Hunting Sense

Like I mentioned in this post, I’m from Oklahoma, where you’re more likely to get ice than snow. If you live anywhere in North America, since I’m in Canada and have, you’ve likely seen on the news that I wasn’t lying about that. If the name wasn’t already taken, Oklahoma would be better known for the moment as Iceland.

(more…)

Wouldn’t it be so much easier to shoot your line out into the water than having to cast it? Well, that is exactly what you can do with the Rocket Fishing Rod, pictured above. Now you can fish almost exactly like you hunt!

I saw a commercial for it while watching fishing shows with my oldest son over the weekend. While I definitely don’t see it being something for the entire family, I do see the benefit of it for the primary target user…the kids. In fact, being so close to Christmas, and knowing the kids want some fishing gear under the tree, I’m seriously considering this for all three of them.

(more…)

Canada is known as The Great White North for a reason. That reason is snow. And the last couple of days, it has been living up to its nickname. The snow has been coming down steady and everything is turning into a winter wonderland.

(more…)

Recently, we’ve been making a lot of excursions into the woods and meadows behind my mother-in-law’s house out on the farm. The farm is made up of twenty-eight acres and there is a wide variety of habitat between it and the surrounding property. The farm itself is made up of mature pines from an abandoned Christmas tree farm, meadows, softwood stands, apple trees, and a wet weather creek. The property on either side is planted in soybeans while the back turns into thick bush.

(more…)

Over the weekend we finally got to forget about work and what needed to be done and headed to Awenda Provincial Park for some swimming and hiking. The water was downright cold since Awenda’s beaches are on Georgian Bay, a part of Lake Huron. After being in it for a while, though, the temp became comfortable and we had a lot of fun on the beach.

We left the beach area eventually and headed off for some hiking on the numerous trails maintained by the park. In total, I think there’s around 30 kilometers of trails, allowing visitors to explore nearly every part of the park. I have to say, that is what the wife and I enjoyed the most. On the trails, there were no sounds except those we made and those of nature. It was quite invigorating.

(more…)

The other day, Darrell over at Alpha Trilogy made a post about his Dukes of Hazard lifestyle in the Ozarks over the weekend. I have to admit, the mosquito fogger trick on the vehicles had me rolling. I don’t know why I’ve never thought of that before. Sadly to say, though, the Duke boy stunt with the bows and arrows brought back some memories as well.

(more…)

I just got an email from my mother in Oklahoma. It seems that with the recent rains, the old home place where my brother still lives may be flooded. If so, this will be the second time since the Oologah damn was built around thirty-five years ago. The first time was in 1986 and was basically the result of mismanagement of water levels in the Oologah lake.

This time seems to be somewhat the same situation. From what I understand, there has been very little water let out for various reasons as the lake level continued to rise. But when you can wade the river at the riffles and not get wet above your knees, I think a little water could have been discharged to get a jump on potential problems down the road.

(more…)

Yesterday was a big day. It was a day filled with firsts for our four year old. Those are always awesome and very camera worthy, so I thought I would write about it today and share a few photos with everyone.

(more…)

…and a little of that.

With this being a long weekend and the Queen’s birthday here in Canada, I’m taking an easy out today for my post, although it is an excellent article detailing a very worthwhile project. I’ll be posting it up here in a few minutes, but I thought I would also take an opportunity to post about a few things of a personal, non-hunting nature. Thank you for your indulgence and rest assured, I’ll be back tomorrow with the normal Hunting Sense post.

I’ve enjoyed web-design for some time and have been working on a few projects lately.

(more…)

Even though there’s three feet of snow on the ground and we just finished a string of days that found the temperature at a balmy -34F, I feel that spring is on the way. And with the warmer temperatures and the melting of the snow comes the chance to get back out into the woods, something I’ve missed getting to do for a while now. I may not be hunting, but just getting back into nature will be awesome for the case of cabin fever that has been building steadily over the winter.

Camping, hiking, and fishing are on the top of the list this year as family activities, and I couldn’t be happier. I love both nearly as much as hunting. And they both give me the opportunity to teach the kids about the great outdoors as well as the wildlife that calls it home. I think I’ll continue to teach them to identify tracks and read sign, both of which is building a good knowledge base for when the boys get old enough to start hunting.

(more…)

I was watching the sunrise as I sat at the computer yesterday morning and was marvelling at the beauty of it. The longer I watched, the more brilliant it became, washing everything in pinkish-violet glow. I finally had to grab the camera and go outside to capture a few pictures. My timing was perfect, because not two minutes after I took the pictures it began to fade and become another standard day.

What amazes me is how much it really looks like the horizon is on fire. It’s been a long time since I saw a sunrise quite as spectacular.

hunting, sunrise, pictures, Ontario, landscapes

Since hunting seasons are mostly over, and the snow is piling up, it never hurts to have a few hobbies to keep yourself busy. The only problem is, I find I have too many. I’ve always enjoyed learning new things and find something I like and learn how to do it.

Having always loved the medieval time period, I have been fascinated with chainmail for a long time. I’ve even played with making it before, but my interest in the process has been sparked again even more than the last time I tried it. Granted, I haven’t made a chainmail shirt or anything, but I do have a wife and daughter who both wanted some jewelry made from it, so that is what I’ve been doing.

The not so great, fuzzy picture above (taking pics of chainmail is tough, if anyone has tips, let me know) is a necklace I did for my wife. I found the pattern on a site that sells jewelry and messed around with putting it together until I got it right. After that, it only took a couple hours to do.

(more…)

I’m writing this just a little before 5 A.M. after being woke up to hunt monsters. No, it wasn’t monster deer, or any other type of game animal. We’re talking monsters like the kind that hide in closets or under a bed and wait so they can come out and carry kids off while they sleep.

Sitting down at the computer to wait until my son went back to sleep, I was at first a little frustrated. After sitting here for a while and thinking about it, I realized I couldn’t stay upset about it. What better thing could a dad hunt than the imagined monsters his kids see in nightmares? The answer is nothing.

(more…)

Roger Barnett, a border vigilante I wrote about yesterday, is one of the type of people who give hunters a bad name. People tend to see anyone who hunts as a gun-toting, western justice type left winger that shoots first and asks questions later. It’s sad that men like that help shape the view people have about hunters.

Roger Barnett says he likes hunting, but the prey he’s stalking aren’t animals, they’re human. He is qouted as saying, “Humans. That’s the greatest prey there is on earth.” So instead of going on a Sunday hunt for deer or antelope, he goes out in search of illegal immigrants crossing the border from Mexico onto his 22,000 acre ranch.

(more…)