KillerBee; Top of the morning back at you my friend, it does appear for all intents and purposes we're both still on this side of the grass - albeit it's covered with a bunch of snow here.
Thanks for sharing that with us as I'm sure I'm not alone in not really being able to wrap my head around what it was like to live in Quebec during those times or frankly any time.
Our experience out west could almost be summed up in two sound bites from PM Shiny Pony's father Pierre Elliot, when he gave the crowds in Salmon Arm the finger and when he told prairie grain farmers we could "sell our own damn wheat" when we were protesting the quota system and Canadian Wheat Board which was only dissolved in 2015.
Farmers were arrested and jailed when they tried to circumvent the Canadian Wheat Board too KillerBee, so no actually we couldn't sell our own damn wheat.
It's amazing to me that whatever bad fruit comes from that particular tree, it doesn't fall far from it and it's consistent in it's ability to not tell the truth to Canadians. Yah, they're consistent, I'll give them that.
Honestly we've met a pile of wonderful folks from all across Canada and when I speak of a restructuring or even Western Canadian separation which I was an avid supporter of back when, it's not the individuals from the east whom I am even one bit disgruntled with.
As far as the next batch of hunters, for sure there's a strong push to curtail and possibly eliminate them, but having been a BC Hunter Safety instructor/examiner has given me a pretty good look at the ebb and flow of who is joining us, at least locally. I used to do RPAL too, but haven't been active in the federal program for a couple decades now.
Anyways KillerBee, one year in our class was a young fellow with multiple tatoos, bearing races in his ears and a few other attachments that would have meant a hand search when flying...
One of the first things I do to start off the class is ask who has been hunting, who hasn't etc. and then attached to that if they care to share, why it is they're interested in coming over to the participant side of the food chain.
When it came to the young fellow, he said more or less, "A couple years ago I became involved in the locavore food movement which is sourcing your food as locally and organically as possible. One day it hit me that you old hunter dudes have been doing that your whole lives - so here I am man!"
He was a keen student and an absolutely wonderful addition to our class, needless to say he passed with flying colors and hopefully is hunting today.
Like our country, our hunting and shooting community is changing for sure. Again, I'm going to do my best to protect and preserve it for the next shift or die trying.
Thanks for your candor by the way, I enjoy the back and forth a lot.
All the best and keep the fire well stocked today my friend.
