Ontario wild turkey season, coming right up!

Fish, Hunt & Ride magazine columnist Brian Houle with a nice springtime gobbler.

Fish, Hunt & Ride magazine columnist Brian Houle with a nice springtime gobbler.

With next Monday’s kick-off to the province’s wild turkey season, hunters from across the region are gearing-up for another exciting spring. April 25 has become the new standardized date for launch of the coveted annual spring gobbler season. Thanks to reintroduction programs dating back more than three decades, wild turkey populations across the province have exceeded expectations. Yes, the glorious gobbler has evolved into one of the most prolific (and tastiest) game species around, so you had better get used to them. Hunters need be aware that it is illegal to pursue turkeys within 400 meters of bait that has been deposited, unless the location has been bait-free for at one week. Bait is described as corn, wheat, oats or any other feed that may attract wild turkey or any imitation of such feed. Crops stacked in accordance with normal farming practices and grain scattered as a result of normal farming operations, are not considered bait. New this year, turkey hunters are permitted to use shot size #7 along with the standard #4, #5 and #6 size shotgun shot. For more information on Ontario spring turkey hunting along with other changes to the spring season: https://www.ontario.ca/document/ontario-hunting-regulations-summary

Scribe heading for trout In three short weeks, I depart on my annual trout fishing adventure with my dad and brother-in-laws, so my mind is currently filled with visions of north wood’s serenity and behemoth brookies. It doesn’t really matter how far you travel so long as you bask in Mother Nature’s springtime spectacle. Playing cards and horseshoes, walking the woods, portaging the canoe and scouting backwoods trails are all part of the experience. For all the avid trout anglers out there, here’s to tight lines, bent rods and monster ‘specs’ as far as the eye can see. Remember to catch your limit but also limit your catch. Fish, Hunt and Ride spring issue on the way! Hunters, anglers and off-road enthusiasts await the arrival of everyone’s favourite magazine with baited breath. The spring issue of Fish, Hunt and Ride is just around the corner and, trust me, it’s bigger and better than ever. Now available at over 200 outlets across eastern Ontario and west Quebec, our exciting spring issue features black bear, spring trout, turkey, ATV events, shed antler hunting, Ottawa fly-fishers, Uncle Ted, an informative interview with Canadian country starlet Meghan Patrick and much more.  Thanks to everyone who showed-up for the FHR Sportsmen’s Show early this month.  It was a huge success and we’re already looking ahead to our next show! For more information on where to find FHR near you, check us out online at http://www.fishhuntandride.ca

Be bear safe While fishing, hunting or camping in bear country this spring, be sure to keep your wits about you. During the trout season I always carry a can of bear spray and though I’ve never used it, it is there at the ready. Statistics show that there are a dozen or so bear attack in North America each year, some of which end in a fatality. Bear spray can be  purchased at local hunting and fishing stores and will provide a bit of extra insurance when travelling in bear country.

Sportsmen Bragging Board Have you gone on a recent hunting or fishing trip and taken some great images? I am looking for some of the most original photos, captured in the great outdoors, for a Readers’ Photo Section here in the Pembroke Daily Observer and for FHR mag as well.If you have some neat pics you would like to share with thousands of like-minded individuals, send them by email to: [email protected]. Be sure to send along a caption as well.

 

Ontario beards & spurs on the way!

With only 10 days left until Ontario’s 2015 spring wild turkey season gets under way, its a time that many hunters have been waiting for with baited breath!

Although I’ve been promising myself(& Keebler) that this year would be my year for turkey hunting, it didn’t quite happen, but next year for sure..I did take my turkey seminar almost 25 years ago, so I guess I’m due!

Every morning and evening I am taunted by ‘gobbler talk’ all over the place! I predict some good calling conditions ahead if this spring-like weather continues into late April.

What are your plans for turkey season and where are you headed?

For more on the 2015 wild turkey season, check out my Outdoors Guy column in this week’s Pembroke Daily Observer!

Gobble gobble!!

 

Outdoorsguy

Ontario Spring bear hunt – proposed pilot project

For those who haven’t heard, the MNR (with the support of the OFAH) have proposed a pilot spring bear hunt project to take place in 8 wildlife management units (mostly in the North) in areas with high levels of nuisance bear activity. The main communities affected are Timmins, Thunder Bay, Sudbury, Sault Ste. Marie and North Bay.

The project would consist of a limited early (Spring) bear hunting season for Ontario residents from May 1st to June 15th, in 2014 and 2015.

What do think of this proposed initiative? Make your thoughts known on the Environmental Bill of Rights Registry  – enter the code:  012-0981:

http://www.ebr.gov.on.ca/ERS-WEB-External/displaynoticecontent.do?noticeId=MTIxNTE3&statusId=MTgxOTg4

 

In an open letter to the editor, the OFAH has spoken out publicly on this proposed pilot spring hunt:
Dear Editor: 

Some northern Ontario communities are on the brink of experiencing a spring bear hunt for the first time in 15 years. The Ontario Government has finally listened to the concerns of northerners, and proposed a pilot project that will bring back the spring bear hunt to a limited number of northern communities during the next two years. While this partial reinstatement is a positive step, the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (OFAH) strongly believes that all of bear country deserves the benefits of a spring hunt. The OFAH has worked tirelessly during the past 15 years to bring a spring bear hunt back to Ontario and will continue to push for its full return.

The decision to cancel the spring bear hunt was driven by politics, and was in no way based on science. Although Ontario still has a healthy and sustainable bear population, the big city animal rights extremists responsible for lobbying the government in 1999 will try to block the return of the spring bear hunt. The OFAH is calling on northern Ontario residents to help us make sure that does not happen.

Ontario’s spring bear hunt was a proven and sustainable wildlife management tool used to assist with the maintenance of bear densities at levels that minimized dangerous encounters with people. The spring hunt was particularly important for reducing male bear densities (70% of the total spring harvest) to help lessen cannibalism and aggression on other bears, decrease the number of moose calves and deer fawns killed by bears and minimize problems with people.

The spring bear hunt was an excellent example of a sustainable use of a renewable natural resource that offers enormous benefits for the residents of Ontario. Nowhere was this more evident than in northern Ontario communities where the hunt provided wholesome food, valuable hides, rewarding experiences for thousands of hunters, and generated over $40 million every year to help sustain hundreds of family businesses and associated jobs.

OFAH members are your neighbours, and want the best possible wildlife management for northern Ontario. Please take a few minutes and express your support for the spring bear hunt. It can be as simple as saying “I support the spring bear hunt.” 

Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters

 

Is this a political play or a wildlife management move?? I suppose only time will tell…

 

Outdoorsguy