By George Franke

Sun Outdoors Writer

Back in October, sportsmen and women lost a good friend, Bob McNitt. "The Voice of Sportsmen" was a moniker he accepted graciously and lived up to. Although I had read his column and subscribed to the New York Sportsman for many years, I'd never met the man until one day drinking coffee at the Uptown Diner in Norwich. I recognized the face from pictures I had seen in magazines, so I sat down, introduced myself, and thus began a long friendship.

We hunted and fished together, attended NYS outdoor writer conventions, and brought that group together here in Norwich for a conference back in October, 2000. When people ask me "where were you on 9/11?" I remember quite well, I was brush hogging on his "back-40.” He touched many of our lives through his writing and personal connections, ever accessible to lend a hand. So, after his passing, I contacted Jeff Genung and Pat Newell here at the Evening Sun, and suggested we continue the Outdoors Column that Bob McNitt wrote for nearly four decades. Today is my inaugural column.