TBow

HOAKY SNOWFLAKES BATMAN! I just looked outside and actually saw a few of the white flakes drifting down. Snow Snow go away! Come again another......Oh heck, NEVER! :yes: TBow

The moose lottery in Ontario is coming up soon. The applications have to in by May. It's usually May 15th, but that date has changed a little in the last year or so to Mat 31st I think mostly because of problems with the MNR's automated system I believe. We had a bull tag last year in our group so we have one less Pool 1 application and one of my son's friends who went with us last year didn't buy a moose license until after the lottery, so he's in Pool 2 as well. So our group tally will be 4 x Pool 1 and 2 x Pool 2 applications. Chances of an Archery Bull tag are slim at best, but the past two years they've increased the cow tags in my WMU (Wildlife Management Unit), allowing some 2nd Choice applications to draw a cow tag. Pretty hard to get a cow with the bow as they're harder to call, unlike the bulls at that time of year. To hunt cows you pretty much have to look for well used trails at feeding sites, set up stands and just wait. TBow

Last night's 6/49 was worth over $41 million. There were 2 winners apparently, but I can assure you, that neiter of the two winning tickets was held by yours truly. Gadzooks, I barely had one number matched on five strings of numbers. I do kick in $2 with some guys at my old work site and a couple guys at the coffee shop, so there's still some hope, but I'll refrain from buying that new vehicle until I hear from them. hehehe TBow

Spring has officially started in the northern hemisphere according to the Googlizations (new word?) I browsed today. At approximately 1:32 p.m. EDT the sun crossed the equator. That event is referred to as the vernal equinox and heralded spring for 2010. I know, too much information! It'll soon be turkey season and 'ol TBow is a gon'na try his hand at them beareded devils this year. I took the MNR's Turkey Seminar a few years ago, but have only made it out about 2 or 3 times since. But retirement will offer me the oportunity to be a turkey's worst nightmare.....or biggest source of amusement, whichever the case will be this year! TBow

Hey maybe I could trade with some eastern Canadian moose pepperrettes for that jerky! Biggest holdback is the $2000 in fuel my old buggy would drink gettin' there and back, but I'm sure it'd be a worthwhile party! :drink: TBow

Well my buddy called me this evening an told me it was only he and I that agreed to go, but he had 4 tickets to fill, so he didn't want to go and have the two of us bear the whole cost, so he cancelled. DANGNABBIT! I'd have driven myself, but my truck is still sick with a damaged tranny and won't be up and running until Tuesday, so here I sit! OH well! I guess it just means I'll be saving some money and can maybe hit one of the big shows in the northeastern states. I'd love to be able to drop into one of the Cabellas. C'est la vie! TBow

I know some of the guys who were going to get laid off at the Maitland plant this past winter, have been kept on. I wonder how much the cdn dollar at parity will affect Invista here in Canada?

My brother-in-law heads back to Gatineau every so often and goes to Costco and gets a 55 cube of Coors Light for $50. Well I shouldn't say "a" cube. He usually makes the trip pay for itself by picking up 8 or 10 of them.....I like to go visit him....a lot! TBow

AH YES! The old smile and nod of the head in acknowledgement that something has been said, endeavoring to make someone think you actually understood what they mumbled! Been there! Done that! Doin' it tomorrow! TBow

Raised on a mountain top in Tennessee Bravest man in the land of the free Raised in the woods so he knew every tree Killed him a bar', when he was only three DAVY! Davy Crockett! King of the wild country! Well it was something like that! Hey that was over 45 years ago! Oh ya, I spent a few Saturdays watching him back in the 60s too! Loved those shows. TBow

I got a call from a buddy yesterday asking if I wanted to go to the show in T O. He'd been given a couple tickets by his daughter who was unable to use them, so we're heading out early Saturday morning and should be back home Saturday night. Ironically, my buddy just bought a 2003 GMC 2500 with a Duramax, that we'll be picking up on the way home. I think he said it was either in Cobourg or Belleville. I hadn't mentioned to him that I was looking for a Duramax too, so I think I know what topic may come up regularly on the trip. TBow

whttlbucksteve, Although I haven't seen the trolling motor you're speaking of, there's some things that will just be logical such as: 1. If your trolling motor has the capability to run on either 12 or 24 volt, then there either has to be: a) a switch on or in the motor housing or on an external controller that says "12 VOLT" or "24 VOLT". Just switch to the preferred voltage and / or battery voltage available. Then configure your batteries to the appropriate voltage (ie: series or parallel connection) OR b) The battery lead wires require a connection on the motor or controller that will be labelled "12" or "24" Volt operation. If it's a 2-wire battery lead system, then connect to the appropriately labelled terminal on the motor and then to your batteries. OR c) There will be a 3-wire battery lead system going from the motor to your battery(ies). One wire will be labelled " - negative" and should be common whether you use a 12 or 24 volt system. The other two wires should be labelled "+ 12 volt positive" and "+24 volt positive" respectively. You should only be using two wires, the negative lead and only one of the positive leads depending on the voltage that your battery system is. OR d) There will be a 4-wire system in which case there will be two negative wires (and labelled as such) and two positive leads and should be labelled too. The 4 wires will connect back at or near the motor and will have terminals that should be appropriately labelled. Depending on which system your motor was provided with, your 2 x 12 volt batteries (we're assuming they're 12 volt batteries) could be wired in series to provide you with a 24 volt system and there's been an explanation of how to do that in someone else's previous posting. There is a possibility however, that in the case of a 4-wire system, all of your series connections are done at the terminal block at or near the motor itself, which means that the batteries are NOT connected in series at the batteries themselves and each battery will have two wires connected to it from the motor. You should also be installing a fuse or breaker on the positive lead if one has not been provided by the motor manufacturer. It will likely be rated at something like 50 amps or there abouts. As you can see from this list, if you're not sure of what's going on with your wiring or the battery connections, then call a friend who has some electrical background or knowledge. And remember, a little bit of knowledge can be dangerous. Lead acid batteries have a lot of current (power) potential and cause severe personal injuries and damage to components if not handled or connected properly. I have to think that there should have been a wiring diagram either with your motor or at least available from a dealer or even on line. Without knowing what type of system you have, most of us are just throwing darts at the board here and would need some more info to be specific. Good luck. TBow

Tim Horton's coffee & donut shops are a virtual institution in Canada. Just like every little town in the USA has a MacDonald's, just about every town in Canada has a Tim Hortons. Every year Tim Hortons coffee shops has a "R-r-r-r-roll Up The Rim" campaign whereby customers who buy a medium, large or extra large coffee, get it in a paper cup that allows them to roll the rim up on the coffee after they're done to see if they've won a prize. Under the rolled up lip of the cup, they print either "Please Play Again" or prizes ranging from another cup of coffee, to donuts, to computers to Rav4 SUVs. There isn't a Canuck that I know of who doesn't know what a Timmies is. It's a cup of Tim Hortons Coffee. The best dadgum cup of joe north, east, south and west of the pecos! Our tally is the number of winners we've claimed on our cups of Timmies. TBow

How many of you recall the infamous Fog Horn Leghorn quotable quote, "I say! I say, speak up boy! Yer jaws are flappin' but yu ain't sayin' nuthin!"? Well I'm on the verge of using it as one MY quotable quotes. For years now I've been under the impression that I may be suffering from partial hearing loss as a result of way too many rounds of trap and skeet without hearing protection when I was a teemager back in the 60s. And I've been subjected to ridicule from my wife in recent years as she keeps harping on me, "Oh you're just too deaf to hear anyone!". And if enough people tell you that and if you have enough trouble hearing people, then after a while you begin to believe it must be true. But of late, I don't think I'm all that hard of hearing. I think it's more a problem of me living with, and befriending people who are what has been referred to as "low talkers" (from the Jerry Sienfield Show). I'm just so used to not understanding people when they talk to me that it's become second nature to just say, "I'm sorry! What did you say?", or "Pardon me?", or "I'm sorry! I didn't quite hear you!". When in fact what I should be saying is, "Would you please take the marbles out of your mouth", or "Quit mumbling", or "I say! I say, your jaws are flapping but you ain't saying nothing". Even my wife who complains that I'm hard of hearing, usually tries to talk to me while she's in another room, facing away from me, with a newspaper in front of her and speaks in a low tone that only a super hero dog like Under Dog could make out! Or else she talks to me with her back to me while bending over to pick something up or running the vaccum cleaner. Holy Smokes batman! SPEAK UP! What brought this all to light today was the fact that I was at the grocery store today and one of the high school student cashiers had to ask me 3 times if I needed something. I still don't know what it was because I was just too embarrassed to ask her a 4th time to repeat herself. And she was a "low talker". There's no way in this little green acre that I'm that hard of hearing. I can make out a deer rustling in the leaves at over 100 yards away, so I'm pretty sure I'm just surrounded by mumblers. So if you're subjected to the same sort of ridicule telling you you're hearing impaired, don't just assume that your hearing is all to blame. Pay attention to where the voices are coming from and tell those mumblers to turn up the volume and get those marbles out of their mouths! TBow

I've been registering the big '0' for the past week too. I figure Tim Horton's saturated the consumer in the initial weeks just to get us hungry for winners, then backed off to reap in the profits. :pop: TBow

If that little guy is male, then there's a 90% chance it's "CROW". TBow

WB, Glad to hear you know the individual and some of his background. Good luck with the interview. RIGHT ON! Far too many hunting shows I watch depict hunters slapping high 5s, jumping up and down and focusing solely on the head gear on a downed animal. A life has just ended so that others may continue and I truly believe there should be a solemn moment of respect for the animal. Yes there's cause for celebration as well, but also for respect and thanks. BTW: I just took a small moose roast out of the freezer last night and it is currently in the oven as I write. TBow

WB, Unless you know this guy doing his thesis personally, I'd be leary about opening up to anyone asking questions about your lifestyle, especially when there's so many groups sniping at outdoorspersons these days. I recall back in the 70s, CBC did a documentary on hunting and called it "The Guns of Autumn". The people shooting the footage and interviewing the various hunters came across as the hunters' best buddies, but the highly edited footage was anything but positive in regards to hunting or the individuals depicted in the documentary (?). If you don't know the individual personally, do some background checks to ensure they're legit before opeing up your lifestyle to them. Sorry if I'm paranoid about this, but I quite simply don't trust the anti-hunting community to be objective and I personally believe they'll stoop to any levels by using honest people to prop up their tunnel-visioned and biased opinions. BTW: If I recall correctly, CBC was sued for falsly slandering certain individuals in that farce they called a documentary, but it took years to render a guilty decision against the network and the biased producers of that one hour special, but the damage had already been done. I'm sure Sarah Palin has raised the awareness of hunting in a modern society, particularly in Alaska, and would be suspicious if that isn't the reason why a foreign student (?) is focusing on your state. If it's all legit, best of luck with your interviews. You sound like a prime candidate to represent why people hunt in a modern environment. TBow

I've been reading a lot about fuel reprogrammers for the Duramax. Not sure if it's a "chip" installation or a plug in reprogammer/fuel tuner. They typically are advertised for about $500, but claim to add anywhere from 2 to 4 mpg on the big diesel, plus increased power. Scam? True? Is the 2 to 4 mpg increase realistic? TBow

Pp, I'm sure publically, politicians and the cover of the symbolic book on the "make up of a canuck" would like to say we're muliticultural. But as we herald our multicultural stripes, are we loosing what is uniquely canadian? And your question was, just what is it to be distincly Canadian? We are somewhat of a passive society, in that we tend to refrain from waving the red maple leaf all that much, except for those few occassions like this winter's olympics. I saw true signs of Canadian pride during those two weeks. There are times when I envy our neighbors to the south (and northwest in Alaska, wouldn't wan'na tick off Wobbly!) in regards to their patriotism for their flag and country. I think canadians have that sense of being proud to truly be canadian, but they tend to subdue those feelings, where our american friends take every opportunity to wave the flag and yell to the world, I'M AN AMERICAN! Our view of the world tends to be more objective than many other countries and I think our schooling and teachings are more transcontinental than just the things that have happened within own geographic borders. Hence one of the reasons why the canadian flag may very well get you a pass or a warm smile from a citizen when you visit another country. I don't think too many people would be able to launch a strong rebuttal to the argument that we as canadians, are living under the security unbrella of the US. But since 9/11 we have also been subjected to the security escallations of "Big Brother" to a certain degree. I went to the Carribean this winter for holidays, but felt my liberty to freely move safely within those countries was pretty much limited to the resort I was on. That may not have been the case, but that was my impression. While in Canada, I would not have any reservation to travel anywhere in the country, north, south, east or west, or to recommend that to any foreigner. On the Molson's commercial that is the "My Name is Joe, and I AM CANADIAN!", it makes most canadians smile, but I think there is a lot of what we are, or what we quietly want to be in that short flick! I sometimes ponder on whether the embracing of the total multicultural approach is putting what we have traditionally held as truly canadian icons on the sidelines for fear of offending someone or some group. Still in light of all of our flaws and weaknesses, I still hold that the day you were born or confirmed as a Canadian citizen, is the day you won the lottery of life! TBow.....and I AM CANADIAN

I just retired last year after almost 37 years with the Canadian Coast Guard as an AtoN (Aids to Navigation) instrumentation / electrician / power generation technician. The past 20 years or so I was a supervisor for that group and worked in all of southern Ontario on the St.Lawrence River and the lower Great Lakes Basin. Since 1996 I had been working summers in the eastern arctic working in conjunction with the icebreakers doing installation and maintenance on coast guard telecommunication and navaid sites there. Now I do nothing, but surf the web and go hunting.....well that and 10,000 other things that my wife and kids have laid out for me! Ain't life great? TBow

Not to worry Shaun. I'm just foolin' around, tyrin' to keep it light-hearted. Plus I got'ta keep up the thread count. A month ago before I went on this posting spree on the Canadian Outdoorsmen forum room, it looked like a typical US to Cdn ratio of threads. The US has about 350 million (or there about) citizens while Canada has 35 million. Our national debt is about 1/10th of the states (well used to be), although we're better now. And when I looked at only the 2 or 3 threads on here, I was on a mission to up the count. Heck we should be at 10% anyways of the Lounge! Right? Canadian Outdoorsmen? Anyways, shouldn't it be Canadian Outdoorspeople? Jus' kiddin'! Jus' Kiddin'! TBow

WA, All good points. I live in an area where cell phone coverage is not an issue, and just assume everyone else has the same opportunities. Around where I live, a cell phone can mean the difference between life and death...under certain circumstances, such as if a heart attack occurs while you're out hunting. But I can appreciate that there are many areas of the world where their only use might be to start a fire with a short circuited battery, if that would work. I do recall that a family lost in the mid west a few years ago was found after the authorities tracked their weak signal on their cell phone by GPS tracking, even though the cellphone couldn't be used as a phone. And I believe the GPS distress devices are water-proof, at least the ones I used to carry in the arctic were, when I was flying as a passenger in choppers with the coast guard. Not all survival stuff will work carte blanche everywhere. Wouldn't make sense to wear a shark-proof suit walking the tundra of arctic, but you might want it to scuba dive off the coast of Australia. And likewise, a survival suit for hypothermia makes sense in the arctic, but would be ludicrous to wear in the Sahara Desert. A lot of the individuals who are in survival situations in my neck of the woods are those who self-inflict it upon themselves as week-end warriors. Understandably where you live, survival isn't a game, but certainly raises the need for training and preparedness. And I guess the most important thing to take with you in the wilderness, or anywhere for that matter of fact, is common sense. Many people tend leave it at home. I sent two of my kids on a St. Johns First Aid and CPR course a few years ago. They thought it was boring, but I felt a little more comfortable knowing they had some knowledge of what to do in an emergency. As a matter of fact, as I'm writing this, it hit me that this would be a good idea for a thread specifically targeting survival tips. Maybe the administrators of the site might consider pinning such a thread. All good stuff! Thanks for noting the deficiencies and flaws in my short list. TBow

I haven't caught any of the episides of The Pacific as of yet, but intend to. If it's even half as good as Band of Brothers, I think it'll be great. I thought the Band of Brothers was the absolute best mini series I'd ever seen. I think I've watched the entire series 3 or 4 times. TBow

Just like the commercial says, "PRICELESS"! Ya if people are going to stray into the wilderness, heck even the woods in their back yard, they should have enough common sense to take a few precautions: 1. Take a cell phone 2. In areas of low cell coverage, carry a GPS distress signalling device 3. Leave instructions where you'll be and an itinerary of when you plan to return (Apparently that's what the victim did. Left a note with a neighbor saying if he didn't make it home by Monday, they could find him..or his body....at a certain location) 4. Travel with a group or a partner. 5. Take enough provisions to sustain life 6. Too many people work up a sweat in cold temps, then become inactive. Recipe for hypothermia. 7. If you're going to do the survival thing as a hobby, don't scrimp by buying the cheapest gear you can find. Quality gear may save your life. 8. And last and foremost.....STAY HOME where it's toasty warm! One of mankind's greatest inventions may well have been central heating! TBow