Celebrating the Great Outdoors
Stephen Wowelko considered the backbone of the outdoor community in Central New York
By David Figura
Stephen Wowelko, an avid fisherman and hunter, is a well-known and influential personality on the Central New York outdoors scene.
It’s not because of his trophy catches or hunting exploits.
For more than four decades, the East Syracuse resident has served on and at times headed a number of local and state outdoors-related groups and boards.
He has played key roles in creating and volunteering at a wide variety of events and outdoor programs benefiting residents of all ages, along with successfully lobbying county and state officials on a variety of issues.
Wowelko, 67, also takes delight in preparing wildlife game and freshwater fish in unique and tasty ways. He’s on the Iron Skillet Seasonings pro staff and frequently gives cooking demonstrations at outdoor shows, wild game dinners at sportsmen’s clubs and at the annual Women in Nature events.
“Steve is the backbone of the outdoor community,” said Jim Froio, president of the county’s Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs. “The stuff he does with the NYS Conservation Council and his work for the Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs and other groups is beyond anyone’s call of duty. He is the heartbeat and soul of the CNY outdoors scene.”
Wowelko was inducted into the New York State Outdoorsmen Hall of Fame in 2010 for his accomplishments and currently serves as the Hall of Fame’s president.
Born and raised in Syracuse, Wowelko’s love for the outdoors came from his father, Andrij, who frequently took him and his brother, John, fishing as youngsters.
“My first fish was a sunny I caught on the Seneca River near Onondaga Lake,” he said.
Wowelko later got into hunting in his late teens with his brother. “The first thing I bagged was a squirrel and I’ve had a passion for squirrels ever since. I hunted for two to three years before I got my first deer,” he said.
Wowelko’s work career as an IT expert spanned 33 years at Syracuse University in the area of information technology services and as a computer analyst, followed by three years working for Crawford Technologies and doing various consulting jobs. He retired at 60.
His enthusiasm to volunteer goes back to his early 20s when he attended an open house at the county-run, Carpenter’s Brook Fish Hatchery in Marcellus. He was impressed by tour guide Ray Besecker.
“His passion showed right through what he was doing. It touched me. I went home and told my wife I really wanted to get involved at the hatchery and to give back,” Wowelko said.
Wowelko began helping out at the hatchery and was soon on the board of the Friends of Carpenter’s Brook Fish Hatchery. He served as the group’s president for nine years and continues to serve on the group’s board as vice president. He has played a key role in obtaining nearly $200,000 in grants for hatchery improvements and programs.
“Steve has been a major catalyst behind fundraising for all the improvements the Friends group has made at the facility including the acquisition of 80 acres of land, the Time Out to Fish pond, the pheasant rearing building to show the life cycle of the birds to kids and the Brookside Shelter for events,” said Mark Hettler, treasurer on the Friends board.
When the Onondaga County Legislature announced plans to close the hatchery in 2008, Wowelko successfully lead the charge to keep it open, emphasizing the facility’s economic impact on the area and its various programs.
Wowelko also became involved and became a board member for the Onondaga County Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, the largest sportsmen’s group in CNY, which represents nearly 40 sporting clubs with more than 10,000 members.
He served as president of the federation from 2008-15 and continues to serve its board. He has helped create and volunteered at many of the federation’s activities including the Women in Nature program and Sportsmen’s Days at the fish hatchery.
Sportsmen’s Days, which was backed by Honeywell and the county Federation of Sportsmen’s Clubs, was started as a tribute to National Hunting and Fishing Day. Wowelko began as the event’s chairman in 2005 and continued in that role for several years. Under his leadership, the two-day event grew from a total attendance of 400 to more than 6,000 by 2013 and continues to draw large crowds today.
As for his lobbying efforts, Wowelko has a reputation of contributing in a respectful, well-informed and common-sense way, whether it’s a question of angler access to Cazenovia Lake, antler restrictions for deer hunting, crossbow hunting or a youth hunting bill.
“Steve was probably the most active of the sportsmen and conservation advocates that I dealt with during my years with the DEC. He was at every meeting, contributing and advocating positions with an understanding of the regulatory and overall perspectives of what he was advocating for,” said Ken Lynch, the former regional director for the DEC’s Region 7 (CNY) who later was promoted to be the DEC’s executive deputy commissioner before leaving the agency in 2019 to do consulting work.
Lynch said he thought a change in DEC hunting regulations allowing the use of rifles to hunt deer in Onondaga County would never pass. But recently the law was changed. “I’m sure Steve played a big role in that and was probably the primary reason it did get approved,” he said.
Nancy Canavan, co-chair of the Women in Nature program, said Wowelko’s cooking demonstrations are “always a big hit.”
“I love to come up with recipes for things like squirrel, goose and other small game or for dishes using things like a deer’s heart or liver. I like to take advantage of the full animal after it is harvested,” Wowelko said. “I offered a squirrel dish and how to cook it at a Women in Nature demonstration. The women were totally amazed with how it tasted.”
He said several of his favorite recipes came from his mother. Others, he perfected through trial and error with input from his wife, Denise. She shares his love for the outdoors and over the years has helped him clean fish and process wild game.
“I figured if you could make tuna fish salad out of tuna, you should be able to make a salad out of pickerel (a bony, freshwater fish),” Wowelko said. “And come up with a recipe to make crab cakes out of (locally caught) fish. For people who are allergic to shell fish, it’s a wonderful thing to do.”
He said preparing wild game and fish the same way each time can get boring.
“You have to spice up life a little,” he said. “You can cook a lot of things with wine and liquor. For instance, using apple-flavored bourbon for pheasant is a wonderful thing. You just have to let your imagination go.”
Wowelko said one of his Syracuse University supervisors was amazed at how much time he put into all his outdoors activities and asked how much he was getting paid for his time and efforts.
“More than you can imagine,” Wowelko responded.
He recently explained: “It’s not in the money. It’s in the good deeds that you’re doing. If you’ve ever seen the face of a child who catches his or her first fish or that of a senior who has been in a wheelchair for years and is finally able to get outdoors and catch a fish. Or mentoring a young person on their first hunting trip.
“You just can’t imagine the joy that it brings you, the payback you’re getting from doing that.”
Honors and Recognition
In addition to being inducted into the New York State Outdoorsmen Hall of Fame in 2010 for his accomplishments (he currently serves as the Hall of Fame’s president), Stephen Wowelko has received several honors and recognition. Among them are:
• Named as one of The Post-Standard’s Heroes of Conservation in 2009;
• Received the Honeywell Hometown Hero Award for Conservation Efforts in 2014;
• He is a board member at New York State Conservation Council since 2010; at the DEC Region 7 Fish and Wildlife Management since 2001 (he was the chairman for the past 13 years); and the Citizens Task Force on Deer Management for DEC Region 7, since 2008.
TOP PHOTO: Fishing ranks high among Stephen Wowelko’s outdoor passions. He landed this sizeable, toothy pickerel while fishing on Oneida Lake.