Jonny

I'm not sure how you evaluate that, but I have used both and the red dot will work in almost total darkness - you could use it by the light of a flashlight if it weren't HIGHLY illegal! If we did night-time coon hunting in Ontario, nothing would be better than a red dot.

There are people that say the same thing about catfish and ling. But it's all about attitude I guess.

It's a Truglo scope. (?) Well it would serve someone right. Then again we're talking about an easily replaceable battery that costs, what, 40 cents? Somehow I don't see a problem here. I already said Truglo could be a good option and wasn't trying to "outsell" you, just giving detail about what a red dot is really like to use.

You mean this one? (see attachment).......... ... looks like the same 2032 battery. Incorrect. If you turn on the Bushnell red dot on Saturday morning and leave it on, it will still be bright by the time you finish hunting on Sunday.

Trueglo could very well be an option. I'm not familiar with it. Thing is, it sounds like it's also a low-light alternative to pins, which I would avoid. You don't have to worry much about batteries in a red dot, Bushnell anyway, which is what I've got. I just came back from a deer hunt where I used a red dot on my Browning BLR .308 too. I used mine one day, forgot to turn it off overnight and used it the next day. It was on for about 34 hours straight and the dot was still bright. I tested the battery life once by leaving it on and it went 48 hrs and was still bright. You can tell when the battery power is getting low because the dot will get dimmer; it doesn't suddenly go out. I replace my battery as a matter of course after every two full days of hunting (I leave it on all the time, morning to night). The 2032 batteries it uses I can buy at Dollarama for $1 for a 3-pak. Six days of hunting costs me $1. They're only the size of a quarter, so I always keep a couple of spare batteries in my pocket when out in the field.

I won't know about smoking drum til next spring. I plan to try it then.

Being in an area that wild animals inhabit doesn't mean that if you're attacked you "deserve" it. It just means that in the unlikely event that you are threatened or attacked, you'd be wise to have something you can defend yourself with. And if you have a child along that goes double. i.e. if you go blueberry picking, why not at least have a stout hunting knife on your belt? But to each his own.

I've been out deer hunting so I've been away from this topic. My advice would be twofold: 1) To echo other comments here, I would absolutely NOT do without a quiver. It keeps the bolts handy for a second shot (when mounted on the bow), it's a good storage device for them when not hunting, it keeps the broadheads protected and sharp, and it prevents you cutting yourself on them. 2) Hunting without a red-dot sight certainly can work, but be prepared sooner or later for a legal-light shot that you can't take because you can't see the pins. Get a red-dot.

Better'n using yer teeth.

I think both Cabela's and Bass Pro have store locators on their websites.

A few fps will not make any appreciable difference. A long as it's rated for 150 lb or more it's fine for moose. I took a couple with my Browning Orion. (If you can get one of these 'used' it would be a great buy.) Make sure that your practice arrows are identical to your hunting arrows and carry the same weight of head. Three or four layers of blue Styrofoam SM make a great target-shooting setup that will stop your practice arrows so you don't have to go searching for them or damage them. I would advise you practice @ 30 yards max. The one thing I wish I had learned early on, and I'll pass it along to you, is that a red dot sight mounted on your x-bow is a LOT more useful than sight pins. I had to miss a good shot at a moose under low (but legal) light conditions to learn that. I couldn't see the sight pins clearly and shot under the moose's belly into swamp grass. If I had had a red dot, I would have nailed that shot. The moose was not unduly alarmed but by the time I reloaded it was too far away for a second shot. I mounted a red dot as soon as I could after that experience. Save your money on extra fps and get a red dot. You'll never regret it.

To quote the photographer: That would be a fairly new thing, if accurate. They were never protected before.

Horwood Lake is near Foleyet, west of Timmins. White moose have been well-known in that area for years. Very impressive.

That's way too simplistic and inaccurate.

Oh my Good Lord! Dalton McGuinty...... our hero! Look, the bottom line is that the HST is going to cost each consumer hundreds if not thousands more in taxes every year. I don't care what the rationale is from some people re: how it's going to be good for us, I think it's just plain dumb to think that the solutions to our problems ALWAYS involve us "little guys" paying MORE taxes.

Your Prime Minister once headed this group. At least here's someone trying to do something about the high taxes that I see many moaning about (but resigned to!). I don't belong, but you could do worse.

Actually the push to harmonize the GST began long before the recession --- years ago when the Liberals were in power in Ottawa. Quebec and the Maritimes harmonized quite some time ago. It's a bad idea that is hard to kill, and now McGuinty and whoever in BC (Campbell?) are pushing it. BC seems much further on the road to killing it through public outcry than we are in Ontario. I'm not sure why that is. The only way to kill this in Ontario is to make the Liberals fear losing the next election.

I'm heading out for deer this coming week too. Good luck!

Actually the story didn't end there. His car was blocking the right-hand lane of a 4-lane. The dead bear was partly in the passing lane. Two cars clipped it and kept on going. A third car, a Camry, slowed down to almost a stop and then was rear-ended by a Nissan Pathfinder at full speed (driver on a cell phone, apparently). The Pathfinder went end over end. No major injuries but two more vehicles totalled. This all occured in the dark. Right. If I had to hit something I would pick a bear first and a moose dead last. Hit a moose and you hit the legs. Guess where the body ends up.

Wow, this "I can't do anything" attitude that I see in some of the posts here is discouraging but not entirely unexpected. After all, that's the kind of thing our governments bank on --- apathy. From the Ont. gov. site : A 1% tax reduction (6.05% to 5.05%) would result in a savings of $368, $110 less than the increased cost illustrated above for just a few HST-taxable items. And doesn't the word "temporary" above scare you just a little? In addition, if you think you'll get a flow-through savings from businesses, I think you're living in a dream world. And why do you think McGuinty is shelling out "transition" bribes to taxpayers next year? I'm thinking "smokescreen", and sadly I think it just might work.

The proposed Harmonized Sales Tax for Ontario is going to hurt big time. We're all going to lose disposable income to spend on "frills" like fishing and hunting. I found a link to the National Citizens Coalition today and went there to try their HST Calculator. I added just a few variables (gas, electricity, heating and internet) and the attachment shows what I came up with. It's not too late to make the government nervous about getting re-elected. Make some noise wherever you can! http://nationalcitizens.ca/index.html Don't just sit there and get shorn!

It's fun to follow your projects, Jacques. It looks to me like you have epoxied the eyelets into the wood, as well as relying on the grip of the screws. I'd be surprised if any freshwater fish could tear those out, assuming of course that you'd be relying on your drag a little too, and not just trying to "horse" a big fish. If that's just carpenter's glue, I'd go to epoxy.

Always interesting to see a creative solution. Nicely done, Jet!

It would depend on how it hit the water when it got the fish. Osprey are often mistaken for bald eagles, though when you see them like in my avatar, they have those dark spots on the wing knuckles and eagles don't. An osprey will usually hit the water hard, vertically, from a height, with quite a splash, and at least partially submerge. As far as I know an eagle wouldn't do that, but rather pick fish off while skimming the surface?

Not a deer but a bear --- just as bad. This happened to a friend just a short while ago...