Deer season is here!

I finally finished up with other business I had to take care of for the last six weeks so Kenny and I hit the woods hard last week and we both got lucky! I decided to take a young basket -racked seven pointer on Friday Nov.2. This young buck will be great eating,that along with the fact I will be going back to work any-time,convinced me that I would be foolish waiting for one of the monsters we have been dogging. There are some really nice bucks running around out there! On Nov.3,Kenny was out with the old -timer,Wes Hargrove,when Kenny pointed out a nice buck sauntering down a logging road in the pouring rain! Well the old boy stepped out and dropped that buck right there in the trail! Wes was quite happey with his buck because when you get past seventy-five your chances of tagging one get less and less each year! So we are into the third week of the season and we have two hanging on the pole already,with the rest of the croud coming over the next two weeks ,we are almost sure to have some big ol' brutes joining the one's already hanging. I will be posting more pictures and results as they become available. On another note,I watched two natives take a twelve point bull moose on Oct.30. These guys were really rigged up for moose hunting and they got the job done in a hurry! This was in zone 17. There are certainly many more moose in zone 17 than there are deer,but not so many that you can take too many.The native harvest is pretty much self-regulated,so lets hope they use some common sense in how many animals they take. I also had an encounter with a pine martin,a species which has been very rare in southern New Brunswick. It was the first one I had seen in the wild in all my years,so I was really thrilled to see one.And he was up close and personal,so I got a really good look at him. He was a really beautiful animal with a reddish-golden pelt and a small fox-like face. I saw the usual bunches of does and kids,as well as a couple of spikers.So there are some fair numbers of deer around for any sports who are looking for a nice buck,so we hope to see you out there in the Big Woods of New Brunswick over the next couple of weeks!

Young guns of Autumn

It's the time of year again when Kenney and I mentor a small group of boys taking advantage of Waterfowl Heritage Day .This special day takes place each year on the second Saturday of September to encourage young hunters to get out and hunt ducks and geese under supervision of experienced hunters.This is a great way to introduce young hunters to the thrill of waterfowling and everything that goes along with this sport. The boys are hunting young ,undisturbed birds that provide excellent shooting opportunities. This year was no exception! The boy's we had out were from the Miramichi area and travelled to our area for the day's hunt and had a great time! They all managed to connect on some duck's and got to hunt and watch some good dog work under very trying conditions. It poured cat's and dogs almost all day! This made for some good shooting,but certainly tested the intestinal fortitude of the boy's and I'm pleased to say they passed with flying colors! We didn't get too serious about the hunt because it's supposed to be fun for these beginning hunters and also for the mentors.But at the same time we wanted the boy's to understand that sometimes the worst of conditions provide the best hunting opportunities when hunting waterfowl. So when we felt it was getting a little hard to take,we packed it in and headed back to camp for a nice hot meal and a good rest. The boy's sure appreciated that! Kenney prepared a great meal of roasted hind of a young bear he took this past spring along with all the trimmings.It must have been good because Jamie U. complained that when he got to the table there wasn't much left.You see Jamie is a young and growing boy and it takes a good meal to keep him sharp and going strong! Anyhow,we managed to get them all filled up and they all complimented Ken on his culinary skills. I would encourage ALL experienced hunter's and fishermen to take the time to help any youngster's along in their pursuit of the sporting life because,as they say,There's no life like it!

The Best Pickerel Fishing!

What a fantastic morning of fishing on Salmon River! I asked Kenney if he thought it would be good fishing this morning because we had some pounding showers through the night and the temperature had moderated.Kenney thought it should be good,so away we went! We barely got our lures in the water,when the frenzy started! It was non-stop action for four hours.I can't remember catching as many fish in such a short time! By the time it was starting to slow down,we had hooked well over one hundred pickerel! I personally landed forty fish and Kenny must have landed at least thirty.He quit counting after twenty! All this in as beautiful a place as you will ever see!We were entertained by a huge Golden Eagle,ducks,shore birds and the usual groups of beaver and muskrats.We can usually go out anytime and catch a dozen or so pickerel,but this was something special. A combination of oxygenated water and cool temperatures along with shrunken habitat created a perfect storm for catching pickerel! These fish fought hard for their size.We caught about a half dozen in the two foot range. The rest were average size,sixteen to twenty inches. We may get in a few more days as summer wears down.Kenny and friend Darrel B. caught a nice mess of brook trout in the Gaspereau R. area. These trout were all ten to twelve inches.Nice pan trout! They also ran into a huge bull moose during their travels.Ken said it had a huge rack with about twenty-four points! August has turned out to be a great month to be in the bush in beautiful New Brunswick! Hope to hear from our cyber-friends soon!