It’s the Habitat!

In my November Alberta Outdoorsmen column, I discuss how much energy has been expended on debating the suspension of a very small grizzly bear hunt in Alberta while little public attention has been paid to the real issue: conserving grizzly bear habitat! The recently released information on the grizzly bear population north of highway 16 provides a look at what prime grizzly bear habitat may just be in this province. However, if our resource exploitation continues at the pace it has south of highway 16, human access to prime bear habitat will degrade that habitat and reduce the number of bears. So, whether you are in favor of the grizzly bear hunt or not, if you value the bear as I do, then you must support better habitat protection throughout its range.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Holiday Book Sale!

Holiday Book Sale!

Yes, it’s that time of year again, and I’m offering signed copies of my two award-winning young-adult, adventure novels for the low sale price  of $10.00 (Cdn$ or US$) each. If you have a young person (or an adult for that matter) on your gift list who might be interested in outdoor adventure stories, please consider The Search for Grizzly One and Dog Runner.

“The Search for Grizzly One is a cracking good adventure story set in Canada’s North,” wrote Merna Summers on Amazon.ca. “It was originally intended for young readers, but it contains some of the best writing about northern flying and wilderness life that I have ever encountered. This novel, which deals with the search for a downed plane in bush country, has unexpected twists and turns of plot, and also reverently-rendered links with Native spirituality and mysticism. Adults, as well as young people, should find reading it a rich and rewarding experience. Highly recommended.”

With regard to Dog Runner, the Canadian Book Review Annual (1989) stated, “Throughout this well-written adventure story, Native legends are skilfully interwoven, and Jim’s relationship with his dogs is poignantly portrayed.” And the Calgary Herald (1989) wrote, “Each of the dogs has a distinct, believable personality, and human and animal interactions ring true to life. Dog Runner is a special book.”

To buy these books at the sale price, go to the Signed Books page on my web site. Or if you are in the Stony Plain, Alberta area, I will be selling books (along with other Alberta authors) at the Stony Plain Public Library on December 1, 2009, from 5 to 7:30 p.m.

www.donmeredith.ca

The Hunt

2009 Hunting Diary—Days 4 to 6

It was time to get down to serious hunting—actually picking an area and walking it, spending time to get a feeling for what was going on. With no particular places in mind, we again split up, each pair heading in different directions.

Hunting can immerse the hunter in the environment and open new ways to see.

As I have written before (e.g., “Zen and the Art of Hunting”), for me hunting is a process of immersion into the environment. It is where I slough off urban attitudes and practices, and slow my walking, change my thinking and hone my hunting skills—including sharpening my hearing, eyesight and my relationship to the wind, the sun, the woods and the trail.

Thus immersed, I soon find myself in sort of a “free-fall” of information I try not to process too much: the wet-dog scent of cranberry, the moulding of discarded leaves, the chattering of a red squirrel, the breaking of a branch not too far away. I adjust myself to the sun and the wind, to reduce my visibility and ensure my scent does not give me away.

Using these techniques my hunting partner, Keith Kivett, and I found where a herd of about a dozen cow and calf elk had made beds in an open area in the forest; but the beds were days old. However, as we moved through some particularly difficult bush and made more noise than we wanted, we heard something large crash through the bush not too far away and bark at us like a dog. At first, I thought it was a bear, as bears will bark when alarmed, but this animal was making too much noise as it ran from us to be a bear, busting apparently large branches and trees as it went. Keith used his cow-elk call to see if the animal would stop and maybe come back for a look (it ran upwind of us, and we figured we had disturbed it out of its bed). Although it appeared to be circling us, it did not come closer and eventually left the area. It was very possible this was a bull elk. When disturbed and alarmed, elk will bark like a dog.

If allowed, the senses can tell you much.

If that was an elk it was the only one we got close to. The other pair of hunting partners, Wayne and Colin Wilson, also had their adventures. For example, Colin walked up on a large bull moose who refused to give up the trail. Unfortunately, none of us had been drawn for a moose licence this year, and Colin was forced to retreat.

All was not lost, however, as in total we shot four white-tailed deer, one a nice four-point buck taken by Keith. So, we now have meat in the freezer, and I can now look forward to a quality November deer hunt closer to home.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Action on Climate

Today (2009 October 24) is the International Day of Climate Action where over 5200 events world-wide will take place to lobby governments to stop their dithering and come up with an effective and realistic agreement on climate change at the UN Climate Summit in Copenhagen in December. Now, I’m not one who automatically responds to calls for action for one cause or another. As a writer, I prefer to do my research and take my time judging what causes I should and can afford to support.

However, on climate change, I have been doing my homework for quite a few years now; and as I wrote in my Alberta Outdoorsmen column in February of 2007, “The Politically Correct Climate Debate” , the evidence supporting human-caused climate change is overwhelming. We are in a crisis and we need to get our acts together quickly to stop the deterioration of our environment. (If you doubt the validity of these statements, I strongly recommend you read The Weather Makers by Tim Flannery, followed by Climate Wars by Gwynne Dyer.)

What is sad is how many people are allowing themselves be duped by professional climate-change deniers, who are judging the issue not on the merits of the evidence presented but on their political bias and greed. Addressing climate change is going to require governments and large corporations to make difficult decisions they had rather not make (this all despite the many opportunities finding solutions to climate change should bring the economy). It’s much easier to deny than to take responsibility and do something positive for the environment, community and yes, our grandchildren. However, there is no time or room for political bias and dogma to direct what opinion you should have about climate change and global warming. Denying without doing the proper research, helps no one.

Yes, there was a debate over just how much industrialization is responsible for the changes we are seeing every day. Governments rightly questioned what some people were saying. That is why the United Nations struck the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC), composed of prominent climate change scientists from around the world, to evaluate the evidence, determine what is valid and come up with recommendations. After long deliberations, where all arguments were heard and evaluated, the panel determined (among others) that 1) climate change is real and is and will have huge effects on the global environment; and 2) much of the change has been caused by the release of so-called greenhouse gases from the burning of fossil fuels for over the past 100 years.

I don’t know how you would be able to convene a more august body of experts than the IPCC. So, despite what you may have heard, the debate is over. Climate change is real, it is here, and it will affect how we will live in the next decades. If we as a world community do not properly address this issue at the Copenhagen conference this December, then we will lose a crucial opportunity to turn the future of the planet in our favor.

It must be remembered that climate change is nothing new. Climate has changed many times over the 3.5 billion+ year history of our planet. However, most climate change has not occurred as fast as it is occurring now. Climate change, whether fast or slow, often means the extinction of many species of both plants and animals that could not cope with that change. The faster the change, the more species that do not adapt in time. Do we really want to risk our future when we have the capability of doing something about this change?

That is why I urge you to take this International Day of Climate Action seriously. If you feel like I do, and want a bright and prosperous future for your children and grandchildren, then contact your government and demand they do all that they can to come to an effective agreement in Copenhagen this December to reduce our carbon emissions and get on with the work that needs to be done.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Reluctant Fall Leaves

Instead of turning their normal yellows and oranges, the leaves of many of the deciduous trees in Alberta were caught in a freeze and died, turning them brown.

It has been a strange autumn here in central Alberta. The leaves that normally turn colors and fall to the ground have been reluctant to do so. Now, Alberta is not especially noted for its fall colors but we do have them, mostly yellows and oranges with some red and purple thrown in. Of course, these come from our deciduous trees, mostly balsam (Populus balsamifera) and aspen poplar (Populus tremuloides); but also birch (Betula spp.), as well as shrubs such as willow (Salix spp.) and alder (Alnus spp.) among many others.

Because we are in the northern half of the northern hemisphere, we have short growing seasons, and normally trees start to turn to their fall colors beginning in late August to perhaps mid-September (central Alberta). The turning of the leaves is when the trees shut down the physiological processes that turn sunlight energy into food energy. This process, called photosynthesis, is accomplished via the green compound, chlorophyll, which dominates the color of most leaves during the growing season. Unlike most coniferous trees (spruce, pine) that maintain their green color and photosynthetic properties year around, deciduous trees shut these process down during the cold and short days of winter. The leaves (needles) on coniferous trees are able to protect themselves from freezing using an anti-freeze-like chemical, those of deciduous trees are not. So, the chlorophyll is allowed to degrade, revealing the other colors in the leaves before the leaves are dropped. But why are our deciduous trees so late in turning color this year?

I put that question to Dr. Janice Cooke of the University of Alberta’s Department of Biological Sciences. She reminded me that the change of color in trees is determined by day length and temperature. In other words, as the day length shortens, the trees begin to prepare to abandon their leaves. However, if the weather continues to be warm, the abandonment processes are suspended, which if you think about it, is a good strategy. Why shut down making food when you are not under the threat of freezing? Of course, temperatures do eventually fall and the colors change and the leaves drop. However, this year the delay in the drop is the longest in the memory of most people.

As described by Dr. Cooke, “We had a particularly warm September, right up to about Sept. 27. The warm days, but especially the warm overnight temperatures of mid-September, caused a delay in senescence (aging) and leaf color changing. Mainly, the trees were continuing to photosynthesize, and so they needed their chlorophyll. As such, the chlorophyll was not degraded, thus not revealing the colors of the other pigments.”

“Unfortunately for the deciduous trees,” she continued, “we had a wild swing in temperatures in a short time span.” In a nutshell, daytime temperatures in the 30s (C, 80s F) in late September suddenly dropped to -10°C and below on October 1. “This rapid change in conditions did not allow the plants much time to begin the autumn senescence process or even begin the cold acclimation process correctly. As a result, the hard freeze of 
-10°C and colder that we experienced in the first couple of weeks of October actually froze many of the leaves before they had assumed their fall colors.”

As a result, we have a situation where some of the trees have turned color and started dropping leaves, while others remained green until the freeze. Since that freeze, the leaves have thawed in more moderate weather and instead of turning yellow or orange, have turned brown and the autumn forest looks a lot duller than we are used to. Unfortunately for these trees, they were not able to recycle the nutrients in the leaves that they normally do during the color change process. Thus, in the coming spring, these trees will have less nutrients to begin their spring leaf production and other life processes, and could become quite stressed. To compound the situation according to Dr. Cooke, the drought that we have been experiencing has caused the trees to produce and store a lot less energy over the summer than they normally do.

The bottom line is that we have a lot of stressed trees overwintering this year and there could be some significant changes in the forest come spring.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Bush Elk

2009 Hunting Diary—Day 3

Bush elk can be difficult to find, let alone hunt.

Once camp was set up, it was time to try to find the main object of our hunt: bush elk (wapiti, Cervus elaphus). Now, bush elk have always been conundrum for us. Unlike elk found further south that live in large herds and regularly frequent large open areas to graze on grass, the bush elk of northern Alberta live in dense bush in smaller herds that are only occasionally found in small open areas. Although these elk have been increasing their numbers in the last few decades and indeed have expanded into new areas, they are difficult to hunt.

For us, the first order of business was to get oriented in a region we had not hunted before. Using both our vehicles we split up, two of us going one way and two of us going another to get a handle on the landscape and hopefully find some evidence of where the elk might be. This was difficult because it was warm and dry and tracks were at a premium. However, we did our share of driving and walking but the few elk tracks we found were old.

We did see a lot of white-tailed deer, and before our first day was done, we had one hanging up on the game poll.

So what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Camp

2009 Hunting Diary—Day 2

When you are going out to spend a week in the bush, you need to have a good camp from which to base your operations. On a Saturday morning in October, our elk hunting group of four set out for elk camp. Two motor vehicles towing one trailer each, one containing the camp and supplies and the other carrying an all-terrain-vehicle (ATV) and supplies. Using the information I gleaned from my previous scouting trip, we arrived at a suitable campsite that was away from major roads and secluded enough to provide us with the peace and quiet we craved, and access to suitable habitat.

Setting up a comfortable and safe hunting camp is first priority.

As I have reported before (e.g., Hunting Camp), we use a traditional canvas wall tent with a weather fly. This is the first item we set up, and since we have been doing it for over 17 years with this particular tent, we pitch the tent in about 20 minutes. The 14 x 12 foot tent provides us with ample space for ourselves and our wood-burning stove. It also has a roof pitch that sheds rain and snow very well.

Once the tent is set up and our personal gear stowed inside, the next priority is fire wood. All hands are on deck to cut, buck and haul firewood to camp. The wood is split (if necessary) and sorted for inside and outside use. A lot of our cooking is done over an outside campfire when possible. The wood stored inside is for mostly heating purposes, particularly early in the morning and during inclement weather. The wood stored outside is covered with a tarp to keep it dry.

Dry firewood was a concern that first day, as we arrived under overcast skies with some showers. However, not a lot of weather developed from that system and the remainder of the day we spent getting to know the area around our camp.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Scouting

2009 Hunting Diary—Day 1

This year our hunting party failed to get drawn for antlered moose. So, we are going to concentrate our efforts on elk. Now, moose and elk are animals you cannot hunt alone—they are just too big for one person to process in the field and get out of the bush. You need a team, and our team has been together, more or less, for over 30 years (see my article, Team Moose).

This year we are hunting a new area which can be a daunting task because we are not familiar with the area or where the animals might be. So, a scouting trip was in order. That task fell to me because I’m the closest person to that area. Last week I headed out to have a look. Now, I didn’t go there cold. I talked with several people who had been in the area in the last few years and got some ideas about where we may find elk and set up a camp.

Scouting begins the landscape immersion.

It was a beautiful day, with blue sky, minimum wind and moderate temperatures (to 20° C). The latter was a relief as temperatures had been soaring into the 30s °C days before, unusual for this time of year. However, what was most impressive was how dry the landscape was. All the forestry and oil-field development roads were dusty and the usual wet areas were very dry. So tracking conditions were poor at best. I checked out several trails and on one I found a lick where moisture was seeping from a slope, and animals came to lick the mud to obtain minerals for their diets. I checked the mud back and forth and only found deer and some coyote tracks, but no elk. I moved on and did find several interesting areas that deserve another look when we muster our hunt.

What I like about scouting is that I am not held by any set plan. I drive the roads and walk the trails and let the sights, sounds and scents guide my steps. Although I don’t carry a rifle, I often carry a shotgun if the upland bird season is underway. And that was the situation on this scouting trip. As a result, I shot a nice grouse that served as an hors devours for dinner back home that night.

Most important, this particular trip gave me a feeling for the landscape we are about to hunt, where the water drains, the highlands versus the lowlands, where mature forest is replaced by second growth, and where game trails lead from possible bedding areas to feeding areas. It also stimulated my still-hunting techniques and got me interested once again in immersing myself in the environment and honing my senses to get in tune with what is going on around me.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

Getting and Keeping in Shape

2009 Hunting Diary, Days -365 to 0.

(I have to admit that I often neglect this Hunting Diary section of my blog [for many reasons, most having to do with time]. This year I will try to make amends. If you are not a hunter or interested in hunting, you of course can move on, but I hope those of you who are curious as to just what motivates a hunter will stick around and maybe even engage in some conversation.)

One of the pleasures I gain from a hunting trip is the opportunity to get away from the day-to-day grind, get out in the woods, take a long walk and learn a little bit more about the wild environment that supports us all. I enjoy these activities best when I am in reasonable physical fitness. A long time ago, I realized that if I wanted to truly enjoy outdoor activities I needed to work on my physical fitness year around. Now, I am a big guy with a relatively low metabolism so weight control is a constant issue, and it doesn’t take long for me to put on a few pounds if I don’t watch what I eat and I don’t regularly exercise. So, I try to do a rigorous physical workout at least three times a week, and go for a walk or bicycle ride another three times a week. This is not always possible to accomplish with business/family obligations and meetings, but it is the goal I set for myself.

I have written on this subject before—e.g., Hunting the Healthy Heart—and stress that these physical workouts, whether intensive or moderate, should be pleasurable and something you prioritize in your weekly schedule. This is not possible if you are out-of-shape and set too high goals for yourself in the beginning. The last thing you want to do is become discouraged and revert back to your old ways. As I mentioned in the above article, if you are over 40 or have had health problems, you should first get a physical check-up and ensure your doctor is on side. You also may want to take advantage of the many fitness programs in your community, where you can have your fitness evaluated and a program recommended.

Once the maintenance of your physical well-being is a part of your weekly schedule, over time you will find your energy levels, your hiking range and your ability to handle physical tasks increase. These increases do wonders for your confidence in the outdoors as well as in other activities, not to mention your health and life expectancy.

So what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca

The Grizzly Problem

We hunters are a paranoid lot. We claim to be conservationists (which, as a group, is true ; hunters/fishers pay more for on-the-ground conservation than any other user group) but often run to the barricades when we feel threatened by such conservation. As I discussed in my October Alberta Outdoorsmen column, thus is the nature of the grizzly bear hunt controversy in Alberta. Grizzly bear hunters in Alberta want to see the grizzly bear hunt reinstated. It was suspended in 2006 when preliminary results from an Alberta government population study indicated there may be less than 500 grizzlies in the province (outside the national parks) instead of the 1000 bears that the government earlier estimated using less precise methods.

Now, I don’t personally hunt bears, but I do want the bears I see in the bush to be wary of me. Hunted bears tend to be wary. That said, I also don’t want Alberta to lose its grizzly bears. For me, grizzlies indicate just how wild our wilderness really is. Grizzlies don’t tolerate too many people or much development in their domain. If we lose them, we lose an important indicator species about the health of our environment. So, for me, conservation comes first, conservation based on good scientific evidence when available.

And it is good scientific evidence the Alberta government has obtained through its Grizzly Bear Recovery Program. Such evidence about a large animal that doesn’t like to be seen is difficult to obtain. But obtain the government did (current figures indicate about 580 grizzlies outside the national parks). Unfortunately many hunters don’t like what the results say. They claim their anecdotal sightings of bears indicates more bears than the scientific study estimates, and want that study ignored and the hunt reinstated. I’m sorry, I cannot agree. If we truly do not have enough bears to sustain a hunt then we should not have the hunt. Wildlife management should not be based on hear-say when good scientific evidence is available.

So, what’s wrong with that?

www.donmeredith.ca