Ripple Outdoors Hunting and Fishing Podcasts

Ontario's hunting and fishing experts discuss issues that affect hunters and anglers.

Archive for December, 2009

Deer Tag Soup Recipes – How to avoid them

Posted by Peter Wood On December - 28 - 2009ADD COMMENTS

Top Ten Recipes To Slurp Deer Tag Soup this season

So how do you avoid that dreaded bowl of deer tag soup?

Here are my top ten recipes to avoid that terrible taste!

#10 – Secretly you’re a vegetarian who likes to sit in trees wearing camouflage. Ok I hope not but hey you’re the one with deer tag soup.

#9 – Leaving your ATV running at base of the tree with your tree stand indicates you’re a tad lazy but hey it was the only way to keep the seat and handgrips warm.

#8 – Safety is extremely important especially when in the field. Setting your ground blind on fire because a Bar B Q burned your venison chops will ensure tag soup every time.

#7- Practice Practice Practice your target shooting.

But make sure your target on the side of a barn is more than ten yards away!

#6 – I know oh dark hundred hours is an early time to be sitting in a tree stand but snoring too loud will always scare the whole deer herd at 50 yards any time of the day.

#5 – There is a time and place for everything however playing your ipod so loud is one way to definitely allow 12-point buck sneak by under your tree stand.

#4 – Big one here cause if you didn’t renew your O.F.A.H membership this will prevent you from hunting thousands of acres in Simcoe’s County Forests.

#3 – Any hunter who Forgot to thank the farmer where they hunted last year, deserves to have NO place to hunt this year. Always thank the land-owner of the property!

#2 – You’re not rugged enough like that Officially Rugged Dude Carson.

Come on rugged is rugged anywhere in Ontario you hunt.

#1 – Real hunters never shoot real deer from the couch with a remote control in their hand. Only real deer tag soup hunters can do that. Get off the couch and get out there!

Deer Tag Soup

Will you be slurping on deer tag soup next week?

Good Luck this season Remember you still have three days left to avoid that terrible taste of deer tag soup!

You can also check out Ripple Outdoors Hunting and Fishing Podcast #182.

http://www.rippleoutdoors.com/podcast/deer-tag-soup-top-ten-recipes-podcast-182/

What kind of bow hunter are you?

As the archery season for deer in Ontario nears an end I thought I would throw this question out to the bow hunters.

Myself I start the October season usually perched in a tree stand with my BowTech Guardian Compound bow.

Hunt the controlled deer hunt with my Browning shotgun with friends.

Depending on how the weather holds I will bounce back and forth with my Excalibur Crossbow on the ground or my Bowtech if using a tree stand.

Once the northern wind howls I’m usually huddled in my Matrix ground blind with my Exocet Crossbow. If the temperature remains in the 5-10 celcius I will try to use my BowTech compound.

I practice with both while seated in a chair.

I find if I don’t do some stretching before pulling back on the string on my BowTech I often walk away with a sore should or wrist due to stiff and cold muscles.

Shooting a crossbow is simple and easily done in the cold weather with no aches or pains to me.

I have often thought about shooting a stick bow and still hope to learn instinctive shooting methods.

Practice shooting your bow at 3D ranges (what ever type of bow it is) is a great way to stayed tuned in to your bow during hunting season.

Confidence in your shot capability is often the difference between filling or not filling your deer tag.

Deer Tag Soup Top Ten Recipes Podcast #182

Posted by Peter Wood On December - 28 - 20092 COMMENTS

Host Peter Wood gives out his top ten recipes for Deer Tag Soup.

Episode Resources

Ripple Outdoors

Episode Credits

Voice by Chuck Lefleur
Music by Jon Schmidt from the Podsafe Music Network

FMZ 9 Advisory Council considering future of dam on Black Sturgeon River

Changes to fisheries regulations in provincial Fisheries Management Zones (FMZ) 6 and 9 are on the horizon for 2010. Anglers in FMZ 6 will soon be able to take advantage of extended fishing opportunities, while in FMZ 9, the zone’s advisory council is working to restore native fisheries in Black Bay, and early in the new year will consider options for Camp 43 dam on the Black Sturgeon River.

Highlights to regulation changes in FMZ 6 include an increase in the winter lake trout season by four weeks, giving anglers from February 1 to March 31 to harvest this popular sport fish. The regulation for pike is changing to eliminate the protected slot, and to allow the harvest of one pike over 70 cm as part of a limit of four fish with a sport license, or two fish with a conservation license. Regulations for smallmouth bass harvest are being simplified. Year round, resident anglers will now be allowed to harvest four smallmouth bass of any size with a sport license, or two with a conservation license. Details on all regulations are contained in the ministry’s recreational fishing summary.

Regulation changes to FMZ 6 were developed with considerable input from the FMZ 6 Advisory Council, which is comprised of local representatives, including two from the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters (O.F.A.H.) Zone B. FMZ 6 lies immediately north and east of Lake Superior and takes in a large portion of the Thunder Bay area, parts of Nipigon and Dryden, Lake Superior’s St. Ignace and Simpson Islands, and the islands in Nipigon Bay.

“The extension of a winter lake trout season is great news for local anglers and businesses, and is due in good part, to the efforts of the volunteers on the FMZ 6 Advisory Council,” says Mike Reader, O.F.A.H. Executive Director. “Anglers are closely connected to our fisheries and are well equipped to make a significant contribution to the wise management of our recreational fisheries. Engaging these and other local stakeholders in the process through an advisory council is a positive step by the ministry.”

O.F.A.H. Zone B is also locally represented on the advisory council for FMZ 9, which encompasses the Canadian waters of Lake Superior, from Pigeon River to Sault Ste. Marie. As this zone includes a huge geographic area, the council is further divided into two sub-committees. The western sub-committee has been examining options for the restoration of native fisheries in Black Bay. Early in the New Year, it expects to provide the MNR with its recommendation for action on the Black Sturgeon River Dam, which acts as an important sea lamprey barrier, but may also be preventing walleye from accessing spawning habitat. Fisheries Management Zone Advisory Councils were introduced in 2006 as part of an MNR overhaul that eliminated Fishing Divisions and in their place, created 20 Fisheries Management Zones (FMZ). Zone Advisory Councils are typically comprised of angler organizations, commercial fisheries, outfitters, independent fisheries biologists, First Nations and Métis communities and other stakeholders. FMZ 6 was one of three pilot advisory councils initiated in 2006, and FMZ 9 Advisory Council was formed in 2009. Over time, the province’s plan is to establish an advisory council for each zone.

Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) regulation changes take effect on January 1, 2010. The 2010 Recreational Fishing Summary is available online now at www.ontario.ca/fishing, and come January, will be available in print at Service Ontario centers, and at some outdoor outfitters. With over 100,000 members, subscribers and supporters, and 660 member clubs, the O.F.A.H. is the largest nonprofit, charitable, fishing, hunting and conservation-based organization in Ontario, and the voice of anglers and hunters. For more information, visit www.ofah.org.

Lake Simcoe Tourism Alliance Partners – Lake Trout Update

The Lake Simcoe Fisheries Stakeholder Committee devoted a lot of time and energy over the past year to examining the lake trout stocking program for the lake. After looking at all the different options to deal with the good news of increasing natural reproduction of lake trout, their final recommendation was to reduce stocking numbers from 100,000 to 50,000 annually. (For a period of five years before review).  We discussed this pending change at our last FLSTA meeting.  MNR Minister Cansfield supported the change to the stocking program and the decision is now posted on the EBR… You can access complete details by following this link. www.ontario.ca/environmentalregistry and enter registry # 010-8539

In order to further facilitate the natural reproduction of lake trout in Lake Simcoe, the Ministry of Natural Resources (MNR) has established a new stocking target of 50,000 yearling lake trout to be implemented starting in the spring of 2010 for a period of 5 years. This is a reduction from the traditional annual target of 100,000 lake trout yearlings. This target will be reviewed again in 2013 prior to fall egg collections, based on the following measures of success:

  1. Relative abundance of the lake trout population
  2. Relative abundance of stocked and naturally reproduced lake trout in the population
  3. Angler catch, harvest and effort
  4. Lake trout age, growth and condition
  5. Relative abundance of the herring and whitefish populations

It is anticipated that this stocking reduction will result in:

  • Increased natural reproduction and survival of wild lake trout
  • Improved growth of lake trout given wild fish’s more varied diets
  • Unchanged angling success
  • Continuing to move us towards restoring a self-sustaining cold water fish community

Thanks to Wil Wegman for the updated news !