Brrrr! It’s cold outside!

Over the past couple of weeks, the thermometer on my deck here in Big Lake has read colder than 40 degrees below zero. I don’t mind the snow, but as I get older, I am finding that I sure don’t like this extreme cold.

Over the holidays, I managed to come down with a version of the crud currently making the rounds and, of course, my wife caught it too. Between the coughing and the cold weather, we’ve stayed close to home. The wood stove has been kept steadily stoked, we’re both about footballed out and I’m reading three books at the same time. I think everybody around our house (Debby, myself and the four puppies) is getting bored with the same daily routine these past couple of weeks due to illness and weather. As I feel better, I get the urge to go outside and do something, but usually hauling another cartload of firewood into the house quickly causes me to rethink that course of action. Baby, it’s cold outside!

With this down time, I’ve started looking ahead to events coming up in this new year. The main schedule of hunter education (HE) classes is posted on the Alaska Department of Fish and Game (ADF&G) Web site. If you are in need of that certification for any planned hunts you are working on for this year, now is the time to check the schedule and get enrolled in the appropriate class. Remember to get a 2009 hunting license too.

If you don’t know, the Hunter Education Program offers three courses: basic, which addresses most general HE requirements for hunting in Alaska, on military bases or special management areas and which fulfills requirements if you hunt in another state; bowhunter, which is required in Alaska for any archery-only hunts, archery permit drawings and for caribou along the Dalton Highway corridor; and muzzleloading, which is required for any drawing permits or weapons-restricted hunts where a muzzleloader is used.

In 2008, the Hunter Education Program certified 2,597 students in the basic course, 888 students in the bowhunter course and 364 students in the muzzleloading course for a total of 3,849 hunters receiving training from the overall program.

The New Year brings some changes to the HE curriculum.

For the convenience of folks needing a course but who have a problem making the scheduled classes, two of the three programs will be offered online. The bowhunter certification course was placed online in 2008. The basic certification course will be available online beginning Jan. 20.

Both of these courses have a mandatory online Hunter Education Field Day associated with the successful completion of either program. The field day is specifically tailored to complement the respective course. These days are also listed in the ADF&G Web site’s schedule of classes.

The muzzleloading class will be getting its own manual sometime this month and an online course will be developed for that certification this year as well. Because the muzzleloading course only accounted for 9 percent of the total courses offered statewide, it has been a little slower in developing. The basic course comprised 53 percent of all classes taught while the bowhunter program made up the remaining 38 percent of the 292 total classes taught statewide in 2008.

The volunteer instructors in the three disciplines donated 7,924 hours of time to the HE program last year. When you think about it, that’s quite an effort and shows the dedication these folks have for passing on their heritage of hunting to the next generation of hunters.

While we’re talking dedication, another group that gives a lot of free time toward making our hunting and fishing activities enjoyablem as well as assuring the health and survival of the fish and game sought in those outings, are the folks who sit on the local fish and game advisory committees across the state.

The Matanuska Valley Fish and Game Advisory Committee (MVFGAC) will be holding its annual election meeting tomorrow at 7 p.m. at the Wasilla High School auditorium. Seven of the 15 seats and the officers’ positions will be up for election.

If you have an interest in the work this advisory committee does and/or are interested in becoming a member, I suggest you attend to learn more about how the AC functions. Even if you’re not interested in holding a seat on the committee, you might want to consider attending the regular meetings to stay on top of what’s doing in the world of fish and game.

If you haven’t heard, the Alaska Board of Fisheries (BOF) has a new member. Retired Superior Court Judge Karl Johnstone of Anchorage was appointed to fill the remaining term of Jeremiah Campbell. I have not yet met Johnstone, but I participated in a BOF teleconference with him on Dec. 31. He brings a unique perspective with his judicial background and shows that he can listen, learn and comment based on a rational view of the topic.

First impression — he’ll make a fine addition to the board.

Howard Delo is a retired fisheries biologist with the Alaska Department of Fish and Game. You can leave him a message by e-mailing sports@frontiersman.com.