THE NEXT GENERAL MEETING , REMEMBER THE DATE: THURSDAY NOVEMBER 3TH, 7:30 PM, AT THE CLUB HOUSE, LINCOLN PARK ROAD, IN   THE TOWNSHIP OF GEORGIAN BLUFFS (FORMERLY DERBY TOWNSHIP).

The guest speaker for our November general meeting will be Melissa Tong, Biologist with the Bruce Peninsula National Park. She will describe the park in words and pictures. She will also give us some insight into her work with the Massasauga Rattlesnake. This should prove to be a very interesting evening, plan to attend.

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THINGS TO REMEMBER!!

Nibble Night . The December general meeting is our annual Nibble night, so start thinking about which of your culinary delights you could bring and treat your fellow members and maybe win recognition for your skills in the kitchen.

S S A Early Bird Membership Draw    J . Ford

Again, this year, we are having an Early Bird Membership Renewal Draw.   This is a draw for renewing members only.  

If you pay your dues at the November general meeting, you will get 3 free chances on this year ' s draw, which is a Smoker and rod and reel.  

As each month passes, the number of free chances decreases.   For those of you who renew by mail, we will complete the appropriate number of ballots for you.  

We now have a debit and credit card machine at the meetings for your convenience.  

We hope to see you at the meeting on Nov. 3 at 7:30 pm.

Gate Key Change in 2006

The locks and keys for the gates at the club property will change in 2006. The effective date is April 1, 2006 and this is straight, not April Fools.

We have the new keys at the meetings and will exchange a new one for your old key or you can purchase one for $2.00 as long as your 2006 dues are paid (unchanged from 2005).

If you aren ' t able to attend the club meeting (the easiest way to get an exchange), perhaps you could have a friend pick one up for you.

I plan to choose a couple of nights in March to be at the clubhouse to help you exchange keys and will put the dates in the March newsletter.

The only other way to get a key is to call me at 519 934-0410 and make a trip to Keady.

THE PRESIDENT ' S CORNER

Fall is indeed upon us, and the hunting season is at its peak. By the time this newsletter gets published the rifle season for whitetail deer will be about to open so the first snowfall can ' t be far away.

Our high power rifle range has certainly been seeing a lot of use in the past month as all our hunting members and guests get their rifles sited in for the moose and deer seasons. I can ' t stress it strong enough too follow all the safety rules and regulations while using the ranges and when in the field. Lets make it a safe and enjoyable hunting season.

In case you haven ' t already heard we are pleased to announce that the SSA will be hosting the 2005 O.F.A.H. Zone H annual meeting and Awards Banquet coming up on November 11 th and 12 th here in Owen Sound.   Registration fees are $38.00 for Single and $75.00 for Double. This includes: Friday night hospitality room @ Comfort Inn, Saturday night Awards Banquet with entertainment following awards, free transportation to and from banquet hall @SSA Clubhouse, Informative guest speaker, and Business meeting on Saturday @ SSA Clubhouse. [Meeting open to all OFAH members at no charge]. Lots of prize raffles and much more to enjoy. Members requiring overnight accommodations must make their own reservations and pay the fees associated with them.

One last note of interest, it would appear that someone possibly one of our members dropped off [donated] a gas can and gasoline in our driving shed. As nice of a gesture as this was, they did so without notifying Ken Cowtan, and he in turn used some of this gas in the John Deere. As it turned out the gas was dirty and possible very old so the equipment didn ' t get far, and it ended up costing time and money to correct the situation. Please in the future anyone wishing to donate gas cans or gasoline/diesel fuel to the club please contact Ken first or at least leave a note for him so the product can be checked before being used. Thank you very much.

Bill Douglas, President

Fisheries Advisory Committee

Our salmon egg collection had us harvesting close to 120,000 eggs. Other clubs followed from Thunder Bay, Sarnia and Lake Huron. These clubs were not able to get their quota due to a number of conditions. There were a lot of female salmon coming   through the milldam but not with a lot of eggs. We had stocked out all of our close to 50,000 brown trout fingerlings last April and moved the rainbow trout to larger tanks in anticipation of the salmon collection. This year's collection is about what we have been normally taken over the last few years but down significantly from earlier years.

Obviously the fisheries in our area is big news as seen by the series of news articles published in the Sun Times a month ago. Changes in the Great Lakes are affecting both sides of the border. The M.N.R. is thinking of following the trend of their U.S. counterparts and reducing the number of salmon stocked in our waters. My understanding is that there will be no formal request this year since we have already done our collection. Any voluntary or natural reduction would certainly be acceptable. In light of this possible future reduction we are proposing to the M.N .R. to increase our brown trout allocation along with the necessary funds to raise these extra fingerlings.

The M.N .R. has said that their decision will be dependent on the forage base in the lakes. Studies are going on now in Georgian Bay to try and assess the status of this forage base. These findings usually take several months to become available.

Mike Prevost F.A.C. Chairman

YOUTH ACTIVITIES PROGRAM

  The end of the summer saw some of our junior members helping out with the Salmon Spectacular. After school started they were also out helping park cars at the Owen Sound Fall Fair, cleaning out the channels at the Mill Dam fish ladder to prepare for egg collecting, then on Oct.8 we helped the Thunder Bay club collect eggs at the Mill Dam( we were there when a 3lb Lake Trout was released after getting trapped)

   On Oct.2 the Juniors met to discuss some ideas for future outings. Some of the activities we are planning for over the Fall, Winter, and Spring are;

Meeting at the clubhouse the 1st &3 rd Sunday of the month

Nov. 6 meeting to be an archery shoot at the range

Jan.& Feb. Dan Laxton has agreed to arrange indoor pellet gun shoots

Winter campout at the club property probably in early Feb.

Canoe instruction in May followed by a trip down the Saugeen around Paisley in late June.

We are also going to get dirty this year as there is some work to do in the Wildlife Demonstration Area, and hopefully we can help build and cleanout bird nest boxes this Spring.

Anyone with questions about the Juniors ,kids wanting to participate(any community service time or conservation project time is creditable towards High School students.

40 hrs community service), adults with time to help supervise outings or suggestions for future outings/projects please contact John McNamara 369-3269 or Steve Lustig 371-6070.

John McNamara, Steve Lustig

Co-Chairpersons

Youth Activities Program .

FORESTS & WILDLIFE ADVISORY COMMITTEE

The SSA, clubhouse played host to a new initiative to protect green space as well as obvious wildlife travel corridors in the Grey/Bruce area. The event was spearheaded by the Ontario Naturalists (previously known as the Federation of Ontario Naturalists) , and was attended by representatives from The Sydenham Sportsmen's Association, Sydenham Conservation Foundation, Saugeen Field Naturalists, Friends of Sauble Beach, Coalition on the Niagara Escarpment, Grey County Planning, Bruce County Planning, Grey Forest Stewardship, Bruce Forest Stewardship, farmers' organizations, Bruce Peninsula Biosphere, Biosphere Conservancy, Nature Conservancy, Grey/Sauble Conservation Authority, Saugeen Conservation Authority, Arboretum Alliance, Rankin Resource Group and others.

The main reason why this group got together was to address the land development "leapfrog" that is bound to occur massively after the recent legislation covering green space around the Greater Toronto and Niagara Escarpment areas. This legislation puts Grey and Bruce counties squarely into the sights of land speculators and developers. As such, there can be very severe effects on our natural world. Uncontrolled, rampant development could be devastating, as it has been south of here, to Grey and Bruce counties. It could have very severe effects on those of us who live for the many and varied opportunities and activities associated with the great outdoors.

It should be made perfectly clear that this group is not opposed to development. Instead, the purpose would be to control development in such away as to minimize harmful changes to our renowned natural world and the activities we so much enjoy.

It was made very clear that any ideological differences between sportsmen and naturalists must be put aside. Really, do any of us want to see our countryside go the way that much of the province to the south of Grey and Bruce has gone? To be effective, we must emphasize our commonality rather than our differences. If nothing else, it might help to build some long overdue bridges and understanding between groups that have traditionally been somewhat at loggerheads. If we are going to protect our great outdoors for the common good, it is imperative that we work together.

Our first priority would be two fold;

1) Produce a map showing all public and semi-public lands.

2) Develop an overlay showing the major areas requiring protection as well as demarcating the major connecting wildlife travel corridors.

The whole program will require a great deal of time and effort and the co-operation of many persons and organizations. The future of our Grey/Bruce outdoors way-of-life may well hinge on how we handle the approaching development pressures.

Our next meeting will be in January, and we will be inviting Grey/Bruce conservation/sportsmen's clubs to send delegates.

In September, Jason Ritchie, Grey Forest Stewardship Co-Coordinator, and myself attended a children's outdoor activities program at Luther Marsh.

The very impressive event was sponsored and co-ordinated by many different organizations. There were displays, demonstrations and many hands-on, outdoors-related. activities such as fly-tying, flycasting, bait casting, .22 target shooting, archery, falconry and trapping, etc. Also a dandy hamburger, hot dog, soft drink lunch was provided.

The day was very well attended and very successful, judging by the enthusiasm of the kids.

Luther Marsh is a little too far away for kids from the north parts of Grey and Bruce to attend. It was suggested that we give thought to putting something together in our area for our kids. Of course, if this was done, it would require the co-operation and participation of many of the outdoors clubs, outdoor education people, naturalists, conservation authorities, stewardship councils, etc.

The reason I was there was to see if it would appeal to the SSA members. For a lot of reasons, I feel that such an annual event would be well worth the effort and is long overdue. We need to pull our children away from the lure of cyberspace, TV and video games, and get them off the sidewalks and couches out into the real world. Remember that the outdoors kids who are hunting and fishing and taking part in other nature-related , activities aren't; out there mugging little old ladies.

ARE WE UP FOR IT?

Blake Smith . Co Chairperson

Forest and Wildlife Advisory Committee