chilli

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Fort-Erie-Nesting-Box-Program/178331678873303 Started this little program after cleaning duck boxes last winter. I've bought two boxes myself which I dedicated to my mentors and made and hung them all. I've only got 6 left (5 Residential and 1 Business)so if you live there or have a business in Fort Erie it's a good cause and it's completely not for profit. There's also a map so bird watchers can capture photos of the little ducks with the sponsors name on it. If you want to make one from our plans and donate it the let me know ASAP so I don't make too many. http://maps.google.ca/maps/ms?hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=204346059742573269152.0004838040b9916466b48&t=h&z=13 Thank you kindly Dan Andrews

I have a bunch of animated ones I've collected for NFN Grumpy old men - Check em out on my photobucket account http://s768.photobucket.com/albums/xx330/niagarafishingdotnet/Smilies/ I highjacked them all so help yourself

LMAO. I can't believe he still wanted to fight with his antler shot off and everyone standing around yelling. Top quality video

Steve Dad told me about your post and I thank you for the look from the other side. I too don't understand the 20% and feel the memberships should have been free under that deal. I will inquire as to the reasoning behind both. It is great that you guys did this work but its also great that you don't have to do it anymore. It has always been the OMNR's responsibility and its sad that despite our licence fees are supposed to pay for it the Government basically said either we do it or it's gone. Thank you for clearing up the misconception that all the volunteers were OFAH members. In my eyes they were only members if they became that way willingly by their own choice. You my friend were the exact type of member I was hoping to attract by convincing my local club to affiliate. Hopefully we still will.

I believe Mike Brown was also later appointed to the Fish and Wildlife Heritage Commission.

John (canadude) are you outa bed yet or are you still hungover from last night? You two aren't even in the same year of events are you? You don't even know where our fish come from let alone be able to cast stones at the OFAH/MEA members that volunteered to raise our last year of coho's. Guys you complained when we took on the task and you'll likely go on a drunken rant when we give it back to the MNR. So the next time someone wants to talk to the voice of hunters and anglers just bring a Micky of vodka to Port Dalhousie and ask for John. Maybe bring him a copy of Ontario Out of Doors magazine so he can catch up on recent events before forming his opinion. Tell ya what. I'm glad you plant trees as part of your community service and you definitely do voice your opinion but instead of bashing anyone who doesn't meet your expectations, provide us with an alternative based on their own merits. I have seen two other orgs try to promote themselves by cutting up what the OFAH does but never promoted themselves on their own merits. This was sad because they had some good things happening and just needed more active outdoor minded people to make it better. Instead they chose your route and took the negative road which attracts very few like minded people. If you don't like the OFAH start something new I dare you. See if you can do better. If you do I will join. Until then cutting up the OFAH is just cutting up it's members because they can't do anything without our backing. If more of it's 100,000 or whatever number got off the keyboard and actually did something to help that website would likely be ad free.

Dude I have 2 things to say to you. 1: If we all made noise like you still do the OFAH would be a huge force to reckon with. Unfortunately the anglers and hunters have become too complacent and getting them to write a letter or bring a logical argument to an outreach meeting is like pulling teeth. Why should we speak when we pay the OFAH to do it for us right? Sorry dude but your one of the last whoopass hands on guys out there. 2: If you form a group and be the leader I'll join until they shut you down. Governments know we are complacent and won't rise up. They know they can do stuff without our approval and if you approach them banging your fist on the table like old scholl they'll dismiss you. Diplomacy is important because you don't have 81,000 members behind you and neither does the OFAH. They have 80,ooo magazine subscribers and a thousand active fist bangers. That doesn't scare anybody. If you can get the entire membership here to send a letter for any cause here then I'll vote for you for the OFAH president's position. Sad but true Dude. I've got your back but don't aim your guns at the OFAH. Light a fire under the lazy asses of the majority it's members and todays outdoorsman in general

Out of the first three pages it gave me this is the only one it returned to do with the OFAH at all http://www.lufa.ca/news/news_item.asp?NewsID=6760 It all sounds kosher to me. Got this one in the mail/facebook today which is similar http://www.ofah.org/News/index.cfm?ID=3&A=GetDoc&DID=550'>http://www.ofah.org/News/index.cfm?ID=3&A=GetDoc&DID=550 In fact if you think the OFAH is doing little these days just visit their website and browse around http://www.ofah.org/ I don't like their sales push on insurance but I'm otherwise happy. But I'd like to see some backing to canadudes other claims. If he has solid evidence I'll flee but I'm guessing its here-say, innuendo and rumours.

Canadude we also have a voice called the Fish and Wildlife Heritage Commission. http://www.infogo.gov.on.ca/infogo/office.do?actionType=servicedirectory&infoType=service&unitId=UNT0006202&locale=en I got to meet these guys a couple years back and their solid. They advice the minister but the minister does what they want with their recommendations. That's the ear you need to target and no you don't need to go through the OFAH for that. Scream bloody murder at the minister's office or go in as a delegate.

Remember that the OMNR has a huge budget and it deals with several divisions. Many think the OMNR is only responsible for fish and wildlife but a look at their website will show you that is only one department. This is the department our licence fees were meant to enhance but as mentioned before they reneged and now we're stuck with that user fee. Dropping that user fee could be a campaign platform though, especially seeing as anglers and hunters have a higher rate of volunteering with OMNR than the other sectors. Some even think C.O's only deal with fish and wildlife but no. They have to deal with aggregate issues as well as illegal logging etc. From the MNR website: As for education I think they're pulling their hair out. They can't change the regs like the bait travel ban until it's been to the feds and it takes a minimum of two years to make such a change. They have partners such as the OFAH who drive home the invasive species and so do member clubs but still at our kids derby in St Catharines parents can be seen pouring bait buckets with unused bought bait into the harbour. Some people you just can't reach. Even though the MNR puts forth this effort they have no control over invasive laden ballasts of ships dumping into the great lakes and then refilling with fresh water for sale over seas. New laws might be on the way to stop this but globalization will worsten the toll. The MNR and province are spending a great deal of energy on protecting our watersheds. It gets harder everyday as we grow but they don't. If you compare frontline mnr staff per capita now with lets say back in 1970 it will the 70's staff would likely dwarf todays. I agree more frontline staff such as co's and on the ground bio's should be funded. However the fight they have right now to protect headwaters and wetland is way bigger than ever before at least in my lifetime. Ask a farmer if the MNR is doing anything to protect watersheds. The MNR is willing to excuse them of their land rights to do so. I agree with you that more/better cleaning stations, ramps etc would boost fishing tourism further but is that up to the mnr? Right now the Niagara Parks Commision is looking for feedback from the public. Submit your concerns and ideas for the new admin/board and don't stop with the NPC. Take this to your municipal government. That launch in Crystal Beach was lobbied for by anglers and hunters and built with partnerships. The St Catharines Game and Fish had that excellent ramp built not the OMNR or the province. If you can convince the City of Welland to reopen the ramps on the rec canal you've got a great start but then show them the facts on a good ramp verses that little stone ramp they put in the Welland River and they may see the investment return is similar in scale for both. Crappy ramp=crappy return. As for garbage cans if you can find a way to keep the youth from tossing them in the water then your likly to be a good candidate to solve many of our urban problems :/ Great topic Aaron. It's always good to keep these discussion going.

I delivered an OFAH hatchery to the Stevensville school today. This is a definite plus for the OFAH. These sheltered kids who get driven to school and locked indoors actually care about the water quality by the end of this program. If you look for negatives in any org you'll find them. Make sure you stop and check for positives while your at it.

What a load of dung dude. They throw that in the governments face every chance they get. That and the bear hunt. They call the government out on the broken promise because the government promised to match the funding raised by anglers dollar for dollar. The government reneged and the OFAH will not only never let them forget it but they lobby constantly for the province to restore funding and honour their side of that deal. This isn't the only scenario where the government has done this to us. Think about where the licence plate sticker was supposed to go. Right back into the roads. Do you think all of our licence fees go back into the roads or the general pot?

Oops P.S. The H4H program has not yet added this new depot to their website but its coming. Info on the location can be found at http://www.sexsmithfarm.ca/home.html and walleyejigger I hear ya on the Elmer Fudd foam type hats

Ding ding I think we have a complainer! For all those interested the Sexsmith Farms depot has just started up and the first year was expected to be a little rocky as the depot designation wasn't even granted until half way through hunting season. They did not even receive their signs until November 13th. I got the call when they arrived so I could do a photo op. They're very proud to be getting even deeper into this program then they already have been for years. This coming season is expected to go a lot smoother but everyone was told the hats wouldn't be there till later because they were mid way through start up. You can't give hats that the program couldn't even provide yet Geesh Maybe they should call 2011 the official launch to satisfy those offended in Dunnville Leave it to Steve to turn a good thing into an argument. This is a charitable cause and the people using the hides know if they can use a quartered hide or whether to toss a rotten one. Perhaps they're not expecting anyone to offer up a rotten hide just to get a $5 dollar hat. They are honest people and believe that hunters that care enough to donate to charity aren't looking to rip anyone off. They still have a few hides from last year still good and well salted. Hopefully they last until all this years get officially inspected but each day all the new hides are checked, salted if needed and stacked. If it wasn't rotten when it got there it will be good for quite some time. So Steve please stop your silly attacks and accept there are those who won't drive all the way to Dunnville just to make a donation at your store. I will commend you on participating in this program. Why not just do the same for Debbie? It's not like she sells tackle, she's an organic farmer . As for trusting hunters to just put it in the barn at least she's not trying to sell you her produce. That's not the intention of this depot (not a business ploy). She's planning classes on how to tan and make drums and is a regular contributor to environmental projects in the area and is the current President of "Friends of Fort Erie's Creeks". She's a real solid community leader. Not a cool response at all Steve and I really hope your not one of the people claiming the depot doesn't even exist. Nuff said, so hopefully now there's no doubt for Niagara area hunters for 2011.

Funny thing I was thinking about this post today while hanging duck boxes in a Carolinian forest and I spotted some trees that something was eating the bark off of. Then I spotted on tree that had been chewed right to the tips of the branches. There's no way this was a porcupine but there was so much damage what could it be? That's when I found these guys sleeping nearby Seems it would have to be pretty dam small to reach the tips of the branches yet a few whole trees had been stripped also.

Save the quills if you get him. They're becoming a fashion statement as a hair pin thingy for women Just make sure you trade em because selling parts of wildlife is illegal 3 things most wildlife crave because it is not readily available in nature. Sweet, fat and salt. I heard the porkies are good eating. Any truth to that?

Well I had two big archery holes in mine and they were fine with that. This depot was one of the destinations of the hides. Sexsmith farms works with the Native center and they were receiving hides for their programs from Hat for Hides already. Just makes sense for them to be a depot also. So is Fort Erie any closer for you. These people are awesome and its not really about the hat although they're nicer than they used to be. To me it's about the donating. The hat is just a token of their appreciation. What else is a hide going to do besides feed coyotes?

Awesome topic Aaron do you share your data with any of the related agencies?

Oh crap sorry I misread the title I thought it said Can anyone give a Dog Lake Advice? My only advice was to be don't call the dogs over when walking on thin ice. I had two golden labs run right up to me yesterday in a freshly frozen wetland and the whole dam area around us dropped when they arrived. The commotion sent them running back to solid ground very quickly Sorry I couldn't help with dog lake bud.

Why not just use herbicide? Call the MNR and ensure they know there's a problem. And ya harvest the stuff. Wish I had close access to some and don't tell the freakin P3tah folks. Let em buy it from China and other morally superior places like they already do I can understand why a hunter put it there but he never forecasted the big picture as in most cases of introduced species and he probably feels like an . This might even be a case for the invading species hotline http://www.invadingspecies.com/Report.cfm . Just because a plant is indigenous doesn't mean it belongs everywhere in Ontario.

Well I brought in my deer hide and today I picked up the hat so it must be true. There are rumours floating around that no such depot exists but I'm here to tell you that rumour is false. You don't have to drive all the way from Niagara Falls to Dunnville just to make a donation or to return later for your hat. No you just gotta spin over to Fort Erie. For more info call Sexsmith Farms http://www.sexsmithfarm.ca/ Upcoming programs include drum making and brain tanning. I like this years hat. Not so big as in past years and a very nice crest.

Found this while looking around on you tube. I sure hope these guys have some serious impact gear on because they're freakin movin!

Was supposed to go with the boy this morning but he's not feeling well and it's a cold north wind for the face in an open stand this morning. Friday will be my last chance after today.

Somebodies gotta put that on some anti's sites. That'll make a few of them commit suicide

I agree. Please don't feed the deer. They are already there for your pleasure, there's no need to turn them into pets. I mean this in the nicest way but it's in the deer's best interest. Not only that but if your not into hunting you don't want deer crowding around or becoming dependent on visits to your property. You'll be surrounded by hunters next season. There must be a reason they're visiting now. Take some pictures and enjoy the wild as the wild. Our interference is why hunting is so necessary these days. http://www.mnr.gov.on.ca/en/Business/FW/2ColumnSubPage/STEL02_168419.html