Patoka Sportsman 1-25-20
Patoka Sportsman 1-25 & 1-26-20
Indiana Conservation Officer Ryan McIntyre, who serves Gibson County, has been selected the 2019 District 7 Officer of the Year. McIntyre was also raised in Gibson County. He has been a conservation officer for seven years. McIntyre serves the division as a certified breath test operator, National Archery in the Schools (NASP) instructor and public information officer. District 7 covers Knox, Daviess, Martin, Gibson, Pike, Dubois, Posey, Vanderburgh, Warrick and Spencer counties. McIntyre is now in the running for the Pitzer Award, which is given to the top overall conservation officer in Indiana and selected from the 10 district award winners. The Pitzer award is named after Conservation Officer James D. Pitzer, who was fatally shot while investigating illegal hunting activity Jan. 2, 1961 in Jay County
The St Anthony Conservation club will be having a 30 Target 3D shoot on January 26. Registration is from 8:00 a.m. till noon. Cost is $10 and kids 10 & under shoot free. They will be serving food & drinks. For more information call 812-630-1670.
The Patoka Valley Limbhangers will hold their annual NWTF Hunting Heritage Banquet on February 1 at Ferdinand Community Center. Doors open at 4:30 and dinner will be at 6:30. Early bird ticket purchase expires on January 26. You can register online at events.nwtf.org/141060-2020. For more information contact Dave Jellison at 812-639-0208 or email [email protected].
There will be a 3-D Broken Arrow Archery shoot Sunday February 9th at Beaver Lake. Sign-in will be from sunrise till noon. A practice range will be available, and concessions will also be sold. The entry fee is $10 for all adults, $8 for children age 11-17, and free for the cub class (10 and younger) and active military members. For more information call cliff fleck at (812)630-0454 or karla brames at 8128273756
Holland Kiwanis Club 13th Annual Gun & Knife Show will occur February 15 & 16 at the Huntingburg Event Center.
The 66th Annual Indianapolis Boat Sport & Travel Show is Feb. 14-23 at the Indiana State Fairgrounds. The Deer Turkey & Waterfowl show runs February 20-23. You can buy tickets at www.indianadeerandturkeyexpo.com. The 44th Annual NWTF Banquet is Beb. 12-16 at Gaylord Opryland Resort and Convention Center. Online reservations end on February 5. Only a limited number of tickets will be available on site and events are likely to sell out. The link to purchase tickets is https://your.nwtf.org/sportshow/.
Patoka Valley Friends of the NRA will hold their 2020 annual friends of the NRA banquet on Saturday, Feb. 22 at Venue 1408 in Huntingburg. Doors open at 5. Dinner is at 7. There will be door prizes, a live and silent auction and special drawings. Tickets are in exchange for a donation of $35 each or are included with the big Shooters Bonus Pack for a $100 donation. This includes one dinner ticket and $100 bonus draw tickets. You can save $35 if you purchase before Feb. 17. Tickets are available at Dave’s Guns in Holland, Great Outdoors and Jeff’s Bait & Guns in Jasper. All net proceeds benefit youth educatin, range development, conservation efforts plus many other qualified educational programs.
Applications may be submitted now through Feb. 19, 2020 for Spring Turkey reserved hunts. Local Participating properties are Atterbury Fish & Wildlife Area, Big Oaks National Wildlife Refuge, Glendale Fish & Wildlife Area, Goose Pond Fish & Wildlife Area, Hovey Lake Fish & Wildlife Area, Muscatatuck National Wildlife Refuge and Sugar Ridge Fish & Wildlife Area. Applicants must possess a valid hunting license for the species they wish to hunt. The application process is now consolidated into the online services website along with Licenses, Check-In game, and HIP registration. An online account is not required to apply, so there is no need to log in. Please note that in this new system, hunts without fees to register will follow the same process as those with a fee. For hunts with no fee to register, you still will be asked to Add to Cart, Proceed to Checkout, and Place Order. If the transaction total is $0, you will not be asked to enter credit card info.
Registration is open for the Full Moon 5K taking place at Patoka Lake beach on Friday, June 5 at
9:15p.m. Race 3.1miles through the woods on roadways, a well-maintained gravel and grass lane
and paved bike trail lit by moonlight and tiki torches. Race for a cause! All proceeds from this
event will go to support Patoka’s non-releasable raptors; a red-tailed hawk, eastern screech owl
and bald eagle. Early registration is $25 which includes a race t-shirt. Go to
http://fullmoon5K.itsyourrace.com to register today! For more information or call
(812)685-2447.
The Natural Resources Commission reviewed Fisheries, Wildlife and permit related rule proposals on January 21. More information will be available soon with instructions on how to submit comments. A public hearing will be scheduled at a later date. The NRC will review the public comments before voting on final adoption of the changes later in 2020. For more information about the meetings to https://www.in.gov/nrc/2334.htm.
One of the proposed rules would Establish a 14-inch minimum size limit for sauger, reduce the daily bag limit to 6 sauger, walleye, and saugeye in aggregate, and reduce the possession limit to 12 total of sauger, walleye and saugeye for sport fishing on the Ohio River. 312 IAC 9-7-16. Current sauger regulations are not providing enough protection from overfishing. Overfishing threatens the availability of this popular species for future anglers. Collaborative efforts by several Midwestern state fish and wildlife agencies examined sauger trends and recommended increasing the size limit and reducing the bag limit to help sauger size and reproduction. These efforts have been proposed or have already been passed in other states. Sauger grow relatively quickly, so anglers should see increases in the number of large sauger and enjoy better quality fishing experiences within two years.
Drop line, limb line, free-float line, trot line, set-line, and throw line are terms used in the Indiana fishing regulations guide. Adding definitions of these terms to the administrative code will reduce ambiguity for anglers and allow anglers and conservation officers to have a shared, clear understanding of different fishing methods.
Federal requirements designate the age and seasons for youth waterfowl hunters but do not outline what license the youth or accompanying adults must hold. Adding the age, youth license requirements, and accompanying adult license requirements to the Indiana administrative code will provide clearer guidelines for hunters and create a shared understanding of requirements for both hunters and conservation officers in Indiana.
Individuals are currently required to wear hunter orange while hunting deer during firearms, muzzleloader, and special antlerless firearms seasons. However, individuals may still be hunting with firearms, including high-powered rifles, between and after these seasons until Jan. 31 in deer reduction zones. Adding a hunter orange requirement would make this deer reduction zone season consistent with other deer firearms season and ensure the safety of deer and non-deer hunters during this time.
Hunters have expressed interest in using air rifles and air bows to harvest deer. Air rifles and air bows are capable of humanely and efficiently harvesting a deer. Equipment would have to meet the same requirements specified by the administrative code, but would allow hunters to have additional options when choosing to hunt for deer during firearms season. For air guns, the gun would have to propel a single projectile by means of non-ignited compressed air or other gas charged by an external high compression power source and have a .40 caliber or larger bullet or ball at a single discharge that generates at least 400 foot pounds of muzzle energy. An air bow would need to have a sharpened metal or metal-edged broadhead with metal points and a minimum speed of 300 feet per second at release.