Don’t wait to do the things you’ll need to do to enjoy the summer. Get your fishing license and conservation stamp now, while your checking account is still fat from your tax return. Standing on the riverbank, watching a guy in a red shirt and green vest coming your way is a bad time to realize you don’t have the required paperwork.
Pull the tent out of the garage and set it up in your back yard. Use the spring storms to make sure your portable home still sheds water. You don’t want to be ten miles deep in the wilderness when you find out your tent lets more water in than it keeps out. If you find some leaky spots, slap some waterproofer on them now, when you can leave the tent up long enough to dry.
Strip your fishing gear down and oil your reels. Replace the line that’s been wound around the spools since the Reagan administration, unless you enjoy telling about the one that got away.
While you’re getting ready for the summer, you might as well prepare for the fall, too. If you haven’t done it already, sign up for a hunter education course. If you were born in 1965 or later, you’ll have to have a hunter safety card to hunt in Wyoming. Call your local Game and Fish regional office to find out when and where the next class is offered in your area.
So get everything ready for your upcoming outdoors adventures now. Don’t wait until the night before you plan to leave town to make sure everything works the way it should. When you’re showing your valid fishing license to the game warden, listening to the rain patter on your tent’s fly or reeling in the new state record brown trout, you’ll be glad you planned ahead.
