The Toronto Archery Club / Archery Lessons in Toronto

UPDATE

The Toronto Archery Club is no longer on Meetup.com, and only found on Facebook.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/TorontoArcheryClub/

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If you live in Toronto and are looking to get into bowhunting / archery then I have several recommendations for you.

#1. Join the Toronto Archery Club, meet other people who are into archery and bowhunting - which means you can learn hunting tips from your fellow bowhunters. Being a member of a local archery club will get you lots of bowhunting tips and allow you to socialize with other bowhunters.

#2. If you've never done archery before, hire an archery instructor in Toronto. You can get archery lessons in Toronto from CardioTrek.ca or browse some of the other archery instructors available on ArcheryToronto.ca. Having proper archery lessons and learning how to shoot well is a wise investment, regardless of whether you are hunting with a compound or a traditional recurve or longbow.

#3. Get a subscription a bowhunting magazine. There are several different magazines that I recommend:

• Traditional Bowhunter Magazine (caters to recurve + longbow bowhunting)
• Bowhunting Magazine (caters to compound bow hunting)
• TradArcher's World Magazine (caters to traditional archers, including bowhunters)

#4. Join OODMAG's Forum for Bowhunting at http://www.oodmag.com/community/forumdisplay.php?17-Bowhunting. Joining a bowhunting forum certainly is not mandatory, but it is smart to learn from your fellow bowhunters before going on your first hunt. Even better if you can take a more experienced bowhunter or a group of bowhunters with you.

#5. Learn everything you can about bowhunting - both traditional bowhunting techniques and modern bowhunting techniques - from as many sources as you can. These includes local and provincial laws, what you are allowed to hunt and when/where, stalking vs tree stands vs ground blinds, what kind of broadheads to use based on your prey, the benefits of heavier arrows when hunting, etc.

eg. With respect to heavier arrows, they do more damage due to greater momentum. Think of it like this: If someone throws a hammer at you, what do you think will hurt more? A tiny 1/2 lb hammer or a 5 lb hammer? Guaranteed the heavier hammer will do more damage on impact. The disadvantage to heavier arrows is that have a more limited range - but much more power when they hit.

Unsportsman-like Behaviour

I am rather disgusted.

I just watched a video from the USA, wherein two men were shooting at hogs from a helicopter using semi-automatic rifles. I lost track of how many hogs they killed - they killed them all.

To me hunting should be done for food, in a manner which is sporting so that the animal has a chance to get away.

The hogs - which are reportedly causing a lot of crop damage in Texas, a region of the USA which has no wolves apparently due to over-hunting of wolves in the past - don't even stand a chance against two men in a helicopter shooting at them with rifles. No chance at all. Some of the videos on this topic have the hunters using machine guns instead of rifles. Complete overkill.

Now, don't get me wrong, I am pro-hunter - but I firmly believe people should be eating what they kill. And I also believe the manner in which the animals are hunted should give the animal a chance for them to get away.

What also disgusts me is the choice of words used by the "hunters" in the videos. They refer to it as a "skirmish", as if it is a war and the hogs somehow have a chance of fighting back against the men in the helicopter. They also referred to it as an extermination, which is at least accurate. The men are  not hunting, they are exterminating.

Bowhunting in a helicopter I suppose would at least be sporting - because the target is moving, and you're in a moving vehicle, and with archery there is much more of a challenge than there is with a machine gun.

To be honest hoghunting in the USA isn't much of a challenge anyway. The hogs aren't even afraid of humans. You can walk right up to them and they will eat out of your hand (and possibly eat your hand too). They are completely unafraid.

So to me hoghunting is completely without a challenge anyway. It is just a slaughter.

At least with boars (the really big ones) they attack back. Nothing like a rampaging boar coming straight at you.

Hoghunting in Texas is being promoted like crazy right now - advertised as "Free Hog Hunting in Texas" with vacation packages for hunters. Apparently the hogs are such a nuisance and cause so much crop damage the government of Texas is basically looking for anyone to come to Texas and shoot as many Texan hogs as they can. Some places will even provide the rifles and shotguns with the vacation package, all food and drinks included, it is a bit ridiculous all the extras they are offering.

Apparently Texas is really desperate to get rid of the hogs.

Here in Hogtown (Toronto) we don't have any wild hogs at all. Which is funny in a way.

Hinterland's Who's Who

The Hinterland's Who's Who is a series of television commercials from 1960s/70s made by the Canadian government (the Canadian Wildlife Service in Ottawa). The commercials were shown on Canadian television way into the 1980s/1990s and have enjoyed many references in popular culture.

I always found these commercials to be quite enjoyable and doubtlessly many Canadians agree otherwise they wouldn't still be referencing them after almost 50 years.

The Hinterland's Who's Who series was first commissioned in 1962 and has aired on Canadian television since 1963.

In 2003 the Canadian Wildlife Foundation in cooperation with the Canadian government produced several new commercials with a more modern format.

For more information on the Hinterland's Who's Who contact the Canadian Wildlife Service. In Ottawa.


The Beaver


The Black Bear


The Chipmunk


The Grizzly


The Loon


The Muskox


The Wolf


The Woodchuck