Jonny

My understanding is that Walmarts will let you park a motorhome or trailer at the back of their parking lots overnight?

I recognise "Stringbag" as the old Swordfish torpedo plane (biplane) - they type that torpedoed the Bismarck and jammed its rudder. What's the "Shagbat"? I'm pretty good on planes but I can't recall hearing that one. Here's the only biplane I've ever flown in... a Stearman... the pilot let me take the controls for about 10 minutes at 5000 feet over Ottawa... awesome experience. Also a pic of your Stringbag (Aviation Museum, Ottawa)...

Keeping in mind that the GPS is a way to find your way around in the bush or on a lake, I've never felt the need to "upgrade" to a unit that has maps and shows roads. My waypoints are the thing that's important to me, and if necessary I use my unit in conjunction with a topographic map (or a piece of one) printed from my computer. GPS's, like dishwashers, can get pretty fancy. But if all you ever use is the "Basic Wash" cycle, why pay for the extras? The basic etrex runs for a couple of days on one set of two alkaline double A's.

I've used the yellow etrex for years and find it just fine for basic use. I also carry a spiral-bound notepad and a pencil so I can write down the Waypoint numbers and what they mean. All my wayoints are numbers because replacing the number with a short name is a pain and doesn't always stay in my memory either. My notepad and my etrex are never separated.

If your buddy has a truck, why not use his truck when you go hunting together? Or the other solution if you do a lot of hunting together --- have your native buddy buy a license. I know it sounds dumb, but some natives do have an outdoors card and buy licenses. I've been checking into this sort of thing ever since the topic came up in a thread not long ago, and I'm becoming convinced that as soon as a CO runs across a native or Metis involved in a hunt, chances are very good that he will just back off. As for a native being involved in your hunt, or you in his, when you are in close proximity, how would that ever be proven in court? I can't help but believe the only way you cold get yourself in trouble is if you shoot his game. I know this doesn't help from a legal standpoint. Just my 2 cents.

Why not. Chanel got my vote.

Jim, if you like one particular lake (like Rice) well enough, have you checked out availability and what it might cost for a trailer in a campground on that lake? Might be a cheaper alternative to owning a cottage and give you most everything you want? Just a thought.

I've "overnighted" a lot of different ways. Depends on how much comfort you want, I guess. I've spend a lot of pretty comfortable nights in the back of a half-ton with a cap on it when out fishing or hunting. If I had a van and was staying for only one night I would take out the back seat and set up a bed in the back of it, and that would do just fine. A folding camp chair and a folding table, a Coleman lamp, a little catalytic heater for cold nights (just enough to keep off the chill and the damp), a Coleman pocket stove for making coffee/tea/cup-o-soup, a transistor radio, maybe a tarp running off the roof of the van toward the back or the side. Depends where you can park. I'd be way too cheap to spend $200 for an overnight cottage. If in a campground an open fire is a cheery way to spend an evening. The motel idea isn't bad for some extra comfort. You might even get a housekeeping room for a lot less than $200 (probably less than half). It would be interesting to read a follow-up from you if you try something different than a cottage. Good luck!

Hey, you're welcome... glad you enjoyed the NF topic!

Whopper, we spent an afternoon at the Museum as well - as you would know, it's right next to the Dawn Patrol venue. The building in the background behind the picture captioned "French Nieuport 17 - 3/4 Scale" is part of the museum. It was well worth seeing but we ran short of time in a 4-hour visit. I could have used at least another hour or two. We loved the Dayton area. You live in a nice place. Man your liquor is cheap! A 66 oz "Texas mickey" of Canadian whisky costs over $50 here at home; in Dayton --- $15 !!!

Maybe when the economy recovers?

Another case of truth being stranger than fiction... TORONTO, ONTARIO (CP) - A seven-year-old Toronto, Ontario boy was at the center of a Toronto city courtroom drama yesterday when he challenged a court ruling over who should have custody of him. The boy has a history of being beaten by his parents & the judge initially awarded custody to his aunt, in keeping with child custody law & regulations requiring that family unity be maintained to the degree possible. The boy surprised the court when he proclaimed that his aunt beat him more than his parents & he adamantly refused to live with her. When the judge then suggested that he live with his grandparents, the boy alleged they had also beat him. After considering the remainder of the immediate family & learning that domestic violence was apparently a way of life among them, the judge took the unprecedented step of allowing the boy to propose who should have custody of him. After two recesses to check legal references & confer with child welfare officials, the judge granted temporary custody to the Toronto Maple Leafs, whom the boy firmly believes are not capable of beating anyone.

You bet! The closest I've ever come was a 20 minute flight in a 1930's Stearman biplane at the Canadian Aviation Museum in Ottawa. It was an awesome experience! In good weather, an old plane is as safe to be in as modern ones. If your engine quits, you can use the good gliding characteristics and low stall speed to find a spot to set it down.

Wow. I think I've lost a few of those. They don't fit through an 8" hole in the ice.

Thanks for the feedback on my pics, Lew. That's a great old shot of your uncle. The plane, I'm almost certain, is a DeHavilland Moth - maybe a Cirrus Moth or a Gipsy Moth*. D-H produced quite a few variations on the basic Moth design. Note the square cockpit cutouts, the position of the struts, the gas tank in the upper wing, compared to the two pics I've attached... I'm thinking about it but nothing comes immediately to mind for a round container. One of many brave Canadians who gave their lives. May he rest in peace. As you might also know, the first thru-the-prop setup was used by French pilot Roland Garros. It consisted of steel wedges placed on the back side of the propeller to deflect any shots that would hit the prop. It worked well enough but the bullet impacts would loosen the propeller after a while! I think it was Anthony Fokker who developed the interrupter gear. The Germans used it for the first time on the Fokker Eindekker, like the one in my pics above. Nieport 17's used above-the-prop Lewis guns (see above). Late war SE-5A's had both a Lewis gun on the upper wing and a thru-the-prop MG. The Germans used only thru-the-prop guns, usually two MG's mounted above the motor in front of the pilot. --- * Very likely a Gipsy Moth. Note the "half-moon" step in your picture for a mechanic to service the engine - also to be seen in the Gipsy Moth pic I attached. In the background, on the second plane, you can see a mechanic using the step!

Some of you seemed quite interested when I posted pictures of the flyable Canadian Lancaster WWII bomber a while back. I thought I'd post some pictures I took at the Dawn Patrol WWI replica fly-in at Wright-Patterson AFB (Dayton, OH) on my recent trip there. (same trip that included Cabela's in Hamburg PA, which I posted pictures of a few days ago). The WWI replicas are mostly 3/4 scale, but you'd be hard-pressed to tell because the only give-away is that the pilot's head looks a little large in the cockpit. There was a full-scale Fokker D-VII there - very impressive machine. There were also a number of re-enacters there to add to the atmosphere. The Nieuport 17 and SE-5A are the types in which Billy Bishop racked up most of his "kills". Here are some pics for you aircraft buffs. Hope you enjoy...

Here's a news link on the fragments... http://ca.news.yahoo.com/s/capress/091016/...ies/meteor_fall

There isn't a snowmobile suit around, though, that's as good on its own as it is with a good windbreak. The wind is the real killer out on the ice, and you need to shelter yourself from it somehow to get really comfortable. I have an ice hut, and I've been out there several times a week for the past few years, but it would be nice to have a quick-setup portable just the same, to be able to move around a little.

A novel idea... but I didn't see anything there that would hold it half-way open to make a windbreak, which is how I would use it a lot of the time. And how do you use the snow skirt on the outside if you're in it and there's no door! If someone was watching you thru binoculars on a windy day you'd be looking like two bats in a fight to the death.

Maybe what impresses the most, if you stand back and think about it, is the enormous amount of money (and profit) involved in selling outdoors equipment. There's no other way you could fund an extravaganza like a Cabela's store!

Can you imagine having that itch and no way to scratch it?

If it could be split off to another thread that would be great, but since it can't... Threads go where they will go... like the sign says.

OK, thanks, if you're that certain then it's worth me checking further. I didn't claim to be right on this issue; I merely laid out what my understanding is. If you're right, so much the better. I'll look into is some more. Now that doesn't inspire me with a lot of confidence, since I've run across enough CO's who don't know the right interpretation of game laws either. What you're saying is that a non-native and a native can hunt together so long as the non-native is complying with all the regulations that apply to him (open seasons, limits, etc.). And the non-native can't shoot a deer, for example, and then claim it's the native's deer. But the whole thing opens up a big can of worms, and gives a CO lots to speculate about. (And when CO's speculate they like to lay charges, just to be sure.) What about fishing? A non-native and a native are fishing together on Nipissing. They have over their limit in the boat and they have fish that fall within the slot size. The native says to the CO, "Those are my fish." What happens next?

I'm not going to say I'm right about this because my experience with it is limited. But I will say this... A friend who has been part of our deer hunting group for years got his Metis status card a couple of years ago. He tells us we are not allowed to co-operate with him in deer hunting, nor he with us. We sometimes still hunt the same area at the same time but we do not camp together and he hunts completely separate from us now. As far as we know we are not even allowed to help him get a deer out of the bush that he has shot, nor have we done so. I would suggest you check the regulations carefully again - and maybe talk to the MNR. But it's your call. For our part, we won't go near the situation with a ten-foot pole.

Nobody should be hunting in close proximity to where non-hunters routinely are (i.e. near houses, cottages, boat ramps, etc.)... period. But just one point of clarification for non-hunters. A fact that all waterfowl hunters know is that spent pellets can shower down far from where the shot was fired (sometimes even on the hunters themselves if they shoot straight up at passing birds) but they are harmless.