THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING: THURSDAY APRIL 4TH, 7:30 PM, AT THE CLUB HOUSE, LINCOLN PARK ROAD, IN DERBY TOWNSHIP.

Note the following agendas for April and May General Meeting programs:
 

April Meeting:	Primus game call representative and turkey hunting guide Trevor Aljoe returns to the SSA April meeting to give lots of turkey hunting tips for the third year in a row. Plan to attend this interesting and timely presentation.
May Meeting:	The Research Director of the Long Point Waterfowl and Wetlands Research Fund at Port Rowan, Dr. Scott Petrie has agreed to come to the SSA clubhouse to talk about his fascinating work with wild bird research on Lake Erie. He is presently teaching Wildlife Ecology and Management at Western University as well as continuing his research. This will be the second year in a row that Dr. Petrie has agreed to be our guest speaker.

OFAH 74th Annual Conference - Kingston February 21-24, 2002

Your OFAH delegates recently attended the OFAH Annual Conference in Kingston, Ontario. Fred Hunt, Grant Ferris, Murray Smart and President Richard Manley with our spouses attended the many informative sessions and spoke informally with fellow conservationists about related issues. Mary Stephenson accompanied her daughters Laura and Sarah to the conference as well. They attended a number of regular sessions and the Get Outdoors Youth Program.

Congratulations to John Ford who not only was elected 1st Vice President of the O.F.A.H., but also was the recipient of the Bob Pope Memorial Award as Conservationist of the Year.

Congratulations to Laura Stephenson who was the recipient of the 2001 Junior Conservationist of the Year.

Congratulations to the YAP, who were again awarded the M.N.R. Junior Conservation Club of the Year.

I am pleased to report on two of the many sessions offered at the conference that I expect will be of interest to SSA members.

Bay of Quinte - World Class Fishery - Dave Brown, OFAH Fisheries Biologist

The Bay of Quinte is located on the north shore of Lake Ontario and is know for its world class walleye (pickerel) fishery. This fishery is presently in difficulty and Dave Brown has undertaken extensive research to study the causes of the fishery decline and suggest a number of options to rehabilitate this important ecosystem. In the late 1960's water quality and competing species reduced walleye numbers. There was considerable competition for food from alewife and white perch. The walleye population rebounded in 1978 with a large year class and a heavy winter kill of alewife and white perch removing a large biomass and improving survivability for the walleye. There was a large year class again in 1982 followed by large classes in the late 1980's and early 90's. This resulted in a healthier fishery and the walleye population thrived. The walleye population has declined for the last 8 years with the causes believed to include poor survival of young, changes in the fish community with an enormous increase in yellow perch. There have been habitat changes including the long term reduction of nutrients, increased water clarity due to less pollution and the colonization by zebra mussels, encroachment of shallow water area by weeds and higher temperatures. Consideration must also be given to the harvest of this fish species. The angler harvest has declined for the last 5 years with anglers responding by reducing their catch. The commercial fishery is very small and not a significant factor. The aboriginal fishery takes overall 70% of the harvest with an increase in the gill net fishing but a decline in spear fishery. The aboriginal fishery is catching mostly adult fish with the recreational fishery catching mostly immature fish. The MNR recently held public meetings and has an EBR (Environmental Bill of Rights) posting requesting input as well as responses requested to an e-mail address. The OFAH has been involved from the mid 1990's with its involvement including writing to the Minister of Natural Resources, asking for more public input before a full closure is instituted and has undertaken an extensive review of science relating to this issue. Your Federation is asking the public (both open water and ice anglers) to release large mature fish, which are at the prime reproduction age. The preference from the OFAH is to have a local solution, which includes a ban on all use of gill nets in the Bay of Quinte and the implementation of a maximum size of 19" for the recreational fishery. The OFAH has suggested to the MNR that a permanent stakeholder management group be assembled with representation to include the Mohawk First Nation. This is a very complicated social issue, which must be tackled for the benefit of the fishery. Immediate action must be taken to control of the exploding double crested cormorant population as these birds are impacting heavily on the surviving fish in great numbers. We only need to look at the local Grey-Bruce fishery to see the likeness to the Bay of Quinte concerns with the aboriginal fishery and the exploding cormorant population to see what could happen here. Please consider supporting your Federation's concerns by responding to the EBR posting.

Party Hunting for Big Game - John Johnson, MNR
 

John Johnson of the MNR was our speaker on the subject of tag sharing primarily in the moose hunt. There is considerable disagreement on the success or failure of the present tag-sharing program for moose hunting. The definition of party hunting is too vague according to the courts with the MNR responding with a proposal to hopefully solve the problem. The present moose management program has worked quite well with the population up 50% over the last 20 years provincially. The objectives of the present proposal is to maximize hunting opportunities within planned limits by sharing Adult Validation Tags (AVTs), and minimize the potential for overkill with parties (ie) zero shooting of moose in excess of AVTs. We must clearly define what is party hunting and remove the vagueness for the hunter, courts and enforcement. The program must provide for the fair and equitable use of AVTs, as well as, maximizing hunter flexibility but minimizing abuse.

A number of issues must be considered including hunter acceptance of the proposed changes. What constitutes party hunting? All must be licensed hunters. Should apply to deer, moose and bear hunting. There must be an agreement to share by all hunters participating. The area of the hunt must be reasonable including distance and in the same WMU (Wildlife Management Unit). There should be an effective communications network between all members of the hunting party. To hunt you must be participating. Follow the plan laid out by all party members. There must be an immediate tagging requirement. An agreement should be written, signed and dated by all participating. Duration until circumstances change in the number of the party most likely a daily agreement if number of participants is likely to change. Who carries it? All members or a copy back in camp? Hunting should take place within the same WMU. Tag holder must be in party at all times. No more than 5 KM from the tag holder by the other members of the party.
Communication must be immediate and reliable with all party members. The type of communication will vary based on conditions. The signals could be a series of rifle shots, whistles, walkie-talkies, satellite phones and CBs. Must be reliable, immediate with no guessing. Hunting, the tag holder must always be present in the field. It is not party hunting if the tag holder goes to the store for gas or food or is not present in the hunting area. It is recommended that the tagging requirement be the same as present in Section 17 of the Act, which requires the immediate tagging of the animal. The tag holder must immediately, once notified, attend the kill and affix the tag. This is at present only a proposal. Additional public input will be sought including an EBR posting. It is hoped that the new definition of party hunting will be in place for the 2003 hunting season. Here is your chance to have input to this important and often controversial topic. Participate for the better of the hunt!

Submitted by Murray Smart

YAP Committee

March was a busy month for the youth activities program. Perhaps not for activities out-of-doors, but certainly for planning. A tentative date for the campout has been set for July 5-7. Pitch-in Day is the first week in May. Locations are being looked at for the Kid's Fishing Day, which will most likely take place in late July. Junior crews will be doing work later in the spring at the Walker property with Doug Murdoch. The youth members will also be starting a tree identification program that will continue throughout the year.

On Wednesday, March 13 we had a crew at the hatchery helping to stock the yearling rainbow trout. The rainbows were fairly large, ranging in size from a couple of inches to over half a foot. Almost twenty juniors members were present for the stocking, which also involved cleaning out the large tank. Afterwards, juniors moved to the white house for a meeting, then took a tour of the Demonstration Wildlife Management Area. We also tried a little stone picking in the plot that will be used by the Field Naturalists.

The April meeting will be held April 7, which is the first Sunday. It will be at the white house at 1:00 in the afternoon.

Laura Stephenson;  YAP Co-Chair 

Handgun Committee

I have received several calls from people in regard to the "Authorization To Transport" and a course is scheduled for April. John has given me all the information he had with all the ATT holders, scores for awards etc.

We are close to stating our outdoor program for the year and look forward to shooting with everyone. Remember, with the ATTs it's a use it or loose it situation.

Would everyone be interested in some inter-club summer activity?? Would you like to shoot paper, steel or maybe a multi gun event?? Please advise.

Dave Tebbutt, Chairperson; Handgun Committee

Forestry and Wildlife Advisory Committee
 

So far, the deer and turkeys have had an excellent winter. People are seeing turkeys everywhere. As such, there should be a good hunt and if spring isn't too wet and cold, there should be great reproduction. Deer are moving around and should be in normal spring/summer range ahead of schedule. Lots of geese are back and pairs are setting up housekeeping. Also, mallards are performing mating flights.

We stated earlier that we were attempting to create better understanding and co-operation with the surrounding municipalities. We now have an opportunity to see just how well this can work. Grey County forestry officials say they are having a real problem with porcupines on several County Forests. Hunter assistance is requested and I assured them that the S.S.A. and other local clubs would certainly co-operate. Lets show them that hunter activities can benefit local interests. Perhaps they'll want to keep us around a little longer. I request that members who do kill porkies in County Forests, please notify me of locations and numbers of animals killed.

We have had club members monitoring Wood duck nest boxes for some time and have done the best we could with our collective know how. On March 9th our knowledge base increased considerably when Verle Barfoot and Cliff Springer went out with Mike Willaims, Wood Duck specialist with Ducks Unlimited, to inspect the boxes on the Glen Wildlife Area. Mike was able to show them all kinds of things to look for. Now Cliff and Verle are the S.S.A. experts. The day of the inspection was the day of the heavy March rain that preceded the wild March blow. They hauled their equipment in on a sleigh at 9:00 am and didn't get out until 4:30 pm. As such it must have quite a day. So, Verle and Cliff, "WELL DONE".

The bat house boys have been very busy building replacement lodgings for bats displaced when the Issac Lake barn and driveshed were burned for alleged health concerns of the M.N.R. The new structures will have to be up before the bats return this spring. Lorne, Lloyd and Gerry, our resident bat experts, will collaborate and supervise on-site erections of the bat houses. We trust that there will be a labour crew from the Rankin Resources Group.

Last month, we said that in this newsletter we would outline the legal requirements for non-restricted firearm (longgun) storage. There are a couple of things about storage that I am not 100% comfortable with and as such, I will be writing the Chief Provincial Firearms Office for clarification. In the meantime, I will set out the storage and display information, word for word, as it is given in the Canadian Firearms Safety Course.

Blake Smith, Co-chairperson; Forestry and Wildlife Advisory Committee

Fisheries Advisory Committee
 

In my last report I informed the SSA members that Terry Faulkner would be taking on the job of fisheries cochair with me. Well unfortunately, Terry has landed a job out of town and shortly will be moving from Owen Sound in order to be close to his new employment. All of us wish you the best of luck Terry. The good news is that new executive member, Mike Prevost, has agreed to help me with the SSA's fisheries business.

After directing the SSA's fisheries tasks for nearly twenty years, it sure will be good to have another SSA member step forward and help out with our future fisheries challenges.
At this point in time we're still working to form our 2002 fisheries committee, so if you are reading this and are interested please give me a call at 376-2369 or Mike at 376-7368.
One big job this year will be to overhaul our hatchery to meet MOE requirements. Some major underground plumbing work will be needed and possibly a new holding tank will need to be installed and a new drainage line may have to be constructed in the kidney pond.

Shortly we'll also be forming our crews to operate the Owen Sound mill dam fishway. We again hope to get all our required rainbow trout eggs during this operation. During the month of May our chinook salmon will have to be fin clipped and later stocked into the Sydenham River. We usually need between 12 to 15 of our volunteer members to complete this rather enjoyable job.

On March 2nd. it was my pleasure to attend our 7th. annual conservation dinner. As the behind the scenes cochair for this very successful event I wish to congratulate the other cochair who is really the chairman of this event, Paul Caron, and his hard working committee who all made this years event the success that it was. Nearly 200 people had a great time and thoroughly enjoyed the special raffles, silent and live auctions and a tasty banquet served up by SSA member, Grant Cameron and his Boot and Blade staffers. Congratulations to Coy Currie who won the .338 Tika rifle, also to Gary Willis who won the $500.00 cash draw, heck, I was even lucky and won a .22 Savage in the general raffle draws. If you missed this years OFAH Owen Sound Conservation Dinner, try to make a point of attending next year. As you know, all profits go right back into fish and wildlife conservation projects.

The Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular committee is well on the way with the plans for the 15th. annual. This hard working SSA committee is really pleased to have a number of new SSA members onboard. They are; Terry Faulkner, Carol and Dennis Wiseman, Carol Barfoot, Mark Tobin, Darcy King, Stan McLean, Lilly and John Bates and Arnie Clark. Welcome aboard and a tip of the SSA hat to all of you for offering your talents as we work to make this years Salmon Spectacular another resounding success. In case you don't know who the rest of the Salmon Spectacular committee are, read on... They are; Dave Arnold, Jim Cuming, Coy Currie, Jack Doherty, Geoff Ford, John Ford, SuAnn and Chris Geberdt, Fred Geberdt, Scott Grimoldby, Mike Humphries, Richard Manley, Jack Osadzuk, Dave Reilly, Murray Smart, Ian Smart, Ken Smith, Randy Walker, and Rob Wilson. We all hope that you the SSA members will again support all of them by volunteering your time to run the many different areas in this years 15th. annual Salmon Spectacular.

Fred Geberdt, CoChairperson; Fisheries Advisory Committee

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