The Ontario OUT of DOORS April 2023 digital issue is now available. In this issue, you’ll learn all about wild turkey, how to catch brook trout in any lake, the lowdown on lake trout biology, and more! See what the OOD people are up to as winter winds down, from tying flies and organizing tackle to field testing trail cameras and seeking antler sheds. Plus, prep for easy camp recipes, learn key-tactics for the pre-spawn bass season, and take notes from one angler’s cautionary solo tale. Read your April 2023 issue digitally on your desktop at: https://digital.oodmag.com/ Download the OOD ..read more

Point Pelee National Park was closed to visitors from Jan. 6 to 20 as a safety measure while its annual deer cull took place. The cull, which resumed in 2015, is carried out by Caldwell First Nation hunters (whose traditional territory encompasses the park) in partnership with Parks Canada. Its goal is to reduce a hyperabundant white-tailed deer population, which is threatening the park’s forest and savannah health as well as the species that depend on those habitats. The deer in the park are over-browsing, consuming, and damaging native plants faster than they can regenerate, and threatening ..read more

Woodcock are among the migratory birds that will benefit from nearly $2 million in federal funding over the next three years. The funding announced last December by Environment and Climate Change Minister Steven Guilbeault will support a range of programs for migratory bird monitoring and conservation nationwide. It is hoped these projects will assist the recovery of species at risk and in protecting their habitats. The funds will be provided to Birds Canada to organize groups and provide equipment for breeding-bird atlas surveys, marsh monitoring programs, singing ground surveys, and more. T ..read more

Dark green: Days when fish and game are most active Light green: Days when fish and game are more active than usual OFAH key date reminder: March 1 Black bear, spring turkey licences available. Antlerless deer licence draw entry opens. Snow geese season opens in WMU 65, 66, 67, and 69B March 31 Some small game seasons end in northern WMUs Major AM/PM: Daily times when fish and animals are likely to be most active. Periods also last two hours, beginning at listed time. Also, to get appropriate sunrise and sunset times for your area, visit the Government of Canada’s weather ..read more

I have mixed emotions when it comes to anniversaries. On one hand, it’s great to celebrate milestones and important dates in your life. On the other, these occasions remind you about how quickly time goes by. That is certainly the case as I reflect on 30 years with Ontario OUT of DOORS. It seems inconceivable that three decades of writing for the magazine have passed. OOD origins Although I’ve been writing for OOD a long time, my relationship with the magazine stretches back even further. Like many, I grew up reading OOD and its newsprint predecessor, Ontari ..read more

The federal government has unexpectedly withdrawn two highly contentious firearm law amendments that would have banned hundreds of firearms, many commonly used by hunters. The amendments, which caused a furor in Canadian hunting and shooting communities, were introduced without warning last November to firearms Bill-C21, An Act to amend certain Acts and certain consequential amendments (firearm). The motion to withdraw them was tabled by Taleeb Noormohamed, Liberal MP for Vancouver Granville during a meeting of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security on ..read more

How Ontario’s cervids — white-tailed deer, moose, elk, and caribou — respond to a rapidly changing climate is of great interest to hunters. Cervids respond quickly to environmental changes. A big dump of snow, for example, can kill thousands of whitetails. Although forest fires are often described as catastrophic, Ontario’s cervids are (except on agricultural and urban landscapes) dependent on forest fires for creation and maintenance of suitable habitats. Although there’s no specific definition as to when weather becomes “climate,” there’s somewhat of a consensus that 30-year time ..read more

Photo: Pexels Dark green: Days when fish and game are most active in February Light green: Days when fish and game are more active than usual in February OFAH key date reminder: Feb. 15 Lake trout opens in Zones 8, 11; brook trout in Zone 11 Feb. 18-20 Family Fishing Weekend Feb. 25. Winter goose season opens in specific WMUs. Major AM/PM: Daily times when fish and animals are likely to be most active. Periods also last two hours, beginning at listed time. Also, to get appropriate sunrise and sunset times for your area, visit the Government of Canada’s weather website. Dow ..read more

If you spend a lot of time outdoors in the winter, there’s a good chance you own a pair of snowshoes. The snowshoe is one of the simplest and most effective tools you can have to walk in the snow and is a go-to for winter-loving anglers and hunters. They are also the most dependable form of winter transportation. Snowshoes never leave you stranded. The Indigenous people of North American are responsible for developing the basic webbed design of traditional snowshoes. Different Indigenous cultures used different shapes, sizes, and lengths. Some were round and even triangular,&nb ..read more

I contorted and twisted myself through the loose maze of alders, ferns, and hawthorns that hugged the riverbed. Each footfall crushed leaves or broke twigs, interrupting peaceful intervals of birdsong and silence. But they also brought me closer to the end of the thicket, where the slow transition from dense emerging cover to sunlit meadow begins. The patch I was in was less than 30 yards wide and perhaps twice that in length. It was a perfect place for one hunter to push and one of those reliable locations where I rarely failed to put up a grouse or woodcock. It was basically one big fi ..read more