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VOLUME 25 NO. 6 June 2006
NEW MEMBERS!!! The SSA welcomes the following new members:
PITCH IN DAY Thanks to everyone who helped with Pitch In Day on May 13. Our river banks are a lot cleaner now thanks to you. Brian Clements THE DERBY NEEDS YOUR HELP If you have a boat, and can spare half a day on Aug 10th, Call Rob Wilson at 372 0732. Once again this year, the OSSS will be bringing our sponsors and other dignitaries to Owen Sound for an afternoon fish fry and an evening of fishing on the bay. We need volunteer skippers to assist in showing our appreciation to these people. It doesn't matter if you can only take 2 people, we need your help. THE PRESIDENTS CORNER This I a m sure will be of interest to many of our members. On Wednesday May 17 th there were some major announcements by the Federal Government on the long gun registry. Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day in a televised press conference said the government plan is to eliminate the costly gun registry, and in moving forward with that plan, he introduced the following regulation changes:
Mr. Day also acknowledged all those individuals and organizations, such as the O.F.A.H., that have worked on this issue for years and kept it in the forefront. Our next meeting will be on June 1 st /2006 and it will be the last one until September, as we will be taking our usual summer break. I would like to wish all members a happy, healthy and safe summer, and we will see you in September after the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular. Bill Douglas, President. Archery Committee We ran our first tournament of the year “ The S.S.A. Annual 3-D Competition ” on Sunday April 30 th/06. The turnout and weather were good and it appeared that everyone had a great time. The results of this tournament are as follows: Category Winner Men’s Bowhunter Unlimited
Men’s Traditional
Ladies Traditional
Junior Boys
Bantam Boys
Congratulations to the winners, and I would like to thank all the participants for coming out and making it a great tournament. The weather co-operated ensuring it was a fun day. There will be a Traditional only shoot on Sunday May 28 th, starting at 10:00 AM. Bill Douglas, Chairperson FISHERIES ADVISORY COMMITTEE We were not able to collect any rainbow eggs this year but not for a lack of trying. This seemed to be due to a combination of low water issues and always having green fish to sample. At present we don’t know what we are going to do about this problem. Our salmon are being scheduled for clipping but the weights are small. The largest is about 3.2 grams with the average at 1.5 grams so we will probably be the last on the list. The county engineer, Gary Shaw, has presented us with a plan and approximate cost to pipe water across the road above the hatchery. This will have to be reviewed with the Weaver family to ensure that we are not encroaching on their water rights. The M.O.E. out of Toronto dropped a bomb shell on us regarding their request for us to apply for approval to remove { industrial } sewage from our hatchery. In a letter from them dated April 21,06 they note that after reviewing our application we sent in on November 05 they said our original application fee of$800 was inadequate and that the actual fee should be $11,200 which should be submitted by the end of this May. I guess we will have to charge a little extra on hot dog night. Mike Prevost F.A.C. Chairman FORESTS & WILDLIFE GUN CONTROL Our new federal government is doing its best to put the axe to the despised and virtually useless long gun registry. This is good news indeed. Recently, a well-informed OPP officer did tell me that the registry has helped with seizures of firearms when investigating domestic disputes, i.e., the male occupant would turn in three guns when registration showed that he had five. This aspect does confer some legitimacy to an otherwise dismal law. However, it does illustrate that the only purpose registration really serves is to seize and confiscate firearms. By and large, registration does very little to prevent crime. Registration does supply a shopping list for thieves by creating an easily accessible on-line summary of gun owners and their addresses. This is in effect a map for thieves to steal guns. However, the main function of a registry is to provide a guide for confiscation by whim by any government that wishes to deprive citizens, category by category, of heretofore legally-owned guns - look what happened in Australia the government hauled away truckloads of highly-prized, valuable semi-automatic and pump guns summarily prohibited by government. These were taken to the crushers and the remains poured into the dumps. We don't need that here. Keep up the good work, Stephen Harper. We appreciate what you are doing and hope you can give long gun registration a long overdue whack in the head and put it out of its misery. PROJECTS Our summer wildlife projects are under way. We are going to get help with mulching, etc., from the stewardship rangers. We will be calling on SSA members to contribute a bit of time and effort on some of our very worthwhile wildlife undertakings. When you get the phone call to help out, please step forward. BLUEBIRDS Lorne Smith and Gerry Powers, our SSA bluebird guys, have acquired a new partner - Bob Hunt. Lorne says "Bob has been helping with the bluebird program since 2005, and has been a tireless worker. He has built nest boxes, bumblebee, mason bee and bat shelters, as well as participating in monitoring and feeding programs". Both Lorne and Gerry say loudly and clearly and thankfully - "Welcome aboard, Bob"! Blake Smith . Co Chairperson, Forest and Wildlife Advisory Committee S S A Adult Fishing Trophies In our last newsletter, I indicated that I would provide more information on the different parts of our Awards system. First, I want to clarify the senior wording on some trophies. These were before we had a Senior Citizen membership. At one time, you were either a Junior or a Senior member. Now the Adult classification applies to Adults, Seniors and Spouses. The Adult section of the Fishing Trophies includes the following:
Remember, you can help by entering your fish. We are planning to have a place near the Weigh in Station at the Salmon Spectacular for you to enter the S S A contest. We will have entry forms available. You need to measure the fork length and girth of your fish and fill out the entry form. The entry box is at Watson ’ s Tackle House and Drew would be happy to help if needed. If you choose to release your fish, you would need a photo showing the length on a tape measure. Brian Clements, Jack Doherty and myself are prepared to do the work to make our awards as successful as they once were. All we need are your entries. Thank-you in advance! John Ford FOR SALE: 16 Foot Ward Fibreglass canoe, Life Jacket and Paddles. Camp Trails Internal Frame Pack and External Frame Pack (Ladies size) Call Bill at 376 4555 Restarting our S S A Awards Program Many of you, particularly if you are fairly new S S A members, are probably unaware that we have an Awards Program. Jack Doherty, Brian Clements are myself have volunteered to try to activate this once important activity. Some members will remember our Awards Banquets, the last was held in 2004 for the year 2003. The awards are in a number of different categories. We plan to promote these each month, both in the newsletter and at the club meetings. First, we have a Big Fish Contest comprised of three categories. The Junior category is up and including age 12 while the Student category includes ages 13 to 16. Our Adult category starts at age 17 and goes up. Within each category we have trophies, which we plan to display at the May general meeting, for Rainbow Trout, Chinook Salmon, Brook (Speckled Trout), Bass, Lake Trout and Brown Trout. There is a special Perch Trophy for Juniors only. The fish are not weighed. All you need to do is to measure the fork length and girth. You will need a witness to verify the measurement or a picture showing the fish beside a tape to verify its length. If you choose to release the fish after measuring it, that is your option. We will provide fish contest entry forms in this newsletter (which we ask you to save), have a number at the club house on the bulletin board and have a number at Watson’s Tackle House where you will deposit the completed entries in our box. For 2005 we only have one fish entry, let’s all change this for 2006. A second component of our awards is the Big Turkey Contest. If you are a successful turkey hunter, you are aware that your bird must be registered. It happens that Watson’s Tackle House is a check station. Drew Watson will weigh your bird, measure the beard and spur and calculate a score. This score goes on the entry form, along with other pertinent information provided by you, and the information is verified by Drew. Dave Hartrick is building the trophy as you read this. You must tell Drew when you bring in your bird that you are a S S A member and want to enter it in our Turkey contest. Again the completed entry form goes in our Box. Another component of the Awards program is the Best Buck Contest. We will provide these entry forms in a future newsletter closer to the deer season and make them available at the clubhouse and at Watson’s Tackle House as well. You bring in your rack to Drew, who will measure it and provide a score to go on the Entry form. The completed form is placed in our Box. Other important awards include Handgun, Archery as well as Conservationist of the Year in Junior and Adult areas and High 5 Awards in the Student area. With your help, we can have many recipients for 2006 presented in 2007. We hope to present the 2005 awards at the June general meeting this year. Next month, we will provide a listing of the different trophies within each category. Thanks in advance for your help; John Ford, Jack Doherty, Brian Clements |
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© 2001, Sydenham Sportsmen's Association |