dave524

Lassoing a deer reminds me of this story ... Names have been removed to protect the stupid! Actual Letter from someone who farms in Kansas. I had this idea that I was going to rope a deer, put it in a stall, feed it up on corn for a couple of weeks, then kill it and eat it. The first step in this adventure was getting a deer. I figured that, since they congregated at my cattle feeder and do not seem to have much fear of me when we are there (a bold one will sometimes come right up and sniff at the bags of feed while I am in the back of the truck not 4 feet away), it should not be difficult to rope one, get up to it and toss a bag over its head (to calm it down) then hog tie it and transport it home. I filled the cattle feeder then hid down at the end with my rope. The cattle, having seen the roping thing before, stayed well back. They were not having any of it. After about 20 minutes, my deer showed up -- 3 of them. I picked out a likely looking one, stepped out from the end of the feeder, and threw my rope. The deer just stood there and stared at me. I wrapped the rope around my waist and twisted the end so I would have a good hold. The deer still just stood and stared at me, but you could tell it was mildly concerned about the whole rope situation. I took a step towards it... it took a step away. I put a little tension on the rope and received an education. The first thing that I learned is that, while a deer may just stand there looking at you funny while you rope it, they are spurred to action when you start pulling on that rope. That deer EXPLODED. The second thing I learned is that pound for pound, a deer is a LOT stronger than a cow or a colt. A cow or a colt in that weight range I could fight down with a rope with some dignity. A deer, no chance. That thing ran and bucked and twisted and pulled. There was no controlling it and certainly no getting close to it. As it jerked me off my feet and started dragging me across the ground, it occurred to me that having a deer on a rope was not nearly as good an idea as I originally imagined. The only upside is that they do not have as much stamina as many animals. A brief 10 minutes later, it was tired and not nearly as quick to jerk me off my feet and drag me when I managed to get up. It took me a few minutes to realize this, since I was mostly blinded by the blood flowing out of the big gash in my head. At that point, I had lost my taste for corn-fed venison. I just wanted to get that devil creature off the end of that rope. I figured if I just let it go with the rope hanging around its neck, it would likely die slow and painfully somewhere. At the time, there was no love at all between me and that deer. At that moment, I hated the thing, and I would venture a guess that the feeling was mutual. Despite the gash in my head and the several large knots where I had cleverly arrested the deer's momentum by bracing my head against various large rocks as it dragged me across the ground, I could still think clearly enough to recognize that there was a small chance that I shared some tiny amount of responsibility for the situation we were in, so I didn't want the deer to have it suffer a slow death, so I managed to get it lined back up in between my truck and the feeder - a little trap I had set before hand... kind of like a squeeze chute. I got it to back in there and started moving up so I could get my rope back. Did you know that deer bite? They do! I never in a million years would have thought that a deer would bite somebody, so I was very surprised when I reached up there to grab that rope and the deer grabbed hold of my wrist. Now, when a deer bites you, it is not like being bit by a horse where they just bite you and then let go. A deer bites you and shakes its head -- almost like a pit bull. They bite HARD and it hurts. The proper thing to do when a deer bites you is probably to freeze and draw back slowly. I tried screaming and shaking instead. My method was ineffective. It seems like the deer was biting and shaking for several minutes, but it was likely only several seconds. I, being smarter than a deer (though you may be questioning that claim by now) tricked it. While I kept it busy tearing the bejesus out of my right arm, I reached up with my left hand and pulled that rope loose. That was when I got my final lesson in deer behavior for the day. Deer will strike at you with their front feet. They rear right up on their back feet and strike right about head and shoulder level, and their hooves are surprisingly sharp. I learned a long time ago that, when an animal -- like a horse -- ; strikes at you with their hooves and you can't get away easily, the best thing to do is try to make a loud noise and make an aggressive move towards the animal. This will usually cause them to back down a bit so you can escape. This was not a horse. This was a deer, so obviously, such trickery would not work. In the course of a millisecond, I devised a different strategy. I screamed like a woman and tried to turn and run. The reason I had always been told NOT to try to turn and run from a horse that paws at you is that there is a good chance that it will hit you in the back of the head. Deer may not be so different from horses after all, besides being twice as strong and 3 times as evil, because the second I turned to run, it hit me right in the back of the head and knocked me down. Now, when a deer paws at you and knocks you down, it does not immediately leave. I suspect it does not recognize that the danger has passed. What they do instead is paw your back and jump up and down on you while you are laying there crying like a little girl and covering your head. I finally managed to crawl under the truck and the deer went away. Sorry for the hijack, but the story is too funny not to share

CAUTION: you really do need the rack/quiver to hold your extra bolts, one with a hood protecting the broadheads or rather protecting you from the razor sharp edges. More than a few hunters have received self inflicted wounds from them accidently.

Ok, I was heavy into nature photography back in the film days with all the accessories, now I use a Canon S3. My advice would be to get the SX20IS, which I am also considering. First, to get the DSLR capability close to what the SX20IS will do on its lonesome, you are going to have to drop some serious coin far in excess of what the camera costs you, also you will have to lug it all around to get the same versatility. Also the SX20IS uses simple AA cells available at any retail outlet in a emergency. Sure a Canon 600mm f4 IS lens will take a higher quality picture but it is almost the price of a new compact car.

I used to use one of those Luhr Jensen Little Chief units quite some time ago, remember the instructions said that frozen fillets worked well, in fact it said that freezing actually helps by breaking down the cell structure for better brine penetration, made sense to me. Used frozen fillets once as I recall, no problem but I only did salmon and trout species in it.

We've got a twin set of railroad tracks running through Grimsby, along it is a bunch of scrub bushes and long grasses, seen quite a few there, they seem to use it as a corridor for movement and I assume denning. Also seems to be a pack mousing in the land surrounding Place Polonaise, now that is is not in use and also in the fields below the radio towers just to the west along the lake, those retreat to the DND land around the rifle range. Been living here over 25 years now and only seen them below the escarpment in the last 5 or so years.

Depending on how you hold and operate your rod and reel, the fact that there is really no backplate and the spool appears to sit quite a distance from the reel seat may not work for you.

OK, I just got one as my next one is the big 60. I got a Troybuilt 24" when they were on sale at CTC back in Sept. I've used some B4 at work clearing around outdoor equipment and a big 80's Toro machine of my Dad's on his long country driveway. It was more than the mastercraft/mtd machines of equal size but had a few features that made me jump up in price. Metal instead of plastic in the 2nd stage impeller, bigger wheels and tires, the control for aiming the chute is a top mounted joystick rather than a crank affair down below, taller chute, heated handgrips?? wonder if they really work, 6 speeds forward and 2 reverse instead of just 1 each direction and the one that I think would make manouvering in tight corners a bit easier is you can disengage the drive to momentarily to each of the wheels independently to reduce turning radius and make tight turns easier. Any farmboy like me who drove tractors in his youth remembers the left and right brake on a tractor and how that works. Troybuilt is a brand that I remember had a very good reputation in the past , think the rear tine tiller I used for the garden plot on the farm was that brand, but may suffer from the same off shore imput that seems so prevalent in recent years. Just another brandname in the mix and a few features to look for.

Probably your best way to start and get a little confidence before attempting some of the more challenging methods would be to use a floating line with a strike indicator. It is really not unlike float fishing, I use a corkie staked with a piece of toothpick as an indicator, a tippet of appropriate depth for the water, a few dust shot to get it down and a egg or nymph pattern. Unlike a long float rod where you can keep your mainline off the water and midstream current from dragging your fly out of the lie, you will have to be adept at mending your line and the S cast will come in handy as well. This works best on shallower flows, try visiting a few flyfishing sites and look at nymphing techniques with a strike indicator. Good luck, if you have previous success as a float fisherman I'm sure you will be into fish on short order.

I must be getting old, I remember a day when tournament rules specified 150 HP. max. There was some very conservatively rated motors around for the pro bass boat market, guess it is now anything goes.

Used to hunt yotes in the late 70's with a crew and sent them to the fur auction in North Bay. They were worth about $50 a piece back then and I was making about $8-9 an hour, which was decent money at the time. Even with the lower fur prices of today looks like a good paycheck there. Edit: if you have ever cased out a yote I don't think they are being wasted.

There is different wall thicknesses, get the thinner it is not too heavy and I leave it in the van after I rig up and suit up. Will get a pic outdoors tomorrow.

Go to Canadian Tire or any home supply store. get a piece of PVC pipe of the corresponding length and enough diameter to handle your guides and a couple of test caps. Been using the same case over twenty years and the same rod too. sorry didn't realize you wanted to keep the reel on the rod, that makes it tough

The one bait that has saved the day for me more times than any other, even under low clear conditions, has been the lowly garden hackle. The best ones were what were marketed as baby dews, they were like a half growed dew worm without the collar, thread them thru the nose on the hook the length of the shank. Haven't seen them in a while though for sale.

2 other holding spots to add to the list would be mid water obstructions in a faster area , they will often tuck up close to a rock out of the main current and my favourite is often the tailout section of a larger deep pool where the water starts to become shallower and the current speed quickens rather than the head of the pool where the water speeds in, that is the more common holding place of resident fish.

I remember a conversation I had 25 years ago with a local fellow, well known steelheader in the 70's and 80's, very good at bottom bouncing about the increasing popularity of centrepins and float fishing. Basically with bottom bouncing, it is an slower learning process requiring a greater degree of acquired feel and experience, while float fishing will put a neophyte into more fish in a shorter period learning process. There was concern that instead of 10% of the anglers catching 90% of the fish that the playing field is more level with minimal experience and a float rod resulting in larger numbers of fish being caught.as a result. More success for greater number of anglers might not be such a great thing for our fish stocks.

Hamilton didn't even get a team and they're still only 1 point behind the Leafs.

Everything Bill said and I prefer a rounder float in faster water rather than a slimmer profile.

Thanks, looks like I'll probably be OK with traditional guiding, it would be a beefier stick that I would want. Maybe, tape the guides on before making a final decision on which route to go and doing a test bend might be the best route.

I started in the early 80's with a Grice and Young bushing reel, I see that that are being manufactured again on the original tooling by Eagle and for sale new at one place for $99. Match that up with a Daiwa or Shimano rod that are available for about the same and you are in for two bills. You will get a taste of it before dumping more money into the pit.

I have used this knot for thirty years now, always used an up eye hook, never had an issue with knot strength. http://www.steelheader.net/knots/whip_finish.htm I use it because I think I get better hook sets, because of the direction of pull and the alignment of the hook when it is tied to the shank. I also use it cause I run a lot of yarn, making them on the water as this is an eggloop style knot and lends itself to quickly to yarn. I just take about an inch of yarn and insert it under the line between the knot and the eye of the hook, Slide the knot up to the eye and while holding the bend of the hook pull on the line to tighten. Grab both ends of the yarn and pull them and trim the yarn in a curve so that the yarn flairs in a ball to looks like a single egg. Maybe retighten to get a better flair if necessary. Often I will mix colours, like a peach egg with a few strands of red added so it looks like an eyed egg. If I am running roe bags and don't have the hot colour for the day, I will add a few long strands of yarn in that colour so that my bag looks like it has a pice of skein attached. A piece of white yarn left untrimmed is a flesh fly. Sure many of the steelheaders made note of drifter's beads, yarn lends itself to the same creativity somewhat and its buoyancy gives it possibly a more natural drift.

While not an exclusively fishing show, hunting was also featured, the best I remember was the original " American Sportsman " with Curt Gowdy. High profile guests from an age when Hollywood embraced hunting and fishing, most vivid memory was one were Bing Crosby and Phil Harris were bird hunting with comical chat and razzing between them, Robert Stack who was skeet shooting instructor to the stars when he was encouraged to try acting and also sports figures like Ted Williams, probably one of the best flyfisherman that ever lived. Now we got the Hollywood P3TA wackos.

I carry an old Shakespeare 1810 underspin in the back pouch of my vest that I swap out with my float reel when I want to chuck a few spinners or quickfish or even soak a spawn sack bottom fishing. Even put it on when I need to cast some distance with a float and Wallis is not going well that day or windy. Question for the baitreel guys: On the longer rods that I assume you use, do you put all the guides on top or do you do the twist thing that was popular with rigger rods so that the line does not crisscross the blank when under load ??

Next to the Grand River, which is about the largest river system in Ontario on the Great Lakes, Big Creek is the next biggest river system on the north shore of Erie. I have fished it for 50 years now, actually the very first migratory rainbow I witnessed caught , my dad got there in the spring of 60 or 61, the term steelhead for migratory rainbows was not even generally used in Ontario at that time. I'm sorry , but all I saw was that someone named the river that flowed through a certain town, no different than the Credit flows through Mississauga or Streetville. Specific info ?? no way, in that time and 2 years of living in Port Rowan I never got to all the fishable water there.

I don't think that is the biggest problem here, that has been clarified. What would bother me if I was a C.O., would be that you participated some way in the hunt, especially since you are using the same vehicle. Say enroute to the area, you spot a cow in a beaver pond meadow, you got a bull tag so he shoots it after getting out of the vehicle, were you a participant?? Its just not a situation I would want to be in personally, too much open to interpretation of what actually constitutes participation.

I throw a float reel on a 9'6" extension butt fly rod for one Erie trib, a 15 footer would touch the other side in some places.