If you would like to learn how to shoot – with a gun or a bow – you’re invited to take part in the 15th annual free Family Outdoor Skills Day at the Spring Valley gun/archery range south of Xenia.
Anyone interested in learning outdoor skills, should mark Sept. 17 as a day to take park in this year’s Family Outdoor Skills Day at the range complex at Spring Valley from noon to 4 p.m.
The event will feature shotgun, rifle, pellet gun and archery shooting activities and instruction. All range fees will be waived for participants and the equipment and ammunition will be provided.
The Outdoor Skills Day has been an annual event at the range since 2002 with about 125 participants taking part yearly. Certified instructors will be on hand to help teach safe and responsible shooting. The range complex is ADA accessible and offers public restrooms.
The Spring Valley Range is located at 3450 Houston Road, Waynesville. For information, visit wildlife.ohiodnr.gov/springvalley or call the Division of Wildlife District Five office at (937) 372-9261.
Bringing Back Wetlands and Cleaning Lake Erie
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration recently handed Ducks Unlimited a $600,000 grant to restore 125 acres of the Toussaint Wildlife Area wetland along Ohio’s north shore.
In doing so, the project not only will restore the area back into wetlands, improve wildlife habitat, attract waterfowl and other wildlife, but it will help – although only in a small way – filter some of the phosphorus now flowing from farm fields into the lake. That phosphorus, which comes from manure and other fertilizers, has been a major contributor that feeds the toxic blue-green algae that has been plaguing Lake Erie and several inland lakes in Ohio, including Grand Lake St. Marys.
The more projects like this one, the better the chance of one day clearing up Lake Erie.
In addition to DU, the Ohio Division of Wildlife and The Nature Conservancy will take part in rebuilding the wetland. The DU award is part of $8.9 million in grants distributed throughout the Great Lakes region.
According to Ohio Department of Natural Resources, the Great Lakes watershed has suffered some of the highest rates of wetland losses on the continent, with some areas having lost more than 90 percent of their original wetlands.
Deer Workshop Scheduled
Anyone interested in learning to field dress a white-tailed deer is encouraged to attend a free workshop provided by the Ohio Division of Wildlife on Sept. 15. Subjects will be field dressing, skinning and butchering deer.
The workshop will be held from 6-9 p.m. at the Wildlife District One Office, located at 1500 Dublin Road, Columbus. Pre-registration is required as space is limited. Register by calling Karen Norris at (614) 902-4197 or email Karen.norris@dnr.state.oh.us. The course takes place outdoors and is hands on.
For information on Ohio’s deer seasons and anything else related to Ohio hunting, visit www.wildohio.gov.
Good Fishing Now; Better Days Ahead
I’ve had several reports over the summer of folks catching walleyes and yellow perch at Lake Erie. One of the good/bad reports is that while many limits have been caught, there has been almost a plague of undersize walleyes hitting baits. Most are right around 14 inches. While they are pesky, what a great thing it is to know the Lake Erie walleyes are being repopulated. The 2014 hatch is mainly responsible. Yea!
Right now, the yellow perch reports seem to be a little stronger. They’re being caught north of the Toledo water intake, around “D” and “G” cans of the Camp Perry firing range, Rattlesnake Island, both west and south of Green Island and south of Kelley’s Island.
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Open this year’s hunting season with a trip to Olde English, proud to sponsor outdoors columnist Jim Morris on Press Pros Magazine.com!