SUCH A PLEASANT WINTER by Ralph Bice

From Wednesday, March 1, 1978

I have seen a great many winters and this one will have to go down as just about the nicest winter l can recall. True, we did have some storms and it has been cold but l doubt if anyone can tell of a winter that has been so pleasant. Do not have to be reminded that there is still plenty of time to get more storms but the sun is getting higher every day.

This year Easter will be in March which does not often happen. But look out. I was told years ago that if Easter was early expect a late spring. Weather has been going so very haywire the last few years perhaps this year spring will be early like Easter. Perhaps another dose of winter just when we don’t need it.

Unless we get a terrible storm the few deer should survive the winter. I have been told of a few small yards and one is being carefully watched. The guardian angel of this dozen deer is personally buying grain to feed them. This idea he borrowed from those well tended deer yards in Muskoka.

All the small yards are not as fortunate, At least two the wolves have found with the inevitable results. There are fewer wolves in this area than there has been for ever so long. But they are still very hungry. We were told last year there had been a turn around in the thinking on deer and wolves in the higher circles but still no action. It may be too late.

Really got interested in the news release about the proposed fox hunt on that privately owned island, Griffin, l believe in Georgian Bay. There has been a lot of controversy over this island if all the stories are true. It belongs to a group of very influential men, some top politicians. They had stocked the small island with deer, grouse, l believe wild turkeys, all at their own expense. Only thing, one winter it was cold enough to make ice all the way to the island and some foxes moved in, no doubt over the ice. As food was plentiful they stayed and multiplied. So much so that they destroyed more than three quarters of the turkeys. So the sensible thing was to remove the foxes. Only when a hunt was suggested, and this on private land, there was the usual outcry about saving animals (foxes) even though they were doing so much damage. One letter l saw had them live trapping them and taking them somewhere else. Wonder if these people ever tried to catch a fox in a live trap? The animal did not come by that name for no reason. And since this bit of land is privately owned and the foxes were destroying privately owned game, l would think they had a perfect right, both moral and legal, to get rid of them. I did have a chuckle when l heard these top politicians planning on reducing the predators of their private preserve, thinking of the many times we were told that predation was necessary to keep game in balance and also to keep it healthy. I understand the hunt has been called off. Too bad it received so much publicity.

Not too far back the large number of deer in Rondo Park was a cause for concern, as there were too many deer, both for space and food. So a nature group wanted to move deer to some other location, rather than shoot a few as had been suggested. The results of that fiasco never did make the news. Right now the idea in the top brass is that it would be better to shoot some deer rather than have them starve to death. But then the powerful nature groups seem to have a lot of influence. So far, no hunt.

I attended a couple of meetings at Whitney recently and met a man from Pembroke who told me the deer on the eastern side of the park are showing signs for a good increase. They have quite a strong active hunter’s group who are doing a great deal in order to see the deer herd preserved. Apparently they have a problem with poachers so this group assists in patrolling the deer yards. For some reason the predation is not as bad as usual. One man who flies regularly over the park told us that there are very few deer yarding in the park, at least in the areas he covers. Plenty of moose but the deer are just about gone.

 

These meetings are not about deer as they were about maintaining the fishing in Algonquin Park. Five men not connected with the department were asked to sit on this committee. One from Pembroke, one from Whitney, one from Bancroft, one from Huntsville and for some reason l was asked. We did learn a great deal and more may be learned from the study program being conducted at Smoke Lake. Too, we learned why lake trout stocking has such very poor success. The department is really serious in an attempt to maintain fishing for recreational purposes in Algonquin Park. One thing is good, there is not likely to be any new species allowed.

Bass were not originally native to Algonquin Park but they have been there for ever so long. They are almost considered a native species. Did seem a bit odd that one of the top men did not know there were bass in any of the lakes except along the Highway 60 corridor.

So, whatever the outcome, a real effort is being made to keep fishing at a high or higher level. There may be some unpopular regulations but it is a good sign when a real effort is being made to keep angling a drawing card to Ontario’s number one camping and fishing area. And, you know, some day they may even get interested in doing the same thing for deer, not only in the park but all over Ontario.