Ontario Trophy Quality

[Rick Teal]

The winter of '07/'08 was a very harsh one here in eastern, north-eastern and southern ontario.

I'm an official measurer for FROW (the provincial record keeping organization) as well as Boone and Crockett and Pope and Young. At the big buck shows I've attended this year, I've noted a marked decrease in the number of racks submitted for scoring (about 2/3 of the submissions), as well as a reduction in the number of top end racks.

I've personally measured 3 typical booners (one of which the owner declined to enter :confused: ). We've had one more non-typical that was entered at one of the shows.

The north-west didn't seem to have the same problem (especially in the moose population) since we had a new all-time Ontario record moose submitted from last fall's hunt - breaking the record by 11 inches, and making number 5 all-time in the B&C book.

Last year was a much milder winter, and I'm hoping we see a return to our previous levels.

[Silvertip]

Rick,

I agree the winter of 07/08 was a tough one on our deer herd and was felt throughout eastern Canada in general.I think we need several good winters in a row to catch up. This past winter was a start on the road to recovery.

Cheers,

Silvertip

[John Y Cannuck]

I saw a definate drop in deer numbers in 63A last year. I think the deep snows made it easier on dogs, wolves, and coyotes. The deer we saw, and shot, were older adults, the second generation took a hard hit.