The end of regular rifle season ended better than I expected with the harvesting of some deer after my late season push was made. My wife swears that I wait until the last moment to fill a tag, but that really isn't the truth … I just need the opportunities!

Christmas is this weekend and I am moving on to thinking of what all of my friends want or need for their holiday festivities.

Shotgun Mike wants to hit the tributaries of Lake Erie looking for some steelhead trout … so he's going to need a 2022 fishing license and trout stamp. I gave Mike a lot of my Lake Erie supplies earlier in the year, so he is on his own!

My pal Beaver Boy will be off on his annual winter trapping exercises and I will need to find him some kind of supplies for that pursuit, but I am not sure.

Jimmy B is starting his seed collection for the early gardening season, so he might get a weather station to figure out between gardening time and fishing time.

I was able to make it through a pretty successful hunting season and am thankful for my health and safe travels.

I got a phone call from one of my faithful readers who gave me a correction on the doe season's start date. Thanks for the help and we got it corrected …must be getting old! I do know that the PF&BC is going to start the trout season really early this year. Kid's Fishing Day is the last Saturday in March and the Statewide Trout opener is on April 2 at 8 a.m. Plan on dressing warm as that date is about the earliest that I can remember for the opening day.

New Year resolutions have been coming up in the conversations lately. Making them isn't hard, it's keeping them that is the hard part. I do plan on doing a bit more fishing with my friends and maybe trying out some new places. I am also going to try to spend more time with old fishing buddies that I haven't spent as much time with that I would have liked.The professor wanted to get the gang together for a fishing trip for a day and have the griddle with us for some lunch on the stream. Sounds like a plan and you can count me in, buddy!I cleared up my schedule for 2022 and I have lots of time to hang out.My nephew has wanted me to come down to Virginia to go crappie fishing with him for a long time. I never made the time, but this year I have resolved to keep my promise and make it down for a fishing adventure. I got him a new fillet board and an electric knife that needs to be field tested. He fishes year-round on Lake Anna and knows all the hot spots, so he has the hard part done for us.I am working on a new rifle and scope combination for those long-range shooting opportunities and I will need to get them dialed in for the upcoming hunting seasons. Hopefully, I will be able to find the ammunition or loading supplies to do the job correctly.I'm also going to work on better locations to do my hunting openers. It seems like I am always scrambling at the last moment. What's the point of having stands and then not using them?I also plan to get more serious about my archery hunting. This year my prime hunting period was disrupted by my elk hunting plans, but sometimes you have to make a decision on what you want to do the most. This year, it will likely be a decision to be more focused on archery. I will check out the equipment and decide if it is OK or if it needs to be upgraded.

I stopped in to see my friends, the Zanella Milling boys, for my usual supply of bird feed. The truth is that sunflower seeds, corn and grains in general are going up just like everything else. Like I told Mark and Matt, the birds have counted on us for many years and they can count on us this year as well.The winter flock birds are some of our most favorite to observe. These include the nuthatches, dark-eyed juncos, tufted titmouse, chickadees, and all the woodpecker clans. They love the black oil sunflower seeds as well as the variety of suet cakes that we place out for them. Along the way we get plenty of other bird and wildlife visitors as well.Don't forget that the first of the new year is the time to get your bird houses in good repair or placed as well.Until we meet again, Happy New Year!Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle