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VOLUME 26 NO. 4 April 2007
THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING, Thursday, (first Thurs. of month) April 5, 7:30 PM, AT THE CLUB HOUSE, PROGRAMS: Special Speaker for April: John Burton takes us on an entertaining and informative visit to NUNAVIT Future Meeting Events: May: Dr. Scott Petrie will share his experiences with waterfowl research at Longpoint Reserve. June: Hotdogs and Beer night. PRESIDENTS CORNER It’s almost April and the time of year for myself and the Executive to extend a hardy welcome to all the new members who just joined our club this year. The S.S.A. can be a very rewarding experience so I’m urging all new members to get involved in the numerous activities, committees, fellowships and friendships to be found in our association. Please jump right in and don‘t be afraid to volunteer. The Sydenham Sportsmen’s Association is all of us working together to keep our club the top conservation and sporting club in the province. I would also like to take the time for a special congratulations to Jack Doherty who has just won the “Gord Blake Memorial Award”for The Volunteer Conservationist of the Year 2006. Well done Jack, and very deserved award for all the hard work and effort you have put in over the past years. Bill Douglas, President. New Members: SSA welcomes new members Bill Keill, Family, Owen Sound Lucas Hunt, Student, Shallow Lake 2007 Board of Directors and Committee Chair YOUTH ACTIVITIES PROGRAM We have been down to the OFAH conference in Toronto with 8 youths for an exciting weekend of activities, a big thank you to Cliff and Georgina Springer for helping to transport the kids and chaperone the event. I know the kids appreciate your commitment and they had a great time. The kids got to see the Ringwood Hatchery in operation and go fishing at Burd's Trout Farm, Mitch Turner caught 8 rainbows !! The kids also had a hike of the Ringwood property and put up 2 bird boxes and saw a brushpile created for rabbit habitat . This was followed by an afternoon of activities at the Toronto Sportsman's Show .There will be meetings on the 1st of April and the 15th at 11 am at the SSA clubhouse .On the 15th Realpro Sports in Hepworth is coming to make fishing lures with our club members. This will be followed on the last weekend of April with a trout fishing outting to be organized at the April meetings. We are starting to plan for the Father's Day Weekend canoe trip down the Saugeen . As we did last year we plan to camp at Saugeen Bluffs and go upstream towards Walkerton and paddle downstream to the camp. These events requires some planning so those wanting to be involved need to let me know ASAP. We also have a tree order in to do a wildlife habitat / stream rehabilitation project and we will need as many young hands to help out as possible. The date will be determined when trees arrive from the nursery, probably in early May. Anyone needing information regarding these events or wanting to get youths involved in the SSA Get Outdoors Club can contact me at jkmcnamara@persona.ca or call 519-369-3269. John McNamara Youth Activities Chair
HANDGUN The CFO has returned our ATT's in record time and I took them to the meeting on March 1st. Unfortunately the weather didn't co-operate and most of them went home with me. I will take them to the April meeting and I would like to hand out as many as possible to cut down on the time and cost of mailing . There have been significant changes made to the issuing of ATT's and it is imperative that all holders of an ATT through our club are aware of the ramifications. An ATT, as now issued, is valid only until the expiry of your firearms licence ( POL or PAL ). This is to enable the workload at the CFO's office to be spread over a longer period of time, much like the issuing of a drivers license. The ATT's issued to our members are valid for as long as five years for those who recently renewed their firearms licence, and as short a time period as ten days for members whose firearms license is about to expire. The CFO will not issue another ATT until a new firearms license has been issued and an ATT application made through the SSA, via the Handgun Chair. This step ( renewal of an ATT ) has been made easier as only one executive signature is required to verify the details of the applicant. This must still be done via. the Handgun Chair of the SSA. The issue if a new ATT should now be much faster due to the staggering of the expiry dates. If you have any questions about this process (and I'm sure there will be some), ask and ye shall receive. Stew Wallace, Handgun Chair, S S A Awards Programme Thursday, March 1, 2007 The following are the S S A Awards for last year. (2006) . 1. The John Campbell Adult Chinook Salmon Trophy was presented to Jack Doherty. Jack caught a salmon with an estimated weight of 11.74 lb. Congratulations Jack! 2. The Cliff Clarke Adult Rainbow Trout Trophy has been won by Geoff Ford. Geoff’s fish had an estimated weight of 9.36 lb. 3. The S S A Adult Smallmouth Bass Trophy, was given to John McNamara. John’s fish had an estimated weight of 3.64 lb. 5. The S S A Hand Gun attendance Trophy, donated by Georgian Awards. This goes to Mark Corden, who makes the Hand Gun 6. The Hand Gun High Average Trophy is donated by member Gary Cameron. Dan Peters is the winner for 2006. Well done, Dan! 7. The Best Turkey Trophy has been designed and donated by club member Dave Hartrick. This new trophy is being presented for the first time. The winner for 2006 is club member Scott Grant. Scott’s tom is unique in that it has a double beard and scores 78.685. Congratulations Scott! 10. The Junior Sportsman of the Year trophy was donated by a deceased Life Member, the late Louis de Haas. Kyle Phillips is the deserving recipient for 2006. Congratulations Kyle!! 11. The Sydenham Sportsmen’s Association Adult Conservationist of the Year. Jack Doherty! Comment by John Ford: Finally, let me remind you that we hope to present many more awards next year for the 2007 year. We have fish awards for juniors, students and adults. For the fish, you need to complete the entry form, measure the fork length and girth, have the information witnessed and turned into Watson’s Tackle House. When you harvest your turkey, have the form completed at Watson’s Tackle House and Drew will provide the score. The same is true when you shoot your buck this fall. Your committee is prepared to do the work for our Awards System but its success depends on you! Your Help is Requested!! We are trying to “collect” the remaining O F A H Conservation Lottery tickets passed out to S S A members at club meetings. Thanks very much for your help. Again this year, we will sell 300 books of tickets, which results in $1800 for S S A Conservation Projects. Request submitted by John Ford
Youth Activities Program This article was to be inserted in March’s Newsletter. 10 youths and 3 adults survived our winter campout !! We all had a great time spent outdoors all weekend building shelter, going on a night hike , playing games , etc. Our next outing is going to be March 4 at 11:00 am at the SSA hatchery followed by ice fishing on Wilders Lake near Durham .Anyone needing directions can call John McNamara at 519-369-3269 or email jkmcnamara@persona.ca. This will be the only meeting in March as we will be at the Toronto Sportsman’s Show and OFAH Conference March 16-18. John McNamara Youth Activities Chair MAY DAY MAY DAY May 5, 2007 The SSA is teaming up with the Communities In Bloom again this year to clean up some of our city’s waterways. The kids especially enjoy pitching in on the fun, and helping with the clean up. There will be treats etc. with hotdogs at noon after the work is done. Starting time will be 9:00 am at the Owen Sound Rail and Marine Museum, where we will pick up the garbage bags. Requested by Brian Clements. http://www.great-lakes.org/fish_ont.html Topics in their February Issue: February 2007, Vol. 18, No. 2, http://www.great-lakes.org/
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Topics in their March Issue: Sea lamprey are wanderers........................ Bluebirds in Grey and Bruce The recovery of the Eastern Bluebird is a success story, largely due to the dedication of individuals and groups who built Bluebird Nest Box trails throughout Ontario. Our Association maintains over 1,000 nest boxes in Bruce and Grey Counties through the efforts of Gerry Powers, Lorne Smith and many other members. Now that Bluebirds are once again a common sight in the area, it is time to learn more about this species – what type of nest box do they prefer, how can we best protect them against predators, how many return to Bruce and Grey each year, do the adults come back to the same box every year. For the past two years, Cindy Cartwright has been banding the nestlings and adults to help answer some of these questions. Each bird is banded with combinations of a standard metal band and one or more colour bands. Nestlings banded in 2005 are wearing one light blue colour band and a metal band. Those banded in 2006 can be identified by the metal band and one orange colour band. Birds banded as adults wear 3-4 bands. SSA members are asked to report Bluebirds with bands to Gerry, Lorne, Cindy or Blake Smith. Children today are very busy running from school to sports to other scheduled activities. The small amount of free time that they have available is usually filled with computer games and TV. Many have never experienced the joy of freely exploring the outdoors and this is a concern for people who understand the importance of natural heritage activities. For the past five years, Cindy has been working with children in our area to reconnect them to nature through bird banding projects such as the Bluebird banding and other programs. All of the funds to purchase bands, equipment, and gas must be raised each year. Finding donations is difficult and most of the expenses are paid for out-of-pocket. Assistance with locating funding sources would be appreciated. Submitted by Cindy Cartwright, SSA member, FORESTS, WETLANDS & WILDLIFE It looks very much like the crust on the snow has given the turkeys what they needed to, to travel and get through this last blast of winter. They are moving around quite well and appear to be feeding freely. Their numbers seem to still be up with many smaller birds still showing up. Jack Doherty gave me a ride to the Zone H meeting in Midland on March 11th. We had to go through a hardwood area at the entrance to the sportsmen’s clubhouse. When we were driving along, we saw a lot of turkeys, a whole lot of turkeys, feeding on sumac. These big birds were perched right up in the branches, which I didn’t believe capable of supporting them, but there they were. We were so interested in the turkeys that we drove right past the entrance and didn’t realize it until we came to the boatyard at the lake ……and right behind us came Fred Geberdt and then Glenn Meads from the South Grey club . They had been gawking at the turkeys too, and that made them drive right - by the club entrance as well. There were enough feeding birds up in the sumacs that it really took our minds off where we were. Sumacs do make an excellent late winter food. The fruit is very nutrient and energy rich and is present at a time of considerable scarcity of most other winter foods. To give you an idea of just how valuable this is to us, I recently saw starlings, robins and one ruffed grouse all feeding vigorously on the fruit of the sumac stand at the SSA gate. So, sumac is something that we should be promoting for wildlife and planting it around our area. It is very easy to propagate just by digging up shoots with roots attached. In order to have a successful planting, you should have both male and female shoots. How do you tell boy sumacs from girl sumacs? Well, you look between the limbs, of course. Speaking of nuisance plants, that wildlife really like, did you know the burr of the burdock plant is a favourite winter food of turkeys? The turkey may sometimes pick away at the actual burrs, but the usual approach is for the birds to beat the plant with their wings, to knock the burrs apart and then to pick the small, oil-rich seeds off the snow. Something good our way comes. Doug VanHemessen, the local program Submitted by: Blake Smith, Co-chairman, Forests, Wetlands and Wildlife Advisory Committee FISHERIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE The hot topic in fisheries these days is VHS and it’s affect on the Great Lakes and the fish in them. Although the information on this disease is new and changing, we thought that we should share with you what is known about Viral Hemorrhagic Septicemia. There are four types of VHS, three of which are found in Europe, with the fourth (VHS Type IV) being found in the waters of Japan and on the east and west coast of North America. At this time it has been determined that the strain of virus in our Great Lakes is a mutation of Type IV VHS from the North Atlantic, and has been dubbed VHS Type IV b. It was first detected in Lake Ontario in 2005, but there seems to be some strong evidence that it was in Lake St. Clair as early as 2003. To date, the virus has been found throughout the Great Lakes System from the St Lawrence River, through to Lake Huron, excluding Lake Michigan and Lake Superior. In moving into Lake Huron it is only a matter of time before its effects will be found in Georgian Bay. VHS survives in both salt and freshwater environments, and has been detected in 40 fish species. This virus has the ability to survive outside a host body, in an open water environment for up to 14 days, before it dies. It thrives in cold and cool water with temperatures ranging between 3 degrees C. and 15 degrees C., being most active in the 3 to 5 degree range (causing the highest mortality rate). As temperatures move above 5 degrees towards 15, it becomes less active; not being able to survive above the 15 degree mark. Unfortunately our cold and cool water fish species can’t use temperature to combat this virus, since they wouldn’t be able to survive the temperature change either. Not all fish infected with VHS show signs of the disease, and any fish that survive the infection will become carriers. Seriously infected fish will have lesions, hemorrhaging and blood loss, which can be seen in the eyes, skin and internal organs. The fish will also be unusually dark in color, have bloated and fluid filled abdomens, and bulging eyes. Age makes no difference; VHS infects young and old. Should you come across a fish that you think has been infected by VHS, you must report the find (required by law) and take the “unfrozen” fish to the MNR, who in turn will take the appropriate steps to verify the find and report it to the proper authorities. VHS spreads through fish populations via fish urine and sex products, through water itself, when fish are schooling, feeding, or simply in close proximity to each other. Sportfishing, commercial fishing, aquiculture, hatcheries operations, fish stocking programs, great lakes shipping, bait fish operations, and birds have all been identified as possible vehicles in the spread of this virus. No doubt others will be added to the list. It has been determined that it is virtually impossible to stop the spread of VHS; the best we can hope for is to slow it down. Will the virus burn itself out? Will fish build up an immunity to it? None of this has happened in Europe as yet, and little hope is being held for it to happen here. In the mean time, the people that operate various activities in, on and around the waters of the Great Lakes are going to have to take responsibility for what they do and how they do it. Anglers are going to have to be aware of where they fish and what bait they use. Boats, trailers and As noted above, hatchery operations have been identified as potential avenues by which this disease can be spread. At the present time it would appear that what we are currently doing in our hatcheries is also sufficient to stem the spread of VHS. We may have to deal with issues as they relate to fish handling, egg collection, and sanitation of egg collecting equipment. Guidelines are sure to be issued by the ministry very soon; hopefully they won’t be too unrealistic and/or too expensive. We’ll keep you posted, as specifics become available. Having read all this information, please keep in mind that VHS is not harmful to humans. There is nothing to fear when you pull your chair up to the supper table and your spouse puts a platter of fish and veggies in front of you. Add a little tarter sauce and enjoy. Dennis Wiseman, Fish Advisory Committee Chairman Disclaimer: The editorial comments in this Newsletter do not always reflect the policies or opinions of the SSA. |
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