Kulbacki is outdoorsman turned author
Joe Kulbacki has pursued a lifetime of outdoors experiences. Now he's trying his hand at an indoor activity — writing.
His new 300-page book, "America — A Nation That's Lost Its Way," analyzes the progresses and failures of the United States. Kulbacki's book fosters a faith in self-reliance akin to the writings of Ralph Waldo Emerson. Like T.S. Eliot or George Orwell, he puts forth his ideas in the spirit of a warning rather than a dire prediction of doom.
"I never wrote as much as a short column before, but this writing project hit me four years ago and I've been working on it ever since," he said.
Maybe he thought about those subjects while hunting, as his involvements there are extensive.
An avid angler and hunter and a star high school athlete in northwest Pennsylvania, his devotion to the outdoors brought him to Western New York for a stint with the Buffalo Bills in 1960.
After his professional career ended, he would not let grass, or Astroturf, grow under his feet. Always in pursuit for big bucks with both bow and gun, he developed a career as an engineering consultant.
"My work took me all over the country, but I always found time to hunt and fish," he said of outings beyond Pennsylvania and New York.
"I went elk hunting in Wyoming but most of my fishing and hunting was in Colorado," he said of Western outings away from home. For Kulbacki, home has been Colden for more than three decades.
Added to his outdoors ventures, his skill at grape growing gained him credentials as a vintner. Today, he keeps a 10-acre patch of blueberries and cultures a 5-acre grape vineyard. "We've been doing this for 20-plus years," he said of his U-pick berry fields and wine-class grapevines."
And he's still proud of a record-setting moment while hunting.
"In 1986 I took a Boone and Crocket 12-pointer that scored 166," he said of a monster whitetail he had mounted. The deer is on record as the second largest in New York State that year.
To chat with Kulbacki about hunting, grape-growing, the Bills, and the beauty of being outdoors in Western New York, drop by S&S Taxidermy, Route 219 in Springville, from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. While you're there, ask him about his big buck.
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