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

November's guest speaker will be biologist and angler Jack Imhof from the OMNR Guelph office. Jack is a great speaker and has some pretty progressive even controversial ideas about how we should be handling our Ontario trout streams in the years ahead. Plan to attend. 

New Members!!

The S.S.A. welcomes the following new members: 
Brad Fretz, Family 
David Kingsley, Adult 
Robert & Patricia Cochrane, Family 
David Schlueter, Adult 

DATES TO REMEMBER!
 

FROM THE PRESIDENT'S DESK

As we are all aware of, the Sydenham Sportsmen's Association is a very dynamic and progressive organization whose members give unselfishly of their time towards a multitude of resource management projects as well as many other very significant activities. Two recent examples are the Owen Sound Salmon Spectacular and the Owen Sound Fall Fair. 
So once again I would like to offer a sincere thank you to all the folks who worked so hard and so long at both of these important events. Without your dedication and support these events would not be the tremendous success that they were. 
I have been very fortunate to have been President of this very fine organization for the past 4 years and I believe that we have accomplished a great deal. There are some activities that I am especially proud of, ones that I have had my finger prints on. 
The first was the upgrading of all our shooting ranges and the certification process to meet the requirements of the Chief Provincial Firearms Office and the Firearms Act of Canada. We were the first club in Ontario to have our shooting ranges approved. 
The second was the agreement with the City of Owen Sound regarding a long term lease to manage the former landfill site located adjacent to our property. The negotiating process was lengthy and time consuming but well worth the effort. 
Lastly was the upgrading of our physical plant with steel roofs, aluminum facia, cladding of the windows and the lovely attractive signs that now dot our property. 
However, after 4 years, I believe it is time to hand the reins over to someone else who can take us up another step and so I have informed the Directors, at our August meeting, that I will not be seeking re-election in 2003. 
I certainly thank all those fine folks that have offered support, advice and "words of wisdom" over the past 4 years and challenge each of our members to get involved in this organization. I know you will enjoy doing so! 

Richard Manley, President, Sydenham Sportsmen's Association

Youth Activities Program

Finally, with the cold temperatures starting to bring the fish into and up the river, the juniors got to help with the egg collecting. We love working with the Thunder Bay crew, they're a pile of fun. And we got a great reminder about how fun and exciting the salmon runs can be. A few tourists took off their shoes and rolled up their pants and got right in the water with us! It was really fun to see someone holding a large salmon with both arms up against his nice, clean sweater. Later this month, on October 27th, we will be holding our annual turkey shoot. In the morning, we will do some work around the club property, followed by a pizza lunch and the turkey shoot. After that we will hold a meeting to discuss winter activities. We all miss Gord, and we hope he will be feeling better soon. He is in all of our prayers 

Laura Stephenson , Co-chairperson , Youth Activities Program

Fisheries Advisory Committee

Alls well that ends well with hard work so thanks to the efforts of our volunteers approximately 221 ,000 salmon eggs have been collected and are presently developing as fish eggs should in our hatchery. 
Along with our club the Thunder Bay, Sarnia and Port Elgin clubs made collections at the mill dam. The Thunder Bay club showed their appreciation of the help of our junior members with a donation. The junior members voted to have this money given to the Mahar family and requested the S.S.A. executive to approve this request which was gratefully acknowledged. The junior members do us proud once again. 
A stronger presence of rainbow trout were seen at the mill dam then in past years. There is a feeling that the 2 fish limit is starting to have some effect. 
If anyone wants to view the hatchery or would like to help with the program please contact myself [371-3827] or Coy Currie. Another way to keep up on whats going on is to attend our general meetings. 
See you there! 
Mike Prevost , Co-chair Fisheries Advisory Committee

Forests and Wildlife Advisory Committee

The M.N.R. is conducting an audit of past community fish and wildlife projects. Doug Murdoch and yours truly gave guides tours of areas wherein we have been doing wildlife related works. 
We are well into the 2002 hunting seasons and certain trends are emerging. 
Our early goose season with the big bag and possession limits was a smashing success. All reports indicate that those hunters who put out the time and effort, reaped substantial rewards. The early and erratic grain harvest kept the birds from establishing steady feeding and flight patterns, but persistent scouting usually paid off. 
The season and bag restrictions for geese, as they are presented in the Federal summary, are an intimidating, near incomprehensible morass. For those who aren't quite sure , I offer the following summary, as it applies to W.M.U. 82 and 83. 
The season opened the day after Labour Day - September 3rd with an 8 bird daily limit and a possession limit of 24. The large limits were to remove the over abundant local population. This season ended on September 17th, in order to allow safe passage of the threatened James Bay race of Canada Geese. Then the season reopened September 28th, but with a daily bag of 3 birds only and a possession limit of 10. This reduced bag limit is supposedly to take pressure off the James Bay birds. On November 1st, the daily bag limit increases to 5, with the Poseidon limit remaining at 10 birds. This season officially ends on December 28th, however the goose hunt is virtually over whenever the farm fields are blanketed with snow. 
Two short seasons (January 13th to 22nd and February 22nd to 28th) with a bag and possession limit remaining at 5 and 10 birds respectfully, are virtually useless as snow cover and ice will have forced almost all the geese as far south as they have to go to find food and enough open water to keep their feet from freezing. 
Most of the hunters I have talked to found the early season Duck hunting not quite as good as in the past. Many of the good marshes were virtually dried up and for some reason, the good flights of Mallards to harvested farm fields is down. 
The saving grace looks like it could come in the form of a good migration of divers. Right now, there is a flock of about 175 Scaup feeding in the bay and the inland lakes are enjoying a wave of Buffleheads. So, if you don't mind brain numbing cold and wet, get out your decoys and give yourselves and your retrievers a chance to find out what duck hunting is really all about. 
Grouse and Woodcock, for all practical purposes are a writeoff this year. The drought, with its accompanying hard packed earth means no feed for Woodcock. They are really down in numbers. I am not sure of just what is wrong, but I tend to look at the cold, wet periods that, for the last few years, seem to occur at the exact time the young are hatching out and are most vulnerable. More on this at a later date. 
One thing we do have is lots and lots of Deer. Something is certainly working right for them. Recently, a hunter I know, told me that he had just taken his two Deer by means of bow and arrow. Needless to say, he was wearing a broad grin. So, with the bow season ongoing and all gun, as well as muzzle loading seasons coming up, it looks like a good chance for hunters to capitalize on a very healthy Deer population. 
Good hunting everyone!!!! 
We are sorry to hear about the very bad time Gord Maher is having. We miss seeing him around and the many wildlife activities (prairie plantings etc.) that he specializes in could sure use his dedication and expertise. 

GET BETTER SOON , GORD!!!!!

Blake Smith, Co-Chairperson , Forests and Wildlife Advisory Committee