Running With the Wolves

Every year giant whitetails are taken in our area that would rival some of the best in North America. However, Northwestern Ontario can be one of the most challenging places to hunt big game. The weather is usually consistently cold which makes sitting in a stand all day a bit of a chore. Walking ridges, logging cuts, and still hunting can be very effective if you find the right area but the density of the woods and underbrush can limit your visibility to virtually nothing (it’s no wonder the gun of choice for all the old-timers was an open sight 30-30). Most of what I hunt is public land so pressure from other hunters can be a little disheartening from time to time but I strongly believe that if you have a little bit of ambition you can get into some prime areas with little to no pressure. 

For me the biggest challenge I have faced this year is the excessive population of timber wolves. Prior to three years ago I could probably count on one hand the number of wolves I had seen in the wild. In the past three years I have seen well over ten times that. Two weeks ago I picked up one of my trail cams from one of my better deer areas. It hadn’t checked it for a couple of weeks so I was pretty anxious to get it home and see what was on it. Within the first few pictures I had a great buck stroll by but shortly after that my camera picked up nothing but wolves. The wolves moved in and there was literally no deer moving through my area. Personally I think wolves are truly amazing animals but, when you’re a deer hunter, it’s really disheartening to see them move into your prime hunting ground. 

Yesterday morning I worked my way back to that same stand just as the sun was coming up. The whole way I tried to remain optimistic about seeing the buck that crossed my trail cam over 4 weeks ago but my optimism was shattered on the walk into my stand when I heard a pack of wolves howling. They sounded close so I slowed down hoping to get into my stand without spooking them and hoping that one wold cross my sights but none of them did. For a minute I thought about getting out of my stand and going home, thinking that the wolves had spooked off any chance I had a seeing the buck, but my stubbornness prevailed. I picked up my rattle bag and went to work smashing the antlers together as hard as I could. I repeated my rattle about every 45 minutes. Around 9am I had just set down the rattle bag when I caught my first glimpse of movement along the tree line about 120 yards in front of me. For a minute I couldn’t make out whether it was that buck I was looking for or not, but as soon as it picked up its head there was no doubt. He cut across in front of me never getting any closer than 120 yards. My heart was racing and I was finding a hard time finding a good shot as he moved just along the edge of the tree line. I was running out of real estate when I finally found my shot. I squeezed the trigger and tried to watch the deer as my recoil bucked by eyesight. I waited a long ten minutes, got down from my perch, and walked over to where the deer was when I shot. I tracked him for 50 yards before I found him. It was a clean shot and easy part was over. Getting him out was a chore to say the least but it all was worth it. Even with a low deer population there are still lots of big ones out there. They just might take a little hard work to get at.

Catching up

The past year has gone buy in a flash. Between working on the Pipeline and a full schedule guiding, I haven’t had much time to spend on the blog,  before you give up on My World Outdoors I’m going to try to draw you back in. Spring was about a month late this year , therefore shed hunting was pretty much impossible. The short window I had to get out there and walk around the

woods would have been better spent building igloos or looking for Sasquatch. My hope to find anything that resembled a deer or moose shed was buried beneath 3 feet of snow.

Fishing season in Northwestern Ontario starts as soon as the ice goes in late April/early May .  

This year the ice stuck around on some of the lakes, until the 20^th of May.  The cool weather also had its effect on the fishing. Walleyes were spotty at the start, as  spring progressed into summer the bite became stable.  Northern fishing was probably the most constant fish to target (as usual) and Whitefish Bay proved once again, the place to be, in our neck of the woods -to crack the big ones. This year I believe there was not a day ,where at least one person fishing in the boat, didn’t boat a northern over 30 inches on Whitefish Bay.  Additionally, we had 3 or 4 people nail pike over 40 inches on WFB.  Attributed to the late spring and cold weather, lake trout fishing this year was by far the best I can remember. One of our guests boated a 22 pounder and I had two days on the water where we boated close to sixty Lakers.   Bass were a little spotty early in the spring, as the water warmed up fishing became more consistent. In my opinion, Loonhaunt  remains to be the best lake to crack the big smallies. My best day of bass’n, this year was largie fishing on Ashagama (this was my first year fishing Ashagama  and was one of the most impressive lakes for both quality and quantity in a long time) .  Musky season kicked off with a bang and quite a few were caught that stretched over 40 inches. However, there was a two week stretch in July where the musky bite got a little tough, the big bites were hard to come by.  As fishermen we experience slow periods no matter what species we’re targeting.

  

With fall arriving, I’d encourage you to not stash away you’re fishing gear – hang’n  it up for the year. Fall can be one of the best times of the year to catch massive fish, in great numbers.  Fall is, by far - my favorite time to hit the water. This time of the season can be an obesity epidemic under the water. The fish put on  the feed bag, in order to help them make it through the long winter and are generally more aggressive. The general rule of thumb for this time of year, big bates equal big fish. The biggest fighting factor is the weather. I would recommend dressing as warm as you possibly can. Being out on the lake this time of year can be brutally cold. Some of my best days have been spent fishing in the snow and if you’re not dressed warm you could end up cutting the best fishing day of your life, short due to cold fingers.

For those of you who have already exchanged the rod for bows and guns, good luck this fall! For the boys around home, get ready for the geese. Right now I’m about 150 miles south of Hudson Bay, there are massive flocks flying your way. Anyway, this fall DREAM BIG, stay warm, and most of all be safe.

 I’ll write shortly (really I will).