Honoured work

EVERY YEAR, WE excitedly await the results of the Outdoor Writers of Canada’s annual National Communication Awards. I’m proud to say our staff and contributors typically fare well in this professional competition, and this year was no different. Yet again, work appearing in Outdoor Canada garnered the most honours (nine in total) of all media, testament to our ongoing commitment to creating a top-notch outdoor magazine.

This year, the awards gods smiled on three of our number in particular. Long-time contributor Mark Raycroft was aptly awarded for his considerable skill behind the lens, earning a first-place finish, two seconds and a third in the two photography categories (that’s one of his winning images, top right). Also see Mark’s contributor note, below.

On the writing side, meanwhile, associate editor Scott Gardner was our shining star, winning first (for “Winging it”) and second in the fishing feature category, and third in columns. And finally, perennial winner Gord Pyzer, our esteemed fishing editor, earned second in columns and third in fishing features (for “Pro pike ploys”). Nicely done, gentlemen! Thank you for making us shine.

I’d also like to congratulate all of this year’s other winners, as well as thank the judges and category sponsors (Tourism Saskatchewan, Shimano and our parent company, Outdoor Group Media). For a complete list of the winners, please visit: www.outdoorcanada.ca/2023owcawards. OC

Contributors

Along with the Outdoor Writers of Canada awards for his work in this magazine (see above), wildlife photographer Mark Raycroft and his wife, Pili Palm-Leis, also won second prize for best book: Caribou: Wind Walkers of the Northern Wilderness. Mark’s awesome photos can be found throughout this issue, starting on the cover.

Best described as a professional adventurer, Magnetawan, Ontario’s Jim Baird and his brother, Ted, were the season 4 winners of the History Channel’s reality-TV survival show Alone. Now he’s hosting Home in the Wild on Nat Geo TV, chronicling his young family’s adventures. See “Family Afield” (page 48) for his tips on trekking with tots.

A retired outdoor ed teacher, Vern Peters embarked on his first Yukon sheep hunt in 1972 with only a homemade sleeping bag, flimsy aluminum-frame pack and plastic sheeting for shelter. The Whitehorse resident has since gone on to enjoy many more quests for Dall’s sheep. He recounts one of his most memorable starting on page 54.

An avid hunter and angler, and the former owner of a retail sporting goods store, Rick Bryne is the current president of the Saskatchewan Falconry Association (SFA). A passionate falconer along with his wife, Gail, he’s been heading afield with his bird Hermione since 2015. On page 60, he shares the SFA’s primer on falconry.

Reliability in everyday hunting. Even under the toughest conditions.

The Conquest V4 line of high-performance riflescopes combine the tried-and-true ZEISS optics concept with a rugged and functional design. Their compact design and perfect balance between a wide field of view and large magnification range is ideal for all types of hunting. The V4 models are equipped with a 4x zoom and functional, high-precision, and fully reliable mechanical components.

Numbers Game

Square kilometres of habitat lost to wildfires in Canada as of June 26 alone, topping the annual record of 75,596 square kilometres set in 1989, according to the National Forestry Database. As Canada reached the grim milestone, 490 fires were burning across the country. At press time, there were 885 active fires.

76,129 $10,000

Total fines levied against a northern B.C. fishing charter operator for feeding and interacting with wild seals to entertain paying guests. Curtis Malcom Ireland maintained he didn’t know it was illegal under the federal Fisheries Act to disturb marine mammals.

$173 million

Money developers spent in June to buy 212 hectares of once-protected land in southern Ontario. The property lies entirely within a preserve considered the crown jewel of the ecologically important Greenbelt, part of which was opened to development last fall by Premier Doug Ford’s government.

Scene

Wait up, ladies! Showing that woodland caribou are excellent swimmers, a large bull follows his harem across an Atlantic Ocean cove in the wilds of Newfoundland during last October’s rut.

On The Record

22,000 30,000

Sockeye salmon expected to have returned to the Yukon’s Alsek River as of September, marking the second year in a row for an above­average run. Fisheries managers are pleasantly perplexed about the reasons for the increase, considering they predicted only 11,000 fish would return.

Hectares of privately owned Alberta grasslands and wetlands to be conserved through an agreement with the Nature Conservancy of Canada and Ducks Unlimited Canada. Once completed, the pact with 130­year­old McIntyre Ranch will represent the largest­ever conservation project on private Prairie property.

gonna grow up and have lots of babies.”

—Fort Nelson B.C.’s Mark Skage defends his decision to let an abandoned moose calf climb into his truck to escape a nearby black bear. Skage was later fired from his job at AFD Petroleum Inc. for breaking the firm’s wildlife protocols. “Her babies will have babies,” he told CBC News, citing the conservation aspect of his decision.

“I think it’s a positive. I believe that in my heart.”