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Well, we survived another SHOT Show in sunny Las Vegas, Nevada. For those of you who aren’t familiar with SHOT Show – it’s the largest shooting, hunting and outdoor trade show in the world. Each year, Western Sportsman staff attend, to meet with our advertising clients and to source out what’s new and exciting in the hunting and shooting world. SHOT Show is huge — more than 1,600 exhibitors, 60,000 attendees (all trade members) and over 2,000 members of the media. What did we find in 2012? Well, as you’ll see on this website and in the pages of our … Read more
Looking forward to a great year at Western Sportsman magazine. I’m not big on New Year’s resolutions. But I am big on trying new things. And if these “new things” just happen to coincide with the New Year — well, I’ll call it a coincidence. It’s funny how quickly new things become old. My very first editorial for Western Sportsman magazine, Jan/Feb 2005, documented my newfound pursuit of fly fishing. Today, fly fishing is my number-one preferred style of freshwater angling. In 2008, I pontificated about bow hunting, after acquiring my first compound bow the year previous. Today, it’s recurves … Read more
Following my editorial in the Sept/Oct issue of Sportsman, I received this measured and thoughtful response from Brent Watson, president of the Alberta Bowhunter’s Association. While I don’t personally agree with many of Brent’s points and I certainly take issue with his conclusions and certain data points, I always encourage open, two-sided debate. (Although you will find that the ABA and I do agree on one point — the main reason for the ban of crossbows in the archery season of some provinces is to keep more tags in the hands of conventional bowhunters. We just have differing thoughts about … Read more
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Have you been fly fishing in Fernie, BC lately? Or at all? I highly recommend it — it is one of Canada’s premier drive-to fly fisheries. Check out this video of a trip I made to the area — and get inspired:
This was passed on to me from Clark Gatehouse, president of the Pemberton Wildlife Federation, in Pemberton, BC. Something to keep in mind this hunting season: As hunting season approaches, below you’ll find a useful document to have handy for the RCMP. CO’s all know firearms laws, but not all RCMP do, and it can get confusing at times. Download and print this out and keep it handy: http://www.rcmp-grc.gc.ca/cfp-pcaf/fs-fd/PDF/storage-entreposage-eng.pdf All hunters and shooters need to educate themselves. If you’re ever caught in this situation — know the law and know your rights. Carry a copy of the storage/transport regulations in your … Read more
Is fishing Canada’s most popular pastime, or isn’t it? I read a study four years ago that stated in no uncertain terms recreational fishing was more popular in this country, in terms of participation, than golf or hockey. This statistic floored me — as I knew from experience that organizing a mid-summer golf day is as easy as picking up the phone, but trying to convince more than one die-hard buddy to take off fishing for a weekend can be like pulling teeth. What gives? Certainly given this stat, which implies sport fishing to be Canada’s number-one pastime, one could … Read more
Here’s some great news from our “brother” publication, BC Outdoors and their television program: BC Outdoors is proud to announce that the first season of our television show, BC Outdoors Sport Fishing, has been nominated for three Grizzly Awards! The prestigious accolades are presented by Canada’s hunting and fishing network Wild TV, who will be honouring the winners at a ceremony in Edmonton, Alberta on August 6th. It is the second annual presentation of the awards and BC Outdoors Sport Fishing will be vying for three prizes: Best Fishing – Fan Choice, Best New Show – Fan Choice, and Fan … Read more
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Stillwater fly fishing opportunities abound across Western Canada. It’s early June, and my strike indicator sits vibrantly atop glass-calm Onion Lake. I had been staring at this fluorescent buoy — attached where my five-weight fly line meets my 12-foot leader — for 15 minutes and I think I’ve only blinked twice. Suddenly, the indicator disappears and my line pulls tight. Fish on! A few moments later I’m releasing a feisty wild rainbow trout to tug on the line of some other lucky angler, and, ideally, spawn to keep this naturalized population abundant for generations to come. When people think of … Read more
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Tagged alberta, bc, blog, fishing, fly fishing, manitoba, saskatchewan
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