Over the years, many of my friends and acquaintances have popped up in my stories as points of interest or just incidentally part of my tale for that day.

Most of the people had nicknames that were not given to them by their mothers, but more likely something that they came to be known as a kid or by accident by an action or behavior. We all know somebody that has a name like that … names like Lucky, Red, Big Bob or Little John … you know how that happens.

Well, I never had a guy tell me that he was sore at me because we never gave him a nickname … just his same old name that he has always had!

In a fun moment, I told this fellow that he has to earn his name by doing something great or not so great, by having some behavior or prominent feature that would be noticeable or even if he did something that made all of us take notice because of its frequency.

I told him not to be sore at me and that I would put on my thinking cap and come up with something for sure. When you go hunting or fishing with some fellows, you do get to observe a lot of stuff!

This spring, I had plenty of opportunities to wet a line with this fellow and see him in action. When you fish with guys, you get to share terminal tackle and new gadgets all the time. Little did I know that by sharing simple fishing equipment that I would come up with a new name for my buddy.

After careful consideration and discussion with another buddy, we both agreed that this name could have merit. One other component that is key to a good nickname is that it has to stand the test of time and stick with the guy. Maybe it will and maybe it will just be a laugh for a fishing trip or two.

It really started at Pymatuning Lake and then followed up at Lake Arthur on a few Crappie trips and I do mean crappy! We fished for hours and no fish were cooperating. We headed for the lily pads, the brush piles and the fallen tree tops looking for the fish.

My buddy did his best to get into the cover, but unfortunately, he kept snagging up and losing his hooks and bobber floats. Pretty soon. we were scrambling through the tackle boxes to find him a few back up bobbers to keep fishing with. After the first trip, I purchased some fresh supplies and presented my friend with a whole bag of the best bobbers' money could buy for $2!

We then made our plans for the second outing at Moraine and lo and behold, it was a repeat of the earlier trip! The bobbers just kept decorating the brush and shoreline on a frequent basis while we watched them drift off into oblivion.

The day ended with a critical shortage of bobbers once again and the search for a new nickname was still rolling around in our heads.

It wasn't until after church services and we were having our first coffee and doughnut since the pandemic lightened up. The discussion came up again about my friend being without a nickname and the light came on in our imaginations … it was like duh … we dub you Bobber!

I'm not sure how it really went over, but it will do until we get a better one. We even threatened him with buying more bobbers and using a permanent marker to write his name on them and a return address.

You know just like the old days when you wrote Kilroy was Here, instead we would write Bobber was Here! However, my wife really likes him (Bobber) and she voted that we just give him more bobbers and call him Kenny (oh well).

In other news, the 2021-22 hunting licenses will go on sale in a few weeks as the old licenses expire on June 30.

The Spring Gobbler season has come to an end and the turkeys have really quieted down. My buddy Albert Nagy asked me how the spring hunt went and I gave him an honest answer, they sell nice turkeys at Giant Eagle every day.I'd rather see them strutting about at this stage of my hunting career, funny how the years mellow you out. We've been checking out the Blue Bird Nesting Box Trail and we are happy to report that some nests produced new fledglings.Unfortunately, one good box was trashed by a local nuisance black bear and a nest of eggs was wasted as the box was knocked down. It takes a lot of diligence to keep the trail functional and used by the Blue Birds.

Don't forget that the Hunter-Trapper-Education Courses are now up and running with the PGC.You need to go on-line at the PGC site and go to education to locate a class and register for the course. This will help you be on time with your license purchases.You need to be 11 years old to take the class and remember that you can still purchase the licenses before you turn 12 and wait until your birthday to use them if your birthday falls later in the season.Until we meet again, keep on trying to do the right things in the great outdoors!<i>Jay Hewitt is an outdoors columnist for the Butler Eagle</i>