ONTARIO OTTER FOR MISSOURI by B.M. 1984 The state of Missouri needs otter and the province of Ontario wants wild turkey. No problem. Ontario has otters, Missouri wild turkey. The solution is simple. Ontario and Missouri will trade otter for turkey. Otter for Rebel’s Cove, Missouri and wild turkey for Simcoe, Ontario. The turkey didn’t […]
OPEONGO LAKE TROUT STUDY by B.M. I first met Gary Ridout at the Bancroft Retriever Club Hunt Trials. Ridout raises Chessies. In discussion I learned that Gary is a Senior Technician at the Harkness Research Lab in Algonquin Park. Each October a team of researchers head out for the spawning shoals of Lake Opeongo to […]
THE SHOE TREE by B.M. circa 1988 Plainly speaking, we are not talking about the shoe tree that granddad used to keep his leather shoes in shape. This tree is alive and thriving. If tongues could talk they would tell you that Bill Boland, of Kinmount, started it all in 1982 by nailing shoes to […]
BANCROFT SLED DOG RACING by B.M. 1988 What do the Bear Grease, the Iditarod and the Bancroft International have in common? How did diaper rash prevent a competitor from finishing his race? Read on if you care to know. On Saturday, February 21, the 5th Annual Middle Distance Bancroft sled dog race took place. The […]
MY FIRST and LAST RACE by B.M. February 1987 “Aaaar, rruuff, urrr, aauurru….” 33 dog teams yelping, howling, dare I say crying, begging to go; sounding like they were being choked to death. BUT – these were happy sounds albeit somewhat frustrated for they had come to race, not stand and wait. The veterans had […]
KANAWA CANOES ON THE MOVE 1985 by B.M. The world’s “largest, most comprehensive collection of canoes” is preparing to move, according to Michael Ketemer, Kanawa Canoe Museum’s manager, researcher, guide, custodian …Varying from birch bark to fiberglass, from the early 20th century to 1985, this collection of canoes from around the world is outgrowing its […]
A HUNT CAMP STORY Tight tongues loosen with time. Consider the latest item to come via the moccasin telegraph. These hunters frequent Crown land in Cashel Township. Mostly they are railroad workers. Like so many it wasn’t about THE HUNT but the experience that appealed to them. The relaxed change of pace kept them coming […]
NON-FICTION From January 27, 1990 NORTH OF BELLEVILLE Unknowingly an acquaintance established a record last summer when he and a friend were fishing for lake trout in August trying out a new depth finder. Trolling a favourite run they noticed three nice sized blips on the screen. Dennis was predicting a strike when his rod […]
FISHING IN ALGONQUIN PARK In 1892, one year before the birth of Algonquin Park, the Province of Ontario initiated a creel limit that would continue until 1971 when fishing licences for men were discontinued because the government maintained that it was too costly to administer. Women had been exempted from purchasing a fishing licence in […]
HUNTING IN ALGONQUIN PARK Hunting pre-dates the birth of Algonquin National Park although wild game may not have been as abundant as it is to-day. The explorer David Thompson complained of a lack of wildlife in what we now regard as Algonquin Provincial Park. In 1893 when Peter Thompson assumed command he immediately recommended that […]
