Winter Fishing is here, be careful on the ice!

(A group of happy ice fisherman after a productive day of winter trout fishing in the Dacre area)

With the region’s ice-fishing season now under way winter anglers are being reminded that safety should always come first.

Winter anglers venturing out on the hard top this month must always tell someone where they will be fishing and when they plan to return. Appropriate clothing and equipment are also vital to safety and comfort. Some ice-fishermen may prefer survival suits and should carry a set of ice picks, while others go to the extent of using modified ice vehicles with the doors removed, in case of an untimely plunge. Ok, so tearing the doors off your car may sound extreme but the point is taken. Please remember the rule that ice does not freeze at a uniform thickness, especially now at the start of the winter season where near-shore ice is undoubtedly thicker than ice further out.

Best of luck this winter and for goodness sake, be careful out there!

Dogs and deer

A reminder to dog owners who allow their animals to run feral in the deer woods during wintertime, their actions may be devastating for whitetail populations at a fragile time of year. Conservation Officers deal with dogs on the loose each winter and, in case you did not know, are authorized to destroy any dogs observed chasing or injuring deer in areas where herds gather for the winter. Penalties for allowing your animal to be at large during the closed season for deer, range anywhere from $155 up to $25,000. With the high density of coyotes in our region it is also in your dog’s best interest to have Rover under wraps during the winter months.

Coyote conundrum continues

If feral dogs weren’t enough, this week I lost another member of my dwindling resident whitetail herd, to coyotes. The deer stopped coming to my feeder more than a month ago, and a neighbour emailed me this weekend to say he found remains of a recent kill no more than 300 yards from the house. Of the six whitetails that frequented my ‘back 40’ in recent months, only one was a fawn and according to a description of the remains found, it appear to be a juvenile that was killed. Public opinion keeps yapping in my ear that coyotes are simply ‘doing what comes naturally’ and that is just the way things are.

Anyone who subscribes to wildlife management understands that conservation includes predator control and in the case of the eastern coyote, and what is referred to now as a ‘North American urban coyote epidemic,’ there is cause for concern. In my case living within City of Ottawa limits, a ‘no discharge zone’ means I must watch theses marauding ‘yotes run rampant across my property with my hands tied. Now with Ontario’s recent protection of the hybrid Algonquin Coywolf, the wily eastern coyote sadly falls under the same umbrella and is protected further.

I truly hope the ‘coyote-huggers’ among us are satisfied when our local deer populations are decimated beyond repair. The thought of this turns my stomach.

Fishing guide service

Fellow Fish, Hunt & Ride magazine team member and renowned angler Jamie Pistilli has recently launched a new fishing service called Rising Sun Fishing Charters. It is a full service guide business that offers family and seniors trips, as well as youth trips, team building, business meetings, fly-fishing for anything that swims in the Ottawa/Gatineau region, and beyond. He specializes in giant carp, musky, longnose gar, bass, trout and northern pike. Jamie has many satisfied clients to his credit including US Ambassador Bruce Heyman. For more info on Rising Sun Fishing Charters: www.facebook.com/risingsunfishingcharters

Ice-fishing rundown

In my next Outdoors Guy column I will run down some of the top ice fishing destination our region has to offer. Do you have a favourite winter fishing hotspot? Drop me a line at: [email protected]

December 12, 2012

White-tailed Deer shoulder check

Top level predators like coyotes and wolves are considered some of the greatest hunters in the world. Cunning, stealth and the ability to stalk prey are all characteristics shared by the Canis genus.

In our region, the ever ubiquitous eastern coyote or ‘brush wolf’ as some call them, have adapted nicely to living off the fat of the land. Small mammals, scavenging and white-tail deer compose much of their diet. Whether hunting solitary or in packs, where there are deer, the eastern coyote will not be far behind.

Sometimes even closer than you (& the deer) realize!

In the above photo, you can see a doe walking in the tall grass behind my deer feeder. I have two does hanging around the back these days – one a yearling the other one an older female.

Here in this pic you can see the other doe approaching the feeder (from the right) while the first deer strolls across in the background.

A minute later, the two does can be seen facing each other in a stance which appears to do with proper eating etiquette. When deer feed together, hierarchy usually takes over and the older more dominant animal will usually eat first. It looks to me as though the older doe is explaining that fact to the younger one. (Ears held back are a give-away)

Anyhow, I hadn’t even noticed at first that while the deer were distracted, something was watching them from behind. I tried zooming-in and back tracking through the images I had gathered from that evening to figure out what it was.

Something was behind them and it wasn’t another deer! You can see a pair of eyes at the top-middle of the image.

In this photo taken a couple of seconds later, you can see one doe glance over her shoulder to another set of eye peering at them from out in the field.

In this next image the deer have disappeared and the strange visitor suddenly makes an appearance from the left.

A coyote had been stalking the two deer and got to within 50 feet, by my calculation, before the deer had even realized. The coyote hangs out at the feeder for a moment before taking off himself.

It just goes to prove that whitetails literally need eyes in the back of their head to stay one step ahead of theses pesky coyotes. In this case, the two deer were evidently distracted allowing a predator to close-in to within 50 feet of them before they saw it.

Footnote: The two deer showed-up a couple of days later alive and well, after an up-close-and-personal visit from their woodland nemesis!

Interesting what you’ll find on your trail cam images sometimes….

Outdoorsguy

Here are some neat photos Rick took of a deer standing its ground with a coyote:

Here are a few stills grabbed off the video of the coyote stalking the deer and the deer then stalking the coyote. The video is 13 minutes long.

The first shot shows the coyote walking bye a forkhorn. The second shows the coyote stalking the bedded buck with a second shot showing the coyote under the red arrow. The third shows the coyote closer to the bedded buck Notice the buck is aware of the coyote. The last shot shows two bucks stalking the bedded coyote.

Rick

February 6, 2012

Ottawa coyotes more popular than ever

The eastern coyote has been a huge topic of conversation here on the Outdoors Guy over the past couple of years. Even when the subject is changed, things always seem to revert back to wile e coyote and its place(or lack thereof) in the Nation’s Capital.

MNR Biologist Scott Smithers recently spoke with Ron Corbett of the Ottawa SUN to share, what I would describe as, important insight into the coyote situation from a wildlife management standpoint.

It would seem apparent that even an MNR Biologist realizes something needs to be done about predator control, but alas politics and animals rights rear their ugly heads.

I see the coyote now like that kid in elementary school who was always getting in trouble. My parents would tell me “yeah, but he has troubles at home”, and the teachers would label him a problem child or blame it on upbringing. Sure, he’d be good for few days but you just knew things were on the edge of boiling over at any given moment.

Our coyotes are like this troubled kid in school. Sure, it may not be completely the child’s fault but they continue to disrupt the class so something needs to be done about it.

Here is Ron Corbett’s article:

Put people before coyotes, biologist

By Ron Corbett

On Sunday, I wrote about the problems a woman in Nepean was having during the Christmas holidays with a coyote in her backyard.

The eastern Ontario biologist for the natural resources ministry is aware of the story and thinks it should be a wake-up call for the city of Ottawa, especially as it pursues a new wildlife management strategy.

“Most cities in Ontario are in denial when it comes to coyotes,” says Scott Smithers. “For years we have been telling people that coyotes are not dangerous, that there have never been coyote attacks on people in Eastern Canada.

“Well, we can’t say that anymore. There have been attacks. And the truth is, coyotes are changing – their habits, the sheer number of them – it’s a very different situation from what it was even five years ago.”

Last month a seven-year-old girl was bitten by a coyote in her backyard in Oakville. In October 2009, a teenager was attacked and killed by coyotes in Cape Breton. These are the attacks Smithers is talking about.

He says a reassessment on how the city handles wildlife issues – from beavers in Stittsville to coyotes in Nepean – is “long overdue” although he worries “a lot of emotional arguments” may doom the exercise before it even gets started.

He won’t come right out and say it, but he’s talking about political correctness. About treating wild animals like Disney characters, little doe-eyed Bambis that can never be hunted, trapped, or even bothered.

Yet we need this debate. You just have to look at an aerial map of Ottawa to see why. We are surrounded by wilderness, with green space running like the spokes on a wagon wheel from the rural boundary right up to the downtown core.

Smithers says there are probably coyotes living within a kilometre of Parliament Hill. “We are a southern Ontario city,” he says, “with Northern Ontario wildlife issues.”

Despite this rather unique characteristic of our city, we have no strategy on how to manage our wildlife, or what to do when there are conflicts between animals and people. We simply refer people to other levels of government. Or expect the police to deal with it.

Two years ago — when coyotes started eating lap dogs in Osgoode — the city finally decided it was time to come up with some sort of plan. It formed an advisory committee, to make recommendations on a municipal wildlife management strategy.

Smithers sits on that committee, although he is not optimistic the city will end up with a good plan.

“To be frank, I found it a frustrating experience,” he says. “A lot of stakeholders were involved, and there was a lot of emotion at the meetings. I’m not sure good science is going to dictate the city’s policy.” What might carry the day is the “emotional argument” that says animals should never be hurt, under any circumstances.

Smithers says such a policy would be foolhardy. He says people should come first in a city, even though he is a trained biologist and hopes the city policy will respect wildlife.

“It’s like that woman in Nepean with the coyote in her backyard,” says Smithers. “That coyote clearly is showing no fear of humans, and that’s dangerous. You can’t just tell her to co-exist with that animal.” Yet that’s exactly what many animal rights groups tell municipalities to do. The most egregious example might be Glendale, Arizona, which debated a cull of coyotes after a four-year-old girl was killed by coyotes.

Animal Defense League member Pamelyn Ferdin, covered in fake blood, appeared at the council meeting to oppose the cull and to argue the child had not actually been killed by coyotes, but had been the victim of child abuse.

The cull went ahead, and within 80 days 56 coyotes had been trapped or killed within half-a-mile of the attack site.

“You shouldn’t walk around in fear of coyotes. You need to realize these attacks are extremely rare,” says Smithers. “At the same time, you shouldn’t walk around thinking wild animals are pets.” City staff is currently putting the finishing touches on the wildlife management strategy report. It should come before city council this spring.

It will be interesting to see how the city has responded to the various stakeholders in this debate. Let’s hope people get as much respect as animals, and science trumps emotion.

Other related coyote articles:

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/02/04/coyotes-run-wild-in-ottawa

http://www.ottawasun.com/2012/01/20/coyote-bites-girl-after-chasing-her-home

Outdoorsguy

November 14, 2011

Wolf pursuing deer caught on film

The following sequence of trail camera photos depicts a scenario which is, no doubt, a daily occurrence in our deer woods, however, it’s the first time I ever captured it on film.

With the recent increase in predators across eastern Ontario and western QC, our white-tailed deer surely need eyes in the back of their head just to stay one step ahead.

When I arrived at our deer camp in the Laurentians a couple of weeks back, I had my work cut out for me reviewing images on the three trail cams I had in place since Labour Day. I was like a child on Christmas morning scrolling through all the images, it was great!

One camera in particular – my ‘invisible’ Bushnell Black LED Trophy Cam – featured a virtual cornucopia of activity from the past two months, at a popular creek crossing. The images including that of a cow moose, bucks, does and fawns, one 300 pound + black bear, and this bold looking bugger below.

Hey, who says timber wolves don’t exist this far south. My camp is only 2 hours north and although I did see a common eastern coyote (brush wolf) during the deer season, I also captured some tell-tail images of this large timber wolf.

I took some measurements in the area where he passed through; and I estimated this wolf to be minimum 90 pounds and probably closer to 100 pounds. It was basically the size of a full grown German Sheppard.

Pay close attention to the ‘time stamp’ in each photograph.

(A doe puts up ‘the flag’ and hightails it down the trail)

(Her tail can still be seen bounding through the trees)

(Doe bounds out of sight on the right side of the photo – time 5:52 & 34 seconds)

(A large white/black timber wolf suddenly appears on the deer’s trail – less than 1.5 minutes later)

(Wolf tears down the same trail in hot pursuit; now 2 minutes behind)

(Wolf just before it disappeared from sight)

(Both deer and wolf disappear out of sight)

Footnote:

The same doe did reappear on camera 2 days later without so much as a hair out of place.

I suppose in this particular battle the deer came out on top, but what about next time?

Outdoorsguy