Hunting Signs of the Season

Daylight Saving is drawing close upon us -- this Saturday in fact. That time when we "Fall Back".

No matter how you slice it, it gets dark sooner. Gets light later. Nights are longer. Days are shorter. The sun lacks punch.

Although, that said, we are told that the solar collectors make more energy in cold weather, so it sort of evens out there.

The lakes are drawn down as well. The MNR does this so the fish that are spawning now -- such as the lake trout -- will spawn in slightly deeper waters than they would otherwise. Come spring, when the lakes must be drawn down again to allow for the in-flush of spring meltwater, that ensures that the eggs are not stranded to freeze on the shore. That's a good thing.   It also makes for a huge beach that reminds us of Bondi in the early days, before the dam at Baysville raised the lake.

The trees are pretty much down to their winter colours -- the tamarack are still bright golden dots on the landscape, but for the rest, we are putting on the muted grays, blues, blacks, whites and dark greens of the season.  Except for Taffy, who is a bright spot all by herself.

Hunting season (gun) opens this weekend.  There will be plenty of blaze orange seen in the landscape then. Hikers are reminded that it is a really good idea to wear blaze orange.  For the most part, hunters are very responsible and careful, but in the words of my Dad,"better to have it and not need it than to need it and not have it."

The deer seem to have their calendars circled -- they are now congregating on the front lawn, where they are safe from gunfire.  This group were catching a nap near Farside cottage yesterday.

Bow season has been open for a week or so already. And my friend Tim, from England, writes that the Hunting Season is opening over there. They, of course, are talking about the pursuit of the inedible by the unspeakable, foxhunting with horse and hound. Despite the ban, the sport is flourishing, and the politicians are now admitting the ban was a disaster. Irrational, too, since nobody seemed to care about the foot hunters chasing rabbits, or the Otters... To keep the fox numbers under control they have resorted to traps, poison, guns.  The deer are congregating in large herds that are eating up farm fields.  Gun culls seem to be the answer.  I rode with the Frontenac Hunt in Kingston for several years. The horses love the sport, so too the hounds.   And if I were a fox, I'd rather take my chances eluding a pack of hounds than dying slowly from poison in a den.

I'm not a hunter, not for any high moral ground, but because I love the look of the animals and don't love the taste of venison.  If you're going to hunt, you'd better be eating what you kill...   It's not as easy as people like to think, either. You can spend an entire week in the woods, even when there are plenty of deer, and not get anything that comes close to a shot.  But its not wasted time  -- after all, you've had all that wonderful time out there in the woods...

We do hunt in our woods -- one of the reasons is that having People You Know out there helps keep poachers out. They are the ones that get me going...   the idiots that give hunting a bad name...  Don't get me started...