Industry leaders hunt birds Down East

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After bushwhacking our way through the far-flung bird covers of Washington and Penobscot counties, an enthusiastic group of bird hunters gathered in Forest City last week to talk about guns, dogs, life, and birds.

The Old Pat’s Society was back in town, staying at Lance and Georgie Wheaton’s Village Camps on East Grand Lake.

The Old Pat’s – the apostrophe is theirs, not mine, so please forgive the apparent punctuation faux pas – are a group of friends who have been meeting up each year since the 1970s to do a bit of hunting, tell more than a few stories (some of which we can actually print in these family pages), and eat like kings.

And while membership in the Old Pat’s Society is an exclusive honor – being related to a member is a good way to get in, although it’s no guarantee – the society also welcomes a few “invited guests” each year.

That’s how I gained entrance … and that’s how I met up with the fellows you’re going to meet.

Guys like Chris Dolnack, the senior vice president of the National Shooting Sports Foundation, the firearms and ammunition industry’s trade association.

Dolnack, who lives in Suffield, Conn., was also an invited guest, and we spent a day trailing behind the eager dogs of guide Bill Hamilton.

Guys like Charlie Herzog, of Ste. Genevieve, Mo., a board member of the Parker Gun Collectors Association you’ll hear more about this weekend.

And guys like James Jay Baker, a partner in a Washington, D.C., lobbying and legal shop called the Federalist Group.

Baker was a 20-year employee of the National Rifle Association and now represents the NRA, the National Shooting Sports Foundation, and Safari Club International and had a unique perspective on the challenges facing hunters.

Lawsuits have been filed in Minnesota and Maine to ban trapping in order to prevent the incidental take of lynx. And Baker says folks in Washington are paying close attention.

“Safari Club International, who we represent on Capitol Hill, we lobby for them – I heard from them yesterday while we were up here shooting grouse and woodcock that they had decided as an organization to intervene, I guess on behalf of the State of Maine, who are the defendants of the case,” Baker said.

Baker, who has been involved in national lobbying efforts for years, said the emerging pattern is clear.

“The organizations that bring these types of lawsuits – I’m not talking about the specific one in this case – but that type of organization I’ve been dealing with for well over 20 years and their stated goals are to stop sport hunting, to stop trapping, and they are affiliated with and have interlocking board members with organizations that want to ban firearms as well,” he said.

“My opinion, based on my own experience, is that they’re not going to be happy until firearms and hunting, and in this case trapping, are done away with,” Baker said.

Thus, there’s plenty of work for folks like Baker.

And plenty of work for folks like Dolnack, whose group is involved with a variety of projects that aim to show how enjoyable and safe the shooting sports can be.

“Almost everything we do is geared at either eliminating barriers to participation or creating opportunities so that people can participate in hunting and shooting,” Dolnack said. “Whether it’s trying to get more youth involved through our scholastic clay target program, which is essentially Little League for clay target shooting, or our Families Afield initiative, which is geared toward introducing legislation to get mentoring opportunities for first-time hunters.”

Another important project the NSSF is involved with is Project ChildSafe, in which millions of gun locks and safety kits have been given away.

Coming up …

In this weekend’s editions, I’ll take you back to Forest City and tell you a bit more about the Old Pat’s Society and their guests.

Art Wheaton invited me to join them for a couple of days of bird hunting last week, and a memorable time was had by all.

There are hunting camps all across the state, and groups that make plans to get together and enjoy the camaraderie in those special places in the Maine woods.

This group, however, is a bit … well … different. From its evening gun show to an evening featuring 2-inch-thick steaks and a bluegrass band for entertainment, the Old Pat’s Society knows how to have a good time.

Charlie Herzog, you’ll find, is quite a character. Art Wheaton, a retired Remington Arms executive who now consults for the company, is still a Maine boy at heart and remains passionate about the outdoor pursuits that have helped shape his life.

And the others you’ll hear about? Well, they’re pretty interesting, too.

I look forward to telling you more in the days ahead.

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