Jonny

No it's not, and you illustrated why with your next sentence... Obviously if ethnicity is an important variable, there must be a correlational motive behind asking it. Thanks for the trenchant analysis.

... with an explanation of why an ethnicity question was in there, I trust.

There's nothing quite as sensitive for ice fishing as your fingers.

Some people's priorities are so screwed up!

I will pass. There is absolutely no reason to include a question on ethnicity unless that is the focus of how the "data" will be broken down. If you want to expand on why that question is there, it would be of some interest to hear. Personally I also dislike how your name shows in the topics list - different from all the others - although that would not have prevented me from completing the survey.

Nothing wrong with a course. It's actually a good idea for some people as long as it isn't mandatory. I'd say the same about duck hunting. Having to have a course because of hunting outside the country... that's a specialized thing and has to be different. You're playing by somebody else's rules. The best way to get into bowhunting is to get to know people who do it. And you can also educate yourself massively by reading - especially on the internet. Actually when I got into bowhunting I already knew all the basics of big game hunting - shot placement, tree stands, etc. etc. What I needed was familarity with the equipment and its capabilities. Some target shooting sessions worked that up just fine.

The basic hunter safety course covers everything it needs to. Anybody who goes hunting without having practiced - whether with gun or with bow - is a fool. As far as I know there's very few of that kind of fool around. Everybody likes to target practice when they're new to the sport. Whatever numbskull thought up the wild turkey course never paid any attention to the fact that duck hunting has a much steeper learning curve and requires no special course. (Of course the wild turkey requirement was put in there to limit the number of wild turkey hunters, not because it requires extra-special proficiency.)

It couldn't help but cost you cash for a course and more cash for an endorsement on your Outdoors Card. I am against any special class of hunting license, including the current one for turkey.

Well sometimes replacing a door, especially with an expensive one, just isn't an option. The money may be tight. Weather-stripping, styrofoam and/or shrink film may be the answer for a winter or two. Failing that, I would install a stock patio door myself (i.e. RONA brand). It's WAY too expensive to get a contractor to do it and it's not that hard, if the door is a standard size (5x6 or 6x6). I've both replaced an old patio door (the one I used to "styrofoam") and I've framed-in and installed a new one. Neither was a difficult job. It is, however, definitely a two-man job because of the weight of the doors. If installing a new door, it's worth a few extra bucks to buy a low-e (energy efficient) door. --- Nice offer there, Pikehunter. If I were looking at a job like this for the first time, I'd definitely want to talk to you.

I had the same qualms about drum before I tried it. But next spring I'll definitely cook up any I catch in the 3 to 4 lb range (never seem to get any smaller than that for some reason). I plan to try smoking them too.

Try that with a bowfin. Talk about paying for misidentification.

Jiffy works well for me. Watch Walmart - they sometimes have them on sale. How thick is your ice usually? Up here on Nipissing you'll kill yourself with a hand auger, but on Simcoe your ice should be quite a bit thinner? If I were faced with only 1 to 1 1/2 feet of ice I wouldn't bother with a power auger, especially if I was walking and pulling a sled.

Nice mottled colour. Seems to me I usually see them darker than that. --- Interesting recipe in that one Youtube clip. Boil for 7 minutes, then sauté in butter. Will have to try that some time! Poor man's lobster?

If you don't open your door in the really cold weather, you can cut down on the heat loss (or cold invasion, whichever you prefer) by cutting a couple of pieces of 1" white styrofoam out of a 4x8 sheet to block off the bottom half or so of the doors - in effect leaving what amouts to a regular "window" for view and for light. Cut the styrofoam so you can press fit it on the inside against the glass of the non-sliding door, and another piece on the outside of the sliding door, in between it and the slidiing screen. Seal the seams in whatever way you prefer before applying the styrofoam. I used to do this in Timmins (damn cold there!) and it worked pretty well for little expense and minimal effort.

Eskimo Quickfish III on sale at Costco right now - $179

Thanks. I just wanted to reinforce what Anon. said. It's one of those small but important things that can shape attitude.

Just to pick up on this comment... When I was a director of the O.F.A.H., it was standard practice NOT to call hunting firearms "weapons". For some people it took some getting used to, but "weapons" is the term used by anti-hunters and should not be used by hunters. The distinction is really important.

It's possible that a municipality would class bows as firearms, even though federal law does not. Or they might simply have a blanket "No Hunting" bylaw.

Finlanders.......... bio-engineers.

Yes, I know. I was simply relating what the book said.

One of the names for ling is freshwater cod. This is mentioned in "Freshwater Fishes of Canada" (Scott & Crossman) but there is no mention of a direct relationship between the two. Ling liver oil is as good as cod liver oil. Burbot livers were canned experimentally in Canada and were found to be of high quality for things such as canapés. Adult ling over 20" are voracious predators of other fish such as walleye, perch, drum, smelts and white bass. According to the research for the book, the largest ling caught in Lake Simcoe was a 13 yr old female that was 33" long and weighed 9.5 lb. They have been caught in depths up to 700 feet! --- The ling we catch in Nipissing and Penage are a uniform dark brown.

Man! And people turn up their noses at freshwater drum.

Yes I did, before red dots were common. But IMO no matter how much you tweak a good quality scope it will always be a little less efficient than a red dot in low-light, short to medium range conditions. The combination of an illuminated aim point and two-eyes-open sighting is just impossible to beat.

Here's a good article on red dot (reflex) sights... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reflex_sight

My Bushnell red dot has eleven brightness settings on a rotary dial. I can dial it from too bright for a sunny day to barely visible in near darkness. Red is probably also the colour chosen for a red dot sight because exposure to the colour red does not affect human ability to see in low light. Add to that the fact that with the red dot (and 0 magnification) you shoot with both eyes open, and the view you have is almost as good as with nothing in front of your eyes at all, just this red dot 'magically' hanging there and pointing wherever you want it to. People can (and do!) have their preferences, but for low light conditions and close-in (i.e. up to 100 yds or so where magnification isn't needed) you simply can't beat a red-dot-type sight.