Seine
River Lodge / Hunting Web Log
Northwestern
Ontario Whitetail Deer, Black Bear, Moose, Small Game & Grouse Hunting
Info &
Observations
________________________________
April 1 2006
– Hello & Welcome to our Hunting Blog
Hello & “Happy
April Fools Day” to all of our regular hunters, and many of you that are new to
our camp & coming (or thinking of coming) in the next year or two.
In the past, as
many of you know, I’ve done an Annual Newsletter. In it I would recap the years
events, throw around stories about the hunts or anything related (conditions,
observations etc), and give a bit of an idea about what to expect for the
following season.
The newsletter
worked great – but we wanted to do something more timely & current. Enter
this blog.
Anyway to kick it
off here’s some of the things bouncing around my head lately…..
Ontario MNR
to Open WMU 12B to Non-Resident Deer Hunters
This is great news
for our US deer hunters, and it’s something that I’ve lobbied for.
In Ontario,
hunting zones are divided up into separate “Wildlife Management Units” (WMU’s)
so regulations and tag allotments etc can be very specific depending on the
areas’ strengths, weaknesses, pressures etc.
Our camp is in WMU
12B (north of Highway 11), but we’re only about a mile from WMU 11A (south of
Highway 11).
Right now, non
resident deer hunters can only hunt in WMU 11A. Now, there’s nothing wrong with
that – 11A produces some of the nicest bucks anywhere, and is well known for
being prime NW Ontario deer country.
But so is 12B – there
are a lot of deer there and many monsters. When I canvassed our guides last
year and asked them if 12B was open for them to bring their non-resident
hunters, the majority of them indicated they would move to 12B for the majority
of the hunt.
The deer
population is exploding in our area, and the area MNR staff are intending to
try & keep it under control – extra doe tags for residents have been
available the last two years (up to 6 does I think), and expanding the hunt for
non residents should help as well.
The Kenora area
was in similar situation about 10 years ago – the deer population is up many
times over, but the moose have felt the effect with diminishing populations.
So far, it looks
like our moose are still OK – despite the boom in deer & bear (who kill
many calf moose each year).
Anyway, it allows
for hundreds more square miles of opportunities for our deer hunters. The new
territory will likely open up in ’07, so we’re really looking forward to
getting some action happening north of Highway 11.
04/05
Another Mild Winter – Great For Deer
Well, as in many
places, this past winter was one of the mildest on record. Some snow but not
tons.
All in all it
should point to a healthy survival rate for deer. Early scouting supports that
theory, so we should continue to see growing numbers of whitetails despite the
fact that the……
Wolf
Population Seems on the Rise
Last fall, our
bear hunters saw more timber & brush wolves than ever.
As well, our deer
guides saw and harvested more wolves than ever.
Although no stats
are available, this would be in keeping with the surge in deer numbers.
We are looking
into offering a wolf hunt in the next year or two. The opportunity is certainly
there.
Watch this site
for further details!
Spruce &
Ruffed Grouse on the Rise
We seem to be on
the upside of the grouse cycle.
’03 & ’04 were
fairly slow for grouse hunters. Last year was OK, and common sentiment is that
’06 and the next few years should be really good.
Keep checking this
blog for updates. Season opens Sept 15, and is a great time to combine hunting
with some great fall fishing.
Moose Counts
OK
From what I’ve
heard, it sounds like the recent moose survey produces fairly consistent
numbers, so I would think that tag allotments would be pretty close to the past
few years.
As many of you
know, we don’t have any moose tags for sale, but welcome Ontario hunters who
acquire tags through the provincial lottery system each fall. Most of our
hunters are in 12B, but we’re only a mile or so from 11A and about ½ hour from
12A so there are a lot of options for accessing different WMU’s from our camp.
September
Bear Hunt Trips Still Available
Although our
opening week of the bear hunt is full (Aug 15) with our regular guys from
Indiana, we still have openings in September (9th & later).
Despite that fact
that our guys in August do very well, September action is as good or better.
The fact that
we’re not competing with blueberries really helps, plus the bugs and heat
usually are a little less of an issue.
Last September
there was some great action with multiple bears hitting many stands. This
September should be no different.
Thanks and
Keep Watching
I’ll try &
continue to update this blog with relevant info as the year progresses.
Let me know ( qvbbbb@aol.com ) of any questions you have, or
things you’d like to see addressed