Jim Abbey

Jim Abbey of the Ruffed Grouse Society says that grouse in southwestern Ontario wintered well and "there were perfect hatching conditions this spring, with lots of food.
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Jim Abbey adds that grouse in the Ottawa Valley are doing well.

Mr. James AbbeyAdministrative Coordinator1053 County Rd. 38Courtland, OntarioN0J 1E0Phone / Fax: (519)-842-9286

"I was looking for some form of interactive game we could use at events or a hook to bring people into the booth at sports and recreation shows so we could talk to them," said Jim Abbey, RGS Canada executive director.

"My experience in five years of being executive director is people seeing the same thing.We spend more time on our own brand of decorum, spend more time doing decorations and trying to make the banquets unique.While people said this is a good banquet, we still needed something else."

While attending the Premier's Symposium in Ottawa, Abbey saw the Laser Shot in the manufacturer's booth."I was amazed at the people that were always there," he said, adding it was exactly what the organization needed for information displays at events.

Secondly, Abbey had the foresight to see RGS needed something different at its banquets to keep the interest of return patrons."It's the same thing over and over.
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"It did all the things we wanted it to," Abbey said."It generated a lot of interest and made some money."

Because Laser Shot is such a large attraction at the banquets, Abbey is seeking sponsors to have their name associated with it at each individual function.At this spring's Grand River dinner, Dynamic Mutual Funds paid $2,000 for the exclusive sponsorship rights.This helps offset the $22,000 cost of the equipment.

The other purpose Abbey sees for the Laser Shot is introducing young people and women to the sport of hunting.RGS has been involved in partnerships in this regard.
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Abbey said the details of rather the game will be rented to other groups or RGS being a co-sponsor is still being worked out.
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Abbey gave examples of "Small clear cuts generate good wildlife cover and "The introduction of poplar/aspen is essential for wildlife" as possible examples.When the game is complete, it will be a great public relations tool in it will be available as one game to play on many smaller units Laser Shot's parent company has in arcades across the United States.Abbey figures this will not only raise RGS' profile, but the little messages would serve an educational role.
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"One of the things that has raised the esteem of RGS in Ontario is we unequivocally came out against the federal government registration of firearms," Abbey said.
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"I proposed it to Jim Abbey and he got more excited about it as time went on" said Warren Powers, Twin Creek owner and a member of the RGS Farmer and Friends chapter.
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"I proposed it to Jim Abbey and he got ore excited about it as time went on."

"It came out of a conversation around what it is all of these conservation-minded organizations could to introduce people to shooting sports," said Abbey, former RGS Canada executive director.
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Abbey agreed with the success of the event to the point he hopes a template could be developed from it that could be used to organize similar events in other chapters.Although he has retired from the Executive Director's position, Abbey is still a North Shore Chapter committee member and hopes to organize a similar event in the Tillsonburg area.Beyond that, Abbey said he may help RGS develop a family day program, using his expertise gained from 35 years in the teaching field.

All those years teaching left Abbey with some strong feelings of what a RGS family program shouldn't be about.
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RGS Canada executive director Jim Abbey gives the society's new Meri Crusher a test run on his property near Courtland.
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This seminar was launched when Abbey and Dave Reid, the coordinator for the Norfolk Land Stewardship Council and resource person for the Norfolk Woodlot Owners' Association, talked of the concept.
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Abbey had spoken at a previous seminar with several speakers covering a wide variety of wildlife management techniques, but this one was focused exclusively on grouse management, plus a turkey management talk by Reid.
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"From RGS' perspective, the private woodlot owners are more inclined to follow the success of their neighbours than they are to follow ministry guidelines," Abbey said."The idea of it all is to get our woodlot owners to try this and then they see benefits and will speak about their benefits."

This seminar consisted of a shortened version of the Powerpoint presentation Abbey gave in New Brunswick and a tour of two habitat projects RGS Canada completed locally.

In the future, Abbey would like to try and do more with stewardship councils and woodlot owners' groups.
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Abbey said he also wants to promote the Meri Crusher and scarification management through this type of educational seminars.
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Jim Abbey, executive director of the Ruffed Grouse Society of Canada, became part of the group last year.
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Abbey explained that after reorganization of MNR, it was realized if license money was going to be the sole support of the ministry something needed to be done.

"If it was going to come to user-pay, it was evident MNR has a stake in the future of hunting."

The ministry wanted input from all organizations that have any relationship with hunting for Hunting Heritage Hunting Futures.This includes tourist outfitters, foresters, outdoor writers and other conservation organizations."RGS has always maintained hunting is a vital part of a balanced management strategy," Abbey said of RGS' reason for being involved.

The group decided it had to look at the ethical side of hunting and do so in such a way to make hunters more aware of the ethics they should be practising.

It aims to develop ethical standards for the hunter and to make the community at large more aware of the cultural value of hunting practices.

"People who are anti and non-hunting espouse some sort of Neanderthal and lesser-developed attitude towards those who hunt," Abbey said.
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Abbey realized this was the perfect opportunity for a partnership and to make the best use of RGS Canada's limited resources.

To order these publications e-mail Jim Abbey and state the publication desired.Include credit card for payment if necessary.