2011--THE YEAR IN REVIEW

     We are closing in on the New Year and I like to look back on the past year and try to evaluate how our different seasons went and how we fared afield here in the beautiful Grand Lake area. As you can see from the photo above,there is no shortage of beautiful scenery and great photo opportunities in our area.This photo was taken last fall at the height of the changing of the leaves to their fantastic fall colors. It was taken from the beach in front of my home on Salmon River and to say I live in paradise would be an understatement. Many times, Ken and I both forget what a wonderful place we live and work in at home here on Salmon River. It seems that many times a person becomes so used to living in a certain place that one has to remind themselves just how unique and special that place is. I know, speaking for myself,all I have to do is look through some old photos and I find myself with a big smile on my face,marvelling at the sheer beauty and wildness of our home here on Salmon River. In my post last month,I said that 2012 will be a year of change for Ken and I, so I hope the readers of my blog will stick around and see what's new each month in the coming new year.
    The year started off well for our crew ice fishing on Grand Lake and Salmon River as soon as we had enough ice to safely travel with a vehicle. We don't take any chances with thin ice at any location we fish and we like to see six inches of good ice before we get out there putting up our shacks and tents. We fish out of shacks on Grand Lake and sometimes we use temporary shelters when fishing the more sheltered bays and coves in Salmon Harbour. There are several species to pursue on Grand Lake but we usually set up for smelt,whitefish and burbot,using a variety of baits. When fishing Salmon River and the Harbour for pickerel and perch,we use worms,grubs and bead head jigs for the perch and live minnows or a piece of oily fish with a spinner for the pickerel. We like to set some lines and work one or two.Multiple lines raise your chances of a hook-up dramatically so we use as many as the law allows us. The following photo shows Kenny hoisting up a nice burbot from Grand Lake. Ken has caught them much larger than this one but he says this size makes the best fillets for fish and chips. We always keep a few to deep fry because they make such delicious battered fish.                                                           

    The next photo shows Ken with my son Curt and his girlfriend Erica with some nice pickerel taken right on the edge of town at McLeod's Park.

This would be a typical catch after fishing for a few hours in the afternoon.

    As you can see,we have had some good success ice fishing in our area and this is a great way to spend a day outdoors during our long New Brunswick winter.

    When our winter finally broke,the Miramichi River started to run and we began to get ready for our annual trek over to Doaktown for the black salmon opener on the 15th of April. We had good fishing again last spring with many grilse and salmon being caught during the season. The following video shows me catching a nice grilse last spring near Sutter Pond in Carrolls Crossing. It remained good fishing for most of the season because there was lots of ice around to keep the water temps cool.As I said earlier,the fishing stayed good well into the season and the sea trout arrived right on schedule to provide some good fishing at the mouth of the many brooks that flow into the Miramichi River. The bright salmon runs that normally start in June,started in late May and never let up until the end of a season that many will remember as one of the best in recent memory.There was an abundance of large salmon interspersed with some nice grilse that came in on every raise of water all summer long. The water temps stayed good and with lots of water,it was a great year for the salmon making their spawning runs up the Miramichi and all her tributaries. The following photo shows me playing a nice fall grilse on the Cains River in 2010.   If there was a highlight during our seasons last year,it would have to be the bright salmon fishing that the large runs provided for the many ardent salmon fishermen from around the world. Any sport who made the trip to the beautiful Miramichi River for a weeks fishing last year was not disappointed both in numbers of fish seen and hooked. The many large spawners that made up the largest part of the runs bodes well for this magnificent fishery in the future but the keepers of this great resource must be ever on the hunt for new and better ways to improve the size of the runs and their health and well-being if these great game fish are to survive in the future.

    The brook trout fishing this past year was very good,as this has been the case for some years now. Since the allowable catch has been managed more closely,we have seen both sea-run and regular brook trout numbers increase and we are usually able to get into good numbers of both of these species at the right time of the year. Speaking of timing,it's everything when fishing many of the species here in the Grand Lake area and our guides know when and where to intercept the different species as they make their pilgrimages up our various rivers and streams. The following photo shows me with a nice brook trout taken on the Cains River.    We also pick up some nice trout while fishing for spring salmon on the Miramichi River. Each year,sports will pick up some trophy sized sea- trout from the lower stretches as they make their run up the river in May.The next photo shows me releasing a nice trout while fishing for spring salmon in the Carrolls Crossing area.

    The pickerel bite was off a bit last summer because of an abundance of water in the system all season long. I've mentioned in my blog before that if conditions are good for salmon and trout,chances are the pickerel bite will be off and that was the situation we faced this past summer. The beauty of fishing for pickerel is if you know your stuff,you can usually coax a fish or two into taking something,even if you have to try a few different lures to entice these great game fish into taking. My view on pickerel fishing is that it is an underutilized sport fish here in New Brunswick,largely due to the fact that most sports are concentrating on Atlantic Salmon and brook trout. This is too bad because sports are missing out on some great action during the low water later in the summer. The next photo is one of my son Curtis fishing with Sgt.Cain on Salmon River.last summer. It was tough fishing but Curt is a great pickerel guide and he got the Sgt. into several nice fish.

    If any hunt up here in New Brunswick could be termed a sure thing,it would have to be the spring bear hunt. This past year we had multiple bears on our baits and some of those bears were trophy sized. If any hunter wants to take a nice average sized bear,New Brunswick is the place to hunt.Of course,if you are after a trophy sized animal,the hunter will have to wait it out and hope the larger bears show themselves during daylight hours. Ken and I have a couple of little tricks we use to get those big boars to show themselves. Ken guided for a native lady in northern Ontario and ran one hundred baits for her and she taught Ken a few good baiting tricks  that her father taught her when he was running the show before she took over after her father retired. Not all baits are created equal and you can trust that Ken and I are doing things up right at our bait sites in order to bring in those big boars.The next photo shows a very large bear at one of our baits in the Gaspereau River area.

    My highlight for the past season was being invited to guide Wanda Doherty on her 2011 moose hunt. I've known Wanda and her husband Jake for most of my life and we had a great hunt that included good friend and fellow guide Allen Davidson as well as Wanda and Jakes daughter Chelsey. I want to tell my readers a bit about Chelsey and her very interesting life she has had so far. Chelsey is the type of girl that loves adventure and travelling and meeting new people. This Christmas Chelsey is in Malaysia competing in the Miss International Tourism competition,representing Canada. Now Chelsey didn't get to this competition by being a couch potato who thinks a pretty girl just has to stand around and,well,look pretty! No, not this girl! What I really like about Chelsey is she will roll her sleeves up and work right along with you to get a job done. Chelsey maintains a good grade average at university and works part-time for N.B. DNR.She really enjoys her work and has made a big impression on all the folks she works with and I can see a great future for this young lady no matter what path she takes. The next photo shows Chelsey swimming with some sharks while working on a project in the Bahamas.

    The next photo shown is one I took of Chelsey relaxing for a bit after we loaded her mothers moose to transport it to the Cache for registration. As you can see from this photo,Chelsey is as comfortable in the bush wearing blue jeans as she is wearing those fancy gowns while modelling on the fashion runways around the world.   I had a great time hunting with the Doherty's this past moose season and I wish Chelsey all the best in her future endeavours.

    I hope the readers of my blog enjoyed my look back on the past year and I would like to take this time to wish everyone a very Merry Christmas and a prosperous and Happy New Year! from Ken,Jamie Dallas and I here at home on Salmon River.

    Anyone looking for an adventure in the Grand Lake area,please give me a call or shoot me an e-mail and Ken and I will arrange a trip for you that you will enjoy here at home in Gods Country!

    This is Dale Bauer saying 'Happy Trails to You.....Until we meet Again!'

N.B. 2011 DEER SEASON ---A TIME FOR CHANGE.

    The 2011 deer season just ended last week-end and the numbers are now in. A total of 4755 deer were killed, with 137 being taken with a bow. These figures are slightly lower than last years kill of 5101. DNR and many hunters had been predicting even lower numbers so I guess we are supposed to be happy with those results? Nope,I don't think so! This years deer kill is the fourth worst on record and that's not good! Of course,there were some nice bucks taken around the province and the Grand Lake area produced some very nice trophies for a few lucky hunters. As a matter of fact,there were at least three nice bucks that I know of that were taken just a few kilometers from the Pioneer Lodge. One of the Phillips girls got a nice eight point buck in her back orchard in New Dominion and a nice nine point and a huge ten point were taken in Cox's Point.It should also be pointed out that all of these bucks were taken on private ground. That's where the bulk of our deer herd lives now. The Big Woods have really seen a drop in numbers in our areas we have hunted in the past and that is why we have to change our tactics from now on when pursuing deer.Roughly two thirds of this years kill came from the south and western areas of the province and this is where most of the private ground is in New Brunswick.
    Our deer hunt this year was cut short before we really got started. Ken's brother-in-law,Bob Urquhart,passed away half way through the season.Bob was Dallas and Jamies father so that effectively ended the season for my hunting partners for 2011. Jamie did manage to set up a spot close to town and he seen quite a bit of action at this site. He had about a half dozen does and kids and one young buck that he had a chance at but chose not to shoot because of poor light. Jamie said he would rather let him grow than risk wounding a nice deer.Good for you,Jamie! The following photos are from Jamies new bait site in town.

We are in the process of setting up five or six sites such as these in and around the village.These sites will be bow sites because of their location. This is a trend that will be on-going as we move our hunting efforts closer to the village and to points further south.For my part,I travelled to the southern end of Grand Lake and scouted some of my old stomping grounds that I hunted years ago when I was growing up in that area.I was pleasantly surprised at the amount of deer sign I was seeing but a lot of the activity was does and kids. There were some bucks around because I found some scrapes and some nice rubs in a couple of locations. My son Curtis lives in the area so it makes it convenient when hunting there because we use his place as a base of operations when in that locale. It's only an hours drive to these hunting grounds,which is about how far we travel when hunting the Big Woods to the north of us. I went in to check out a spot I found on the last day of the season and took a short video clip of the spot where a nice buck and a few does are coming out to an overgrown field.This spot should be good for a bow hunt next fall over bait. The deer in this area take bait well,with the locals using apples carrots and pumpkin with good success. It has been our experience that big bucks will show themselves more readily if you set up for them back in the woods rather than on the edge of the field. They don't like exposing themselves during daylight hours but if they can sneak into a bait located in good cover,these big bucks will sometimes come in during the twilight hour before dark.

    The next two photos show one trophy class buck and a nice up and commer buck at a wilderness food plot constructed next to a beaver dam. It proves the theory that if hunters construct food plots in wilderness areas,the deer will utilize it.

This year was the first year in memory that there were no deer hanging on the game pole here at home on Salmon River. Ken and the boys certainly weren't in very good spirits for this years hunt and they just didn't get into the hunt like they usually do.I found myself being rather bummed out at the low numbers of deer in our traditional hunting spots so I never really got excited about this years deer hunt.I'm not trying to make up excuses for our lack of success during this years hunt but there were unusual circumstances to deal with this year and I thought I would best use my hunting time scouting new areas. At least I found some nice bucks while changing areas during the 2011 deer season. Hopefully,this will bode well for next years deer hunt and we will get a crack at some of those big bucks we know are in our chosen areas.

    As I already said,there were still some nice bucks taken in the grand Lake area and two guys who work at the local saw mill score on a couple of trophy bucks.Shaun S. from Minto was hunting with his son in the Salmon River area (for some reason he didn't get too specific about where he got his buck). He had a hunting partner who pushed the deer right out to Shaun. Now that's what I call a good buddy! The next two photos show Shawn with his 2011 buck.

This buck had a nice high rack and Shaun said the experience was certainly enriched by the fact his son was with him and got some first hand experience hunting with his Dad and seeing him take this nice N.B. buck.

    Another saw mill worker,Ivan B. of Chipman,took a tremendous buck while hunting out of his brothers camp on the western side of Grand Lake. I didn't get any photos of this buck but Ivan told me it was a twelve pt. buck that dressed out at 248 lbs. That's a big buck by any standard! Congratulations to Ivan and Shaun and all the other hunters who managed to take a buck this year.

    One of New Brunswicks on-line hunting sites,NBHunting .com has a thread that shows some of the nice bucks taken around the province by the members of that site. These photos show that New Brunswick still has the potential to be the white-tail buck mecca that it once was. Even now,with our deer herd numbers at near historic low,hunters across the province managed to take some really nice bucks. Here is the link to the photos of those nice bucks.http://newbrunswickhunting.com/forums/index.php?/topic/3230-2011-whitetail-harvest-pics-only-no-comments/
    My own thoughts,upon reflecting back upon this past deer season,is that change is inevitable.It's part of our reality and is the basis for our evolution as a species. But for some strange reason,most humans have a tendency to resist change,even though it is an integral part of our existence. Imagine how far we have come in a relatively short time,both as a species and as hunters. As our fore-bearers had to change their hunting areas as game was diminished in their traditional areas,so do our modern day migrant hunters from the north and east pursue our deer herd ever further south. This is an entirely natural occurrence and one we must accept in the hunting community. This season,I saw much less hunter activity by visitors from away and I'm assuming the less enthusiastic hunters just didn't bother travelling this year. Many of the more serious hunters travelled further to the south and hunted on or near private ground in hopes of increasing their chances for success There was also less hunting pressure from the locals because many didn't bother to even by a licence. This made the woods much quieter this year and I really liked that part of the hunt. So in the near future,Ken and I,as well as the boys,Jamie and Dallas,will be changing our hunting efforts by hunting closer, with bows and a little further south,towards the southern end of Grand Lake in hopes of increasing our hunting success on those big N.B. bucks.
    The ruffed grouse hunting this year was very good in our area and many hunters limited out on good days when the weather co-operated. There were some good sized flocks at the start of the hunting season  which indicates a good nesting year with a high survival rate. Of course,after the young of the year got thinned out,the older wiser birds that were left weren't nearly so easy to bag.
        The woodcock flight this year was considered average this year but the northern birds were here but at times it was feast or famine,depending on the locale and how hard the coverts had been hunted.Jamie spent this season doing a lot of training and less shooting as he tries to finish off his English setter to be steady to wing and shot. These little birds are great sport and we are fortunate to live in close proximity to some very good coverts around Grand Lake and its tributaries.
    For this post,I have dug out a couple of ornaments to show my readers.The first photo is of a pair of black panthers. The larger cat has a stylized, elongated body with red paint around the mouth.The paint is pretty good on this one but this type of ornament is notorious for loosing its paint because it is applied over the glaze and gets worn or flaked off from being handled and cleaned. The smaller cat resembles the larger one but is fashioned in a more realistic fashion. Both of these ornaments are Japanese in origin and are from the late Fifties or early Sixties.

 The next photo is one of a ceramic string holder fashioned into an owl. I have several string holders fashioned from different things. Manufacturers employed a variety of figures into the making of string holders including one of the more popular ones,a black mammy face. Back in the day,string was used a lot in everyday life and most households had one on the wall,usually in the pantry. This nice little owl has under glaze decoration with two sized holes for the string to come out of. If you look closely,you can see the holes for the string under the beak of the owl. I'd peg this little item from the late Fifties or early Sixties. The manufacturer was an English pottery. Here is a photo of the mark. 

The last item I have to show my readers is one of a N.B. wardens badge from 1939. This badge is in very good condition and shows very little wear. These badges,along with guide badges, are becoming very collectible and the early ones are commanding high prices. I know I probably paid more than I should have for this one but it was an earlier version and had the significance of being issued in the year WW11 was started.

    In closing,I would like to urge any of my readers who are looking for a vacation hunting ,fishing or just relaxing in the Grand Lake area to give me a call or shoot me an e-mail for more information on how to arrange a day or a week in Gods country! This is Dale Bauer saying 'Happy Trails to You....Until we Meet Again!'

PUDDLE DUCKS,BIG BUCKS,THE BITE AND VINTAGE STUFF

    It's  been a great fall down home here on Salmon River so far this year and with the rifle deer season just around the corner,Kenny and I have high hopes that we will have some nice bucks on the ground again this year.
    Our 2011 moose hunt was a great success (see last post)and our annual duck hunt was a lot of fun,with all blinds taking at least a few during the first day. The pond that I hunt had less shooters this year because Dallas was guiding a couple of new-comers and Randy-Micheal was hunting with his father.That left Ken, Jamie and myself as gunners,along with a couple of gents who found our pond and didn't realize that we were hunting there. It just so happened that I knew Royden W. from his younger days in Chipman so we worked out a good shooting arrangement for the morning hunt. This could have been a difficult situation under different circumstances but I took some of my own advice and showed a little respect and sportsmanship and invited Royden and his son,Jamie to stay and shoot with us after they offered to leave. They stayed and shot with us and they managed to kill a few ducks but more importantly,young Jamie saw how quickly and easily sportsmen can resolve any differences they may have and have success and fun in the process. This was Jamie's first duck hunt and I don't think it will be his last. It's great to see young people in the field and two thumbs up to Royden for the super job he has done introducing his son to the outdoors. Jamie had a summer job with Fredericton Outfitters and caught his share of salmon and grilse while filming some video for you-tube,so he's off to a great start!
    The following photo shows Ken,Jamie,myself and the two retrievers hunting the pond on the first day.

 We got a dozen ducks or so between us but this year I was top shooter with a limit! Now I'll be the first to admit that my shooting skills have slipped a bit in the last few years but this year it seemed all I had to do was point and shoot and it rained ducks! No complaints here! Normally Jamie out shoots me but he was using a different gun this year and I think it threw him off a bit. That's what Jamie said, so I guess that's what happened. The next photo is a brace of ducks and Kenny in the background taken on the first morning.

 We had a mixed bag of ducks coming in to our decoys and we took blacks,blue and green winged teal and wood ducks during our hunt. All of our other blinds also took a mixed bag of ducks and had shooting all day long,just as we did. We had seen a lot of black ducks prior to the opener but many of them seemed to have left for parts unknown just days before the opener. Ken and I think that hunters out scouting during the days leading up to the opener caused these shy ducks to vacate the area. We have found that black ducks are very sensitive to human activity in their resting areas and won't tolerate being disturbed for very long. The following short video clip shows how we were set up in the pond on the first day.

Dallas and his group of new duck hunters did well with all shooters taking ducks,including a female shooter,Cora B. who said she didn't realize how much fun it is hunting ducks.I'm sure Cora will be back shooting with us next year and she says she will be bringing a friend along to keep her company. See you next year,Cora!

    With the rifle deer season starting on Monday,Oct.24th,Ken and I and the rest of the boys have been busy putting out apple baits at our spots close to town.We learned a long time ago not to bother trying to bait big woods deer with apples because it doesn't work.If the local deer herd isn't familiar with apples as a food source,they will ignore an apple bait and continue to feed on browse. We tried for years to draw them in to our baits but we gave up after continually bringing black bears in.This would be great if we were targeting bears but when you are after deer,you soon tire of carrying pails of bait to feed the bears. Nowadays,we just bait deer in areas where we know they will find our baits and come in to feed regularly. We have found that even if a bear does come in to feed on our deer apples in these areas,the deer will continue to visit.They just come when the bear isn't there. We have slowly been shifting our hunting areas over to the southern end of Grand Lake.The deer herd hasn't suffered quite as bad farther to the south and these farmland deer come to the apples much easier. We will continue to hunt our old big woods areas each year because there are still a few old bucks running around and we will be posted on the crossings for at least a few days of the season.

 Another buck that survived last years winter was a huge buck that we hunted in Coal Creek. One of my contacts in the area told me he seen this buck cross the road in front of him late this summer and he looks as good as he did last year. We had concerns that this buck might not survive the rigors of our New Brunswick winters because Ken and I both think this buck is getting old and won't be around much longer. We will be hunting this buck again this year and like the other buck in the previous photo,we will be hunting him over an apple bait.Look closely at his rack and see the nice mass this bucks horns carry.

 These two bucks,as well as a couple more slightly smaller ones are bucks we will be hunting close to town. We will also be hunting another half dozen or so bucks that cruise the big woods in our old haunts such as the Harley Road and the Pleasant Brook country. Be sure to read next months blog to see the results of this years deer hunt.

    The 2011 salmon season ended last week-end on the 15th of October and this year will be remembered as one that provided great angling opportunities over most of the season.The water stayed on the high side and didn't warm up during the summer months. There were good runs of salmon and grilse on most of the rivers and the fishing stayed good until the last day or two. The wind and rain pretty much blew out the last day but Donna A.and myself fished the MSW Miramichi on Friday and Saturday morning before the conditions deteriorated to the point were fishing wasn't feasible.Neither of us had any hook-ups but we rolled a few and had a couple of bumps and just enjoyed being on such a great river at the end of the season. I did manage to catch a very nice grilse in the Cains River a week before the season ended. This was the nicest grilse I have ever caught and he was very close to being a salmon,coming in at 63 cm.,right on the nose. This fish was a nice bronze colour and displayed the typical fall colors of a Cains River fish. The next photo shows me with the grilse.

 I also caught a nice trout while floating from Carroll's  Crossing to Doaktown when I brought my boat home for the year. I was alone so all I could do was get a picture of the fish beside my boot so you could have a reference for judging its size.I thought it was around sixteen inches. I released the trout after the photo because the season had ended and that fish was an incidental catch while fishing for salmon. These nice sea trout can provide great action when the salmon aren't taking and that can be quite often! The following photo shows the trout I caught that day.

   There are still a few rivers that remain open to salmon angling until the end of the month and the striper fishing is going full tilt at all the local hotspots. Muskie fishermen continue to boat some nice muskies in the water between the Princess Margret bridge and the bucket club in Fredericton. This area has proven to be a great spot for fishing large stripers, as well as muskie. Muskie seem to be expanding their range and I expect to see more in Grand Lake and the other connected lakes in the near future.These fish are a great sport fish and provide a lot of thrills when you hook a big one!

         I have picked up some nice vintage items in my travels lately and I left even more behind because I have been trying to slow down my pace of purchases due to concerns over storage space. It takes up a lot of room to store large collections and I've gathered up a truck load of outdoor items over the years. The first photo shows an English game plate featuring a mature stag and a hind standing with another young stag. This game plate is in excellent condition,with no wear to the gold rim decoration. This plate has an overstamp which means it was probably made by one company and then purchased in a lot by another company who then put their company stamp over the original manufacturer. I would age this plate to the late Fifties or early Sixties.  I will include a photo of the stamp and overstamp so my readers can see who the manufacturers were. If anyone is familiar with English potteries,you will recognize the names as manufacturers of high quality pottery items. The next item I have is a little gem of a thing that was spared from certain destruction from the burning tips of cigarettes.This little ashtray portrays a duck hunting scene with lots of action that I find quite appealing to the eye. This item is quite collectible in its own right but when you find the words ''Mercury Dealer'' in the advertising,then it adds a whole other area of collectors to the arena.This adds to the demand for the item and therefore ,the price increases. This little ash tray is in beautiful,unused condition and I would date it to the Fifties or early Sixties.

     The next little item I have is a hand tooled leather wallet that has a nice buck embossed on the front fold. I remember having one of these wallets when I was a kid and thinking ''When I get older,I'm going to get a buck like that'' and I've been trying ever since! I've come close but not quite like the one displayed on this nice unused leather wallet. These wallets were popular souvenir items back in the late Fifties and early Sixties and many times had names stamped on them like Niagara Falls or some other major tourist attraction. This wallet is circa 1960.

    I hope the readers of my monthly blog enjoy seeing some of the vintage items I collect. I realize that this stuff isn't strictly about Kenny and myselfs outdoor activities but this is a part of my everyday life and I like showing these great collectibles so people will know what cool stuff is out there on the marketplace. If any of my readers is interested in anything they see in my posts or would like a day on the river or a week in the bush in our area,just give me a shout and Ken and I and the boys will be at your service! This is Dale Bauer saying,''Happy Trails to You.....Until we meet Again!''