George Weekly Diary

This Diary is updated on a weekly basis each Monday night. We maintain four weeks of information on this page at all times. Our intention with this page is to bring helpful information to you on a weekly basis. Please feel free to E-mail us with your questions and comments.

I was able to send out the shoot flyers and prize list for this year’s 12th Annual Trad Shoot today (Monday). I also posted the same information on the Trad Gang site for upcoming traditional events. This will help keep the excitement up and leave a venue open for questions to be answered by us or other Tradgangers that have attended our shoot in the past.

Jason Fedora called last week to describe the takedown longbow that they will be supplying as first place in the event. The riser is to be black locust with bloodwood accents reinforced with black phenolic and the limb cores will be red elm and black walnut under clear glass. He expects the bow to be a right hand model at 68” and about 50# @ 28”. The bow will be available at the shoot to award to the top shooter with the winner having the option to get in touch with Fedora’s Custom Bows if any changes are required (switch to Left Hand model, etc.).

I expect the 3D Book will be back from the printer this week and we will be able to get that mailed out within a couple of working days of receipt. When that chore is accomplished we will then be able to concentrate on getting the Indoor Shooting Leagues up and running by the 15th of January!

The 3D Book arrived and I am busily applying address labels and stamps. The snow is also falling down on the last day of 2008 which is a good enough excuse to have an inside job like working on mailing the 3D book to all of you archery buffs that are waiting for spring to arrive! (Mailed on 12/31.)

Electric Heater Update: My December bill shows a usage increase of $125.98. After I took away my projected kerosene costs of $109.00 I was left with an increase of $17.00. I am still ahead however because I didn’t have to take two hours out of my life to go and pump Kero into my 21 gallons worth of containers twice during the month with the snow blowing around me! I didn’t have to spend the gasoline to drive 20 miles to get it either and I didn’t have to fill my heater every day for 31 days as well. I can say that the new heater is still ahead of the aggravation!

Upcoming Events 2009

January 15		Indoor leagues start at Tollgate Bowhunting Supply

February 8		12th Annual Tollgate Tradtions Indoor 3D Shoot *Click here for event flyer and prize list.*

March 8		Indoor 3D Benefit Shoot for NYB Youth Camp Program at Tollgate Bowhunting

April 18		Bowhunter Educaton Course at Tollgate Bowhunting Call 315-822-5893 for information

July 11-12		Second Annual Oxford Traditional Archery Rendezvous for information http://oxfordarchers.webs.com/index.htm

August 8-9		27th Annual Muzzy Stump Shoot *For info call:* *Yvonne @ 770-387-9300*

The 2009 3D Schedule has been added to the website (Click) and a printable version is available either from george’s Diary or from the menu on the left side of the page. The copy of the 3D book has been sent to the printer and we should have it back early next week for mailing. When that is done, it will be done for another year!

Back to the sales tax collection issue: On December 20th I received a post card from the Department of Taxation and Finance advising that some sales tax forms did not get mailed out (I knew that already!), that the old forms were discontinued and a new form was now required (I knew that too!) and the new forms could be downloaded from the state website. In addition, we were advised that paper returns were no longer to be mailed by the state and in the future sales taxes must be either filed on line or by sending in the proper forms (also available on line).

It seems to me that the little small business owner is going to find it difficult to collect and pay his sales taxes if he doesn’t invest in a $2000 computer and go on line with a $25.00 a month internet service provider (ISP). Plus, learn how to use all of that trash overnight!

The beefer that we purchased earlier this year went off to the butcher today (Monday) and I have called in with cutting instructions. In a couple of weeks we will have our freezer full once again for another year. If you have to eat meat (and many people choose not to) we have found that locally raised animals taste much better than store bought stuff and are probably safer to eat than animals that are finished off on a feed lot somewhere out west.

We have had a last minute Christmas shopping rush from our website! Shipped a bow to Indiana yesterday and one to Arkansas today and we have a potential customer waiting for Christmas day to find out if Santa left him enough Christmas money to order a new bow! I have to love the internet when the snow gets deeper daily and my parking lot gets smaller with each visit of the plow truck. Then we get a phone call and an order from somewhere in the US where the sun is shining and the wind is still blowing the dead leaves around on the ground.

Upcoming Events 2009

January 15		Indoor leagues start at Tollgate Bowhunting Supply

February 8		12th Annual Tollgate Tradtions Indoor 3D Shoot *Click here for event flyer and prize list.*

March 8		Indoor 3D Benefit Shoot for NYB Youth Camp Program at Tollgate Bowhunting

April 18		Bowhunter Educaton Course at Tollgate Bowhunting Call 315-822-5893 for information

July 11-12		Second Annual Oxford Traditional Archery Rendezvous for information http://oxfordarchers.webs.com/index.htm

August 8-9		27th Annual Muzzy Stump Shoot *For info call:* *Yvonne @ 770-387-9300*

We received a notice on 12/10 that new legislation requires that we renew our sales tax Certificate of Authority. The notice also points out that there is a $50.00 fee required for the application.

At this point I must add that our last certificate issued (FREE) was dated 06-04-97 and we have been collecting and paying what we collected on a quarterly basis since that time. Now it seems that if I want the privilege of collecting and paying it is going to cost me $50.00. Trust me when I say that we can ill afford to pay the state anything for that esteemed honor!

In the correspondence I was advised that the fastest way to conform was to make application on line. This morning at 8:00 AM I made that attempt and after seven failures my final window read: “A system failure has occurred.” So I called the phone number listed in the paperwork (and after listening to the computer generated instructions) I was advised that the paperwork would be sent to me in four to six weeks.

Well, that is fine with me as now I can defer the cash outlay for the application fee for a couple of months!

The registration deadline for the Central New York 3D Schedule was December 15th and I can now report that we didn’t lose any advertisers and we will soon be putting the 2009 dates together. I have given our printer the heads up and I anticipate that we will be sending the book out for printing by next weekend. Hopefully we will be loading the schedule into the website with next week’s Diary entry.

We will have a Bowhunter League on Thursday evenings (open to compound bow shooters), our Traditional League on Fridays for Recurves and Longbow shooters and a mixed league on Saturday evenings. All of these adult leagues have a weekly charge of $12.00 and will start on January 15th. They are comprised of a maximum of ten two-person teams and will shoot a thirty target competition on McKenzie 3D targets each week. Cash awards are made at the conclusion of the 16 week session for first, second and third place teams in addition to an award for the high average shooter and most improved archer in each league.

For the young archers we also have a twelve week Kid’s League that is shot on Saturday afternoons at 1:00 PM. The cost is $5.00 a week for youth shooters (ages 5 to 14) and any style of equipment can be used. The league is finished off on the 12th week of competition with awards and a party for all of the competitors. This league starts on Saturday, January 17, 2009.

Upcoming Events 2009

January 15		Indoor leagues start at Tollgate Bowhunting Supply

February 8		12th Annual Tollgate Tradtions Indoor 3D Shoot

March 8		Indoor 3D Benefit Shoot for NYB Youth Camp Program at Tollgate Bowhunting

April 18		Bowhunter Educaton Course at Tollgate Bowhunting Call 315-822-5893 for information

July 11-12		Second Annual Oxford Traditional Archery Rendezvous for information http://oxfordarchers.webs.com/index.htm

August 8-9		27th Annual Muzzy Stump Shoot *For info call:* *Yvonne @ 770-387-9300*

Electric Heater Update: I have the electric bill for the month of November. It was $39.54 more than last year but I did not have to spend $120.00 for kerosene for supplemental heat so I expect that we saved $80.46! Still looking good for the EdenPURE electric heater!

The last time that I worked on the backstop in the range I rebuilt it to install the Block Range Targets. As you know that was several years ago and at the time I redid the bottom portion with some nice old barn board that I had in storage. Since we went to shooting 3D targets in the range every MISS meant an arrow traveling at high speed into the wood! As a result the 100+ year old weathered barn board has taken a terrible beating so I am replacing some of the damaged wood with new pine 1X12’s.

We recently added a new bow quiver line to our product mix. This is the Kanati Quiver from Anneewakee Archery. We will be carrying two models: The Pro model which attaches to the bow limbs and the Angle model which attaches to the riser with a rubber strap system that allows the quiver to be easily removed from the bow. We will sell both models for $85.00 and we are in the process of photographing the units for inclusion in our Accessories page. If you want to see them before we get our website updated

As you may remember I have been kind of following the black bear issues in the state of New Jersey over the past few years. This news release of 12/3/08 from the US Sportsman’s Alliance may be of some interest to you:

Three state legislators have called on New Jersey Governor Jon Corzine to do something about the state’s growing bear problem in a December 1 press release, Senator Steven Oroho (R- Franklin Burrough) and Assemblypersons Alison Littell McHose (R- Franklin) and Gary Chiusano (R- Frankford Township) called on Corzine to “adopt scientifically-valid policies in light of a dramatic upswing in bear-related complaints and damage incidents.” The release was issued as new numbers compiled by the state Division of Fish and Wildlife illustrated a massive increase in bear-related complaints. Calls to the state regarding bears increased 96.7 percent in 2008.

The legislators pointed to the increasing number of damage and nuisance complaints over the past year. Those complaints increased from 896 in 2007 to 1,845 in 2008. Additionally, according to the release, complaints involving risk to public safety or property rose 155 percent.

The press release criticized the Governor’s bear management policy as being “based on little more than a reflexive opposition to hunting, disregard of science and a dose of wishful thinking.” Furthermore, it states that while the Governor “has rejected our attempts to implement a reasonable and science-based policy to deal with the escalating bear crisis, it is time for the Governor to announce what he intends to do to protect the safety of the people of northwestern New Jersey…”

New Jersey’s bear management policy has been a recurring issue. The U.S. Sportsmen’s Alliance Foundation (USSAF) sued the state in 2006 to permit the hunting of bears.

Upcoming Events 2009

January 15		Indoor leagues start at Tollgate Bowhunting Supply

February 8		12th Annual Tollgate Tradtions Indoor 3D Shoot

March 8		Indoor 3D Benefit Shoot for NYB Youth Camp Program at Tollgate Bowhunting

August 8-9		27th Annual Muzzy Stump Shoot *For info call:* *Yvonne @ 770-387-9300*