It’s a busy
summer in the
great outdoors
aboard an ATV
SEASON RIDES
STARTED WITH A BANG
Summer is in full
swing, and I’ve already
had just over 3,000
ATV kilometres behind
the wheel or holding
onto the handlebars.
Those kilometres have
been hours of fun and
entertainment, and as
everyone knows, the
DAVE
ATV gets you to those
BAKER
hard-to-reach places
off the beaten path.
When the Ministry
of Natural Resources reinstated the spring
bear hunt, we visited our friends at Pronature
Rockland to pick up bear baiting and hunting
necessities. Armed with assorted smelly and
goopy stuff – bacon-flavoured syrup, scent
sticks, bear pitch, a bear call and more – we
loaded up the ATVs and headed north to
Stonecliffe, Ont.
We were getting a jump on the season,
but spring can be totally different north
of Petawawa. Though snow was still in
abundance, we were determined to get a
couple of bait piles and cameras set up. We
learned that ATVs will get you far, but they
won’t necessarily get you everywhere if the
snow is too deep! Luckily, we did not go
unprepared and had brought one machine
on tracks.
I would love
to tell you tales
of a successful
bear hunt, but I
won’t lie. Sum it
up by saying the
bears ate really
well, including
part of one of
the cameras, but
that didn’t mean
we didn’t have
fun doing it. We
learned some
lessons and hope
next year will be
more successful.
Spring also
brought the
first full season
that ATVs are
permitted on the
www.fishhuntandride.ca
streets of Wasaga Beach. It was too early
for the trails to be open, but that didn’t stop
the Central Ontario ATV club from hosting
the first Wasaga Beach Zombie Hunt Ride.
Zombies? ATVs? We had to be there to check
this out for sure. This ride was particularly
exciting for me – my first opportunity to
try out the 700cc Honda Pioneer loaner
from Honda Canada. I have had my hand
on the throttle of ATVs since as long as I can
remember, but this was my first chance to
really give a side-by-side a true test. I was not
disappointed.
The Zombie Hunt ride was more or less like
a car rally throughout the city, with treats and
snacks at every stop, and along the beach
(but not on it – against the rules). Though we
didn’t get dirty or stuck, we were travelling
through city streets plagued by “zombies” at
each stop. Enough fun to mark this on our
calendar for next year.
Our first trail ride of the year is always in
Ompah, Ont., and we were not the only ones
with the same idea on April 30. It had more
than 800 participants this April, all to combat
prostate cancer. A change in regulations that
allowed side-by-sides and two-up ATVs to
use some roads bolstered the numbers this
year. The chan