Dick Martin: Plenty of upcoming outdoor events

The Mohican Wildlife Weekend is an eagerly waited event for folk who love the outdoors. This will be the 17th such event and as always will have nine program sites including Malabar Farm State Park and Pleasant Hill Lake in Ashland and Richland counties that will offer workshops and demonstrations ranging from hikes with experts to gold panning and fishing.

The events will be held on Friday, April 27 through Sunday, April 29 and will be attended by enthusiasts from all over Ohio. For event details and locations, visit MohicanWildlifeWeekend.com.

The National Rifle Association will hold its National Pistol Championships in Camp Perry, on July 9-13. Registration is open now, and is available at
competitions.nra.org/NationalMatches. The National Matches are considered America's "World Series of the Shooting Sports" and draw the nations finest civilian and military marksmen and women who square off for five weeks of competition in a variety of formats and events. For more information about Camp Perry, visit www.cplcc.com.

Fishing is improving steadily as waters warm around the state, and the Division of Wildlife's fishing forecasts should help anglers decide where to go. In Central Ohio, the top bass spot is Knox Lake which now has many large fish (61% 15 inches or longer). Crappie fishing is best at Madison Lake which ranks first in the state for numbers of crappie, and channel cats are waiting in plenty at Hoover Reservoir. For saugeye, try Indian Lake which is tops in Ohio for both numbers and size. In Northwest Ohio, Clearfork Reservoir is best for both numbers and sizes of largemouths, and crappie action is best at Pleasant Hill Reservoir. For channel cats, try Beaver Creek Reservoir and for saugeye it's Pleasant Hill again.

Approximately 1,000 pounds of ground venison was recently distributed to local food pantries in Logan and Union counties. This large donation to help feed those in need was a cooperative effort between Transportation Research Center, Inc. and the Division of Wildlife. TRC, Inc. has been working with wildlife management professionals to reduce deer densities that are causing significant property damage and pose a threat to the company's high speed vehicle testing track facility.

Need a good reason to hunt coyotes this spring or next fall? At the January 6 Fur Harvesters Auction in North Bay, Ontario, eastern coyotes sold for an average of $51.54. That price will pay for a lot of gas or dog food. Red fox, incident ally, went for $20.

The public is invited to attend a free workshop on April 26 in Greene County focusing on the basics of bow fishing. Topics to be covered by Division of Wildlife officials include equipment, techniques, and regulations. The workshop will begin at 6 p.m. at the Wildlife District Five Office, 1076 Old Springfield Pike, Xenia, OH 45385. Pre-registration is required since space is limited, call Chris Mangen at 937-347-0929.

Dick Martin is a retired biology teacher who has been writing outdoor columns for 30 years. You can reach him at richmart@neo.rr.com