Rod's Treestand Cam Pic - Ottawa Whitetail!

A great nightime picture from Outdoor Productions Canada Pro-Staff, Rod Heath.

Taken by Rod's trail camera near one of his many stand locations. Keep on checking back for more pics and great stories from all of our Pro, and Productions Staff!

On Rod Heath's Duck Lease

Pro-Staff Rod Heath during last nights hunt on his 200 acre DU lease;

"Should have had more ducks and geese for the freezer on this evening, chances we're not taken as well as some missed opportunties but still had tons of fun."

Check back for more upland, and waterfowl action with our Pro, and Production Staff on this blog and various episodes of Canadian Outfitter Television!

Rick Marchand - 2006 Moose Camp

A typical but always exciting scene when Rick Marchand (who was once described in Ontario Out of Doors Magazine as "one of Ontario's top three bowhunters for moose"), and the boys venture out on their annual moose hunt. Both moose tags (and the freezer), are filled once again.

"The moose hunt started off slowly after being evacuated for three days due to the vast amount of forest fires in the area. The rains finally came and the Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources allowed us back in to resume our hunt. Although we found sign, the rut was far from beginning. We managed to have some sort of action every day, whether it was a bull answering our calls or a bull sighting, hell we had two fifty-five plus moose within one yard of our stands, two days in a row (one bull each day). As everyone knows, a shot straight down should never be taken, and the bulls eventually walked off. It wasn’t until the later part of the second week that the rut seemed to begin to take hold. On the second Thursday, the stars must have been lined up just right since both bull tags in camp were filled; one forty-six inch rack in the morning and forty-three inch rack that early evening. The following day was spent butchering, and wrapping both moose and Saturday seen us back on the road home, tired yet satiated….another successful hunt and only forty-eight more weeks to go till the next one."

Top photo; forty-six inch bull. Bottom photo; forty-three inch bull. Also seen in bottom photo; Outdoor Productions Canada partner "Guido's Outdoors" great tree stand "Guido's Web" - seen at www.guidosoutdoors.com also within the various episodes and segments of Canadian Outfitter Television.

Mike's Southwestern Ontario Buck

Mike Verhoef's latest Southwestern Ontario buck.

"I had been waiting patiently for a month now to sit in a new stand of mine, as it was going to be the first time I had hunted the area. The location was perfect to intersect a mature buck with three well used trails intersecting within 20 yards of my stand and it met all the vital requirements to be called a true "funnel" for the surrounding areas. My plan was simple; sit as often as I could in the last week of October and surely I would connect. Over the years, I have come to realize that your odds of seeing a good buck are best during the rut and it is possible anytime during the day. This is why I have changed my bow hunting strategy over the past few seasons to spending as much time as I can in a concentrated time frame, in other words, hunt all day during the peak of the rut. The first two evenings in the stand were very productive with two smaller bucks walking by within 10 yards on the first evening and a doe and a fawn passing by on the second. With that much action I knew it just would be a matter of time before I had my chance at the dominant buck in the area. Two days later, I was walking quietly into my stand just before daylight with the determination and provisions for a full day sit. Once it became light enough, I noticed three fresh scrapes along one of the trails that weren’t there the two evenings before - things were looking good! It was a perfect fall morning to be on stand with cloud cover and a slight cool breeze coming from the direction I had hoped for. Three hours had passed with nothing more then a few squirrels making their claim on some goods for the winter when I caught a movement 80 yards off on one of the trails. I peered intently for a few minutes to try and make out what I saw when I then realized it was a buck making a scrape. At that point I couldn’t tell if he was a "shooter" or not but I proceeded to stand up and get ready for a potential shot on the trail he was hopefully going to come down. As he worked his way along the trail I realized he was a definite shooter with a very even 5x5 frame. It still amazes me that even after 20 yrs of bow hunting and taking a number of good bucks in the past how excited one still gets when that buck is approaching those final few yards, as he walked into a shooting lane at 20 yards and with a subtle grunt I was able to cleanly take this beautiful whitetail.

Side note; although I spend most of my time in the fall on the Maitland river guiding for steelhead I always keep 4-5 days available at the end of October to pursue whitetails with my bow. As I write this today, my stand has been placed and I’m now patiently waiting. Wish me luck!"

Mike is also the owner and primary guide of http://www.flyfitters.ca/ Watch for Mike in upcoming episodes of Canadian Outfitter Television.

Rod's Tree Stand Bear

A great story from Outdoor Productions Canada Pro-Staff Rod Heath on his latest bear hunt - see below;

"A decision was made to hunt Sunday morning since there was four nice sized bears coming into my bait. The weather was nasty with torrential rain and the time of year - remaining dark later. I was a bit nervous so I waited until there was a bit of light out before venturing into my bait stand. I headed across the field (in the pouring rain), when I got to the edge of the bush where my barrel was placed. I stopped to look but did not see anything, the thick cedars was still holding lots of light out - its was still very dark. I quietly proceeded along the trail and arrived at my bait barrel, put some light on the situation and began to pour some honey on the ground in front of the barrel. A soon as that chore was done, a bear started snapping its teeth no more than 10 yards behind me. I must have walked right past it.

I quickly decided to get up in my tree stand for a vantage point and hopefully out of harms way. Taking my first step of my ladder and noticed mud - looked up and a bear was in my stand looking down at me, no more than four feet away. Stepping awkward down, I looked up again; the bear had placed his front paws on the tree, he could not go up so he was coming down. I raised my gun and placed the shot, turning to head into better light once I saw the bear drop. I waited in the rain for an hour and finally went back to find a 200 pound dead bear under my tree stand.

I think I am still shaking from the experience."

Keep checking back for more hunting, angling and wilderness adventures with our Pro, and Productions staff on this blog and Canadian Outfitter Television!

Visit Our New Website - we're finally home!

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