The Laughery Valley Fish & Game Club is a Not for Profit 501(C3)Organization located near Friendship, Indiana.  The goal of our organization is to develop our 52 acres into a multipurpose outdoor educational facility to promote conservation and the wise use of our natural resources.

A significant number of the participants who attend our FREE outdoor educational programs are from the Versailles area.   We believe that the outdoor experience has a significant, positive impact on these individuals.

Some of the programs that we offer include Hunter Education (two classes per year with 50 students per class), Shooting Sports Instruction (Rifle, Shotgun, Archery, and Muzzleloading), and Wildlife Management.  In the past we have been very active in Wildlife and Natural Resource Management projects and in numerous FREE educational programs concerning our natural resources.  Enclosed is a history of our organization.

The Laughery Valley Fish and Game Protective Association was first established in 1949. They faded from the scene and left a small treasury of $250 dollars in the Friendship Bank.

During the harsh winters of the mid 1970's a small group of sportsmen came together to try to help the small game that had been decimated by three record breaking harsh winters.

The Friendship Bank offered the Laughery Valley treasury if the fledgling group took the name.

Laughery Valley Fish and Game began by releasing quail to supplement the wild population but drew the attention of Area Wildlife Biologist Ed Guljas.  Ed taught us that developing habitat was the way to propagate wildlife of

the area. Thousands of trees and shrubs have since been planted for the benefit wildlife.

The club has sponsored and conducted dozens of Indiana Hunter Education courses to instill an attitude of respect and concern for those who share the bounties of the land. This continues through today.

In earlier days when the future of wildlife was questionable we attracted many members with small children who share the concern for the outdoor world. One of our functions was a Jr. Fishing Derby that sometimes drew over

100 young contestants. We continue this program yet today but strive to improve on the numbers of youngsters we now attract. Many of the today's adults were our Jr. fishermen of days gone by. 2001 was our 23rd Jr. Fishing Derby.

In 1984 Laughery Valley Fish and Game wild turkey committee was invited and gladly assisted Ed Guljas in the reintroduction of Wild Turkey into Southeastern Indiana. For years previous to the release we lobbied the wild

turkey biologist to look at our corner of the state for reintroduction. It was the first time the state released on private property. The turkeys were live trapped in Missouri, Iowa, Illinois and elsewhere in Indiana to fill 7 counties and 19 individual sites with 15 bird flocks. The Laughery Valley Fish and Game Club set up a reward fund to protect the seed of our future turkey population. For the next 13 years we conducted the area's premiere wild turkey seminar. Starting with local talent and moving to nationally renowned speakers Laughery Valley was the place to be educated on the wiles of the wild turkey.

In June of 1986 the Laughery Valley Fish and Game Club realized a long time goal of property ownership. High on a ridge over looking Laughery Creek we purchased 52 acres of rough ground and looked forward to developing it into an outdoor education facility. Over the next few years the shelter became a clubhouse with kitchen and bathrooms added as funds became available.  Archery and muzzleloading woodswalk trails were established for the honing of shooting skills. This is the site of many family picnics and outings with woodland scavenger hunts. We have helped train forestry identification groups, scouts and have opened the facility to others who need a meeting place to promote conservation. We have used the expertise of the Dept of Natural Resources and of local experts to bring programs to the public.  Subjects such as Blue birds, Bats of Indiana, birds of prey, wolves, waterfowl, wildlife management, survival skills, tree stand safety, pond management, and the like have all been presented.

Laughery Valley Fish and Game was instrumental in the purchase of the Splinter Ridge Fish and Wildlife Area in Jefferson and Switzerland counties.  It is the only public hunting land in the area. Our involvement spans over

10 years until it's purchase. 

We have a enormous amount of expertise and experience in the area of outdoor interests. The service we offer can be much improved if the club could focus on the programs mentioned above and planned for the future.

1984-Laughery Valley F&G involved as

Wild Turkeys are Re-introduced to S/E Indiana

By Gary Johnson

When I write the date it looks strange to me. As a youngster, I remember thinking that when we turn the century, I will be almost 50 years old.  2004 for some reason does not yet look real. I can remember seeing it on high schooler's letter jackets for the last few years and it still didn't seem as if it would come to pass. 2004 is destined to be memorable and important to different people for different reasons.

I look back on the years that stick out in my mind, years that serve as milestones to mark our lives.  Let's see. There is the year you were born, the year you started school, the year you graduated, and the year of your wedding day. How about when the kids were born and the year when you took your first deer or turkey? Those were the days.

Sometimes a year in your life is obvious that it will be a highlight even while you are living it. The year, 1984 was one of those years. This was the year that wild turkeys were reintroduced in Southeastern Indiana. I was part of a small group of sportsmen that were fortunate enough to be included in that historic effort. Jim Farmer, John Cummins, Mark Ginder, Bob Hughes and I made up the Wild Turkey Committee of the Laughery Valley Fish and Game Club. Jim, who is a tight as the bark on a hickory tree, recognized the important and unique opportunity we had and invested in a very early video camera. We were able to capture hours of release action in the winter of 1984.

Laughery Valley had for13 years, conducted wild turkey seminars and has included the special turkey instruction in our hunter education programs. We have watched as the number of turkey hunters in our area has grown by leaps and bounds. I remember a time when every turkey hunter in Southeastern Indiana would fit in the front seat of a pick-up truck.

As we have lived these times, I sometimes forget that the newcomer may not have the occasion to know that we came from nothing to a time of turkey prosperity. This fact came crashing home to me, a few of years ago, in the form of my then 13-year-old daughter. While she has been involved in our programs such as the Jake's calling contest at the seminars and has met the nationally renowned speakers. Jenna met Charlton Heston at the National Wild Turkey Convention in Columbus Ohio in 2001. She has tagged along on several of my speaking tours for youngsters in hunter education courses and wild turkey field days. Not to mention she has watched her older brother bring home his share of the big birds and a few springs ago, called in one by herself with a well-tuned box call.

One day as we took the long way to Grandma's through the valley of Laughery Creek, I voiced out loud a thought. As we climbed a hill on Cave Hill Road, I mentioned to Jenna, "That bottom over there is where we released the turkeys". She said, " What do you mean, released the turkeys."

I was astonished. You know the wild turkeys. The ones they brought from Missouri.

She said, "Let me get this straight. You mean that before you helped release turkeys, there weren't any here." I told her that there had not been any in southeastern Indiana since the 1800's. She said "No Way"

I realized that while she had been surrounded by this information all her young life, that I had not really explained our part in this great conservation success story.

It was from Jim Farmer the first any of us had heard about wild turkeys. During a large Laughery Valley club meeting featuring our friend and biologist Ed Guljas and a backyard wildlife management program, Jim shouted from the rear. "If any of you fellas are interested in wild turkey, they are having a seminar at Seymour this weekend." At the time I had not ever considered being interested in wild turkey. The excitement in Jim's voice was contagious.

I attended and was impressed with a whole different world of hunting. I looked Jim up and we became aquainted over the prospect of chasing turkeys and a common interest in muzzleloading. Jim joined the club and under his guidance, several of us started scouting and hunting the birds, first in Clark State Forest in central Indiana and then in Missouri. Before long there were a number of locals completely ate up with turkey hunting.

We began to wonder why they had not tried to re-introduce turkeys in our part of the state. With a little encouragement we got Deck Major, Wild Turkey Biologist, to visit Southeast Indiana for a look. Deck said we had perfect habitat. We learned that public lands were the first to be filled and that Southeast Indiana was on the list of possible sites.

In the winter of 1984, our time came. Indiana had been trading ruffed grouse to Missouri for wild turkeys for some time and the snows out there made for good trapping weather.  They would bait an area for days and then when the winter flocks came for the hand out. Boom!! They fired a cannon net over them. Some times a few and other times several birds at once. The birds were boxed and stored inside a garage overnight after being checked out by a vet. Early the next morning the birds were loaded on a plane and flown to a small airfield in Madison Indiana.

Ed called me and asked if I would like to help plant the birds in their new homes. He said that up to five guys could be included and we were sworn to secrecy as to the whereabouts of the release sites. Our jobs would include hauling, carrying, banding and releasing of the birds. Turkey Clerking was one of the jobs; write down the band number and note sex and weight, then record the birds condition and comment on it's flight upon release.

Ed said the project could go on for several weeks as long as the trapping weather held up. There were to be 19 sites in 7 counties. The sites were to be "shotgunned". The chosen sites were to be no more than a few miles between, so the birds could intermingle over time and fill the entire available habitat in short number of years. Each site would consist of 11 juvenile and adult hens and 4 adult gobblers. This would be the seed of Southeastern Indiana's turkey population.

We started in Jefferson Co. east of Madison on the property that now makes up the Splinter Ridge Fish and Wildlife area. Jefferson got three sites, Ohio Co. two, while Switzerland Co. and Dearborn Co, got four sites each. My home county of Ripley got only one group of turkeys, in the bottom that I described earlier. My son Micah was 10 years old then and got to go along, as did Indiana Conservation Officer, Delbert Knudson's daughter. I wondered then if the youngsters realized what a significant event they had witnessed. We had some sunny warm releases and one that registered 21 degrees below zero. The river was frozen over and Jim's camera work turned out to be nervous and jerky when we thawed it out to watch.

The whole crew was able to go on a day when the trappers were overly successful. They fired the net over a record 80+ birds and 53 were sent to us in two planeloads. If you have watched the fields in the winter you notice that hens and young run together and the gobblers gather in bachelor groups. This was 53 hens, only. We filled 5 release sites with hens and had not one gobbler to go with them. From that day on the Biologists struggled to come up with gobblers to fill out the hen only sites. I can remember directing deliveries from Missouri, Illinois, Iowa and even some from inside Indiana of a gobbler or two at a time to fill those sites. Ripley County had only three gobblers that first winter and the fourth was added in 1985. I would go on to kill that 4^th bird in the first season in 1987 some three miles from the original release site.

The friendships forged during and after this event live today. The folks we have met along the way, the seminars, the conventions, field days, and the scouting and hunting trips are part of cherished memories. During the years leading up to the first hunting season we had the birds where we could study their habits and just be amongst them.

One of my favorite memories is Easter morning in 1986. I took 12 year old Micah to sunrise services via the backroads. We stopped and called from the road with a box call. We got an enthusiastic response and the bird closed on us in a hurry. I can still see my little buddy all dressed for church straining to see a big gobbler that we had called to the road ditch.

I can honestly say that the events I have just described have had a profound effect on my life. Yep 1984 is a year that stands out in my mind.

Remembered by,

Gary E. Johnson

Laughery Valley Fish and Game Club