Geelong Field and Gam febuary newsletter

Gunner’s Gazette

NEWSLETTER OF GEELONG FIELD AND GAME Inc

Feb 2012




GF&G DUCK FEVER NIGHT Tuesday March 6th

7.00PM AT BUCKLEYS,

IN BREAKWATER




DUCK FEVER IS CATCHING

Guest Speakers for the night include

Tom Chick & Robert Tremble from F&GA

Heaps of Raffle Draws

Duck Counts from across the State

Trade Displays

Buckleys will again host the 2012 Duck Fever Night, located on the corner of Fellmongers and Boundary roads, Breakwater. Drinks are available at bar prices to members and guests. There will again be a comprehensive range of trade displays this year exhibiting hunting clothing and equipment and it’s all available for sale on the night, so bring your cash and credit cards! We will be announcing the duck counts so you can select the best hunting areas across the State. With Guest speakers Tom Chick & Robert Tremble from F&GA, trade displays along with heaps of raffle draws, the night promises to be a great evening for all duck hunters. Entry is adults $10.00 with one raffle ticket, under 18’s free and that’s the best value you’ll get this duck season.


DATES & THINGS TO REMEMBER!

Seasonal information for members



Tue Mar 6th 7.00 PM Duck Fever Night

At Buckleys, Cnr Fellmongers & Boundary Rds, Breakwater



Sat Mar 17th, Duck opening, season will commence 17 March until 11 June The 2011 Victorian Duck Hunting Season will return to a full 12 weeks

Bag limits have been maintained at 10 Birds per day for 2012



Sat Apr 7th Quail Season opens. Stubble quail. Limit 20 birds per day



Mon June 11th Duck Season closes



Thur Jun 30th Quail season closes


Support our Sponsors for the 2012 Duck Season:

Apco service stations, Aussie Disposals, Val Sainty, Jacob Wade,

DKS Outdoors Promotions, AusSharp, DuckSlayer, Daniel Bonavia,

Dingo Gun Products, Wild Outdoors, Field & Game Australia

Banteng





Need to do a WIT Test?

Geelong Field & Game have again been running a WIT course and test program in the lead up to the 2012 Duck Season. GF&G have already run four sold out WIT courses this year & people are still phoning in to be included in the next lot of courses. If you or someone you know needs a WIT License, give Peter a call ASAP to book your place.

With a very impressive pass rate for attendees this is a fantastic result for our Club and a huge well done to Peter and Merv along with other Club members who help to run the courses on the Clubs behalf.

The Course is run over two evenings with the first night learning how to identify game and non game species while the WIT Test is undertaken on the second night by DPI Officials. So why not come along and enjoy the course which is run in a friendly atmosphere with like minded people. It will only cost you $60.00 and it’s not that hard if you pay attention.

Contact Peter to book your place on – 0419 520 344.



Shooting Range Update

After four years of hard work and considerable expense, the Anakie clay target range proposal has now been terminated. After a number of VCAT hearings and a pending Supreme Court case, a settlement has been agreed to that see’s both Geelong Field & Game and Geelong Clay Target Club having been reimbursed for expenses to date on this proposal. Although disappointing that the range has not gone ahead, both clubs are now situated quite well financially to continue to look for another potential site in the future. The hunt for a new site has already commenced and new ideas are being looked into with both clubs now being so much wiser from the Anakie experience.




Duck Fever Night Trade Displays

This year again we have a huge number of trade tables with hunting merchandise on display for sale.

DKS Outdoor Promotions will again be here, check out pages 41-44 in the current Feathers & Fur Magazine for their current merchandise that will be for sale on the night. Aussie Disposals will have their usual well priced items for sale and their gear can also be seen on page 31 of Feathers & Fur Magazine.

Dingo Gun Products will have their shooting accessories for sale along with Wild Outdoors who will have their boats on display, you could pick up the flashest duck punt you could imagine for a bargain at the Duck Fever Night, again check out their adds in Feathers & Fur Magazine on pages 52 & 53. Val Sainty will again have her gear on sale including her famous camo beanies, these are hard to beat and quite a few in the know duck hunters swear by them. Jacob Wade will have his home made duck calls for sale; Banteng will have their well-made gun belts on sale and also Daniel Bonavia will have his home made duck calls on sale as well.

DuckSlayer will be in attendance with their new product the Duck Hitch on sale, definitely a must have product for all rice shooters.

So make sure you come along to the Duck Fever Night cashed up so you can pick up a bargain and also support our sponsors.


Monthly Members Meetings

General Member’s meetings continue to be held on the first Monday of the month, 7:30pm at the Geelong Sale Yards lunch room, Weddell Road North Geelong.

A light supper is provided along with tea and coffee available, so why not come along and find out what is happening in your club, updates on Fox drives, Club Duck hunts, Nest box reports, conservation activities and news from Field & Game Australia are just some of the activities GF&G will be involved in for 2012. Why not come along and get involved in some great activities for 2012.





Geelong Field & Game now on the Web!

To keep up to date with all the latest news from GF&G, check us out on facebook at -

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Geelong-Field-and-Game/258808317492884



And also on BlogSpot at -

http://geelongfieldandgame.blogspot.com/



You’re Committee Members- their names and contact numbers:

President: Steven Wade 0412 803 806 Vice President: Greg Murray

Treasurer: Ray Phillips Secretary & Public Officer Shane Emond

Membership: Darren Arch Conservation Officer: Ken Farmer 0400 194 385

Hunting: Peter Anderson

Jacob Wade & Bruce Mattingly & Ray Agg

Description of work preformed by Geelong Field and Game

The Victorian Field and Game Association was formed
in Sale Victoria in 1958. Six years later in 1964, Geelong Field and Game
Association was formed by waterfowl hunters concerned about the loss of habitat
for game species.

Reedy Lake and Hospital swamps are supplied
through water, from the near by Barwon River, via a system of regulators
constructed by Geelong Field And Game, with on going works since the clubs
foundation.

These lakes now have an intergrated water
management plan. Formed between Government Agencies assisted by Field and
Game.

Geelong Field and Game have expended over $30.000
in club funds over this period, and expended hundreds of hours of volunteer
labour

Through these voluntary efforts, this ecosystem
now thrives, hosting native and migratory birds that would not otherwise existed
today.

 Reedy
Lake

1960’s

• Fisheries and Field
  and Game Partnership
• A low Bank and
  adjacent spillway to improve water holding of the Lake
• Bird counts start and
  rubbish removed

1970’s

• Fisheries put
  in two flap gates that open and shut to provide water from Barwon River
• First of Tree
  planting which is ongoing to this day
• Bird counts and
  rubbish removal
• Nesting boxes
  installed on Reedy
  Lake
• Fencing improved to
  keep out stock

1980’s

§         Annual Bird
counts

§         Annual Rubbish
removal

§         More nest boxes installed – 3
weekly monitoring

§         On going Tree
planting

§         Fencing

1990’s

§        Ballarat University was brought in with Geelong
Field and Game to test water for salinity and nutrients. Findings were Carp and
water too high and that was killing the lake

§         Field and Game designed
helped finance and resource the saving of Reedy Lake

§         Inlet channel plugged and a
new 1500 meter outlet channel made to drain lake

§         Lake Dry – clean up of thousands of dead
carp

§         Make and install drop board
outlet regulator

§         New stainless steel carp
screen

§         Cut new boat access channel
for local eel farmer and for local farmer to access water
supply

§         On going planting of
trees

§        Annual bird counts

§         Nest box
monitoring

§         Rubbish
removal

Hospital Swamps

1980’s

• Infrastructure for the filling of hospital swamps from
  Barwon
  River
• In conjunction with fisheries and wildlife division a new inlet
  weir with penstock doors was constructed on the river
• Volunteers from Geelong Field and Game were given permission
  from a private land owner to channel inlet and outlet bridges and were able to
  put in place culverts to supply water to a mostly dry 3 swamp system.
• In the late 80’s 200 acres of land on Baenschs Lane was
  purchased and again with Geelong Field and Game volunteers, a levee bank was
  constructed, a new swamp land with islands and construction of a spillway and
  outlet regulator was also in place.
• Trees planted
• Nest boxes installed

1990’s

• Bird counts
• Rubbish removal
• Nest box monitoring
• Tree’s planted
• Make and install 14 Parrot Boxes

2000’s

§         In conjunction with Parks Victoria, Geelong Field and Game
cleaned out the channel inlet and outlet and a new punt channel was put in place
for access to lake for eel fisheries.

§         Penstock door was replaced and penstock wheels were
refurbished

§         City of Greater
Geelong was contacted and Baenschs Lane was
resurfaced

§         Geelong Field and Game project managed the works with
assistance from Parks Victoria for funding of plant hire and consumables

§         Plant Equipment was offered at cost by Geelong Field and
Game members.

§         4 ground water bores put in place by Ballarat University and
Geelong Field and Game

§         Fox drives conducted annually

§         Bird counts

§         Rubbish removal

§         Nest box monitoring

§         Erection of deep water signs and barriers

Salt
Lake

1990’s

• Bird counts
• Rubbish removal
• Nest boxes installed
• Nest box monitoring

 2000’s

§         Fox drives

§         Bird counts

§         Rubbish removal

§         Nest box monitoring

Lake
Murtnagurt

1990’s

• Bird counts
• Rubbish removal
• Nest boxes installed
• Nest box monitoring
• Feasibility study to get water into swamp

 2000’s

§         Bird counts

§         Rubbish removal

§         Nest box monitoring

Lake
Connewarre

 2000’s

§         Planted out old tip site with Parks

§         Approximate 3000 Trees planted

§         Bird counts

Waterfowl Indentification Test- Training night and Test

Geelong field and game are looking at running some WIT tests in the coming months and are looking for expressions of interest, at the moment we need 20 people to get the first one underway. There will be a training session as well as the actual WIT test.
If you know anyone who is interested, get them to call Peter on 0409520344
Look forward to seeing some new hunters out on the swamps for the 2012 season

Geelong Field and Game

Hunter Survey- Ensure a better hunting future

This survey is being run by the the University of Queensland and is aimed at getting a better understanding of hunting in Australia. It will only take 15 minutes of your time and will hopefully benifit hunting in Australia in the future. It has been created in conjunction with Field and Game Australia and other hunting organisations.

The link is posted below, take some time to make sure hunting is improved in Australia

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/aushuntersurvey

Thanks
Geelong Field and Game

General Meetings- All members welcome

Geelong Field and Game have our general meeting on the first monday of every month. The meeting starts at 7.30 at the Geelong sale yards located on Weddell road North Geelong. All members are welcome so please feel free to come along. We discuss everything to do with the club including fox drives and working bees as well as general infomation.

look forward to seeing all our members there

G'day to all our members

This Blog has been created for Geelong field and game members as well as members of other field and game clubs to keep people up to date and informed on the activities of the club. Such as conservation work, fox drives, working bees and organised shoots.

Field and Game's Mission Statement
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Field & Game Australia is a voluntary organisation formed by hunters. We partner with government and the community in the management and sustainable utilisation of Australia's wetlands for future generations by protecting game habitats through conservation. We promote responsible firearm ownership, ethical hunting and clay target shooting   Geelong field and game undertakes many fox drives and organised shoots throughout the year as well as much needed conservation work on the local wetlands and environments any members who are interested in these activities please feel free to contact us. Will continue to keep you informed on this site, and also provide contact details Thanks Geelong Field and Game