Scene stealer: A ground squirrel pops into a self-portrait by Mellisa and Jackson Brandts in Banff National Park

Okay, so there’s no hunting season in Alberta’s Banff National Park, but I thought you might still be interested in this curious photo, currently doing a viral world wide web tour. The ground squirrel popped into the frame while investigating the noise the camera’s auto focus was making as Minnesota natives Melissa and Jackson Brandts took a remote portrait with Banff’s Lake Minnewanka in the background last May. Melissa uploaded the image to nationalgeographic.com’s “Your Shot” feature on August 7, launching the squirrel to world-wide stardom. In typical internet fashion, the rude rodent has since been Photoshopped into all nature of images. Check out this one for a top-10 list of “crasher squirrel’s” images, or see hundreds of them here. Could this be what threw Tiger off his game at the PGA Championship?

Tiger's Kryptonite: Is "crasher squirrel" responsible for Wood's collapse at the PGA Championship?

Talk about swift justice. Within three weeks of posting a despicable video on

Facing the music: Duck poacher David Fraser responds to media questions after pleading guilty to a variety of hunting violations on August 10

YouTube titled “Duck Hunt” that featured three men blasting away at sitting ducks from a car (mentioned in this space yesterday and last week), the trio responsible pleaded guilty to 15 charges yesterday afternoon, August 10.

David Fraser, 30, his brother James Fraser, 23 and Jeremy Rowlands all of Cudworth, Saskatchewan, were fined a total of $16,000 and banned from hunting for three years. Two rifles were also seized and forfeited to the Crown. All three men had been charged with hunting migratory birds out of season, using and rifle to hunting migratory birds, careless discharge of a firearm and allowing edible game to be wasted. Rowlands was also charged with discharging a firearm from a vehicle.

Judging by the comments on the related story on cbc.ca (there are 10 pages of them!), many folks aren’t happy with the punishment. I’d be interested from hearing from you. Did these guys get what they deserve? Or did they get off lucky?

You’ve either been on the water or in the gun range 24-7 for the last week or so if you

Caught on tape: Image from a Facebook page dedicated to catching the poachers

didn’t hear about the trio of Canadian yahoos who went on a duckling shooting rampage (from a car no less), and uploaded the video evidence to YouTube. I blogged about it on August 4 (see “Hunting poachers“) after the clip became the talk on a slew of internet hunting forums, and the story subsequently became big news for media outlets throughout Canada and the U.S.

As I predicted, the poachers were quickly apprehended, as three Saskatchewan men were arrested this past Saturday, August 8. Check out canoe.ca for this story (“YouTube duck poacher offers apology”), that gives some insight into the motivation behind the callous act. A tidbit:

“Not that it’s any excuse, but we honestly didn’t know it was crime–if we did we wouldn’t have uploaded it to the internet and we never would have done it in the first place.”

Also of interest, conservation officials say poaching tip lines in both Alberta and Saskatchewan received an unprecedented number of calls relating to the incident. The poachers were to make their first court appearance in a Saskatoon court this morning, August 10.

With bass season in full swing these days, there’s plenty of chatter, tidbits and

Nice bass: Yours truly with a sweet Simcoe smallie

interesting info about all things large- and smallmouth on the Web these days. Here are a few of the most compelling items to cross my desktop recently…

Last Monday, July 31, Wil Wegman, the Ontario BASS Federation Nation Conservation and Media Director and a good friend of Outdoor Canada magazine, posted an update on the Lake Simcoe Bass Tagging Research Project on a couple of Ontario-based Internet forums, including the Ontario Fishing Network and the Lake Simcoe Message Board. The project is part of a multi-year Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources Community Fisheries and Wildlife Involvement Program with the Aurora Bassmasters and the Ontario BASS Federation Nation, which aims to track the movements of bass in Lakes Simcoe and Couchiching. Of particular interest in Wegman’s update, were details on two tagged smallies caught on Simcoe during the BASS Federation Nation Eastern Divisional tournament July 22, 23 and 24. Wegman wrote of the fish:

“1) Caught by renowned Federation Nation angler and former FNC Champion and Bassmaster Classic qualifier … Ed Cowan of New York on July 23. When Ed caught it, the fish measured 49.5 cm yet when it was originally caught and sampled during the Barrie Bassmaster Open Tournament in Kempenfelt Bay in 2007 it measured 49.4 cm. Not much growth – but still a healthy fish that was released in good shape. We aged the bass in 2007 at 10 years old – so it’s 12 now. Ed weighed it in @ 2.0 kg or 4.42 lbs and originally – in late Oct 07 (when these bass are at their fattest) – it weighed an even 5 lbs. Ed’s fish was not previously fizzed.

2) Caught by renowned Canadian Angler Rob Hyatt of North Bay on July 24. When Rob caught it, it weighed 6.61 lbs on our hand scales and when it was originally caught and sampled (2008 BPS Open out of Sibbald’s) it weighed 5.51lbs. It measured 49.8 cm last year in Oct and 8 months later it measured 50.5cm. It was one big fat smallie and grew quickly. It was aged at 11 years old last fall. Rob’s fish was previously fizzed. Unfortunately Rob’s fish was also one of the few that did not make it and I received the tags back from the Live Release boat.”

You can check out his report at either of the links above. And, if you happen to be fishing Simcoe and catch a tagged bass, please help the research project by calling in the tag number, the fish’s measurement and details on where it was caught and released.

Speaking of catch-and-release, BASS has recently published a revised version of its “Keeping Bass Alive” booklet on it’s Web site. First published in 1972 to help tourney anglers ensure the survival of fish, the updated version can be downloaded as a pocket guide or by section (fizzing, water quality, weigh-in, hooking, landing and handling, livewell management). Whether you’ve an old pro or a fishing fry, it’s an insightful read.

Finally, while you’re at the BASS Web site, check out the story on the how the pending world-record largemouth bass—a 22-pound 5-ounce monster caught July 2 by Manabu Kurita in Japan’s Lake Biwa—got to the land of the rising sun. It’s an interesting tale, especially given that most bucketmouth experts predicted the next WR largemouth would almost certainly come from California. And with record-size bass on my mind, associate editor Bob Sexton and I are off to Lake Simcoe tomorrow or Friday to search out some of those six-pound smallies. And just maybe we can find their grandma.

A number of Canadian internet hunting forums are abuzz over a video posted on

Sitting ducks: A still from a YouTube video originally posted by poachers, who are now being hunted themselves

YouTube recently (then subsequently removed and reposted by a concerned citizen), which depicts a couple of yahoos shooting what appear to be pellet guns or rifles at sitting ducks. From their car no less. (You can see the video here.)

Wildlife authorities from both Alberta and Saskatchewan, where it’s believe the video was shot, have been notified and are investigating the incident. Of course, if you recognize any of the individuals in the clip, you’re encouraged to contact Alberta’s Report a Poacher hotline at 1-800-642-3800 or Saskatchewan’s Turn In Poachers at 1-800-667-7561.

A couple of concerned hunters have even set up a Facebook page dedicated to bringing these poachers to justice. And after checking out the site, as well as threads on the subject on the Alberta Outdoorsmen Forum, the noose is surely tightening around the necks of these poachers.

While pro anglers Ken and Steve Ballan didn’t win the big prize at last weekend’s

Moose magic: Video evidence of the Ballans' rescue

Fort Frances Canadian Bass Championship, the duo came away from the tourney with by far the biggest catch—a moose calf.

The brothers, along with Kent’s wife Michelle and Len Bedard, spied the distressed animal while pre-fishing for the event, according to a story on the Fort Frances Times Online. Said Steve Ballan or the unusual sighting:

“We were just fishing a series of rock piles and we looked over and about 500-600 yards away we saw this thing swimming around.”

After watching the animal swim in circles for 40 minutes, the group decided to get a closer look. After a couple of tries, they managed to free the young moose from the rope or net or heavy fishing line it was caught up in, and towed the animal to a nearby island. Kent Ballan managed to tape much of the encounter, which is available here. Said Steve Ballan of the outcome:

“We just backed away and let her be. We watched her for well over an hour and she stayed right there in the water near shore.”

Unfortunately for the Ballan brothers, the encounter didn’t help the pair in the tournament, where they finished 95 out of 124 teams. But they’ve certainly got a good excuse.

Anglers aspiring to best Lloyd Bull’s 72-pound world-record lake trout caught in

Hand full: N.W.T. resident George Kenny with the 83-pound lake trout he netted from Great Bear Lake on July 17, 2009

Great Bear Lake, N.W.T. in 1995 take note: last Friday, July 17, Deline, N.W.T., resident George Kenny netted an 83-pound laker. This according to a story published July 21 on CBC.ca. Kenny netted the monster while fishing near Broken Plate Creek along Great Bear Lake. According to the CBC story:

“Kenny said his son was a bit startled when he first spotted the large trout.

“He was kind of…scared of it,” Kenny told CBC News on Monday. “But I told him it’s only a bit alive. It’s not going to doing nothing.”

Efforts to revive and release the lake trout unfortunately weren’t successful, so the pair kept the fish and plan to have it mounted. Kenny claims he caught an even larger laker in 2008 that was successfully released back into the lake.

This latest laker isn’t even close to the largest lake trout ever caught, a 102-pound fish captured in a gill net in Lake Athabasca, Saskatchewan in 1961. (There’s a replica of that fish at the museum in Fort McMurray, Alberta.) Still, it’s heartening news for trophy trout hunters that a lake trout even large than Bull’s current record fish is surely swimming in Canadian waters.

Imagine stopping to snap some pictures of a bull moose along a road side when a

Dumb-dumbs: These fools make Elmer Fudd look like Einstein

bullet ricochets through your pickup truck—off the rearview mirrow, shattering the passenger-side window and piercing both the front and rear seats. That’s exactly what happened to an unsuspecting shutterbug last October on a main logging road north of Terrace Bay, Ontario. Fortunately, the photographer wasn’t hurt. The shooter was nabbed and charged with discharging a firearm across a road. Earlier this week, the 51-year-old Belleville, Ontario, man, pleaded guilty to the charge, and was banned from hunting for three years as well as fined $2,000.

Check out the link to this story here. And while you’re at it, check out the stories behind these other disappointing headlines (below) involving so-called hunters from recent weeks. There should be another word for the perpetrators of these incidents other than “hunter.” How about “dumb-ter?” No matter, they’re all inducted into the Hunter Hall of Shame.

Man fined $1,000 for shooting at his wife

Judge ponders jail sentence for drunken hunter

Man fined for hunting bear with spear

Man fined $3,000 for hunting offenses

Man fined for shooting a moose in driveway

As you wild turkey hunters out there know, the birds have love on the minds these days. And that means some turkeys aren’t as wary as they otherwise might be. Last Sunday near Ontario’s Mosport raceway, for instance, I had to stop the car and honk the horn to shoo a pair of large hens off the road. But Denis Marion’s turkey encounter on April 25 easily tops mine.

Denis e-mailed the magazine photographic evidence (right), of a tom and hen doing the wild thing just off the side of the road near Manitowaning on Ontario’s Manitoulin Island. The pair were so ensconced in their ritual that Denis was able to get out of his car and take pictures. Says Denis:

“These birds that are professed to be one of the most wariest, lost all inhibitions, and have me wondering if turkey hunters are taking their camouflaging a bit too far. Another strange thing about this event, is that when the tom was finished coupling, he ruffled his feathers and in a fit of surprise jumped back as to say ‘What the heck are you doing here?’”

Thanks for sharing the photos Denis. Anyone else got some

crazy in love turkey stories?

If you’ve spent any significant amount of time driving in rural parts of the country, you’ve undoubtedly had a deer or moose cross the road in front of you. But can you image seeing a bison in the ‘burbs? That’s exactly what happened last Sunday April 5 in St. Joseph, Michigan, according to a story in Michigan’s Herald-Palladium newspaper. The runaway buffalo escaped from a local farm and was eventually shoot by police.

Escaped bison runs across Morton Avenue in St. Joesph, Michigan

“It was a risk to public safety,” Banasik said. “It was running through traffic, vehicles were stopping, it was running through residential neighborhoods, and it ran past a playground that was occupied. We had made an attempt to use our cars to try to force back into the ravine, and it wouldn’t stay there. Then, of course, when the officer got out of his vehicle and it charged, you had no choice.”

I came across this story during a visit to a favourite Web site, The Outdoor Pressroom, which collects zany outdoor news stories from across North America. I often get a kick out of the wild stories. You may want to bookmark the site, but if not, I’ll undoubtedly mention the best of the site’s bizarre items here. And if you come across an incredible news story involving fish, game, anglers or hunters, shoot me an e-mail.