PRINCE BILLY Most people have a bird feeder or two in their yard and are quite content to enjoy a cup of tea while watching the Pine Grosbeak, Blue Jays, and Chickadees flocking to the feed. The seed, suet, corn and other foodstuffs provide relatively inexpensive entertainment and education. Then there is Joe Neuhold, […]
INTRODUCTION or REINTRODUCTION? When Jim Lamorre and his son-in-law Steve Fox went bass fishing in 1977 little did they imagine that they would be part of the answer. The question? Were eastern Elk indigenous to the Bancroft area? This focused question was key to bringing the elk from Alberta. Nay sayers argued against introducing animals […]
A NOCTURNAL FIRST Serendipity is a descriptor that may well be applied to the first attempted “soft release” in 2000. The lack of snow and relatively mild winter weather provided for a successful unanticipated reintroduction. Serendipity struck, if such is possible, in 2001 as well although the snows, slippery roads and heavy fog experienced in […]
LETTER to the EDITOR The following letter to The Bancroft Times was published October 28, 1999. The author proved to be one of the most dynamic supporter volunteers that most programs can only hope for – let alone realize. About 1950 a hunter from Percy Bloom named Frank Midgely and his hunting buddies returned from […]
Periodically, as regular readers know, I delve into my Bice archives to reflect upon current issues. Ralph was a legendary trapper, lay preacher, former Mayor of Kearny (“Carney”) and author. He penned the following about gun control on August 27, 1975. As anyone who reads the papers, or watches the news on TV knows there […]
Bancroft – North Hastings, Ontario, Canada Time traveller literature has recorded the presence of earthly elk for some 40,000 years. Apparently, there weren’t a lot of elk roaming North America during the glacial age. However, as the glaciers slurped up water from the oceans a land bridge emerged joining Siberia to Alaska. Theory has it […]
THE ELK COMETH The primary site chosen to house the elk was Ginn Lake in Mayo Township. John O’Donnell, Co-Chair of the York River Chapter of the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation (RMEF) explained that the marsh and conifer cover was ideal for elk. The compound site features a fresh water creek, good hemlock cover and […]
Soft Release? The winter of 1999/2000 had begun slowly, as far a snow accumulation was concerned and it would continue to be so. This would be an advantage to the deer, for example, in that they wouldn’t have to yard up early, if at all, because they would be able to get around with easy […]
Elk, scientifically known as Cervus Elaphus, were native to Ontario, at one time. Thus this re-introduction as versus introduction. Elk belong to the deer family and in Ontario they are second in size only to the moose. Overhunting and loss of habitat to human settlement lead to their extermination in earlier years. The two small […]
In 1970 Joe and Edith bought 100 acres in the Hartsmere area near McArthurs Mills in eastern Ontario. The Lott family homestead had fallen into disrepair and so Joe tore it down. He and Edith then built a chalet into the hillside styled after the Austrian design. They paid $5000. “We never could have afforded […]
