The Haliburton Highlands Outdoors Association (HHOA) will be back at the Haliburton Legion this weekend giving County residents the chance to experience some new tastes and expand their palates.
Dan Smith, HHOA president, said there are still tickets available for the wild game dinner March 29. While there will be regular dishes available, such as ham, beef, meatballs and mashed potatoes, Smith said returning favourites not usually found at the dinner table include moose, bear, venison, elk, bison, wild boar, arctic char and rainbow trout.
Celebrating its milestone 30th year, the dinner is the main fundraiser for the County non-profit.
“It’s our biggest event of the year – lots of people come together, celebrating community, good times with friends and neighbours. There will be lots of food to go around, a chance to try something a little different, but also more conventional items. So, if people don’t want to eat wild game they don’t necessarily have to.
“We don’t get any funding from the government – all the work we do is done by volunteers and paid for with money raised right here in our community. This helps us do what we do,” Smith said, noting annual running costs are about $80,000.
Founded in 1992, the HHOA has two arms – it’s club division, which provides opportunities for bass fishing and other outdoors activities with a focus on youth mentoring, and its community hatchery program. Staff raise fish at the HHOA facility on Gelert Road before working with the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry (MNRF) to restock lakes in the County.
Smith said this is done for two reasons – to improve numbers for recreational fishing and to help rebuild dwindling natural fish populations. He noted Haliburton has the largest community hatchery in Ontario, stocking more than 800,000 fish over the past 20 years.
Workers have been busy growing fish at the hatchery for weeks. Smith said there’s approximately 30,000 rainbow trout, Manitou lake trout and Haliburton gold trout maturing on-site, with stocking expected for late April or early May.
He isn’t sure where the fish will be going this year, though said Maple, Glamor, Clement, Kashagawigamog, Devil’s, Concession, Sheldon and Rainy lakes were topped up in 2024.
“As soon as the ice goes off the lakes we’ll start really getting ready,” Smith said. “We have to make sure they won’t be too stressed going from our temperature of water into something drastically different, so it’s usually a few weeks into spring.”
New this year, the HHOA is also planning to sell fish raised at the hatchery to the public starting in late April.
“It could be an option for people who have private bodies of water, like a pond or a small lake where the lakeshore is totally owned all the way around… the MNRF doesn’t stock those places.
“We know how to raise fish, and we need to raise money for our operations, so we’re trying to see if this is a way we can pay some of our bills so we can continue stocking long-term,” Smith said.
There will be a silent auction at the dinner, though Smith said the HHOA is changing things up with its 50/50. Rather than a cash pot, people will have the chance to win a new Henry Long Ranger .308 hunting rifle, valued at $1,900. The gun was donated by the Muir family. Tickets are $20 each, or three for $50 and available at Outdoors Plus and the dinner.
Doors open at 5 p.m., with dinner served at 6:30 p.m. Tickets are $50.
