Barry Willis

Good going guys, I pigged out on venison smokies which I actually put in the smoker. I look and feel like a stuffed pig. Time for bed. 11:25 pm here. All the best in the new year to you all.

Hey Doug, I've been thinking about you for the last few days, long time no hear from. No offence and I appreciate your input but too big for a wolverine. I managed a hog farm in Ontario before we moved to Alberta and the, to me at least, the body proportions look correct. 

Thank you very much. Having trail cams out yourself I'm sure you can relate, In this case I wish this cam had a flash like they used to rather than infared as things become distorted with infared if the subject is in motion  It' too big to be a coyote and I know it isn't a wolf. One thing I should have mentioned earlier is that the pics of all the tracks are only a week old as there was a snow fall  so that's a lot of activity in a week. I can't wait to see what's on the trail cams. Should be lots. It wouldn't take much to talk me into to going back up to day and check to see what's on them LOL.

I totally agree TJQ,  now that I'm a little more awake, that trip yesterday took it's toll on me. After closer inspection it looks more like a wild pig. there isn't the hair on it's legs like it should have this time of year and the back and tail aren't right. Even though we've had a mild winter they should be hibernating. I wish it had been a pic during daylight hours. I didn't want to but I pulled my camera out of there because I found signs of deer poaching. So if they will do that I'm sure they will find a way to steel my camera if they come across it.

I was too dang tired last night after my trip to do this but here's a few more pics that I hope some of you enjoy. One infared of what appears to be a wild boar or a black bear, it's kinda hard to tell.  I harvested a very big wild boar five years ago in northern Alberta. Over 400lbs of him.  They are a real problem, destroying farmers crops etc. Having been around horses most my life (and I expect this may be boring for some as I know it's not every ones cup of tea) this is the the most beautiful one I have ever seen and his buddy, a beautiful appaloosa with nice dapples. I expect it was maybe a wild horse at one time from the area, as some of the ranchers do capture and break them and they turn out to be the best of the best. That's what I ride. Just to give you an idea of the abundance of the critters, some pics of game trails where I hung my cameras, the whole area for miles and miles in the foothills looks like this, deer moose and God only knows what else, but I'm about to find out LOL. With that much activity I should have lots, I set my cameras for pics and video.  If I can find my wild boar skull I will post a pic of it, it's worth a gander, it has tusks that could rip a man to pieces.

31 days, pics of a couple dandy whitetail bucks, unfortunately none of the big guy, and some smaller ones that to me, the pics  look to nice not to include, and a couple mule deer. Bigger and better to come at the end of January. As of today, four more trail cams in the bush.

 Looks as though you had some jolly old play time indeed. What a nice catch. And you said you are going to fry up a big scoff of them when? There's some nice sweet eating there. Thanks for sharing Bigugli, Santa's elf. By the way where's the snow? Merry Christmas.

Thank you very much every body, It is very Heart felt. I love it. Christmas has always been a very special time for my family and myself for as far back as I can remember. It sure isn't the same though without my boy Trooper. He loved it. Dog's are no different than us, they like new toys too. Stumbling across the Ontario Fishing Community has been one of the best things that has happened to me in long time. I've met some very nice folks on here and continue to do so. That picture of me and my petrified friend to the left with bear spray at the ready wasn't supposed to be on here. I'm not sure what I did wrong this time LOL. Thank you, so long for now.

Just a few old trail cam pics. I didn't manage to capture any of Santa's  rein deer as I'm too far south and the wrong time of the year and my computer as usual isn't letting me post the pics I want. Any way Merry Christmas and I hope you all have a super new year. 

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.