Barry Willis

I've had an Argo since the mid eighties, my six wheel weighs a little over 850lbs, I will not take it out on thin ice, even though they are amphibious doesn't mean they are going to climb  back up onto the ice. With the correct tire pressure they leave a vey small foot print. Going to CrowMan's  post I had an incident that I will never forget. My fishing buddy and I one Saturday afternoon took a drive to Colpoy creek and dock to check on the fishing. Most the guy's were doing very well catching big rainbow. There was one party of guys that had cut about a four foot square hole in the ice with a chainsaw. We fished mostly at night so we returned after supper and by that time there was a full blown blizzard but it didn't matter to us as we were dressed for it and looking forward to pulling up some big rainbow. Once we got set up and our holes drilled I remembered I had left something in our old fishing van. I ran back to get it and went into this big hole they had cut, which by this time was covered in slush and snow, I went completely  under. If it wasn't for my ice pics I wouldn't have made it out especially wearing water logged mukluks and snowmobile suit. My buddy couldn't hear or see me in the storm. Any way we managed to get off the ice and back to my farm house. My body didn't warm up until late next morning. I made my ice pics out of hockey stick handles and of course big spikes.

I know most parts of Ontario haven't had much of a winter and you haven't been able to get to your favorite ice fishing spots but out west here I have had about enough of it, with our two weeks of -54c. and lots of snow. Last week was nice, up to +11 some days. It started snowing Sunday morning and still is and getting colder than a well diggers ass. So I can't wait for ----  

Tracks are for sure the only way to get around in deep snow with an Argo. I haven't had a problem  in deep snow since putting tracks on mine. Pricey though as is with anything else Argo related.

Wow, what a cool unit, I've never seen or heard of one. I hazard to guess the price tag.

You are right BITEME. They do eat eggs of wild birds and the birds them selves if they are lucky enough to catch and have been known to raid chicken coops. Their main diet consists of mice throughout the year. 

Yeah, that is 100% a red fox TJQ. A very beautiful and vey intelligent mammal that are found throughout all of Canada. Very nice to see one. And yes that is what they sound like.  

 Welcome to Canada 2024 is unfortunately right.  Man, that's sickening. All these new gun laws are not going to curb gun violence. Pretty soon the only ones that will  have guns are going to be the bad guys. My wife and I both have our share of rifles and shot guns, in mint condition and worth a lot of money.  I'm not sure anymore if we can even leave them to our sons in our will, even if they have their gun license. The city cops and RCMP here, twice now have put out a bulletin on the local news for any one with unwanted fire arms to get in contact with them and they would dispose of them. There were thousands of them turned over to the cops.  Rather than put them up for auction for law abiding citizens  they were thrown into a smelter. There was one veteran officer that was collecting them and keeping them, not that I blame him, I'm sure he had some very nice pieces. He was fired.  

Yeah I know you're right, Some times I put my actions in gear before my brain. Thank you very much for the wake up Rick. If I was to lose my permit which very few people have I'd never get it back, and I would likely lose the gun as well which cost me a fortune. It's a twin to the one Clint Eastwood used in the Dirty Harry movies. I don't very often take it out of the gun safe in the house except for when I go to the mountains where all this took place and when I do it's usually in the trunk locked up in a very secure stainless box I hade made for it. A few years ago a Gentleman and his wife from Texas were in Calgary here for the Stampede. They were going for a hike in one of our parks and they were held up at gun point and robbed. It was on our local news of course and for the life of him he couldn't believe that us Calgarians and or Canadians aren't permitted to carry hand guns. In Texas people carry them right out in the open. I don't have a concealed hand gun permit nor do I want or need one I carry it in a nice leather holster and belt just like the cowboys did. There have been people call the cops on me not knowing I had a permit LOL. I guess that's more than enough said about that.

That is a very good story, I enjoyed it, and I under stand accidents happen but when it comes down to up right ignorance and knowingly putting their life and others at risk, I don't know. Of course regardless of the circumstance every effort should be made and are made to rescue them of course. 

Thank you very much Akrisoner, who would have guessed it would all come to this. I guess one never knows who or what we are dealing with, especially out in the wilderness where I feel so happy and free without another soul around for miles and miles. As sick as it may sound, and this guy sickens me, he truly does, I wish I had known then what I know now and he had gave me the opportunity to pull the trigger and put a 44 slug in him. I wouldn't care if I went to jail. I also wish they would release him into my custody and let me take him on a one way trip out behind the barn. Yes my instincts were dead on again as usual and I thank god that I came out unscathed. 

Thank you very much for that Cando. The young girls have to live with this for the rest of their lives. It is very disheartening. And yes thank god we got him and he's where he belongs so he can't hurt anyone one else. 

Absolutely HH, this is something the Government is considering out here in Alberta. There are several rescues every year involving skiers going out of bounds where it is clearly marked and on the ski resort and Government web sites to avoid because of the risk of creating an avalanche. In attempting a rescue other skiers put their life at risk and of course helicopters are involved as well. The out come usually involves fatalities. And again they should know better, to quote Terry, they will never figure it out.

What a shame, she looks like such a sweet girl. 

They are very lucky and should have known better. It happens all to often.

Got a call from the Game Warden this morning that made the arrest and the guy has also been charged for sexually assaulting his two young daughters. That's the reason for the publication ban.  What a sick person. I can't imagine what the girls are going through and what lies ahead.  Makes me feel that much better for doing what I did. Makes it all seem worth while now.  I hope they lock him up in solitary confinement and throw the key away.

You're welcome Lew. I don't make much money for doing it but it gets me out of the city and helps pay for gas and ammo. 

Thanks very much for that Akrisoner. Yes and not a thing crazy about it. I was asked to appear in court to testify against them which I will gladly do. Especially now, I just got off the phone with a buddy that works in the internal affairs division with the Calgary Police, in other words he polices the police. I likely shouldn't be saying much more here as my buddy informed me it involves under age children so no names or pictures of the family or the bad guy are being disclosed at this time. He is the one we caught and the Game Warden  arrested in the bush.  Years ago he allegedly threatened to shoot his wife and kids. Bailed himself out of jail and failed to show up for court and hadn't been seen or at least recognized since. For the life of me I don't understand why any judge in his right mind would grant someone bail for such a serious offence. After what we learned about the guy I am in no rush for a repeat of that day. I don't believe the Game Warden is either. I think a few more sleepless nights are on the horizon.

Howdy Lew, when folks in rural southern Alberta have a problem, mostly with coyotes they call Fish And Wildlife - the Game Wardens, then Fish And Wildlife calls me with their information and I proceed from there as the Game Wardens don't get involved with problem critters unless it involves black bears or grizzlies, which I wont shoot any way, Fish And Wildlife trap and relocate them. Unlike B.C. we don't shoot bears unless they have become a real problem, having killed a person or mauled one. Many years ago there was a Government Hunter program  in Ontario that my dad and I were involved in during the spring mostly involving rabid animals, foxes, skunks etc. For some reason, Keppel township at that time had the worst rabies problem in all of North America, and not just one year, but several in a row. It kept us busy. It's a very sad thing for the affected animal to go through, so we were called upon to end their suffering and try and keep the disease from spreading as best as we could. It certainly isn't a term you hear every day Lew, most folks haven't heard of such a thing, but that's pretty much what a Government Hunter does.   

Howdy Akrisoner, as is with all our provinces the game wardens have huge areas to cover. The one that showed up on scene was the closest and going into the bush he was armed with a semi automatic rifle, either a 308 or 30-06 and being a government hunter I was armed as well. We worked in tandem. Yes, it was a little terrifying, lots of places for him to hide and ambush us if he detected us as he would do what ever he needed to to avoid being arrested and going to jail for years. So after finding him, disarming and cuffing him and he was a cocky bugger too, we wanted to slap the crap out of him but we can't do that. he was placed in the back seat of the wardens SUV while we drove around looking for his partner which didn't take long. This is a huge area with no one around for miles during the week, that's why I love it so much. The game wardens and RCMP don't travel in pairs, or with a partner so two RCMP SUV's showed up as these characters were considered very dangerous and were taken to jail in seperate vehicles. Back to Cast - Away, at the time I was very disappointed to lose a camera, it's really my only form of entertainment, it took me a long time to save up enough money for it on my CPP. at least I got it back. Back to Crowman, hey Rick, I'm certainly in no rush to do it again, never slept a wink last night thinking how fast things could have went south. the thing that saved us is when we found him his rifle was leaning against a tree out of his reach as he gutted the white tail doe. The SWAT team was on our minds, if we felt the need. In retrospect I feel we should have let them deal with it. I'm not the adrenaline junkie I used to was LOL. I have found that as I get older I am losing the nerve to do a lot of things I never used to give any thought to. If you look close in the first picture I think you can see the mountain peaks, that's where I'm heading, and the second picture (an old one) all this took place at the bottom of the hill. Thank you all. 

Thank you very much for that Terry, and so do I. The Game warden and the RCMP both told me I was very lucky the guy didn't see me before I saw him, considering his back ground as he likely would have shot me. But that was the least of my worries. I was prepared for that as I legally pack a 44 mag on my hip when I'm up there, and it was in my hand.

Thank you very much for that Terry, and so do I. The Game warden and the RCMP both told me I was very lucky the guy didn't see me before I saw him, considering his back ground as he likely would have shot me.

Something has been bugging the dickens out of me to go back up to the rocky mountain foot hills where my trail cam went missing, so I did first thing this morning. In my almost 70 years on this planet, one thing I have learnt is to go with my instincts. I knew there was a poacher prowling around in my stomping grounds from the tracks I'd previously found. Well this morning I found fresh tracks leading into the bush so I followed them and I caught him in the act, sneaking through the bush with a rifle. He didn't see me but I saw him. To try and make a long story short I beat it the Hell out of there as there is no phone service, once I had service I phoned the report a poacher no. about 40 minutes later a game warden showed up and I led him into the bush  where the guy was and with the help of the game warden and my walkie talkies we caught him red handed gutting a white tail doe. We caught his buddy as well of course that was driving around so as not to create suspicion with a vehicle sitting on the side of the road. I told the warden about my camera gone missing and he asked me what brand it was and I told him, he reached into the back seat of the truck and brought out a trail cam and asked me, does this look familiar? Sure does I replied. So I got it back minus the SD card. The warden ran their ID. turned out the two guys had multiple warrants for poaching and fire arms offences, so the warden called the RCMP and they were cuffed and taken to the crow bar hotel where they belong. So all in all this was a very rewarding day, got my camera back and put two bad guys in jail. Thanks to those who took the time to read this, I know it's a long one, as usual Hahah.

A rather disappointing day yesterday after an hour and a half drive one way into the foot hills to swap SD cards in my trail cams. The one camera that has kept me awake at night where all the tracks were some one stole. Brand new camera, first time in the bush. Any way here are some from another cam. A very nice pic, at least to me, of a night time pic of a lovely cow moose, this is not a no glow camera and she wasn't very fond of it lighting up. A spruce grouse that caught the attention of a whitetail and a nice shot of a raven in flight.  

I don't expect if this will apply to many of you folks in Ontario but thought I'd post it anyway. Out here in Calgary over the past few years (Fish and Wildlife estimate there are a little over a thousand coyotes here in the city) there have been several attacks on dogs, some on people, moms being threatened while going for a walk with their infant in a stroller, children being threatened by them right in their front yards and pets going missing from yards that aren't fenced properly. Coexisting with them is becoming more difficult as they are getting bolder every year. Quite often (too often) especially in rural areas a single coyote will come in and lure dogs out and away from the yard to where a pack is waiting in ambush and attack and kill the dog. And some people wonder why I shoot them - in their words - the poor things. 

Wow, I've never seen batteries do that. Thank God your wife smelled the smoke. You and your wife are very lucky. I think I'll put the purchase of a lithium for my trolling motor etc. on the back burner.