Barry Willis

To quote Bob Dylan. Times are a changing.

I'd be rattled to, a nice temperature to be out on the water.

Hey Rick, she missed this old fart, maybe she's been reading my mail and realized I'm over 3000 km to the west HAHA.

We've had dogs in the past that I loved dearly but there was something different between Troopy and I. a special kind of Bond that we had. I always stop and say hi to other dogs as well, always have even when I walked him as he loved other dogs and especially people. Great Pyrenes were bred to protect animals and people especially the young little ones. Funny you mentioned that she (sorry, I thought it was a boy) could hear a cheese wrapper a kilometer away, he was the same way especially when it came to cheese. He thought he should have a treat every five minutes, he didn't get one but he got his fair share. I'm not sure we will get another dog. we're getting up in years and in all fairness to the dog if it out lives us I don't want it to feel as though we've abandoned it. Thank you very much for the kind and very nice letter. Take care my Friend and Merry Christmas.

Thank you very much, I'm very sorry you lost yours as well. He was a very handsome guy. It's the hardest thing to go through. I still can't believe he's gone. I am still constantly looking for him in the house and out in the yard.

I under stand this is a far cry from Ontario's weather as I lived there for over twenty years (born and raised) and now live about 3000 km west and north in Calgary, I believe it was around 1984 we had a chinook wind on Christmas day and on the way to visit my wife's sister and family I had the air conditioning on in the old Dodge as it was in the mid to high 20's. On the other hand I've seen the high ways shut down the month of July in and around Calgary due to blizzards. We never know what to expect from one season to the next out here.

Well I hope you do get some snow before it gets cold and set your mind at ease in regards to your pipes freezing. It's the best insulation there is. I just dug my carrots on Tuesday before this snow came and dug my potatoes two weeks before that which is unheard of this late in the year as the ground is usually frozen hard as concrete. This is actually our second big snow fall but I kept my garden covered with tarps so the soil didn't get saturated with moisture. I'm not very fond of the snow either especially since I can't get my snow blower to start LOL. 30, 40 years ago I loved it, couldn't get enough of it.

Not in my neck of the woods. This started Wednesday afternoon and didn't stop until last night. -15 this morning. Over 30 cm of snow on the lakes I want to get out on. Now all this snow is going to keep the ice from building up as quick as I would like. Oh well, tis the season I guess.

Thank you very much and my sincere condolences on your loss of your Roxanna. She looks like a sweetheart that loves dad. Our boy before Trooper - Farley, shepherd lab and golden was with us for 17.5 years. Trooper wasn't even quite seven years old and appeared to be healthy as a horse, there was a very special bond between the two of us. Thank you and so long for now.

It come as no surprise, as usual the grubs look awesome. Them are some very nice perch.

One of my friends had one back in day, I do not recall the year but it would have been early to mid 70s with the torpedo back. Same as Crowmans Dads it had a 455 big block four barrel. It was gorgeous inside and out, Leather interior of course. He was limited as to how often he could drive it because of the gas consumption. I had a 1987 Buick Somerset coupe. Everything was digital including the speedometer which actually blew my mind for the year.

I just stumbled across this. Man, what a shame. You were pi$$ed off for good reason. My wife and I have always been partial to Buicks. Same as a Cadillac without the Cadillac price tag. My wife says her next SUV is going to be a Buick.

Yes Lew it was very harrowing. Back in them days I wasn't scared of anything but I was sure scared that day. I also have a sequence of pics of a big mule deer buck that charged me. I thought it was going to gore me and leave me for dead. I will look for them, they are worth viewing, they've been published in a few magazines. It's was really something. I just stood where I was as I had no where to go as I was out in the open and just kept taking pics. I figured once they found me the authorities would know what happened and luckily again I managed to leave the area unscathed. And you're right you can't fix stupid. Bison are incredibly powerful animals. Here in Alberta I've seen them flip people twenty feet in the air with absolutely no effort what so ever. To quote my dad them big shoulders on bison and grizzly's same as eyes ears and nose on our ungulates aren't there just as ornaments.

Your father was very fortunate Lew, not necessarily for certain but chances are it was during the rut which usually begins in September for moose. In the early 80's I done a video for a production company in Quebec of bull moose during the rut. I had a cut out of fairly large moose antlers from card board. I would call in a bull moose (taught to me by my dad) and I would hold the card board moose antlers above my head and slowly lower it from side to side as bull moose do to show off the size of their antlers to their opponent. The bulls would approach me doing the same thing, lowering their head form side to side slowly lowering one antler than the other as they slowly came towards me. As soon a s I took my fake antlers down, folded them up and put them behind my back the bull would stop his approach and that would be it. As with the case of your dad they can be unpredictable and seemingly peeved off at the world. There was a time though this didn't go as smoothly. This day I had a real moose antler and was causing quite a ruckus with it by scraping trees and willows as aggressively as I could. A huge bull, obviously the dominant bull in the area came charging in like a freight train straight at us and wasn't stopping for nothing thinking another bull was after his cows so my back up buddy shot him. The bull dropped less than twenty yards from us. It was a legal kill as he had his moose tag and wanted me to call one in for him. It still scares the dickens out of me every time I think of it. Thank God my buddy somehow as your dad did kept his cool with such a large animal bearing down on us at such speed otherwise I don't expect I would be sitting her typing this. So that was the end of the bull moose documentary LOL.

Haha, yeah me too TJQ. I don't thing I'd want to upset him and have him ticked off at me. The out come would be with the moose for sure.

Check this guy out, unbelievable. And a very privileged fellow to have such a moose. Probably right around eighty years or more ago my Dad and his hunting and fishing buddy Ora, mayor of Niagara Falls at the time harvested a moose very similar in size. They flew into a lake north of Wawa. When I was in my twenty's and in good shape I could barely lift them and hold them long enough for a picture to be taken. Took four of us and and a rope to get them hung on the wall. My brother in Owen Sound still has them. I will look for the photo of them.

Howdy Lew, if I could afford to get my Argo in tip top running condition I could get pictures of others that would dwarf this guy. 60 - 70 in. spread and the pair weighing upwards of 60 - 80lbs.lbs. Moose lose their antlers early so it doesn't look promising for this season but I will be collecting their antlers in the spring. Can't wait.

2nd last day of hunting season, last one for me. Took these early this morning while looking to harvest a big and my 40th white tail buck, which didn't happen. The pics of the grey owl aren't all that sharp, although it appears to be bright out it was very low light conditions. Not a huge bull moose but he is a very beautiful one as all moose are to me.

Thank you very much to my friends on the Ontario Fishing Forum for your very kind words to Trooper and I. He was incredibly intelligent, he knew how to open every door in the house, let himself outside when he wanted. Every night after after supper we would play with his toys, when he had enough of that he would go upstairs to relax and watch tv. Sometimes he would even close the door as much to say do not disturb, I'm relaxing and watching tv. The only door in the house he would close. LOL Thank you.

First and foremost please understand I'm not posting this for anyone to feel sorry for me, maybe I shouldn't be posting it at all but several of my friends here on the Fishing Forum became very fond of my boy and best friend on the planet, Trooper. I posted a couple pics of him when H H came up with the idea and a great one of sharing pics of our four legged buddy's. I liked each and every one of them. Sadly Trooper passed away Saturday morning. I know I'm not the only one to have gone through this, it's the hardest thing, I've been through it a few times and if anything it just gets harder. Man, life is sure empty without him. I seldom went any where without him, we loved each other to death. His biggest thing was meeting people, he liked every one. He was always so happy as all dogs should be. Thank you.

Very nice, wish I was there. Some very good scrappers I'm sure. It's nice to see some small mouth pics for a change and decent ones at that. Thank you.

Reminds me of a time when I was just a wee lad, of course opening day of fishing season in May being my favorite day of the year I was up a little before daylight and walked down the hill and out onto Oxenden dock. I couldn't believe my luck, the bay was like a sheet of glass, just the way I like it. Snapped an EGB on my swivel took a cast and my lure skimmed along the surface. Huh, it was frozen over. So I headed down to the mouth of the creek and done very well with some big Rainbow. Here's another part of the story I must share. A little later in the morning the ice thawed and there was an elderly couple in their boat trolling off the mouth of the creek and hooked into a about a 12lb Rainbow. I didn't think they would ever land it. They beached their boat and either with my help, or getting in the way we finally managed to get it in. The husband was dressing the Rainbow and found a quarter, a 25 cent piece in it's stomach which he gave me. I carried that quarter in my pocket every time I went fishing for a good many years and eventually lost it. Happy Days.

Howdy UbaldoHudson, it's a trail cam, the black and white photo was taken after dark, the other pic, the horse is obviously a distance away in low light conditions. Here's some more taken with the same camera. There's not a thing wrong with the quality of the pics this trail cam takes. A lot of variables come into play that I have no control over.

Thanks very much for you response Fellas, Howdy Glen, yes and they are healthy, they have thousand of acres of grazing land. Howdy Cast-Away, it's pretty special to me when I get the chance to see them. I actually reside in Calgary Alberta, born and raised in Oxenden, three miles out of Wiarton. I spend most my time on horse back or Argo in the foothills and Rocky Mountains west and north west of here. I have a couple more pics of the wild horses I'll try and find. I was pretty tuckered out after my trip yesterday to check the camera, still am. Not as young as I used to was Haha. And lastly and very far from least, Howdy Lew. No I sure didn't get what I wanted on camera Lew but I wasn't expecting much as I was on foot when I put it out there and didn't get it back as far as I would have liked. Talk soon. Ha, I guess I must be coming out of my coma here a bit, just realized one of my horses could pass for a relative of one I got on the trail cam, and could very well be as they were wild horses at one time. Thank you's. So long for now.

Three months untouched, over 2500 pics of what I call weekend warriors on their quads and dirt bikes in an area that is posted, NO ATV'S OR OHV'S. Aside from a few whitetail pics, a skunk and people being stupid in front of my camera It did capture a couple of the most beautiful wild horses I've seen there.