Search the Community

Got an email courtesy of a new MNR e-mail newsletter update service. Looks more like a license/card change than anything else. Details -> https://www.ontario.ca/page/get-outdoors-card#section-7 Items taken from the email newsletter: Updating our fish and wildlife licensing service This November we're making updates to our licensing service. Our goal is to make it easier for you to buy fishing and hunting licences. A couple of exciting features in the new service include: A single version of the plastic Outdoors Card. (Hunter accreditation will no longer appear on the Outdoors Card; it will be tracked in the new service.) A Licence Summary that lists all your valid fishing and hunting licences.The Licence Summary can be printed from home but you also have the option to store it on a digital device such as your smartphone. Future regulation changes Next, we're making improvements to some fishing and hunting rules. Fishing regulation changes will come into effect in November 2018, and hunting regulations will change in January 2019. Here are some things that will be different for hunters: In 2019, game seals will be replaced by "tags". You'll have the option to print your tag from home, making it easier to prepare for hunting season. Plastic see-through luggage tag holders can help protect your tags from the elements. Reporting rules for hunters are also changing. All hunters who are issued a tag in 2019 will be asked to submit a report whether or not they hunted or harvested an animal. This new mandatory hunter reporting will replace the current mix of hunter/harvest reporting and voluntary hunter questionnaires.

Another good read from MNR Watch. We study history so as to not repeat our mistakes. Many guys our way hunting Coyotes now. Not many reported bagged, I am told the fur and skins are used and the meat for Dogs. I am not one to support killing for the sake of simply killing. http://mnrwatch.com/are-wolves-the-new-bears/

Headed north with my brother for some birds. The weather was less than ideal but wasn't terrible either.

If I've hunted the grouse opening day up north it was 20-25 years ago but it's unlikely that I ever did. I avoided it because it's too thick, too green and I had a flexible schedule. I didn't hunt much in September period, but now with young kids and busy sports schedules the number of chances are limited, so for the last few years an early trip north on the first Friday after the opener has been the norm. This year, Friday was the opener for the first time in 11 years. There were a lot more atv's and hunters than I'd noticed in the past. The first week in September had been promising with a few frost warnings and some cool nights but as we know the weather was hot this week. The alarm went off at 2am, the gear was loaded and the wheels were rolling by 3am. The trail we like to walk is narrow and overgrown so we don't usually see atv's on it, we just hoped that any other walkers weren't there before us. When we pulled up there was no sign of other hunters and we prepped and were off on the first hunt of the season. By 8am we each had bird and then I got lucky when I went exploring off trail and had 3 more grouse by 9:30am. And that was it. We didn't see/hear another bird. We got back to the vehicle by 11am and actually got in and ran the A/C. I was considering a nap while letting the engine run but had visions of a 8 hour snooze running the engine dry. While eating our sandwiches we discussed our options and decided to drive out and try another area. This would keep us cool and kill some time while we figured the birds were lying low due the heat. On the drive out we were stopped by the OPP. They checked to see that the guns were unloaded and asked to see our hunting licences and we were on our way after a couple of minutes tops. The drive to the second spot produced zero birds but did put us an hour closer to home. We had 5 birds and didn't die from the heat or mosquitoes so another season has started. Bring on the frost.

Not much fishing lately but my brother joined me for a grouse hunt. It was his 3rd day out of 4 hitting the woods for birds (lucky son of a gun). There was more snow on the ground than we expected (3-4 inches). I like a dusting of snow sometimes because I can see what stories have played put in the snow but I was a little disheartened to see that much. We were parked just after sunrise and maybe a hundred metres down the trial a bird flushed unseen form the left. It sounded like it only went up into a nearby tree. As I was trying to work my way through some think stuff I heard it flush again. I brought my gun up but never saw it. Right then a second unknown bird flushed from the ground and I hit it with the bottom barrel. This was after the 1st bird went down. My brother wanted me to pose, I just wanted to get it and find another. Walked a ways and followed a few grouse tracks that crossed the trail but didn't see/hear another for a bit. Second bird was off the trail a ways. I swung on it, used the wrong trigger, but still dropped the second grouse of the day in less than an hour. On the way back we both missed birds that went straight down the trail. A photo of the 2 back at the vehicle. Grey and brown. We drove a short ways and hit another trail. My brother got one but we couldn't find it. With the snow we thought it should have been easy but the wasn't a sign of it, not a feather. Finally I found a fresh track and then a single feather, more tracks and some more feathers, and finally the bird. During the search I flushed a bird but was so focused on looking for the downed bird that I didn't have a chance. I went bushwacking for a bit but didn't see anything. Drove a bit to walk another trail. Another single flush that alerted me and the 2nd bird went down. Photo back at the truck. It was about this point that we realized that just about all the birds had been in pairs. The second bird was S.O.L. after the first alerted us. We saw one more bird, a single of course. It turned out to be Usian Bolt and ran as fast and as long as I've ever seen a healthy grouse go. My brother followed the trail in the snow but it finally flushed and he didn't get a shot. A good day in the bush.

P.A. day for my son and we were up and driving north at 5am. He got to shoot his bow a bit while we were gearing up at the start of the walk... the grouse have nothin' to fear from him for now, but we did come home with the same number of arrows. He found a rib bone that some critter must have dragged away from a kill as we didn't see a single sign of anything else in the area. Shortly after my brother got a grouse and our bird dog retrieved it... ...and wouldn't let anybody else carry it the whole day. At the end of the day we tried a group shot in the same spot where the bow and arrow photo was from.

Long road trip for a day of birds with my brother. Didn't see anyone else the whole day. My brother got 3 and I never pulled the trigger. That's grouse hunting. Spruce grouse hen in his right hand. Me just walkin' through the woods. Last bird of the day while I was trying my luck off-trail. That's the smirk of a little brother who has 3 birds to zero and got the last one whilst I was slugging through the think stuff.

Busy times lately but I made it out Friday for a hunt. Saw more and flushed more driving than I did walking but did manage 2 birds. My brother went out earlier in the week before the storm and got his limit for the first time in at least 15 years he figures. Numbers seem to be up this year.

My brother and I were on the road extra early and made the drive north for some birds. All along it was likely going to be too hot, too green and too thick, but a day off is a day off and this way if the trip was a bust we had 3 easy excuses. The area we tried first is closed to all vehicles which is great... later in the year when much of the growth has died back, but this early it was silly with growth over our heads in many spots. It was a tough go and really hot. We weren't seeing or hearing any birds. The decision to head back was made and maybe take a chance on one of the atv trails instead. On the way back I did get a single and maybe things would get better. Back at the truck while we had our lunch the weather started to cool a little. Off to another trail and we're having an easier go of things but still not seeing any birds. Then, the day changed in a wingbeat. We are surrounded by birds and they are flying everywhere. We get some, miss some, find some more, get some more, miss some more and after it's all over we had five birds, I've got one shell left and we're not sure how many birds there were in total. Back at the truck for more shells and to put the birds on ice. We'd used up all of our luck as the last 3 birds we see are still in the woods and only one of them even heard a shot and a jack pine was the only thing hit. Great start to the season and the hunger has been satiated for now but the colours will come, the air will turn cold and I will hear the frost under my boots.

With apologies to The Gruffalo: All was quite in the deep dark wood. A hunter, and his son, shot a grouse.... ... and it was good. Soon to be 6, he's made a few trips last year and a few more this year but this was the first time I've got a bird while he has been with me. My oversized hunting coat barely fit afterward.

On the weekend, my buddies wanted to explore some lakes on crown land in the Bancroft area. We drove out there. Hiked in and bumped into some guys in ORANGE. They showed us their big bullets. And there was gun shots in the distance in the direction that we were headed. We decided that it was a BAD time BAD place to go fishing and left. The small lakes were starting to skim over. We were in a blizzard in the early afternoon up there. Got back to Toronto later and it was 6 degrees C. What other times is it not good to go fishing? Sleepjigging I go fishing every chance I get. However, I am out for the scenery, and catching a fish is bonus.

I got out a few times this year and after a few bird less days I hit one on each of my last two outings. A patch of tamaracks starting to turn. The photo doesn't do it justice of course.

I have been keeping an eye out for a pair of uninsulated outdoors boots over the winter and I stumbled across the Irish Setter Wingshooters on sale at Sail for $119.99. This is a great price for this boot. They are not on the Sail website or in the flyer so it may only be at the Burlington location (?). I tried them on and walked around the store for half an hour and these boots are really comfortable. Just finished greasing them up with mink oil and am going out for a walk to work them in a bit, though they don't feel like they really need too much working in. http://hunt.irishsetterboots.com/irishsetter-shoe/807-irish-setter/807-irish-setter-mens-wingshooter-auburn Burt