WHITE-TAILS,COYOTES AND THE BITE

The month of February is usually another cold one but this year the weather has been very nice.We didn't have any cold weather or snow that amounted to anything and this made for some very good ice fishing opportunities on Grand Lake.Early in the month, we fished Salmon River at Macleods pond and got some perch and pickerel,then we decided to hit Grand Lake.Kenny and Dallas have two shacks out at the light-house at Cox's Point and we made good use of them last week-end. As you can see from the photo,we had some luck with our burbot lines.We fish set lines with live minnows or cut smelt on or near the bottom with good results.Burbot are primarily night feeders and they will move into the shallows in the evening looking for an easy meal.They are not a fussy feeder and just about any type of bait will work but we have had the best luck with the minnows or smelt.We don't like to set up in water that is too shallow,especially for smelt or whitefish but for burbot,we move into the coves with eight or ten feet of water. Many fishermen think burbot are the ugliest fish they have ever seen but when they get served up a plate of fish and chips,with burbot being the main dish,they aren't long changing their tune after the first bite! Burbot have a beautiful white meat that is quite a bit like cod but better tasting.

This photo shows some of the smelt we are catching on Grand Lake.These fresh water smelt tend to run a little bigger than their salt water cousins and although some fishermen don't think they taste as good,we think they taste great and they are a little easier to eat because they are a little bigger.We have found that fresh cut smelt is the best bait for fishing these rainbow smelt but shrimp or worms or any small bait will take them.Morning and evening usually produces the best bite but they can be taken throughout the day.Remember,they travel in schools,so when they start to hit,get ready for some fast and furious action.The pickerel are usually fished in the shallow water and respond best to a spinner and bait that is being worked in a jigging manner.These fish have a tendency to roam about a fair amount and we have caught some nice ones in the two foot range in deeper water while fishing for other species.We have found that it is usually a bigger one that we get in this manner.A set line with a live minnow also works well for pickerel.The village of Minto held a pickerel tournament at the Key Hole at Grand Lake On Feb.13 and from what I hear,there was an excellent turn out,with many pickerel and perch being caught.I don't know what the winning fish measured,but I did hear that Bailey D.caught twenty- five pickerel and an equal amount of yellow perch.Bailey was not entered in the Tourney,but was on hand to drill holes for the participants and give a few pointers.Bailey releases most of his fish and is very generous about dispensing his knowledge and help to beginners and the elderly at the tournaments.Kudos to you Bailey.This photo shows the interior of one of the two man shacks we have on Grand Lake.These huts may not look like much,but with a small propane heater,they will keep any fisherman comfortable and out of the biting wind that usually blows on Grand Lake. We also have bigger shacks that will hold four men,for those fishermen that like a little company while fishing.Our portables come in handy when fishing in other locations,usually for pickerel or perch.These portable ice-huts set up and take down quickly and many times make the difference between a comfortable day on the ice or a day shaking and shivering while trying to have a good time.Ken and I really like them and we will be adding a couple more to our ice fishing gear.

Coyotes have been a big concern right across the country this year and even more so here in the Maritimes.Many groups and individuals have been making a real effort to reduce the number of coy-wolves in their area,many times with outstanding results.I borrowed this photo from one of the hunting forums just to illistrate that fact. This photo shows about half of the estimated take of coyotes by two brothers from the Drummond area in northern New Brunswick.These twin brothers are potatoe farmers during the season,but when the work is done,they strike out after these deer killers with a zeal I haven't seen before.If only we had more individuals scattered around the province that are as successful as these two,we wouldn't be long Knocking down the numbers of these animals in the province.It really upsets me when when the armchair experts get going on about how it doesn't matter how many coyotes we kill,they will just respond by having larger litters and it's just an exercise in futility.Well,according to Gerry Lavigne,New Englands premier biologist,taking ANY amount of coyotes out of the system will have a benefit to the deer population.Mr. Lavigne has studied the relationship between coyotes and deer in Maine and has found some very interesting facts.For example,he found that our coy-wolves don't respond to pressure the same as their western counterparts.He says the animals we have don't respond to pressure by having larger litters,all things being equal.According to his numbers,if we could kill as little as twenty-five percent more than natural mortality,we would see a decrease in numbers.He also found that it is quite difficult for one coy-wolf to take down a deer,while three or more are quite efficient at doing so.Mr.Lavigne also found that taking out the dominant animals really set back the killing efficiency of the remaining pack animals.These facts suggest that any concentrated effort to control their numbers will produce a very real benefit to the deer herd.This is all good news for those of us who are concerned about the shrinking size of our deer numbers.Mr. Lavigne goes so far as to say that killing coy-wolves is the single best thing we can do to help the herd to rebound.This is one piece of the puzzle that we can actually realize an effect at growing our deer herd.I would encourage all sportsmen and concerned citizens to take up the gauntlet and do their part in trying to grow our deer herd back to its former glory days. So far,this has been an excellent winter for the deer.We have very little snow right across the province and the temperatures have been very mild,except for our manditory cold snap in January.This all bodes well for our deer and sportsmen across the province are keeping their fingers crossed for a continuation of this great weather to finish off the winter.In the meantime,we will be doing lots of ice fishing,so if any sports would like a day out on the ice,Ken and I will provide transportation and bait for your own shack for sixty dollars per person,up to a maximum of four.Just give me a call or shoot me an e-mail and we will set you up for a day of ice fishing on beautiful Grand Lake.See you there!

GRAND LAKE--A WINTER- WONDER LAND!

January is usually our coldest month and it signals a time for some outdoor sportsmen to change gears and settle in for the winter beside a nice warm fire,maybe tying some flies while dreaming of spring break-up or perhaps reloading some pet varmint load at the bench.But for many other sports,the season is just getting started.The ice fishing season has started up in full force the past couple of weeks,after finally getting enough ice to make it reasonably safe. Ken,Curtis and myself had a good day on MCleods Pond at the Park last week-end.The weather was pretty good and we managed to catch a feed of yellow perch and one small pickerel that went back down the hole.Ken had the retrievers out with us and they had a great time running around,stealing bait and fetching all the fish back to Kenney!There are many places to fish pan fish and pickerel between Chipman and Grand Lake on the Salmon River.There are numerous coves and back guts off of the main river that hold fish and are out of the current,making these areas very productive.At the mouth of Salmon River,where it enters Grand Lake,you can fish in the middle in the main channel and good catches of smelt and burbot can be had.Ken and I have been using portable ice huts more and more the last few years.For many years,we built a couple of wood and plastic huts that we put out at Goat Island or off the point at the lighthouse in Coxs' Point. These shacks are nice and comfortable but you are pretty much anchored to that area.With the portables,you are free to travel to different locations,such as Indian Lake or Maquapit Lake.Both of these lakes are part of the Grand Lake system and provide some very good fishing for the sports that are hardy enough to venture forth.

The fishing has been pretty good from all the reports I have from friends and fellow guides from up and down the Four Lakes area.The pickerel fishing has been very good on both French and Maquapit Lakes.Fishermen are getting a few nice burbot around Goat Island.Some of the sports that are targeting smelt or white fish are starting to pick up a few in Syphers Cove on Grand Lake and around Goat Island and the Lighthouse.One thing all these fishermen agree on is the fact that live minnows can't be beat for bait.Many ice fishermen believe in chumming the hole with some type of fine bait food to attract small baitfish and in turn,some bigger sport fish.Ken and I both think this helps and we either use some fish- based food or some meat product,such as ground up liver to chum our holes.We like to use our tip-ups for burbot,baited with a big fat live minnow.Many fishermen just use a gob of liver or a chunk of fish for bait and they seem to do alright by just resting the bait on the bottom and waiting for the burbot to vaacum the bait up. When targeting white fish,a swedish pimple with a very small hook[10-12]or even smaller,tipped with a piece of shrimp or clam will often entice a strike but the take is very light,almost undetectable and the angler must pay close attention or the bait AND the fish will be gone!

Some hunters have switched over to hunting coyotes and there is no shortage of dogs to hunt.Bait is by far the best method for taking these deer killing machines consistently.There has been a lot of controversy lately in the Maritime Provinces about our coyote ever since the young lady singer from Toronto was mauled and killed in the Cape Breton Highlands in Nova Scotia.In an instant,the coyote went from a tolerated pest to a feared and hated evil creature that many feel should be exterminated from existince,if it were possible.These killers have been taking many deer and domestic animals ever since they arrived here some forty years ago or so,but were tolerated because of the degree of difficulty in killing these cunning predators.Nowadays,there is a renewed call for bounties and for the hunting community to actively pursue these killers to control their increasing numbers.Trappers have great success using snares around deer yards or a bait,but the value of the fur is so low many are not pursuing them.It's just not economically feasible for them.Great sport can be had watching a bait and waiting for one to sneak in for an easy lunch.We set up in portable blinds with flat shooting 22:250's or .223's and then it's just a waiting game.I missed a huge black colored one on the first day of deer season and I wish I had knocked him over because I know it was pushing one hundred pounds! An exaggeration you say?I don't think so! I estimated that dog was twice as big as my sixty pound female german shepherd and my son Curtis had to agree with me,as he had a very good look at it also. So if you get tired of sitting beside the fire,just give me a call and Ken and I will guide you for a day of ice fishing or a hunt for some coyote/wolves we have travelling the Grand lake area.

TAKING TROPHY BUCKS--HOW?

The 2009 deer season has now come and passed and for many it was another disappointing season. The kill this year was 5,150 animals.The projected kill was 6,600 deer and if your math is as good as mine,the DNR's projections were off by about 1500 deer taken.Now if we had a larger deer herd,these numbers wouldn't concern me much,but with our deer herd having shrunk considerably the last two years,I was hoping that our biologists had a better handle on our numbers of deer in the province. This is because the number of doe tags increase or decrease in each WMZ according to their increasing or decreasing numbers.If our guy's in DNR don't have the right numbers,how can they make informed decisions on how many doe tags to give out? The easy answer is-they can't! Hopefully,after this poor guesstimate by our biologists,they will err on the side of the deer and cancel all doe tags ,except for the extreme southern part of the province. We must do all we can to help our herd grow after the losses of the last three winters. I want to introduce another "huntin' Hargrove" to the readers in this post.Duane Hargrove is Kenny's first cousin.His father,Morris,was Wes's brother and was a fine outdoorsman in his own right.I can remember hunting and fishing with Morris,even when his health was very poor and Morris would still manage to get himself out doing what he loved most.Duane also has that same spirit and makes the trip down to hunt every year with us. On occasion ,Duane hasn't been able to make it down because he is in the Canadian Armed Forces and has done a tour in Bosnia and Afghanistan and he said it was pure torture to be in those hell-holes during hunting season. I have a photo of Duane and his dog with some ducks he took this year down in the lower Grand Lake area.Also included are photos of two of Duane's biggest bucks.There is a third big buck he took,but I didn't get the photo for that one. Duane will be retiring soon and Ken and I hope he will give us a hand guiding in the future. Although the deer kill was down this year,we found several nice bucks to hunt and I got a nice ten point on the last day of the season. I hunted very hard for this buck and I likely would not have taken him if Kenny hadn't intervened and came and got me from where I was posted and moved me about a quarter mile away to some fresh sign. The plan worked perfectly and forty-five minutes later,I had a nice buck on the ground! This is the second time I have killed a buck on the last day of the season.The first time was when I took my first deer up in Riley Brook near Plaster Rock in northern NB. I have also had chances at two more trophy bucks in the dying minutes of the season on two different occasions. These examples prove it doesn't pay to give up too early. My neighbour,Darrell D. took a very nice ten point buck just before I got mine and his also came from the same general area,although about six km. apart. Darrell has taken some nice bucks through the years and puts a lot of time in driving and scouting in the big woods and when he finds good sign,he has the ability to stick it out and usually this strategy pays dividends in terms of nice racks.In other words,Darrell works hard for his buck,usually.Another friend,Gilbert S. from Minto,shot a great ten point buck on the Immigrant Rd. area near Chipman.Now, Gilbert would be the first to tell you that he is not a serious hunter.Gilbert likes to team up with a friend,grab the twenty gauge and some refreshments and cruise around looking for partridge.That's just what he was doing when his big buck stepped out and stood broadside while he got out of his truck,put in a slug and dropped him right there on the road!This was not the first deer Gilbert has taken,but it's definitely the biggest! Gilbert would be the first to tell you that this buck was taken by "pure luck". Another good friend and salmon fishing buddy,George P.of Chipman,took a great ten point buck on the first morning of the season.Georges main claim to fame was as a moose hunter and his skills are in high demand every year during moose season.But lately,George has been making a name for himself on the salmon rivers and he has taken some nice fish the last few years. George new there was a nice deer in the area he was hunting because he had seen the sign during the moose hunt and he figured his best chance at this buck was to try to get him early before he got running around and was still in a feeding pattern,coming out to the clear-cut.Georgie did everything right and the result was a beautiful ten point buck on the ground!.How did George take this nice buck? By close observation, hard work and perseverance. The estimated dressed weight of Georges buck was 240 lb.'s The last buck picture I am posting is of a buck taken outside of Moncton.This is the only deer taken outside of twenty km's from Chipman that I have included in this post.This buck,taken by Scot C. of Moncton,was a tremendous buck with lots of character and mass in his rack.This buck was estimated to be ten yrs. old and Scot had sheds AND photos of this buck going back SIX years! Again,a trophy buck taken by hard work and perseverance. So how do you take a trophy buck here in NB? Well,if you read this post carefully,you will see the word "luck " is only associated with one of these bucks. The rest of these trophy bucks were taken by serious hunters who worked hard and persevered until they reached their desired goal. Bucks of this calibre rarely come easy.I'm not saying it doesn't happen,it just doesn't happen often.All our deer hunts are for bucks such as those you see in this post and the hunts are conducted on free-ranging ,big woods deer.No hand raised, fenced- in bucks here! If you are looking for an easy trophy buck,you would be better off booking a hunt with one of those mid-west farms that hand raises their deer behind high fences.But be prepared to pay a very high kill fee for a production oriented hunt. If you are the type of sport who likes to hunt the big woods,one-on-one for a trophy buck,give me a call and book your deer hunt for next year. We have the trophy bucks and they are just waiting for a sport to put their tag on one.See you there! Oh,and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year from Ken and I and our guides at Hargrove and Bauer Outdoor Adventures.