends are.

Camper Anthony Mason of Bangor said he had a good time at camp Monday, and looked forward to more fun and learning.

“I learned how to get ready to go fishing, and I’ve also learned … I can’t remember … oh, yeah. Compass and maps,” Mason said. “[Today] we’re gonna learn how to kayak and what to do if a kayak flips over, and we’re going to be at the firearms range, and we’re probably gonna have a surprise and it’s probably gonna be going swimming.”

Mason didn’t realize it, but the true surprise was a bit more elaborate than a simple swim: A Blackhawk helicopter was scheduled to land at Pickerel Pond during the campers’ lunch break.

All of which, it would seem, was pretty exciting for all of those at camp … campers and soggy counselors alike.

Salmon decision comes today

The debate is over, and the time for action has finally arrived: Today is the day the Maine Atlantic Salmon Commission takes action on a proposed fall fishery on the Penobscot River.

The Penobscot, along with the rest of Maine’s rivers, has been closed to Atlantic salmon fishing since 1999, and the proposal on the board would institute an experimental fishery on the Penobscot this fall.

The ASC will vote on the matter at its regularly scheduled meeting, which will be held – appropriately, many would assert – at a site overlooking one of the Penobscot’s salmon pools.

The meeting begins at 9:30 a.m. at the Eddington Salmon Club. The public is welcome to attend.

SAM moose permit swap update

If you’re one of the lucky few who received a moose permit in last week’s lottery, but you’d really rather hunt in a different zone, the Sportsmen’s Alliance of Maine can help.

Hunters can sign up on SAM’s database to take the first step toward swapping permits with hunters in other zones.

For more information, go to SAM’s Web site at www.samcef.org.

Good luck, and happy swapping!

John Holyoke can be reached at jholyoke@bangordailynews.net or by calling 990-8214 or 1-800-310-8600.