The Last Falcons!!

The Annual Recreational hockey tournament in Lundar was held the last couple of days. There was 5 teams this year making for 4 games for each team in two days for 50 or 60 local guys. A good amount of hockey, a game in the afternoon, a few wobbly pops and then one more game before more festive brown bottles..... how can life get any better. Men and a few girls from many ages and walks of life participated, good times were had by all except for a couple of my old team mates Stewart and Philip who drew some blood, Stewart with a puck in the chin and Philip with a puck in the nose. They hardly missed a shift. Nothing like blood on the ice!

The Last Falcons went undefeated again! 2 of the 4 games were very close but we (10 of us) prevailed and turned it on enough to win each game. We still talk about the glory days of the good times, dirty plays, fights, and the odd biting during a scrum but they are still entertaining. I miss the atmosphere, the teasing and just the, being with the boys. Good times indeed!

Christmas Time

We are approaching Christmas now and fishing has not been very good at all. The only upside is that we are seeing good sign of Perch in our larger walleye nets. So if we want to make any $ this winter, perch fishermen we will have to be. That season does not open until January 15th. We will fish until then but not be setting any new sets.

We laugh, sometimes we are the suckers!





The kids have been out with us a couple of days. It is nice to see teenagers actually getting outdoors for an entire day! The only drawback is that they ate our entire lunch and the extra we leave left over in case we get stranded out there!


And as always, the Crack! The water was higher this year with no big ice piles on the reefs so the cracks are in different places due to different pressure points on the huge slab of ice know as Lake Manitoba!

Lots of ice!

There was 13-15 inches of ice last week which is plenty for a Bombardier, so our jobs out on the lake have gotten a lot easier. The net puller in both directions sure saves the shoulders! We are still searching and waiting to find the big schools of fish but we have heard a few fish stories, usually other fishermen are chasing our stories. So tomorrow we are in setting mode again farther from home, we could end up 12 or 14 miles from home tomorrow, I hope the weather is nice and the ice is smooth!




Even with eleven inches of ice in the middle of this slush hole, it makes your heart sink when you feel the Bombardier slow down and sink. Not as scary as crossing ice cracks but when you get stuck in the slush it is almost impossible to get out without help. We would have to call Uncle Jack for a pull again.

2010 Deer Head Party

It is 30 below up here and that is the way it is most years for the deer head party. Here are a few of the nice ones.







And the winner!!

Stormy!!!

It has been blowing for days and sometimes you have to fish when the weather is less than ideal. Which translates into....unless it is minus 50 we are probably going to go. We are tough or stupid I guess but you can't make much money if you wait for the bluebird days!

Yesterday the wind was blowing up to 60 km/h after we had a few inches of snow. It was one of the most awful days I have had on the lake in awhile!




And today it was a great day, cold and calm. Good working weather.

It is always a cool sight to see how the wind sculpts and carves the snow on the lake. A coyote had walked on the soft deep snow and the tracks could not be blown away by the wind!


It is very hard to describe or explain how cold it can be if you are standing still. Jamie and I do not stop moving all day, if you stop for 5 or 10 minutes you are cold and it takes harder work to become warm again. We wear 3-5 layers of clothes with waterproof boots, special mitts, and rain pants to shed the water. Experience has shown us the way to keep warm in extreme circumstances.

We recently met some Young German guys who are traveling across Canada. Peter and Tom. They are staying with friends of ours and wanted to experience what it is like to fish! At first they were just observing us and then they effects of the cold began to take hold. We had to put them to work or it would not be a very memorable experience. We had them pulling nets out and pulling nets back under the ice. Within a couple of nets they were warmed up and having a good time experiencing the beauty of the lake on a calm day, you can see for miles and the air is as clean as it could be. It is always nice to be able to show someone how things are done out on the lake, as we have for 3 generations.

Happy Thanksgiving!

All of us here at Amik Outposts want to wish you a Happy Thanksgiving. If you are traveling, please travel safely. Our fall newsletter is being emailed out today with a few dates for 2011, please let us know if you are interested in any of them or forward the email to anyone who may. Thank you.

Here is the link to read our newsletters

Back on the Lake

We have had a harsh taste of winter here in Manitoba. Lots of snow and cold! It has been minus 20 Celcius and with the combination of snow and cold it equals 6 inches of ice in a hurry. The only problem is that there are pockets of slush that are impossible to set through. Having trouble when you are setting makes for a few choice words in a place where no one can here you!

We take turns being the one to find the jigger and testing the ice. Luckily I am lighter than my older brother! You can see the fog over the open water in the distance.


Here is what our nets look like. This one is a shallow net used close to shore. The thick blue line opposite the orange floats has a a weighted line that sinks it to the bottom.

Here is how quickly the shoreline disappears in a half mile in the snow.





Deer season is still open until this weekend. I hope to still find myself a huge whitetail!

First win!

Our Bantam team has played 3 games so far and it looks just like old times. We are starting slow but I see we have potential and are going to be contenders by the end! Our league, once we reach Bantam, joins all of our region so we play teams we never used to from farther north. There gets to be some big boys in Bantam so the 4 girls on our team will have to be tough as a Bantam Rooster!

We took a beating in our season opener 10-1 against Arborg who look like they will be very strong, and lost to Lake Manitoba 7-4 in a game we should have won, we will not lose to them again, and then last weekend we were fortunate enough to lay a beating on Peguis 17-5 in a game where our team worked and fore-checked perfectly. It will be a wild season, I can see the rivalries beginning. I absolutely love it!!!

I have been enjoying the beautiful weather up here, great for hunting. Calm and temps in the 30's good deer hunting weather! I have let many 120 class deer go and continue to wait for a shooter. Winter just showed up last night, there is a strong north wind bringing it in and the temp is dropping fast as I type. I am going hunting.

The depth finder story

John,

It's been two-three years since we scheduled a trip with you, but I still check your blog every few weeks. I started laughing when I saw your recent update on Loree Lake. We (I) lost my buddies depth finder on Loree Lake and never imagined it would show up again. We had transfered his depth finder into my boat that morning, and I forgot to tie it down. About 150 yards from the dock, the tranducer came free from the back of the boat, caught some water, and pulled the entire unit from the boat! Needless to say, Scott D. was not very happy with me. The depth right there was around 20', so we never even tried to drag the bottom to find it. I am guessing the current moved it closer to the dock over the past couple of years making it easier to snag.

We have not been able to get back up to fish the last couple of years, but always talk about next year.

Andy

Here is the original story

Beautiful November Again!

The summer may be over but you can always go to our You Tube Channel to watch and listen through out the winter to get your fix!

Here is one of my favorites!

Liberals vs Conservatives

Rena, the girls and I are back in Manitoba and getting settled in for the winter. The weather is changing and I am getting deer stands put up as I find the deer sign. Hockey is underway with our first game this weekend. I will keep you up to date on how we fare. Bantam (13-14) hockey is when our whole region is in one division so we will be playing more games and playing against some teams we have never played before.

I got this from my father in-law. I think it explains a lot!



A young woman was about to finish her first year of college. Like so many others her age, she considered herself to be very liberal, and among other liberal ideals, was very much in favour of higher taxes to support more government programs, in other words redistribution of wealth.

She was deeply ashamed that her father was a rather staunch conservative, a feeling she openly expressed. Based on the lectures that she had participated in, and the occasional chat with a professor, she felt that her father had for years harboured an evil, selfish desire to keep what he thought should be his.

One day she was challenging her father on his opposition to higher taxes on the rich and the need for more government programs.

The self-professed objectivity proclaimed by her professors had to be the truth and she indicated so to her father. He responded by asking how she was doing in school.

Taken aback, she answered rather haughtily that she had a 4.0 GPA, and let him know that it was tough to maintain, insisting that she was taking a very difficult course load and was constantly studying, which left her no time to go out and party like other people she knew. She didn't even have time for a boyfriend, and didn't really have many college friends because she spent all her time studying.

Her father listened and then asked, “How is your friend Audrey doing?”

She replied, “Audrey is barely getting by. All she takes are easy classes, she never studies and she barely has a 2.0 GPA. She is so popular on campus; college for her is a blast. She's always invited to all the parties and lots of times she doesn't even show up for classes because she's too hung over.”

Her wise father asked his daughter, “Why don't you go to the Dean's office and ask him to deduct 1.0 off your GPA and give it to your friend who only has a 2.0. That way you will both have a 3.0 GPA and certainly that would be a fair and equal distribution of GPA.”

The daughter, visibly shocked by her father's suggestion, angrily fired back, “That's a crazy idea, how would that be fair! I've worked really hard for my grades! I've invested a lot of time, and a lot of hard work! Audrey has done next to nothing toward her degree. She played while I worked my tail off!”

The father slowly smiled, winked and said gently, “Welcome to the conservative side of the fence.”

If anyone has a better explanation of the difference between conservative and liberal or progressive or neocon I'm all ears.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If you ever wondered what side of the fence you sit on, this is a great test!

If a conservative doesn't like guns, he doesn't buy one.
If a liberal doesn't like guns, he wants all guns outlawed.

If a conservative is a vegetarian, he doesn't eat meat.
If a liberal is a vegetarian, he wants all meat products banned for everyone.

If a conservative is homosexual, he quietly leads his life.
If a liberal is homosexual, he demands legislated respect.

If a conservative is down-and-out, he thinks about how to better his situation.
A liberal wonders who is going to take care of him.

If a conservative doesn't like a talk show host, he switches channels.
Liberals demand that those they don't like be shut down.

If a conservative is a non-believer, he doesn't go to church.
A liberal non-believer wants any mention of God and religion silenced. (Unless it's a foreign religion, of course!)

If a conservative decides he needs health care, he goes about shopping for it, or may choose a job that provides it.
A liberal demands that the rest of us pay for his.

If a conservative reads this, he'll forward it so his friends can have a good laugh.
A liberal will delete it because he's "offended."

Moose Hunting Pictures

Here are a few pictures from our 2010 moose hunt. It was a good year, enjoy the videos on You Tube!

The Otter is put away for the season!

I took the Otter to our mechanic for the winter the other day. Rena and I are heading back to Manitoba at the end of the week. If anyone has any questions or would like dates for next year. Of course you can still contact us at any of our email addresses or phone numbers over the winter.

Here is the old girl having a much deserved rest.

Then my ride back to Red Lake. It always feels weird to be a passenger sitting in the back.



My next blog will most likely be from some arena in Manitoba, Lake Manitoba, or the bush, hopefully with a huge whitetail!!!

I hope everyone else has a good fall and hunting season.

The last moose of 2010!

After getting David's huge bull back to camp Bill and I elected not to hunt that evening and get ready for the next day, it was still really windy anyways. Moose meat was on the menu that night!

The next day we woke up to wind, Bill and I went looking for some new sign in another part of the lake. We spent the day near the rapids coming in from Findlay but the wind would not give up.

The next day brought calmer weather, some wind but better for calling. I had a feeling that we needed to go back to the end of the lake where we got David's moose, so that's where we went. We arrived early and began calling. The animals were active... that is usually a good sign. Bill witnessed a pine marten chasing a rabbit 10 feet away from him. But the rabbit got away and the pine marten left hungry. I continued to call as it approached 9:30 am and was just repositioning myself to get more comfortable and watched the far shore of the lake. Then I saw a huge black spot moving towards the shore, straight downwind of us. Bill and I watched, waited for 30 minutes coming up with a plan to either wait for him to come to us or go try to get close to him by crossing the lake. As we walked down to the boat, out popped the rabbit. After watching the bull and seeing that he was headed along the shore out of our wind we paddled with the now very strong wind to put the sneak on him. Once reaching the other shore, we snuck along the shoreline to a nice big rock for a rest. The moose was less than 100 yards away and I gave him a couple of grunts. I could see his horns pop up and he turned and came right at us, staggering, showing off his impressive rack! Bill sunk 2 shots from his 300 win. Short Mag and down he went. Bill has shot a number of moose in his life but nothing like this one. A huge 51 inch bull moose. Tons of long sharp points, I would bet that he is the one who put the hole in David's bull, shot less than 2 miles away. Guaranteed they knew each other.

2010 was a pretty good year for moose hunting, every party but one harvesting at least one moose if not 2. Now I have to wait another whole year to have this much fun again.



Here is the video. Enjoy.

Moose Fever!!!

In 2010, we hunted into uncharted territory, hunting a third week, beginning on October 3rd. I know that the rut continues for some time into Oct and last year when Bill and David left after their hunt with us, they indicated that they would be interested in hunting that week with me. I was up for it and the plan went into action.

During the 2nd week our hunt went quite well, our 4 unguided hunters bagged 2 bulls and had another opportunity to take a cow but could not get a shot, the hunters I was guiding went 1 for 2, and our other guided hunters, Jerry and David, shot a nice 40 plus inch bull and saw a number of other bulls but as you have heard me say before, moose hunting is tough. Here is a picture of a nice one,


The weather was great the day all the hunters had to move which is nice, happy hunters out and only Bill and David headed back north with me to Loree lake. We had calm weather but it was quite warm and the blackflies were awful! We had a couple of bug nets but had to make a couple of more from some mosquito netting out of the Otter, but it would take a lot more than that to deter us! After calling in a couple of spots the first night we headed out for the first full day of hunting.

As I was getting to the spot where Bill had been calling the night before David whispered "moose!" We could just barely see against the sun....ears. I continued to call and we could hear them moving through the bush ever so quietly. Then....just as it was getting light, a bull! Just a spike bull and not one that we were going to take on the opening day. It was very cool to be able to watch him stare at us and try to figure out what was happening. What had happened was that a cow came to Bill's calling overnight and the small bull just tagged along following the cow. The bull walked into the bush quietly and I left Bill on the rock as David and I headed up the lake to where we were the evening before.

We called. And the moose called back. Calm weather felt so good. I could here 2 cows in opposite directions and was quite sure I had heard a couple of bulls but nothing for sure. After awhile I left David to watch from the ridge and went to look at some other spots on the lake to see what was going on. I went directly across the lake and was having trouble getting the boat to plane out so I was moving stuff around in the boat to level it out, making a bunch of noise as I was only a couple of hundred yards from the shore where I was headed. I looked up....and there stood a 40 inch bull! He was coming to my call across the lake. He looked at me, I looked at him for 2 or 3 minutes as I drifted. What to do... the moose turned and started to walk away and I was off like a flash to go get David. After retrieving David we got up to another spot to try to call the 40 incher back. The wind had picked up and it was getting difficult to hear. We remained there for a couple of hours with no action. I left David again to look for more moose sign. The first spot I checked, I saw a another moose! This was the day. I saw him from a great distance because he was SO BIG! Again, which made me laugh, I had to quickly run back and get David a second time. It was time to try to stalk amongst the match sticks, (small trees) left over from the burn. As we got back to the spot, I hoped he was still there....

We were witnessing a show that few in this world people ever get to see. We were walking, trying to get closer and we could see this huge Canadian moose wagging his shiny antlers from side to side flashing his horns in the sun, standing like a statue, up on a high cliff over looking the whole end of the lake. This Bull had very flat antlers like an Alaskan moose. He was sending a message to the rest of the world that he is THE BOSS! A sight I hope to be able to witness again, but feel fortunate to be able to have seen it once. He was not going anywhere. The moose heard us through the wind and was facing us and looking mad. I want to describe the rest to you but the video I was able get says it all. Imagine how hard our hearts were pumping during it!


Watch this one full screen.



The hunt is not over yet, keep watching for the finale of 2010!!

First moose video is complete!

Here is the first of a number of moose video's I was able to capture this season. I hope you enjoy. It was lots of hard work and a long haul but worth every step!!

The camps are closed, moose hunting is done!

This year we had 12 hunters, 4 unguided guys and 8 that were guided. Yours truly ended up with three weeks of guiding in 2010 and was able to get my hands on another experienced moose hunter/guide from within our family to guide the other 2. It was pretty cool to be spend 3 weeks in the bush at 3 different lakes doing what I enjoy...hunting!

Let me start by saying that hunting North America's largest animal is not an easy undertaking. You can't just simply head out anywhere on the lake and see moose standing there just waiting to be shot. It takes long days and time to look at many areas, the bogs, the ridges and high ground if you want to be successful. You need to be rested when you get here because you may be tired when you leave. Moose hunting most of all takes patience, calling all day in one spot is not uncommon, watching and listening for many hours, waiting to here the bush move or a stick break or the best sound in the world, a grunt from a bull!

The first week we hunted Shearstone with 2 guys from Missouri, Kevin and Ken. We hunted hard the first couple of days, finding some fresh sign, seeing one cow and hearing a couple of single grunt answers from bulls but I was not able to get them to come to us. I know from experience that you can never give up until the hunt is over but the guys had some work commitments and had to head home and we had to come out on Saturday. I am certain we would have been successful on Shearstone if we would have been able to stay the entire week, and it is disappointing, but in Big Game hunting, sometimes you come up empty handed.

From Shearstone I moved to Blackbirch, the lake I have spent more time on than any other. The hunters this week were Gene, who has spent more time on Blackbirch than me and one of his Mule deer guides from Nebraska, Josh. 21 years old and full of energy. We were in for an adventure. Throughout the week I was able to show Gene some areas on the lake that he had never seen before in his 90+ days spent there, and every afternoon Josh and I would head into the timber, calling, looking for sign and hoping to have a monster come and fight us. We saw some very interesting country up on top of the hills, down in the valleys and in the heads of the bays. We did find 2 of the coveted "wallows". A wallow is a pit, like a scrape for a deer, and if you find one, you need to spend some serious time in that area calling. The bull urinates in a hole he has dug and rolls in it to give a musky/piney smell, a smell you never forget.

On Tuesday of the hunt I was calling from a ridge, about a 1/4 mile from Josh when I turned my head to my left and standing 30 yards from me....a spike bull! He was staring right at me and coming closer. I was trapped. I waited until the bull went behind a bush and I was off, sprinting through the thick alders, and pines trying to get to Josh so we could get another look at the moose. After getting Josh in hand, we headed back to try to call him to us. We spent a couple hours trying to coax him back to no avail, he must have smelled us. The next day I looked in the bush in that area and discovered he was just yards away but quiet as a moose, standing there motionless, by the tracks and droppings I found.

Thursday rolled around after much wind, the worst thing to have when moose hunting, and just at dark as the wind dropped, it happened....A grunt! Right near one of the wallows I had found. Then another. And another. He was coming! The wind had just gone and it was flat calm, perfect. Grunting, breaking bush, coming like a freight train towards us, it was awesome. Josh was shaking like a leaf and so was I! The moose walked through some water, we could here every step as he got closer and closer. It sounded like he was right on top of us but I knew we would not see him until he was standing right in front of us. For 15 minutes he came, grunting, breaking trees with his antlers, crushing trees while he walked, grunting with every step. As he got closer to the shore I could see trees moving back in the bush a little ways, Josh was ready....Then just before he came out in the open I felt a slight breeze from the south, at the time I did not notice it and concentrated on the moose, He continued to rake the brush, you could hear he was big by the hollow sound of his antlers on the trees as he came to the opening I had envisioned, it was going to happen. Then... HE STOPPED! Right in line with the direction the breeze I felt 5 minutes earlier. We waited for an eternity but I knew. He was gone, the next branch we heard break was 50 yards back in the bush, then 100 yards a small stick broke and a weak grunt. GONE. Such excitment and disappointment all at once. All we could do was keep hunting. Josh had never shot a moose but was able to experience the best part!

Our time for the hunt was starting to dwindle as Saturday approached, now is when the patience pays off, it was windy once again which frustrates me to no end but there was nothing I could do to change it. Fate had pushed us to one of my favorite spots on the lake and the wind went down, finally, and hour before dark. I continued to call to the best of my ability, not to loud, waivering like a cow really in need of a bull! We were up on high ground, a great vantage point, we could see across a beaver pond and the far shore of the next small lake. I continued to call and watch. I noticed a black spot on the far ridge....then as I watched it, it disappeared!! Turned up tree stumps don`t do that. As I walked over to Josh to tell him what I saw, there it was, a bull standing on the far shore of the next small lake looking right at us. I gave him a soft sensual call, hoping he would swim right across the lake. Instead he opted to walk around. I hoped that he would not take too long and show up after dark... Lucky for us moose walk fast, it was very rewarding to be able to watch a bull moose walk over a mile right at us. When he walked into the bush to navigate the shoreline, we moved closer to where we could get a better, closer shot. We were going to meet him half way, down the rock we went, Josh being so excited slid on his butt down a 20 foot rock to get there as I found the old man way down. Getting to the spot right by the other wallow we found, we were in position. The moose was in the first bay of the other lake and grunted once quite loudly as I called out to him. It was going to be 300 yard plus shot for Josh, but he had a great rest and was ready and waiting. This whole ordeal took 20-25 minutes so we had some time to settle down as he came to us.

Then there he was, he rounded the corner and stood there looking in our direction for a few seconds as I whispered instructions to Josh. The moose continued to come closer..."when he quarters, give it to him" BANG, the moose never moved..."again" BOOM...Whack! an awesome sound of the bullet hitting. The moose staggered into the water as I shouted at Josh to keep shooting, Boom...whack, Boom...whack I told Josh beforehand to shoot until he falls, and he did. One last Boom...whack, and down he went. Josh`s hunting partner Gene was a half mile away and heard it all. He could even hear the celebration from Josh and I, so elated after 5 days of 14-15 hours each day, hunting our butts off. We were screaming and cheering like like we had just scored a big goal in a hockey game. It was awesome!! 21 years old, a hunter his whole life, and got an opportunity to harvest a trophy bull moose. Satisfaction. It was a long haul back to the lake but worth every drop of sweat.




I was able to capture this adventure on video and hope to have time to work on it soon, keep watching.

Also there is still more stories to tell from our last week of hunting, stay tuned....

Moose hunting!

Here is just a preview of what went on during the last 3 weeks! Keep watching for the stories and video of a very tough but rewarding hunt on some of the roughest terrain hunting North America's largest animal. It was awesome!

To view more of the pictures from the hunt, add Amik Outposts on Facebook, click here.

Fall is making itself pretty comfortable up here....it was snowing yesterday. Heavy snow showers and high winds came through our area again, I hope the wind goes down before we start hunting on Monday. The Moose should be rutting like crazy.

The Kralowetz party made the annual trip to Lorre lake and came out yesterday. The catch of the week.... A depth finder! Just out from the dock Keith caught this monster, transducer, cable and the screen! I don't remember off hand anyone telling me they lost one or got so mad they threw it in the lake! Fishing was good, plenty of numbers and lots of 20 inch walleye. Here are a few pictures.





The boys just finished saying they have neverr seen a moose on any of their trips and 10 minutes later...
A 2.5 year old bull, probably 36-40 inches across. Hopefully I will run into this one in a couple of years.

Moose hunting next :)

New roof on Daniels!

Fall has showed up and has done so with a week of relentless wind! It has been kind of rainy and windy and cool for awhile now and the moose should be right on the edge of the rut! Geese continue to fly southwest constantly, riding the strong northerly flow. My favorite time of year. Before I turn my attention to moose hunting there is plenty of work to be done at the camps. The last couple of days have been spent putting a new roof on the Cobham Daniel cabin. A metal roof and done forever, also safer in the event of a near miss by a forest fire... The putting up 15 foot sheets of metal in a wind is not much fun and hard on the hands handling the sharp metal.

The scenery at this time of year from the air.


On Sunday I will be headed to the bush for 3 weeks of moose adventure. Keep watching for updates and video. I will be in tune with the moose soon!!! :)

Identifying your moose.

Here is a link to some great moose information from the province of Ontario. Check it out.

Identifying moose

Remember to take the quiz to see if you would shoot or not shoot to fill your tag.

Two 40 inch pike!

Here are some pictures from Sam T. from Minnesota of a couple of very healthy northern pike on Cherrington Lake in July. They measured 40 and 40 and 1/2 inches!
Thanks Sam, see you next year.