Editor's Roundup
USDA people in the news

It was a contest that combined the outdoor skills of Robinson Crusoe with the wild 'n crazy flair of Bart Simpson. But Bart Pals came away the winner--and lived to tell about it.

Pals, a district conservationist with the Natural Resources Conservation Service based in Effingham, Ill., garnered the title of Illinois Sportsman of the Year late last year. “And no, I didn’t have to live in the wilderness, pick my teeth with a hunting knife, or kill a wild animal and then skin and eat it for survival,” he quipped.

But he did have to compete in several outdoor events, plus succeed on a written test. Oh, and then there was the weird stuff.

According to Paige Buck, a public affairs specialist with the NRCS state office in Champaign, Ill., Pals won three individual events. They included rifle shooting--in which he hit paper targets of animals at various distances with a .22-caliber rifle- -rod casting--in which he had to cast his lure into hoops at various distances in a lake--and wildlife identification--a written test in which he was required to identify casts of animal footprints in the woods and slides of animals and birds in motion.

He also competed in shooting shotgun slugs at paper targets of deer, skeet shooting, flyfish casting, identification of slides of types of fish and other aquatic species, archery--using three-dimensional foam targets of wildlife--and a written test covering trapping and conservation law.

And how did the 26 contestants prepare for this 'outdoor decathlon’ of sorts, which was sponsored by the Illinois Department of Natural Resources?

“For the skills events, you can prepare just by practicing them or doing them,” Pals advised. “But on the written and identification tests, you either know it or you don’t.”

At least that’s the normal game plan for the events that are fairly predictable from year to year. But then there’s the notorious 'Final Event’ that’s 'anybody’s guess.’ This year it involved the use of fluffy “flu-flu” archery techniques.

“We were each issued an archery bow and five gaudy 'flu-flu’ arrows with oversized feathers,” he recounted. “Our job was to hit styrofoam plates from 20 yards away--as the plates were being tossed into a fierce wind.”

And how did Pals do in that particular event? “Let’s just say it’s a good thing I scored high in most of the other contests,” he laughed.

Pals noted that in previous years’ contests, the 'Final Event’ included backing a trailer-hitched boat between an obstacle course of pylons; constructing a fishing lure out of feathers, hooks, beads, thread, and glue--and then catch a fish with it; having to boil water within a certain amount of time, after being issued a bucket of water and three matches--but it was 'round up your own kindling’; and using a hunting knife to carve a slingshot out of a forked tree branch--and then hit a paper target with it.

“And hey, I was right up there--at least on some of those Final Events,” he recalled.

So, what did Pals do with the $1,500 first-place prize?

“Big shock,” he quipped. “I bought some more hunting and fishing equipment.”