Muskoka Outdoors

It is time for something new...

The Muskoka Outdoors Blog has landed at its new home! With a shiny new Content Management System (CMS) at the helm, it is my hope that I will be better able to promote the pursuits of fishing, hunting and conservation to a local and worldwide audience. Consider taking a look around by following this link.

Over the next few days, I will be moving my blog to a new location. We will be staying on the same domain – just a new spot. The look and feel of the site will change as well. I will post here when the changes are completed and updated.

My apologies to my regular and faithful visitors for not posting as frequently lately.  The blog’s upgrades and some other media projects, for other clients, have been taking my posting time. I will resume regular posting very shortly.

I am also looking for outfitters, hunting/fishing guides, hunting/fishing resorts (who are local or international) to provide me with some details about their business that could be added to a NEW directory on my new site. The free listing would include pricing, business details and promotional photos. Contact me for details.

If you are interested in sneak peek of the new look, have a look at the picture below:

The look of things to come for Muskoka Outdoors

The snow quietly fell on the evergreens that lined the short trail I was walking to reach camera #2. Familiar smells of pine, spruce and balsam helped my mind forget the cold and remember that some hunting memories are made on the walk to your tree stand. It’s a scene you won’t find in a grocery store aisle.

So, I paused to take a quiet, deep, icy breath before I made my final approach to my ground blind.  Despite my best efforts to camouflage, reduce my scent profile and predict the wind direction there was nothing I could do about the crunching snow that plagued my every step.  All I could do was make a slow two or three step stalk along my newly cut trail.

The buck on game cam 2

I had only placed game camera #2 on the north corner of my 2-acre property a few days ago.    A deer trail exists here that extends in to the surrounding 900 acres of forest encircling my home. It became a back-up plan to the recently completed rifle season for deer on the family acreage in another location. Cameras there shot some footage of some large bucks, but none were seen during legal shooting hours.

Our redeployed game cam captured an 11-point (with a slight lobster claw) buck walking along the deer trail in my back yard for 2 straight days – just before legal shooting time ended. Which created the reason to create a small ground blind and the inspiration for my noisy stalk.

Finally, I reached a large pine tree that would shield the parts of my body that the freshly-cut evergreen wall in front of me would not. After doubly checking the broad head on my arrow, I knocked it into my compound bow’s drawstring and began ‘the wait’.

The cold wind began to work on the layers that protected my body’s core, but I smiled knowing I was downwind of game cam #2. Confident with my set-up, I grunted twice on my buck call and began to scan the forest in front of me.

Within 20 minutes, I started to hear the subtle steps of a deer. The hard snow was the only thing that helped me pick her up early. By the time I saw the doe, she was 35 yards north west of me.

Immediately, I wished I was 20 feet up in the air. I could tell she sensed that something was not quite right. Her pace slowed and every step was accompanied by numerous ear twitches and looks in my direction. Fortunately, the pine tree beside me was large enough for me to hide behind except for my knocked arrow and a portion of my bow. This was not a play from The Drury playbook.

She allowed to me to watch her for 20 minutes as she closed within 20 yards or me. I could hear her breathing in the cold air that was now starting to creep beyond the shell of my hunting coat and black fleece. For 5 minutes I watched helplessly as she profiled a full broad side shot at 20 yards.

I did not have a 2010 doe tag.

Suddenly – her head snapped back behind her.

What happened next is not clear. I think I moved too quickly from behind my pine tree cloak to see what caught her attention behind her. At that moment, she stomped her front foot and ran back in the direction she came. My cover was blown.

Somewhere, just behind her and just out of reach of game camera #2 (and a shivering bow wielder), a large buck snorted, wheezed and ran straight north into a shower of brown pine and spruce needles with a pinch balsam.

He was never seen on camera #2 until 7 days later – under the cover of a silvery moon. The kind of moon that comes out after bow season ends.

A 17th deer has been added to the Muskoka Outdoors ‘Most Wanted’ list  photo contest. This massive-tined buck was arrowed in Renfrew County.

This photo is a submission from, Allen, after some brief emails, he shared portions of this deer’s story,

“I was lucky enough to see that deer again last week. Here’s the story. I named him “lucky” after I saw him on the trail camera. He was my screen saver for a month. The next time I saw him was last week. I was lucky enough to get a shot at him from my crossbow and even luckier that my trail camera happened to take a picture of that shot. Taxidermist estimated him at 150 give or take… photos are from a spypoint ir-c camera I just bought this year – looking at the pictures is almost as fun as hunting!”

Lucky - A Renfrew County Buck

It’s funny how you come across fishing tips. Quite often fishing tips can double as life lessons.

I was sitting with my friend, Darrell, in my dad’s living room when he shared this personal story of one of his fishing trips from years ago…

The story goes that, Darrell, and a friend had been fishing Tim Lake in Algonquin Park. They had been fishing hard without any success and were constantly weighing anchor, from spot to spot, around the lake. Finally, they decided to quit and return to the river mouth that would lead them to their vehicle.

As fate would have it, the winds picked up and they began to struggle against the wind and waves. They quickly became frustrated from the amount of work they were doing while fighting the wind. An hour and half into their epic and blustery battle, Darrell, noticed that they had canoed past the river mouth they were attempting to find.

He told the man in the bow who was paddling ferociously against the wind. Darrell did not get a reply.

Fatigue and desperation began to ‘set-in’ for the two paddlers. Despite the wind, they should have reached the river mouth sooner than they had.

At that moment, Darrell noticed something.

He debated whether or not to tell his friend in the bow. He yelled one more time over the wind,

“We forgot to bring the anchor up!”

“What?!”, his friend yelled.

“WE FORGOT TO BRING THE ANCHOR UP!”, Darrell repeated.

The story ends there. I guess the look that, Darrell, received from his friend was priceless.

The lesson is simple

When fishing in high winds, don’t forget to bring the anchor up.

On a practical note – Is life, away from the fishing boat, sometimes like that? We all paddle furiously, at times, to get ahead and reach our goals. It can be so frustrating when the ‘over-worked’ ground we make is so minuscule.

Check for anchors.

Perhaps there is something that is holding you back. An anchor long forgotten. Something like a broken relationship, or a mis-management of priorities, or a wrong you need to make right.

Your hardest and best work may all be for nothing if you have not dealt with a forgotten anchor. It can also keep you from seeing what is important – like the river mouth that leads you to your car.

End of sermon.

*My reloaded blog posts are some of my favorite previous posts made current again.

A thirteenth deer has been added to the Muskoka Outdoors ‘Most Wanted’ list  photo contest. This Barrie, Ontario buck lost his throne to the winds of fate.

This photo is a submission from, Chris, in Barrie, Ontario. The story surrounding this buck is very interesting. By ‘all rights’ it should have been harvested by another hunter.  Chris, had this to say about his bruiser,

“My brother had told me about a large buck he had seen while hunting – which he thought was a 10 pointer. Unfortunately, for my brother, he had seen the deer twice at close quarters but was unable to take a shot as the buck never gave him that opportunity.

Fortunately for me, 10 minutes after sitting down in my tree stand for the first time out this season, I took the biggest buck of my life with 12 points. This is my first buck with a bow and unofficially scored 143 1/4.”

This Barrie buck scored (unofficially) 143 1/4

Nice work, Chris! Thanks very much for sharing this photo with me.