Club aids emergency deer feeding program

The new chapter of Safari Club International in this area, better known as the SCI North Eastern Ontario Chapter, started in the summer of 2012.

With membership from Sudbury west to Sault Ste. Marie, it has the goal of helping young hunters and fishermen get started, while also helping in conservation projects as needed.

The local Espanola Game and Fish Protective Association approached us to help fund the Emergency Deer Feeding Program this winter.

Deer are seldom fed during the winter by any Conservation group unless it’s a very bad winter, such as this one of 2013-2014.

With this year’s huge amount of snow on the ground and remaining on the ground for so long a time, the deer can’t fend for themselves.

We were able to find $1,000 in our club’s budget. This will help with the costs of fuel and gas for snowmobiles, pickups and grooming equipment that are out packing trails and cutting cedar. This is needed to give the deer better access to food in their winter yards.

Also this year, SCI North Eastern Ontario Chapter will be introducing the National Archery in the Schools Program (NASP) into a local school. This program is huge, having over 12.5 million students from 12,000 schools in 10 countries taking part last year.

This program is taught in the school’s gymnasium and becomes part of that school’s curriculum. It will link youth to the world of competitive shooting and then into hunting and the outdoors.

If you know of a school that would be interested in NASP please contact your local SCI North Eastern Ontario Chapter for more information.

For those who are not familiar with SCI, check out our web site at www.safariclub.ca or www.safariclub.org.

Our annual banquet is April 12 at the Elks Hall in Espanola. Tickets are available by phoning Dave Polden at 705-869-0189 or Texas MacDonald at 705-869-3272.

Malvin W. Brandow
North Eastern Ontario president
SCI/SCIF Canada