Out for the Day

It was supposed to be sunny all day so I decided to take the rifle and go browse a few ridges looking for a trophy buck. The weathermen were wrong again! It was flat light, cloudy and kind of dreary overall. The only saving grace was it was warm, about 10C or about 50F.

I came up on two Whitetail does, that flashed me. I settled down and waited to see if there was a buck hanging around. No such luck and I got to watch them for about 45 minutes. They gradually worked their way down wind and blew and snorted many times before moving off. Note that nobody was hurt in this viewing, and I got a couple of pictures.

First Day Out Hunting

Bow season opened up and I managed to get out for a few hours. I am very picky and am looking for a good trophy. These pickle forks don't quite cut it.

I managed a few hours of dozing in the sun waiting for the right one. Maybe Thursday will be better.

Of course, my camera goes along. I am almost enjoying the camera hunt more. There is less work to be done once the shutter is tripped!

The old knees don't like the up and down of the hills. I will have to head north to the flat lands.

Out and About

I was wandering around the bush today looking for the elusive big game. I came up blank, but had a great day enjoying the outdoors. The only "wildlife" I saw was this weird looking mushroom

 I haven't looked it up in my mushroom book. I figured I would leave it be.

 The leaves are still hanging in, but are starting to go brown. We need a really good wind or snow.

 The bush roads are still gorgeous, and the logging road easy to walk on.

 It's still almost impossible to see any thing beyond the road due to the thickness of the grass.

 However, the colours were great. The re-planted area (about 5 years, my guess) is growing well and the trees are very healthy looking.

 This Black Capped Chickadee was very shy

 There are still lots of Robins around, but they are now forming large flocks and are very excited. It must be getting close to travel time.

Fall Colours and Assorted Things

A walk around Rotary Park in Whitecourt was pretty dazzling. 

 The water slides are all shutdown for the winter, but the fountain is still going.

 The dog park was pretty much deserted as all the kids are back to school and things are settling in for the Fall season

 Speaking of dogs, the gruesome twosome really enjoyed the outing. Daphne played fetch the Kong until I thought she was going to pass out. Brooklyn is too dignified to lower her self to chase things, Besides, she can't keep up to Daphne! She is starting to show her age.

 Brooklyn believes in conserving energy i.e. sitting

 The day out hunting today didn't produce anything other than colours It appears that the deer in this area must have been hit hard by last winter's deep snow and severe cold. Not much sign around even after 10 miles of walking.

 I could have walked by a lot of deer without seeing them.The visibility in the bush is a matter of feet.

 The fall is one of my favourite times of the year. Look at the contrast between Loblolly Pine and the yellow in the Aspen Trees.

 I heard this  Black capped Chickadee long before I saw him. He was very hard to pick out.

 This is a reforestation project from about 4 years ago. It's hard to spot anything in this mess!

 This is another view of the planted area. The grass is about 3 feet high!

 I'm not sure what type of natural grass this is. It is rather pretty.

I'm not sure what this bug is. He sure looked cold and was staying in the sun.

 I hate to say it, but we need a high wind, colder nights (below-10C) and a good dump of snow to get the leaves off and the grass flattened so that there is some visibility in the forest. 

We did get a light dusting of snow last night that melted as soon as it hit the ground. Think SNOW everybody!

First Day Out Hunting

It was a beautiful last day of summer with lots of colours.

 In some cases it was painful to the eyes.

 The only thing wrong with the day was the difficulty in seeing anything in the bush. The grass was waist high.

 The first critter to show up was this Red Squirrel. He was a very noisy squirrel!

 I decided to sit for a while overlooking a ravine, a likely choice for  deer to follow.

 I was looking for a big buck, so let them pass.

 Note: No critters were harmed on this trip! I think I will wait a few days for the leaves to fall before going out again.

Meat in the Freezer

He's not the biggest I've got, but still dressed out at around 150 pounds. It was a clear warm day and I wanted to make the most of it. I was hunting by 9:30 am and bagged this one at 11:30.

The deer aren't quite in the rut yet, but I had some fun anyway. I moved and sat and rattled for the better part of the two hours. There was another buck that was quite annoyed with my rattling. I saw his tail, and outline, but not his head. There was so much brush in the way, I wouldn't have taken a shot anyway.

Just when I was thinking that i had gone far enough away from the truck, I spotted this guy sneaking across a cut line. After the shot, I kind of asked myself "Why so far from the truck and why so much uphill?"

It took from about 12:00 noon until 2:20 to drag him out. The uphill was a killer on the back, but I got him out OK. I was home by 3:00 and the dude was packaged and in the freezer by 7:00 pm.

This tired hunter is off to bed pretty soon. I was thinking that I am getting too old for dragging deer, but banished that thought. Old thoughts should not be thunk!

First Hunting Trip of the Year

This is the guy that I went up the mountain to try and find. He hasn't been around for several months,but I was kind of hoping to come across him. The weather was not good with lots of cloud, fog and high humidity.

I walked and rattled for 4 hours,but never saw a thing. None of the tracks were new and the walking was tough with about 6 inches of crusty snow on the ground.

I would like to see just how big that rack grew over the summer. Next time out, I will head for lower areas on the mountain. I doubt that anybody got him in bow season, as he is pretty wily. there are no current pictures as the day was really gloomy.

Nostalgic Thursday

When growing up, I had the opportunity to do a fair bit of flying. This is a shot taken in 1963 at a fly in camp about 70 air miles north of Kenora. When the plane came in, everybody turned out to unload food, gas, guests and everything that a fishing camp in an isolated area required. Even the jeep on the dock was cut in pieces and flown in.

The aircraft is a Noordyn Norseman, an ex military craft built in the 1930's. In 1963 it was already old, but reliable. It had a big round Pratt and Whitney  450 horse power radial engine. It was loud, and hence the aircraft nickname of Thunder Chicken. There are still a few flying, and I believe that Red Lake Ontario still has an annual fly in honoring the plane. Other notable aircraft were common at the dock, the de Havilland  Beaver, Otter (or Stone Boat), Twin Otter, Champion, Cessna 180, 182, 172, and even a Canso ( or PBY Flying Boat)

 Life was very different in 1963. Words that come to mind are, restful, peaceful, easy-going.

Life revolved around the dock, eating, fishing and relaxing.


I didn't guide at this camp, but went fishing with a good friend, and hunted deer and moose in the fall.

The camp handled about 120 guests at a time and had a support staff of around 30.

A big single cylinder diesel generator was brought in via ice road. It powered a town of around 5000 people in one of the northern states prior to going north. The flywheel weighted about 3 tons if I remember correctly.

A Pretty Good Day!

On the second last day of the season, I managed to tag this fellow! I came over a ridge and saw a doe flick her tail at about 150 yards. I decided to watch her for a while and see what happened. This buck was behind a willow clump so I didn't see him at first. He stuck his head out, but I couldn't tell if he was a whitetail, or a Mule deer. Fortunately for me, he is a prime whitetail. They say that when you pull the trigger, the work begins! In this case it was drag him about a half mile, mainly uphill.
I had my heavy rope and managed to get him back to the truck by walking backwards and putting the full body effort into it. I got there half a deer per heave. Two younger fellows came along and asked if I need a hand. I did as my legs were like rubber bands. The three of us heaved and tossed so I got him home OK.
Tomorrow I will have to butcher him up and find some room in the freezer.

All in all a very good day! Between venison, chickens and turkey, we should eat very well this winter!