Jeff and his Muskoka Tom

One of Muskoka’s successful turkey hunters, Jeff Dupuis, sent me some photos of his recent hunt for a Muskoka gobbler. According to Jeff,  the large ‘Tom’ that was enticed by a variety of calls while Jeff watched his ‘jake’ and ‘hen’ decoys.

Well done Jeff!

This photo is a submission from, Jenn, in Cobden, Ontario. Jenn  attached, with her entry, the following: “Just thought this was a cool pick with the doe and turkeys, but she’s bringing in some nice bucks!!!”

Dinner Guests

Thanks for taking the time to send in this unique picture, Jenn. Please keep them coming and let me know about the ‘bucks’ she brings in to your camera.

Game numbers in Ontario are varied. Black bears and moose numbers are on the rise. Deer populations are stable to declining depending on your WMU. Grouse populations are still low when compared to other years. Turkey populations are exploding with great success since their re-introduction in some areas of the province. Read the whole article here.

I also noticed that Ontario Out-Of-Doors has their Ontario hunting forecast published in their excellent magazine. They have a breakdown of game population trends in all Ontario’s WMUs. The details of the article were not listed on the web at this time.

Virginia, Dad, Josie (middle knees) and family

Virginia and Josie are two siblings, of a larger family, that I know and have learned to appreciate through my current job at a local public school. When I found out that they had recently been turkey hunting with their father, I could not wait to pull them aside and hear all about their hunting adventures. I quickly found out that the two girls not only loved the outdoors as much as I do, but they can’t wait for the next opportunity for their father to take them out hunting!

The hunters were kind enough to answer a set of interview questions that I submitted to them. Here is what they said:

Q1. (For Dad) I was excited to find out that Virginia’s and Josie’s dad took them hunting. How have your hunting trips impacted your family and relationships with your daughters?
I believe our hunting trips together allow us to spend some quality time together at a slower pace. It lets us break away from the hectic and busy grind and spend some father daughter time together one on one enjoying the simple things like watching the sun come up – I believe it brings us closer together and it is important the girls spend time participating in something their father enjoys and expanding there own interests. Hopefully one, if not all, will want to take up the sport of hunting so we can continue to enjoy our time together a field.

Q2. (For Daughters) What is cool about hunting with your dad?
(Virginia says) Hunting with my dad is cool because we just get to hang out and have some bonding time. We get a lot of good opportunities to learn good skills which will be with us forever. When I go hunting, I love the adrenaline rush that comes with it and it is fun to track the animals!
(Josie says) I like seeing all the deer and turkey with my dad. I just like sitting quiet and looking at my dad – like this is so cool! I also really enjoy eating the meat after all the hard work!

Q3. (For Dad) What ‘life lessons’ do you think your daughters learn from hunting with you?
I think the girls start to learn the importance of teamwork, respect for the great outdoors and hard work. Virginia has experienced the moose camp and learned to four-wheel and scout at the camp. She has seen that hunting is a lot of hard work. I think she will learn that the rewards of the hunt are worth all the hard work and preparation. I hope they will learn that when you work hard you will be rewarded in all aspects of life.

Josie (left) and Virginia (right) inspect dad's deer

Q4. (For Daughters) Please tell me about your favourite hunting trip with your dad.
(Virginia’s Story) One of my dad’s and my favourite hunting trips was one morning when we were hunting turkeys before school. We were sitting in our little hunting tent and there were probably around three or four hens in front of us. They were eating and two big toms were just out of range. Well, there was one bearded hen that was legal to shoot. My dad has his gun up and I started whispering, “Dad shoot, shoot! Come on dad. It’s right there. Shoot it. Shoot it! He never did shoot it, I think he should have since he still had one tag left at the end of the season!

(Josie’s Story) One hunting story was when me and my dad were out and we were going into the forest. We were just entering the forest, when a deer jumped in front of us. We had spooked it and it ran away. Anyway, after that, we just kept on walking to our tree stand. When we got there my dad told me to just stay at the tree while he went out to place scent markers. As he was putting out the scent markers, I started walking towards him.  He saw me and he waved at me to go back, but i just kept walking toward him. When I finally got to him, he asked me,  ”Josie what is it?”. In a hushed voice I replied, “Dad, Dad the deer came back! I just thought I should let you know.” The deer was standing about fifteen yards away!    -End of Interview-

I would like to thank Virginia, Josie and their father for taking a moment to answer my questions. It is encouraging to know that outdoor skills like hunting and fishing are still be shared with future generations. Kudos to you (Josie’s and Virginia’s), dad. Would love to hear your buck story sometime.

I can’t wait to introduce my daughters to hunting when they get older! It will be time well spent.

Father and Daughter Ontario Spring Turkey Success!

* I would be happy to post Muskoka Outdoors blog visitors’ spring hunting or fishing pictures. Email them to me using the contact link below this post.

Huntsville's Roadside Turkeys

It’s amazing to me that these turkeys are still going strong this year – despite our recent, heavy snowfall! The turkeys that we are seeing in our area are a result of a program that began in 1984. Turkeys were trapped in Missouri, Iowa, Michigan, New York, Vermont, New Jersey, and Tennessee and transplanted in Ontario. In 1986, turkeys from successful Ontario ranges were also transplanted to various other locations in Ontario. A total of 440o turkeys were initially “borrowed” to begin the program. There are now estimated to be 70,000 turkeys in Ontario (source: Ontario’s Wild Turkey Management Plan).