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.
Cleaning the lake: 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: 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 wildohio.gov.
Good fishing: 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 Kelleys Island.
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