Barry Willis

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.

It would be close to a two and a half year old. I expect his mama had another cub or two and he was sent packing to fend for himself. It does appear to be on a mission, heading some where it is familiar with, for a food source I expect.

I've been having trouble putting this together as my computer isn't cooperating. Leaving out whole sentences and won't let me edit. I don't want anyone to get the impression that I am in favor of the bear taking these people and their dogs life regardless of the circumstances. I couldn't be sadder about it. All I can say is they were very sadly in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Well we had to cancel our hunting trip in the Rockies due to Grizzly activity. Unfortunate for the bears due to our dry year there were no berries for them to feed on to fatten up which are very important for their winter hibernation, not a berry anywhere. There was a recent report of a male grizzly laying claim to a big bull elk a hunter had shot before the hunter even got to it. I don't know of course if it was on your news channels in Ontario and beyond that about three weeks ago a couple and their dog were killed by by a grizzly not far from here. Fish and Wildlife responded of course as well as RCMP and other detachments (GPS emergency signal). They did shoot a female grizzly in the area that was showing aggressive behavior towards them and they reported that she was very thin. I have lot's of other places to hunt where there are no bears. To me personally, the grizzly's health and survival is much more important. If I don't succeed in harvesting anything I can go to my local butcher, bears don't have that luxury. They're just doing the best they can with what they have.

Very nice Lew. You've got it's attention, judging from what I see here there's a good chance it has never seen a human before.

Thank you very much. Good luck to you as well. Keep me posted.

I know what you mean, and some pretty nice reel seats, this one is nothing compared to some of the others I have. wink wink back at ya, ya ain't getting them LOL. We live in a different type of country here, if you were to look at a map of Canada we are quite a bit north of SW Ontario and close the the Rockies and the Pacific. Air conditioning blasting away one day and the furnace going the next day. Where I hang my trail cams and hang out (just an hours drive from Calgary) it snows 12 months out of the year and not just a few flakes, everything is covered. But we get some nice breaks as well during winter when a Chinook wind will come down off the Rockies< I've seen the temperature rise upwards of 30 degrees in 90 minutes. Any way enough about that I could go on and on.

Sure, rub it in there Weeds. I'd be hitting the beach as well or some bass fishing. I'm in Calgary although a great deal of my time is spent SW of Sundre out on a ranch. If you caught my pics of my last trail cam pics that's usually where I'm at.

This is what I've been putting up with since Saturday night. -14 at 5:00 this morning Two years ago this happened in September, the snow came and stayed. Not that it's a bad thing really. My wife and buddy and myself are heading out hunting next week on horse back and Argo to get us back in the foothills at the base of Black Rock Mountain in the Rockies where we will set up camp, can't wait, and conditions should be perfect. Wish me luck, I need all the help I can get. I've harvested 39 white tail bucks and some very respectable ones mostly with the bow, all clean shots, (pics to come) if I'm not confident I won't take the shot, and I want number 40 to be something special. So I've decided to leave my rifles at home and just go with my bows. I've turned down several nice bucks in the past five years waiting for Mister Right, so hopefully this will be the year. Might be MY last year as I'm not some young whipper snapper anymore Haha. Unfinished antler mount of my favorite mule deer harvested with PSE bow.

Hi Lew, how ya doing there young fella? I don't know that I still do but at one time I had the largest collection of antlers in Canada and parts of the US. Just shy of 400 whitetail antlers, about 200 mule deer antlers and a combined of about 100 moose and elk antlers. These were all, as most call them shed antlers, I call them drop offs. I was one of the first to go out looking for drop offs and only drop offs. Almost twenty years ago we were moving and I neglected to lock the back gate and while we were at our new house someone entered the back gate and stole most my antlers (my favorites of course) that were packed in two custom built tool boxes that go in a truck box behind the cab. Every chance I had since 1981 I walked countless miles for years to find all these antlers. I think someone knew that they were there and obviously wanted them for bragging rights or to be ground down into who knows what. One day I'll send an off topic pic of what I have left and some other interesting ones from other parts of the world that I hope you and some of the other forum members will enjoy. So long for now.

Hi Spiel, it's been a spell. I'm not sure if I was to comment on this and I don't expect I am about to mention anything you don't already know but here goes anyway. I've done a lot of work with antlers and the only way to avoid it at least somewhat is to just do a bit at a time and then let it sit for a while to prevent it from heating up. I know it's a pain and very time consuming but the warmer it gets the worse the smell. At least that's what my wife tells me, she would know, I swear she has a nose equal to that of a Blood Hound. Many times when we've been Elk hunting she will smell them long before we see them. My kind of hunting partner. Haha. Not that it comes as a surprise, your pics, illustrate very nice work as always, second to none. Thank you for sharing them. Cheer's - Barry.