Brad woulda' been proud.  The paper that started on a shoe string and stayed there for so long has been doin' real good for a couple years now.  Not that it's ever been easy but it sure got easier as we met new friends and learned new things.  All of us that hooked up with OAJ right from the start were kinda' outdoorsy to begin with but we had to hone our edges a bit. We had to do the research and verify the facts and eliminate the fish stories… so to speak.  No more talkin' about 300 pound bucks or 14 pound bass unless we actually had seen the real thing.  Kinda' tough around mahogany ridge at the start when we had to curb the tall tales that tended to get taller as the barrel got emptier.  It was all in good fun but we had to learn to be careful around the uninitiated.  The damnedest thing happened… people started to believe us when we wrote somethin'.  Ya' know what they say about not believin' everything ya' read in the papers?  Well, you could always believe what OAJ told ya'.  At least as far as we can tell.  We've been real careful.  We kinda' developed a philosophy as we went along that people depended on us to give 'em the straight skinny regardin' fishin' and huntin' and gun rights and things like that.  We tried real hard to be accurate and honest and up to date.  Brad woulda' been proud.

The Outdoor Adventures Journal is closin' it's doors, not that we ever actually owned any doors but you know what I mean.  It's not 'cause we went broke, we're makin' a few bucks at this.  It's not 'cause we can't keep up with the competition, there is no competition.  It's not  'cause people don't like us.  Unless people are pullin' our legs, there's quite a number of you who very much like what we do every month.  It certainly isn't because we no longer like what we've been doin', hells bells, we was just gettin' started to enjoy it.  Felt like we been on a roll for a while now.  It wasn't because we weren't successful… maybe it's because we got too successful.  The paper just got to be too big… too much for four or five of us to handle.  Most of ya' know that we've got regular jobs and families and social obligations and like that.  Just like real folks.  Tom said, "we've just maxed out, fellas.  We're stretched too thin."  He was right.  Seven counties and the Ontario corridor all the way to the St. Lawrence, hundreds of drops plus the writin' and editing and billing (never one of our favorite tasks but ya' gotta' pay the printer). OAJ right from the start has always tried to follow our original intentions and priorities.  Educate, inform and entertain Western New York's outdoorsmen, young and old but with a bent toward our young people.  They're the ones that are gonna' carry on our traditions, not you and me, Sparky. Families and friends is what we've been about, and following the rules and being examples and teaching better ways to do things.  And outdoor adventures of all shapes and sizes.  We'd like to keep it goin' but we gotta go.  I guess the reason we can't carry on is because we feel that we can no longer fulfill our obligations to you guys.  Our advertisers expect us to disseminate (see, there's another word I learned) our paper and their ads over a wide area in a timely manner, and we did.  Clubs and organizations and the DEC expected us to print an accurate outdoor calendar every month, and we did.  We've explained the laws, new and old, good, bad and proposed and took a stand when we thought we needed to.  Companies expected honest product reviews and readers expected to get something interesting and informative and maybe a little humorous every month.  I think we did a pretty good job and had fun doin' it..  But it's gotten to the point where we can't keep up with OAJ and our families and jobs both.  Not to mention that, while we write about huntin' and fishin' and trappin' and hikin' and such every month, most of us have had to slow those activities that we love right down to nothin'.  Gotta' get the paper out, doncha' know?  We did a pretty good job all things considered.  Brad woulda' been proud but we gotta' go.

One of the great pleasures and privileges Billy and the boys have had over the past five years is meetin' so many people who believe in the same things and enjoy the outdoors in so many different ways.  I ain't gonna try to run down a list of these good folks 'cause sure as I'm sittin' here I'd forget a passle of 'em.  I'm just gonna' say thanks, thanks a lot.  You know who you are.  I gotta thank the "behind the scenes" guys too.  The guys who delivered for us for friendships sake and because they believed.  The wives who put up with meetings and trips and "paper weekends."  The advertisers who believed in us.  The many people who contributed to Outdoor Adventures with articles and pictures and questions (especially you people who submitted easy questions).  Our subscribers of course, who will, by the way, be getting reimbursed for the pro-rated portion of their subscriptions, deserve a round of applause for sharing a bit of OAJ all over this great country of ours.  Conservationists and authors and trainers and guides.  Hunter Safety Instructors and you guys and gals that took kids fishin' or huntin' or just walkin' in the woods.  People that cared and chose to do the right thing.  Thanks to all.

Well, I think we did it.  I think that for five plus years anyway we filled that niche that Brad thought needed fillin' in this part of the state.  If nobody else knows how hard we worked he probably does.  Maybe if he hadn't started this little enterprise on top of everything else he did he'd still be with us.  Who knows?  Maybe somebody else can step up and do a good job.  There's a few that are tryin'.  But we gotta' go. Be careful out there and remember that folks are watchin' and waitin' for you to blow it.  Don't give 'em the satisfaction.  It's been real.

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