Hello Members! The day was beautiful, with white puffy clouds filling the blue sky and fresh cool breezes coming up the canyon. The flowers were profuse on the hillsides and the green grasses framed the clear, sparkly dark green Payette river, flowing energetically past the pickup area. The four of us arrived by 9:30 am at the turnout and split into two groups, Dave and Lisa Hall going north and Bill and Janet Houlihan going south. We worked collecting trash into the bright orange bags and hauling discarded tires from the brush. We filled 12 bags and removed about 11 tires. After two and a half hours of pickup, we decided to call it a good effort and adjourned for the barbecue and Bowbirds, where Dave Parks was waiting for us on Pearl Road with the barbecue grill almost ready to go. I say almost because we didn’t have a match among us to light the grill. Janet flagged down a passing truck and the driver gave us a lighter, so we were cooking the burgers in no time. Lisa spread out the fixin’s on a table she brought and we feasted on delicious burgers, chips and cookies. After resting and digesting for a while, we got up to shoot the blue flying discs. Bill launched the “birds” and we had a great session of shooting flu flu arrows into the sky. Dave and Janet connected with a couple of the discs, which was very satisfying after about 120 attempts!
Even though we didn’t have a lot of participants, we had a wonderful day in the incredible outdoors we have here in Idaho.
Next year we are considering selecting a different section of highway that will allow access earlier in the year so we won’t have conflicts with snow, and with bear and turkey seasons. We are also looking for the highway area to have a piece of public land that is close enough to do our Bowbirds and barbecue in the same locale. Keep your eyes open for that perfect spot. We were considering that each region could do a regional pickup. This could allow the Adopt-a-highway signs advertising the Idaho Traditional Bowhunters to be placed in all four regions of the state and the regional directors would then be responsible in getting the pickup organized. We learned that even if just four people show up to pick-up up trash, we can have a positive impact!
All for now! Western States is coming up soon and I hope to see many of our members there!
Next Zoom meeting is Thursday, May 9, 2024.
Regards, Janet Houlihan
