THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING: THURSDAY March 6TH, 7:30 PM, AT THE CLUB HOUSE, LINCOLN PARK ROAD, IN DERBY TOWNSHIP. 

March General Meeting 

March is the time when many hunters begin their turkey hunting preparations for the season opener in April. Returning for the third year as the guest speaker for the March SSA meeting is professional turkey hunting guide Trevor Aljoe. Don't miss the chance to get lots of hunting tips and to hear the details of Trevor's successful turkey hunts here and south of the border.

New Members!!

The S.S.A. welcomes the following new members:

We would like to wish Oz McArthur a speedy recovery after suffering a serious fall.

DATES AND OTHER THINGS TO REMEMBER!
 

David Fidler, a renowned birding expert and member of the S S A, has graciously agreed to do an introductory birding course for up to 12 S S A members. 

The course will consist of classroom work on Friday evening May 30 at the clubhouse for 2 or 3 hours followed by an early morning and afternoon session on Saturday May 31 at various conservation authority properties in the area. The emphasis will be on local area nesting songbirds. 

The cost will be $25.00 per person. 

If you are interested, please call John Ford at 372-0410. 
The spots will be filled on a first come/ first served basis.

DID YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW RECEIVE A SCROLL SAW FOR CHRISTMAS?

Dave Hartrick and Dave Arnold will be conducting Scroll Saw lessons at the Gord Maher Centre.

The course is open to all members at a cost of: $35.00 and $40.00 for non members, register in advance of course with Dave Arnold 376 0180 or Dave Hartrick 371 1985. Make cheques payable to the Sydenham Sportsmen's Association.

Dave Hartrick is a Qualified Dremel Scroll Saw Instructor. One on One Instruction. Come out, have fun, and learn some tricks of the trade.

The course is 4 hours long and we will supply scrollsaws -wood -patterns. Five Scrollers per class.

PRESIDENT'S CORNER

Now, even though it's blowing snow, warmer weather projects are being planned. Some things are going on right now.

Our intrepid carpenter, Dave Arnold, is hard at work on nest structures for the conservation dinner, as well as making superbly-crafted bat houses that our members or the general public will be able to acquire by virtue of a reasonable donation.

Lloyd Jackson is constructing a large, palatial bat house for Harrison Park. Lorne Smith and Gerry Powers are busy preparing bluebird boxes for the 2003 season. Verle Barfoot, in co-operation with Ducks Unlimited, is getting set for the annual late winter inventory of wood duck nesting success on the following wetlands: Bognor Marsh...The Glen...McNabb Lake...Skinner's Marsh. HE NEEDS HELP! Volunteers who are reasonably physically fit and would like to be part of a very enjoyable, interesting and vital program, please call Verle at 376-4362.

Volunteerism pretty much defines the great conservation record of the S.S.A. Let's keep up the good work, folks.

Blake Smith, President

Youth Activities Program

The juniors had a very good campout at the beginning of February. We built snow shelters, went snowshoeing, tobogganing, made snow sculptures and of course, had snowball fights. We were very pleased to have Robert Pye and his girlfriend Cathy come up from Peterborough to help us out. Also thank you to all of the parents who helped out, it would not have been nearly as successful without you. Sunday morning a group of four juniors went to the hatchery and shoveled the snow off of the roof.

We will be sending seven juniors to participate in the Get Outdoors youth conference in Hamilton from February 21-24. We are looking forward to the Home Show at the Bayshore and possibly fish stocking in March.

The shooting program is continuing every Sunday afternoon through February and March. We would like to see more juniors coming out to this. It is a great time! If you have any questions you can contact me at the following number. 363-9845

Sarah Stephenson, YAP Chair, 

FORESTS AND WILDLIFE

Cold, onshore winds blowing off a comparatively warm Lake Huron mean lake effect snowfall...and are we ever getting the snow. This is not the best news for our deer and turkeys. We may wind up with a feeding program this year, after all. Perhaps turkey feeding should begin right now. If anyone wants to start, please use untreated, whole corn, keep feeding till the snow goes, and don't always feed in exactly the same spot, in order to avoid disease from droppings.

We have been asked to submit comments on nuisance bears to the MNR, as part of a major fact-finding and public consultation effort in order to develop a workable bear policy. People have lived here with a good population of bears for about 150 years, and handled any problem that arose. Then city people moved into bear country. They obviously don't know how to live with bears, or what to do with bears that are causing problems. MNR has to figure out the best approach as to co-existence of humans and bears. We will provide MNR with our comments including, of course, our recommendation to reinstate the spring bear hunt...not only for population control, but to help keep bears wild and shy of humanity.

The Rankin Resource Group is undertaking an SSA spearheaded woodcock restoration project at Isaac Lake. A once extremely prolific woodcock cover has degenerated by virtue of forest crown closure in a mature stand of poplar and semi-mature ash. Woodcock do very well in openings in young poplar. To achieve the above, a contractor has agreed to remove all standing timber down to 4-inch diameter on approximately 20 acres. There is a fencing project application in to the CFWIP program to allow controlled cattle grazing to optimize woodcock productivity...Note: Cow poop grows earthworms, the preferred food of woodcock.

Also, we have been asked by the Canadian wildlife Service to participate in a loggerhead shrike recovery program. As well, the City of Owen Sound has requested that we develop wildlife areas on the east side of Harrison Park. (more on these items after members of the SSA executive and the wildlife advisory committee have discussed these requests.)

We keep getting new information on the efforts to bring back the American Chestnut. It now appears that the best way to go may be to incorporate the genes of the disease-resistant Chinese Chestnut, to see if such a hybrid could preserve at least part of the heritage of the original chestnut species. John Ford is going to design and develop our local program. The American Chestnut was not only a superb tree in its own right, but its fruit was one of the most valuable sources of food that was available to wildlife in eastern North America. It would be an outstanding achievement if it could be brought back.

Club member Emmit Briand, who lives right on the bay at Balmy Beach, feeds mallard ducks at his home. He phoned me, and said he had just witnessed a bald eagle come down like a bolt of lightning, and watched it scoop up and make off with a mallard, with no more trouble than if it had been a sparrow. Many of us have songbird feeders, but how many of us can claim an eagle feeder...Way to go, Emmit! You are to be envied.

The government is really flailing over the gun registry fiasco, however, they will not admit they are wrong. The government is deceiving the public by confusing the registration of firearms with the licensing of individual gun owners. With this deception, they say that their program of gun control is working, and implying that registration is the reason. When pinned right down, the best they can come up with is that registration of my firearm will make me store that firearm more safely. Allan Rock told me that to my face...twice. Now surely, anyone who believes this garbage will surely sit up at night in breathless anticipation of the tooth fairy, Santa Claus or the Easter bunny. Now, all you gun owners, be aware. We must keep up the pressure on parliament in general, and our elected MP's in particular. Please, please, please write to Ovid, give him your thoughts, and ask him for a response giving his position on gun registration, and his reasons for same.

Write to: Ovid Jackson, MP,
1029- 2nd Ave. East,
Owen Sound, Ont. N4K 2H8

Blake Smith, Co Chairperson
Forest and Wildlife Advisory Committee

Fisheries Advisory Committee

After several years of dedicated work and many, many hours of volunteer service Fred Geberdt has stepped down from being the F .A.C. Chairman. Fortunately for us Fred is still willing to work through some very important projects and be a mentor for some of us learning to wade through the murky waters of fisheries management. The fisheries of Grey and Bruce owe a lot to Fred. Thanks for your past and present help.

On the home front there is not much to report. Our fish are getting fat in the hatchery.

The following notes are excerpts from the Midhurst District MNR publication, the Resource Reporter, that I thought you might find interesting. Due to unforeseen construction delays ,the new fishway at the Thornbury Dam may not be operational in time for the annual rainbow trout migration. MNR will begin in mid February to daily monitor the temperature, flows in the river, and the occurrence of the rainbow trout migration. If the migration begins before the fishway is completed the rainbows will be captured and subsequently transferred to spawning
areas in the Beaver River above the dam.

A man who was convicted twice for committing the same offense at different times on the same night is one of 55 anglers who were fined a total of $39,000 for fishing violations during the fall salmon run. The fines ranged from $250 to $2,850 on charges of angling without a valid license, snagging or netting salmon and/ or for obstructing MNR officers.

In the summer of 2001, the near-shore fish populations of Bass and Orr Lakes, near Orillia, were assessed using a provincial netting standard. One interesting finding from this survey was the status of the black crappie populations in these lakes. Both lakes had Black crappie that were above average size when compared provincially. In addition, Bass lake had a crappie abundance that was above the provincial average.

>From his own report, John Morton of Aquatic and Wildlife Services completed the final 2002 Salmonid Biomass survey for the Owen Sound area. In a general overview of sampled stream courses, Rainbow Trout numbers [ Young of Year and Juveniles] saw an overall increase of 30% from 2001 survey numbers. Several " High Quality" streams were at or approaching maximum caring capacity due to the excellent spring 2002 freshet and longer sustained adult spawning season, with significant site specific increases [up to 500x] in both YOY and Juveniles. These high quality streams were impacted only slightly [water quality] during the summer drought, as compared to the impacts from the summer drought conditions of 1997 & 99. 

MIKE PREVOST
F .A.C. Chairman

The Following was submitted by M.F. Hunt

CFC Bulletin #14
How the Law Applies to you: Buying a Non-Restricted Firearm

Once you have the proper license, show it to the retail clerk in order to buy the firearm. During the transaction, the clerk will call the toll free 1-800 line. An operator will confirm the identity of the retail business, your identity, and the identity of the firearm you wish to buy. The operator will then ask the clerk for the firearms identification number (FIN) assigned to the specific firearm being sold. After all the checks are completed, the transaction may take place. The operator will provide a registration number and a registration certificate will be sent to your home. It will cost the buyer $25 for this transfer from the retail business to him/herself.

Liberals famous last words:
"We promise to keep it simple and affordable"
All criminals are sure to go through this procedure.
Bill C\68, NEVER FORGET, NEVER FORGIVE

M.F. (Fred) Hunt