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Turkey hunters at Meadows this weekend
More than 1,000 sporting clays enthusi
asts will pour into Forsyth, Aug. 14-17, for
the National Wild Turkey Federation's
Turkey Shoot sporting clays tournament.
Over 600 of them will shoot in the event,
held at the Meadows National Gun Club.
Many will stop in the local Bass Pro
Shops in Macon to purchase their ammu
nition, and will stay at local hotels
throughout the four-day shoot, pouring
hundreds of thousands of dollars into the
local economy.
The NWTF's Turkey Shoot is one of the
largest sporting clays events in the coun
try, and is designed to accommodate men,
women and youth of all skill levels.
Sporting clays is a form of clay pigeon
shooting in which clay targets are thrown
to simulate hunting scenarios. Some
enthusiasts have referred to the challeng
ing sport as "golf with a shotgun."
"Last year, more than 600 shooters and
their families traveled from across the
country, Canada and Puerto Rico for the
Turkey Shoot, which is a pretty good boost
to the local economy," said Rhett
Simmons, NWTF's director of special
events. "Tourism officials estimated visi
tors spent over $500,000 in three days, a
figure that includes money for food, lodg
ing, gas and merchandise."
For example, the cost of hotel rooms
with the special NWTF Turkey Shoot rate
are $79 nightly and hotel officials expect
to fill 175 rooms for four consecutive
nights in the "official" hotels of the shoot,
the Holiday Inn and Holiday Inn Express
in Forsyth.
"Filling the main two Turkey Shoot
hotels will generate nearly $60,000 — not
to mention all of the other area hotels
that catch the overflow after these are
filled," said Simmons. "That doesn't take
into account the dollars visitors will spend
on food for breakfast, lunch and dinner."
But shooters also have to feed their
shotguns in order to participate. A 25-
count box of Winchester Super Target
shotgun shells costs $6.99 plus tax at the
local Bass Pro Shops and shooters will
shoot at 200 targets during the main
event. At minimum, a participant in the
main event will shoot eight boxes of
ammunition, spending over $56 in ammu
nition. All shooters combined will shoot
$34,000-worth of ammunition in the main
event alone.
"That doesn't take into consideration the
approximately 800 entries we'll have
shooting in the preliminary 12-gauge and
the sub-gauge competitions
(20 gauge, 28 gauge and
.410 bore)," said
Simmons.
Turkey Shoot
participants
will compete
for $100,000 in
cash and prizes.
Shooting events
include the 200-Target
Sporting Clays
Championship, the
100-target Browning
preliminary division,
the 50-bird Briley
Squaded Sub-gauge com
petition and concurrent divisions includ
ing the Ladies Division and Juniors/Sub
Juniors Divisions.
Okinawan now in Macon too
The Okinawan Karate
School has been in Forsyth
for over 21 years, and has
now opened another loca
tion inside Kinetix Health
Club off of Bass Road.
Sensei Michael Brewster
and his assistant instruc
tor Josh McLemore are the
teachers at the locations.
Brewster’s school was
voted Best Martial Arts
School by the readers of
the Monroe County
Reporter. The schools con
centrate on teaching tradi
tional, practical Karate,
but have also added an
MMA (Mixed Martial Arts)
class. In this class, stu
dents learn a variety of
techniques from Jiujitsu,
Muy-Thai, Wrestling,
Boxing, and of course,
Karate. Sensei Brewster
has over 15 years experi
ence in Shorin-ryu Karate,
and has also trained with
UFC fighters such as Matt
Hughes, George St. Pierre,
Dan Henderson, Chuck
Liddell, and others. Mr.
McLemore has been train
ing 8 years with Sensei
Brewster and is one of his
top students.
Monroe County Outdoors
2008-09 hunting season
starts with squirrels
I f you know what you re
looking for, there are
telltale signs that the
2008-2009 Hunting Sea
son is close at
hand. Bags of deer
com block the aisle in
the sporting goods
department of your
local big box retail
store. The new school
year begins after a
summer vacation
that was all too short.
High school football
practice is in full
swing. With
these harbin
gers all around
us, it is indeed
time to usher
in the 2008-
2009 Hunting Season with the
opening of Squirrel Season.
Georgia can boast of one
of the longest squirrel sea
sons found anywhere in
the country. This year our
marathon 198-day season
commences Friday August
15 and closes Saturday
February 28, 2009. This
offers more than enough
time for even the biggest
procrastinators among us
to slip away for a few
hours to enjoy a squirrel
hunt.
Hunters are allowed to
harvest 12 squirrels per
day. Legal shooting hours
begin 30 minutes before
sunrise and end 30 min
utes after sunset.
Squirrel hunters can
use a variety of firearms to
hunt these challenging
game mammals. If you pre
fer to hunt squirrels with a
shotgun, you can use any
shotgun having a shot
shell size no greater than
3? inches, loaded with No.
2 or smaller lead or feder
ally-approved nontoxic
(steel) shot. If you would
rather try to bag a limit of
squirrels with a .22, you
can legally hunt with .22
caliber rimfire weapons.
And, for those who choose
to hunt squirrels in a man
ner similar to that
employed by early settlers,
you can use any muzzle
loading firearm.
Squirrel hunting
offers an ideal way to
introduce
youngsters
to hunting.
Game is
plentiful,
early in the
season
young
hunters
have few
adults to
compete
with,
and, if
a .22
caliber
rifle or
small
gauge shotgun is used, the
weapon is light and easy to
handle. However, if you
plan on taking a young girl
or boy on their first squir
rel hunt, make
sure they meet
state licensing
require
ments.
While chil
dren under
age 12 are not
required to com
plete a hunter
safety course before
going hunting, they
can only hunt when
they are under the
direct supervi
sion of an adult.
Hunters age
12-15 must suc
cessfully com
plete a hunter safety
course before they take to
the field on a hunt. Once a
young hunter reaches age
16 she or he must pur
chase a hunting license.
They must present this
certificate to their license
dealer when they purchase
a hunting license.
Accordingly, they must
carry the certificate with
them while hunting.
Although large chunks of
Monroe County squirrel
habitat are being gobbled
up by development every
year, the Rum Creek
gray
squirrel
Wildlife Management Area
(WMA) provides hunters
with thousands of acres of
woodlands to hunt. All
that is required to hunt
this local management
area are hunting and
wildlife management area
licenses.
This season the Rum
Creek WMA is open for
squirrel hunting on the fol
lowing dates: August 15 -
September 12, October 18 -
November 3, November 9 -
17 and November 23 —
February 28.
Local squirrel hunters
can also find excellent
squirrel hunting opportu
nities on the nearby
Piedmont National Wildlife
Refuge and Oconee
National Forest.
Summer squirrel hunting
has never been as popular
in this neck of the woods
as it is in North Georgia.
This is ironic since, in most
years, squirrels are more
plentiful here than in the
mountains. With that in
mind, if you want to try
something a little dif
ferent this season,
go on an August
squirrel hunt.
You will have a
y great
time even
if you don’t bag
enough bushytails to
make a pot of squirrel
stew.
Terry Johnson is the
retired Program, Manager
of the Georgia Nongame-
Endangered Wildlife
Program. He is currently
Executive Director of TERN
(The Nongame Wildlife
Section's Friends Group)
and conducts wildlife
research and survey proj
ects and presents programs
and writes about wildlife.
He can be reached via
email at
TJWoodDuck@aol. com.
MPfootball tlx
now available
The Mary Persons High
School football season it
just around the corner.
Regular season reserved
seats for home games are
now on sale. The cost for
season tickets will be $30
per seat. Please see Mrs.
Dennis in the Mary
Persons High School
front office Monday-
Friday, between the
hours of 8 a.m. and 3
p.m. to purchase tickets.
Advance general admis
sion tickets for Mary
Persons High School
home football games will
be sold on the day of the
game at T-Screens,
Monroe County Bank and
One Touch Wireless
(Radio Shack). The
advance ticket price will
be $6. The price at the
gate will be $7.
The Reporter’s annual
football preview will be
published Aug. 27. The
special section will fea
ture a look at the season
ahead and some key play
ers to watch, as well as
interviews with coaches
and profiles of the sen
iors.
Car + Home =
BIG SAVINGS
See me for Car and
Home Insurance and save.
Steve Osborne, Agent
80 Martin Luther King Jr Drive
Forsyth, GA31029
Bus: 478-994-1041
steve.osborne.cgrt@statefarm.com
Providing Insurance and Financial Services
State Farm • Home Offices: Bloomington, IL
06 03/05
www.mymcr.net
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Publish Date:
Wednesday, August 20
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