Barry Willis

I remember when I was a wee lad hearing the heavy horses pulling a wagon coming down the road at Oxenden, the farmer going to town to get their groceries. I would run up the road and stand just a few feet away and watch them go by. I could feel the ground shake. It was quite a spectacle that I will never forget. Here's just a couple pictures of the most stunning and beautiful Noriker draft horses I have ever seen and likely ever will see.

Thanks for sharing this. Taken from a semi or a very fancy RV. These guys see a lot of wildlife, especially bear and elk driving from Alberta into BC. Not very often you will see that many bears in one place all at once. Back up to Lew, Oh man, that is just priceless buddy, I wish I could be so lucky. if I had my way my back yard would be full of bears.

I can tell you some harrowing stories that would keep most folks awake at night. Involving grizzly's but were all bluff charges, didn't need to use the bear spray or bangers. I experimented with bear spray once. I was back in the middle of nowhere in a pretty good size meadow doing some target shooting with some of my rifles and decide to test a bottle of bear spray, I emptied it. There was no wind but after a couple of minutes it filled the meadow and my t-shirt become soaked with saliva, I could not see, jumped in the jeep and drove out of there blind with my rifles resting on a blanket on the hood. Thank god they stayed there. One of my friends and and his wife were out hunting and at the end of the day getting inside their travel trailer his wife sat down on the couch forgetting the bear spray she had on her belt with the trigger guard off, in just a couple second it filled the trailer and her husband spent nine days in the hospital. It would have to be a life and death situation before I would spray any bear with that stuff. I know it is meant to save lives but man is it ever potent.

Man that was a violent one Lew. The damage is already done but it appeared to be moving fairly quickly or it could have been much worse. Years ago there was a really bad one that hit Edmonton and of course in Ontario and we've had some very close calls here in Calgary. We have very violent thunder storms with golf ball plus size hail every summer so it's not a matter of if, it's a matter of when. Calgary is named hail storm alley for a reason. Thank you for sharing.

Some of you folks may have seen these already, I've had a few more requests since. Some of my favorite pics. The way I put it is some people will see a black bear and wonder if it is a grizzly, if you see a grizzly you'll know it is a grizzly and not a black bear.

I wish I could do it over again, I wouldn't change a thing.

I have hundreds but here just some of the pics I am fondest of. Notice the cub in front of mom. She is on high alert as all mother bears are. The worst thing you can meet and or especially surprise is a mother grizzly with cubs. I can assure you the out come will be in the grizzlies favor.

Howdy Akrisoner, it's been a spell. Unless you have been around bears as much as I have it can be difficult to tell the difference. The way I put it is if you see a black bear, you're not sure if it is a grizzly or a black bear, if you see a grizzly you know it is a grizzly and not a black bear. My wife and I, especially myself have spent decades studying bears especially grizzlies. I was very fortunate to have worked along side bear biologists to tag and weigh etc. grizzlies from helicopter. This is actually a fairly big bear and lacks the very distinctive shoulder hump that grizzlies have even at a young age. It gives them incredibly powerful shoulders and front legs . A grizzly does not have the tall rounded ears of the black bear and also the grizzly has a concave face from it's eyes to the tip of it's nose where as a black bear has a relatively straight face from it's forehead to the tip of it's nose. Colors can vary widely for both bears. Even grizzlies can be from their typical brown color to several different shades of brown to black and white and one never knows where you may come across one, they certainly are not restricted to the mountains. A few years ago a fellow was killed by a grizzly an hours drive north west from the house here, west of Airdrie, and I have seen grizzlies near Hinton. Here's a picture for comparison. I must say I envy your cousin living near Hinton. Beautiful country, that's where I should be living with my outdoor photography and other activities.

I'm glad I tended to my trail cams yesterday as here's what I woke up to this morning and there will be a lot more of this white stuff where they are. More often than not it snows 12 months out of the year up where I have them. And I don't mean just a few flakes, the trees will be loaded and the ground covered. Quite a bit has melted at the house here since 5:00 am this morning and it's 1:00 pm now (mountain time) but here it comes again and is supposed to continue to do so for the next two days. Not as much as in the second photo though, maybe.

Yes, you are absolutely right Lew. Especially the one I mentioned near Elbow Falls. I don't expect I will any time soon but if I find the 35mm pictures of it I will certainly post them. According to my bear biologist buddy Brian H. it is indeed a very rare bear for these parts or any where else for that matter. They are truly a beautiful animal and a sight to behold. That guy from last summer, I have five pictures of him and is clearly on a mission, he knows exactly where he is going.

Thank you Lew, It is fairly rare as most are typically black. It may sound silly but I feel very privileged when I do see one. In all the decades I have spent in the Rockies and their foothills I have only seen five counting this one. I have pictures of one (somewhere) that I spotted about thirty years ago near Elbow Falls sw. of Calgary that was so blonde it was almost white, it was gorgeous. The one I posted yesterday still has his winter coat. I can't believe how beautiful it is, so thick and luxurious. I would love to pat him and run my hands through it but I don't expect he would let me LOL. Here's a pic you may remember from last summer taken about two miles west, a little darker in color but I expect they are from the same gene pool.

Howdy smitty55, it is methane gas that is released from decaying plants and also from the lake bed itself. As the bubbles of methane gas make their way to the surface they become trapped in the ice.

Thank you, I thought and think it is very cool as well. I see it fairly often but not as nice as these ones and they stretched right across the lake in places.

Deer, fox, wolf and bear. This black bear, a good size one of a cinnamon blonde color phase spent fifteen minutes in front of the camera but unfortunately to close to get a picture of his face and never lifted his head once. Just out of hibernation and in very good shape having not eaten for five months or more, and hungry, he was sniffing the ground where I had put some corn the month before which my old arthritic hands dropped and it spilled too close to the camera. Haven't got a picture of a lone wolf (an outcast) for years. I wish it been during day light hours. Sorry Lew, no moose this time.

I thought these were maybe worthy of posting. Sent to me from my almost 80 year old sister who still loves to fish and hunt and is very adept at both.

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I've had this happen more times than I care to think about. Losing an expensive lure on the first cast. The only difference was my vulgar shouts that I am sure could be heard for miles.

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Very nice shot with the fog. How's the fishing at Mountain Lake these days? Speaking of making the move out west took a little grit but not all that much really as I had my mind made up and my wife was a behind me all the way, as she so nicely put it, a new beginning and we were young and loved adventure. I should have mentioned my younger brother came with me. From Wiarton to Beaver Lodge in northern Alberta, almost a 4000 km drive and made the trip (winter driving) in 43.5 hours. Of course we didn't have GPS back then just a road map. Conditions permitting the speedometer was seldom under 70mph and quite often 90 with my 76 Dodge Royal Monaco. Upon leaving I told my brother I was going to drive 1500 miles, not km. non stop except for gas. which I did. It took me 28 hours and 20 minutes. The last 3 miles were the worst as I couldn't keep my eyes open any longer. Jumped in the back seat and became wide awake for 4 hours LOL. I don't remember how much gas was then but it was a fair size car, weighted down with a 360 (5.9) it cost me $224:00 for gas. Yeah, Happy days.

I really appreciate your emails, and am very happy you and your wife like the mountain lake pics. Some are are worthy of hanging on the wall. Most our families on both sides after coming out for a visit have moved here. We are only an hours drive from the mountains and as the 100's of times as we have been there they are still breath taking. I was born and raised in Oxenden and after getting married we lived in Wiarton for a couple years then move out the 21st onto a hog farm right across from the airport runway. The last Christmas we spent there It took me 8.5 hours to get the car out of out long driveway to visit my mom and dad which were less than an hours walk across the airport. The airport recorded one inch shy of 15 feet of snow that winter and I don't believe it has happened since. I remember back in the day Colpoy Bay would only freeze over once every four years or so. In 1981 upon my dear old dad's advice I decided to make the move out west. With my old 1976 Dodge under my ass (which made the trip four more times to first and foremost get my dog, then my fishing gear among other things, fish and deer mounts etc.) I arrived in Alberta February 14th 1981. Had job offers coming out my ying yang. Saved enough money to get a place and fly my wife and boys out and never looked back. I do dearly miss Bruce Peninsula. for the fishing especially, didn't matter what species you wanted to catch on any given day they were there. Keep playing them lottery tickets and I will keep my fingers crossed for you. Have a super day. picasabackground-359.bmp picasabackground-359.bmp

Very nice as well. Seeing that open water and down rigger is making me a little jealous LOL. It's gonna be another two to four weeks before the ice is off the lakes here. Depending on weather of course it could be up to six weeks for the mountain lakes to become free of ice. It could be earlier this year as we only received around 60 percent of our average snow pack in the mountains and there are already 48 active forest fires.

Just a couple kinda cool sunrise pics over looking the prairies east of town.

Well my dinosaur computer says it's ready to go back to work so I will try and get the pics of the other Lakes on here that I am very fond of. Having seen them I am sure you will understand why. I guess this is it, can't find the ones I want. Thank you.

Back to Crowman, Yes, and as you obviously know they are a char. Years ago they were thought to be a dolly varden. But bull trout sounds better than bull char, same as our lake trout LOL. Bull trout, Alberta's provincial fish have had a very rough go. For such a gorgeous fish It truly sickens me to say that decades ago they were considered a pest as they were at the top of the food chain. When caught, in most cases they were just left on the bank to rot. Thank fully in August of 2019 they were finally put on the endangered species list. To this day, in spite of everything Fish and Wildlife biologists and volunteers have done for them during spawning they haven't made much of a recovery. They resemble a big brook trout even though colors can vary, it is surprising how many anglers can't tell the difference, so came the motto, no black put it back. I don't even have a picture of my record one. As my 35mm pics of it were being processed, which were actually taken by a Game Warden with my camera (he seemed as excited as I) the power went out in the camera shop and they lost my negatives and pics. I did take it to a taxidermist friend but before he had chance to finish it he passed away. Some time later his son in law called me and told me he had it, I was very excited to say the least as I thought it was gone to who knows where, so I rushed to his house. I don't believe I have ever been so ticked off, it was painted the color of a brown trout and most the fins were broke to the point even with fin backing they were beyond repair. After several choice words I told him to shove it and that was the last I seen it. I did release most my fish at that time and this is one I truly wish I'd never kept.

Pictures of some of my favorite mountain lakes. Most are so gorgeous they look fake, but are not. I hope you's enjoy. Maligne Lake, Peyto Lake, Waterton Lake, Lake Louise, Upper and Lower Kananaskis Lakes where in 1983 while fishing from shore I caught the Alberta record Bull Trout, Alberta's provincial fish, one oz. shy of 18lbs. And it still stands today. Lower Kananaskis Lake, Abraham Lake. I have a couple more that are well worth a gander but as usual my computer decided to take some time off, I will try and post them later.