Why I will always hunt, trap and fish.

I've been surrounded by hunting, trapping and fishing since I can remember. Some of the first memories I have include standing beside our old Jimmy while my dad shot popcans with a .410 and wanting to shove my sister in the lake when she started shrieking because a pike got off the hook and was flopping around in the bottom of the boat. I've been surrounded by hunting, fishing and trapping since before I knew what it was - from the many furs hung up in my grandparents basement to driving to Ivanhoe Lake to see if anyone had a moose hanging up it's always been a part of my life. 

Tiny Kaileigh and my Nonno circa early 90's. 

Since I was a kid, hunting and fishing (and eventually trapping) became a normal part of life. In the summers we'd go fishing at the cottage - I would get chewed alive sitting on the dock with the dogs watching that stupid little Snoopy bobber (and there were a few versions of Snoopy as I learned to actually cast) float until a pike got bored enough. At the cottage it was totally common to have eggs, bacon and pan friend pickerel for breakfast - something I've been a fan of since I was a kid. The fall was partridge and moose hunting if we were lucky enough to get tag (we never were). Most recently came the addition of trapping which took up the later part of fall and straight through the winter. 

I made the choice to get my gun and hunting license when I was 12 (the earliest you could) because hunting was something I found important. After missing about 20 birds, many tears (and a few tantrums) and finally one very badly bodied bird (as per the direction of my mother - I feel like her exact words were "just hit the fucking thing") I got the hang of it and have been hooked ever since. Trapping has come along as a passion of mine, stemming from hunting, in the past few years. 

Hunting gets a really shitty name. A lot of people view it as a bunch of blood thirsty heathens running around the bush shooting off shotguns all willy nilly. I was always brought up and taught that you respect what you kill, you take only what you need and you don't waste anything. I have to be really honest - I get really excited come fall and winter because I know that my really tight budget isn't going to get a bit of a break because I can put some meat in my freezer without buying it. Not only that but in a world of over processed meat and meat products I feel better knowing that my food never saw the inside of a commercial barn and I cleaned and prepared it myself. 

Now I've been called cruel for hunting by both people who eat meat and who don't. I always bring up the fact that (to my meat eating friends) that unlike the chicken, beef and pork they buy in the store my dinner had the chance to run away. More often than not that's exactly what ends up happening. I think that I've gone home skunked as often as I've gone home after catching something.

Regardless of your views on hunting, fishing and trapping and it's cruelty these are my top five (5) reasons I will always hunt, trap and fish.

1. It puts food in my freezer. 

I don't have the luxury of a having a huge budget to play with. Hunting at it's very core started from a necessity to provide food - it's still no exception. It makes me really happy knowing that come fall I will be able to supplement my meat purchases with meat I've shot. This holds true for trapping as well. Many people just assume I see a cute, fuzzy creature and think of it in terms of a fur coat - nope. I am just as happy to utilize all of the animals that are trapped as well. 

On top of that I can guarantee that the dinner that I shoot is free range, organic and hasn't been near a commercial meat farm. 

2. Hunting/fishing and trapping keeps me grounded and puts things into perspective

There is not too many things in the world that make you feel small. It's less so the act of hunting/fishing and trapping but more the time that I spend doing these things that puts things into perspective for me. There's something completely different about unplugging and going off the grid for an entire day. 

When you're in the middle of the bush with just a shotgun and a dog a lot of things get put into perspective and it truly is a major part of what keeps me grounded. It's also one of those precious few moments when I can actually think, or not think depending on my mood and just be somewhere. 

Also I can bring puppies along...

3. Conservation

I get a lot of shit for this being one of the main reasons that I hunt and trap - a lot of people thinks it's total bullshit. Here's why hunting and trapping are so important to conservation:

- I help maintain the populations of predators on my trap line by trapping a certain amount of them per year. If we're having a low rabbit (prey) year then I know to take more animals that year, or at least try to. This means that throughout the winter there will be less strain on the prey populations and come spring there will be more of them to reproduce and rebuild those numbers. 
- I remove animals from areas that they will not survive through the winter. I know that a young beaver who builds a house in a pond isn't going to survive the winter. There is no feed bed and the water will freeze solid and he'll end up either starving to death or freezing to death. These are the animals that I humanely trap and kill instead of letting them slowly wither away and die over time.
- I am committed to be part of the solution - not the problem. Over-trapping and over-hunting can cause extreme damage to an ecosystem, but so can suddenly stopping taking any animals from an area. There's a balance in these systems and like it or not we are a part of these systems. 

4. I like to know what's going on with these animal populations

It's one thing to read studies and reports written by people, it's another thing to actually see if with your own eyes. 

I know when we're having a really bad rabbit year on my trapline. I know when we've had a really great hatch of partridge through the spring and summer. I know when we're going to start to have issues with wolf populations because a pack is getting larger than it should. 

A huge example of this was the giant explosion of the lynx population in Timmins. For years local trappers were asking to extend the lynx quota from 6 to 8-10 for the year because rabbit populations were decreasing and the lynx kept growing. The MNR would not allow the increase of a lynx quota and finally two years ago Timmins began having major nuisance lynx issues. This was because the yearlings were starving through the winter because there was not enough food. This is something that we're still feeling the effects from and proves totally that you can't manage wildlife solely sitting behind a desk or in an airplane. 

5. I will totally be okay in the event of a zombie apocalypse. 

Seriously guys. 

It could be a thing ;) 

Dear McGuinty Government;

Dear McGuinty/ McGuinty Government;


I know in normal cases you're supposed to exchange pleasantries, in this case I’m going to just go ahead and skip those because I have a lot to talk about and I’m trying not to write a novel here.

I realize that you’re probably never going to read this – and that’s ok. Apparently venting frustration is therapeutic and thanks to the internet, someone is going to read this. My hope is that this someone finds a way to pass this along to you because frankly, you need to hear this. I’m going to tackle this letter one issue at a time. I’m sure you’re aware that the last Ontario Northland Train left Toronto last Friday at 9:30 am. The biggest reason you gave for the cancellation of both the ON passenger and freight trains?  Money. Cash. Cheddah..  

Mr. McGuinty, I know you’re not from around here. I realize that your voting base is stationed in the heart of southern Ontario and I realize that the north is not anywhere close to the top of your priority list. I’m not telling you how to run a province but I am telling you that we matter. There might not be as many of us in the north, but we are just as important as the south and just because our voices aren’t as loud does not mean that they are silent. You are appointed to represent the people of this province, Mr. McGuinty, all of the people of the province.

Mr. McGuinty, by cancelling the passenger and freight train service to Northern Ontario you’ve cut off the north from the south. I know that seems a little melodramatic, but let me put it into perspective. The main use of the train for the people in the north is getting to medical appointments – something you’ve said is alright, because we have suitable alternatives. The alternatives are: very nice friends and family with cars and flexible work days, planes and buses. As someone who has taken all three I can tell you these are not accessible to everyone. Not everyone has access to vehicles – or friends and family that can access vehicles, sometimes driving to southern Ontario is not an option. Flying is ridiculously expensive – before Porter Air came to Timmins it was cheaper for someone to fly Toronto to Trinidad than it was Toronto to Timmins. Some people can’t fly after medical appointments and this leaves them with one option – the bus.

Mr. McGuinty, I’m going to ask you step out of your political role for a second, and think like a human being. You live in Timmins, you have a wife, and kids and elderly parents that live just around the block – they keep “popping” over without calling more than you’d like, but hey! C’est la vie, right? Your mom recently broke her jaw in a car accident and needs to be sent to Toronto for care. Now, your parents aren’t that well off, and you neither you nor your wife are able to take the time off work to drive her there and your dad just can’t make that long trip. She’s not allowed to fly, because of the pressure on planes which means that she has to take the bus. She’s in pain and now she has to sit for 12-16 hours, alone on a bus. Isn’t that frustrating to think about? Well, I know at least one person that this has happened to and contrary to popular belief; OHIP doesn’t always cover travel costs to get to appointments in the south.

Mr. McGuinty, what if this was your family this was affecting? What if it was your elderly parents or grandparents or kids trying to get home for the holidays this was happening to? You are here to represent the province and I, a 21 year-old lifelong Ontarian, am telling you, you’re not doing that. On top of these budget cuts I learned today that ten Provincial Parks are going to have their services cut because they’re costing too much money and not being used enough. Mr. McGuinty, do you go camping? Yes, a huge part of Ontario is the bustling metropolis of the south, but a major identifier of Ontario and Canada is our wildlife and natural resources. I know I’m biased, but there is nothing like a Northern Ontario night by the campfire with family and friends. You are providing a death sentence to a major part of Ontario’s heritage on top of the many Northern jobs you’ve effectively ended. But hey, you’ve saved money, right? How did you come to those decisions? Did you go to all ten of those parks, or did you simply look at a report that ranked them in order of which makes more money? Mr. McGuinty, I don’t have experience running a province, but I can tell you that you’re taking the easy way out with this decision. Easy leadership is cutting something that doesn’t appear to be working, real leadership is fixing the problem.  

Mr. McGuinty, it frustrates me to no end that the future of politics seems to only be going to help the south and focus on the south. Sometimes money doesn’t solve everything, sometimes you have to do the right thing, just because it’s the right thing. Thank you for showing that it’s alright to ignore social responsibility in order to save a couple of bucks. We’re Canadian, we’re known for being proactive in women’s rights, free health care and equality – apparently that is only true if you live south of North Bay. I know you’ll rebuttal this and point out that it’s for the greater good of the province, blah blah blah – but for the greater good, isn’t good enough.

Mr. McGuinty, we teach kids that the most important thing to do is to share and to be fair to everyone around them, despite how they may treat you. This is something we teach kids up until the time they’re adults, when suddenly those rules don’t seem to matter anymore. Looking at Ontario politics I can see why these rules stop mattering. We have a leader in place that openly ignores an entire portion of the population because there just isn’t enough people in it to matter. Mr. McGuinty, every person matters – people are not always statistics and dollar signs, people are important and that’s a value that’s held very dear up north. Canadians are seen as these super friendly people where everyone knows everyone and yes I’m being incredibly biased, but nobody I’ve met embodies that quite like Northern Ontarians. At our very core we are living, breathing and feeling human beings, not budget cuts and losses and increased taxes.

Mr. McGuinty, I’m going to end this letter as I’ve realized it’s getting quite lengthy by asking you one question. At the very core of it, what matters to Ontario?

 
Yours truly;


Kaileigh Russell
21 year, Timmins Resident