"Hunting Ethic" - Quebec Moose Hunting Well, here in New Brunswick, I will not have the fall Moose hunt which I so looked forward to, while I was living in Quebec. The photo (above) is a capture from a NovaScotia.com video shows the moose walking up this hill side while tourists sit within yards. To the animal lover and anti-hunting advocate, such experience are memorable moments. In this video, (photo left, click the photo plse) the mother moose actually sniffs and moves the hunter's arrow, before moving off. Often we hunters. have close calls and heart beating moments, as this video shows. The hunter's ability to remain calm and motionless must have been quite remarkable. I can not experience this because I have a high blinking eye movement and the white of the eyes during a blink, will draw an alarm from deer and Moose. Although I as a traditional bowhunter, (one piece wood bow) have had a 3/4 ton bull withing 10 feet. ( I did not shoot because when I raised my bow (72" long) to draw and shoot I felt the tip of the bow in the branches overhead. Hunters (or especially bowhunters) will refuse to shoot for reason which we call "Hunting Ethic". And we believe, we will get another chance with a bigger or better situation.
We decide, and are proud of our personal ethic, to not shoot because, as this hunter did; (in the video) would have liked the mother and calf to pass without sounding an alarm call and destroy the hours of preparation and motionless already invested in the experience. (I bet his joints are sore and he step back and sat down after this mother and calf moved off).
Now, I will do a personal comment here.... We hunters have our own ethic and therefore do not attempt a probably unsuccessful archery shot. But Game Management Agencies must also understand that in charging a large hunting fee, limited number of permits and short seasons ; only cause hunters to attempt everything to harvest their query. Even if they must do it illegally. During my days of rifle hunting or mixed hunts on Provincial Reserves; I have heard a lot of hunters comments. Things like.. "With the number of years I have attempted to have my name drawn, I will bring home my moose"... or "You are not a true hunter unless you kill your Moose."
Game Management is to make decisions for the stewardship of our wildlife not the most profitable method of bleeding the hunter purse.
New Brunswick Moose Hunting Season (2009) was as per a draw and at a cost of $472.34 for non-resident and 81.36$ resident or 41.81$ for seniors. The 2009 Season was a three days weekend (Sept 24-26) with the total number of Moose harvest listed as 2,341 moose of 6000 permits sold.. Seems there are a lot of Moose in New Brunswick or at least everyone is quite successful. (Is these kills Legal or Illegal ??) In 2010, a Moose Nonresident License Draw for 100 tickets will be available for $40 to enter the draw. online or by phone ( 1-800-994-2666). Each hunter may enter once per year with results available after May17 and must be purchased by June 11, 2010. (I believe non successful draw applications are also not refundable)

Magnetic Hill - Magnet or Magic Moncton N.B. without the tourist attraction of Magnetic Hill just north on the Trans Canada; is like a fish out of water. Do you know that there are 17 countries in the world which have the optical illusion of cars going up the hill. And of course, the Americans have the most with 21 separate locations. (Wikipedia) Some are called Magic Hill and others Magnetic Hill. Here I will show photos and YouTube.com links to Northern Ireland, India, Australia and of course Moncton. , Most important if you read all, you will find the unexplainable reason for why vehicles are drawn uphill, so please enjoy.Also, this summer a lot of cars will have the white paper on their car-dash, (in the top Moncton Hill photo) because this is a receipt for the $5 now charged to tourists visiting this always-was-free ride-up the Moncton Magnetic Hill. Maybe the tourists will instead decide to visit one of 6 locations in Canada with a magnetic hills experience. . Video are watched by clicking the small photos)
The sign (top right) is from India's "Ladakh: Magnetic Hill" Interesting, in both videos the motorcyclist almost gets hit.
Well, Moncton cannot be a Martimes tourist must-visit city, unless we visit Magnet Hill just north of the city. When I was a teenager and visited Moncton's Magnetic Hill; I remember the Old Restaurant on the left with the huge Sign showing a Magnet. The open section of the Horseshoe Magnet pointing down towards the hill; sort of like if it was pulling the cars back up the hill. To us kids, we really thought that magnet had power and expected that it would pull us into it "U". Kids are like that. And some of the videos seem to likewise have kids' comments to explain the excitement.
For my french grandkids "Quand j'étais adolescent et ai visité "Magnetic Hill" ; je me souvient du Vieux Resturant sur la gauche avec le grande Signe qui montre un Aimant. La section ouverte de ce l'Aimant de Fer à cheval, indique en bas vers la colline Magnétique. Les genres de comment s'il tirait de voitures a haut de la colline. A nous blaguons, nous avons pensé vraiment que l'aimant a eu le pouvoir et a prévu qu'il nous tirerait dans lui « U ». Les enfants sont comme ça. " Aussi a Chartierville il y a une "Route Magique" Le seul reference je trouve etait "Hill starts at intersection of Bowen Mountain Road and Westbury Road ... des Gardes and Renaison near the village Les Noës, known as route magique"

France, two basic Sites Route Magique, Deux angles, en haut et en bas
" et deuxieme local "La curiosité de Lauriol"











Now how does it work. Well, the 2010 Best Visual Illusion award was presented in Naples to Kokichi Sugihara, a japanese scientist of Meiji Institute for Adv Study of Mathematical Sciences. The video must beseen to appreciate the illusion,so enjoy it and all the following magnetic hill experiences (Videos).
Australia - Orroroo, A small town of 543 in South Australia won't have a lot of tourist. Two others in NSW are "Gravity Hill" (Moonbi) and Magnetic Mountain (Bowen). In the video on Youtube, the auzzie says "O Weeell, tht wos xsitng" and " javeha ff card" Of course, at the video start it does not work and comments are worst the watching.

Ireland's Magic Hill And Electric Bray. Here's three video. Laugh,laugh,
> who's driving the car, and Mourne Mountain with Watch the hill guys.

Shediac- Bay of Fundy Beaches Waiting to learn if my grand kids will make a visit to Moncton this summer where they can discover the unique maritime beaches. Like Shediac Parlee Beach (photo)
First of importance are Tides. Within a one hour drive south to the Bay of Fundy; once can see them raise as high as 12.5 meters (Bay of Fundy 12.9 high to 01.1 Low).
Such great seascene as Hopewell Rock just south of Moncton show clearly how much the water raises as we walk on the ocean Floor. Of course the beaches might required that you walk for miles to reach the water. This is the tidal change which is the result for the Tidal Bore we see here in Moncton and in the Hopewell Rock composite picture.
Only 30 miles northeast are the Shediac-P.E.I coast where the Tides are of only one meter differences allow for sandy beaches with little water level change. (Northumberland Strait tide change of 1.3meter high and 00.3 Low Tide) Now one can see completely different wonders of Nature. Scenes such as the Bouctouche Sand Dunes are unique in their development because they are in the middle of the Northumberland Strait and shifting all the time. At the Irving Eco-Centre, visitors can walk on the beaches or for miles through the sand dunes on eco-friendly pathways. Of course, PlanetWare.com, describes this area as "One of the few remaining sand dunes on the northeast coast of North America is preserved here. The dune extends across Bouctouche Bay and this provides a vital marine habitat. Various research projects such as dune monitoring and restoration; an insect inventory; a butterfly count; a migratory shorebird survey; (even) a piping plover monitoring project are conducted on the site."
But all along this coast from Shediac to the Quebec border, one finds unique natural sights worst the time to make a proper visit. Soon I will do a Blog entirely on Shediac where we will go all summer, but for now.. it will wait.
For the travelling tourist going across Canada, the Transcanada leaves Moncton for the border . The flat areas and tidal changes between the two provinces of New Brunswick and Nova Scotia (about 70 miles south) toward Sackville NB and Amherst NS. can be seen with all its unique natural scenes. The Tantramar Marshes were unique in the earlier days of sailing ships and even for hay feed for the army horses of the 1st WW and Troy Johnstone's photographs show this beauty.
"In the 1880s, the isthmus (of chignecto, of which the marsh is the major part)was the site of one of Canada's earliest mega-projects: construction of a broad-gauge railway from the port of Amherst to the Northumberland Strait at Tidnish for carrying small cargo and passenger ships. This ship railway was never successfully operational, and construction was abandoned shortly before completion." Wilipedia.org
This short 2 to 3 miles of marsh railway was thought to prevent ships from going all around Nova Scotia in order to enter the St-Laurence River and Seaway. Today , scenes of the remains of theseTwin Bridges can be seen as they cross creeks and water in many marsh areas and along beachs access approach roads.

Moncton.. Boot and River and Hockey. Well, News over the last weeks in the Moncton Area has been about these three major things.. Look at that beautiful blue water of the Petitcodiac River.

And with the causeway open for only a month or so it is clear to see the muddy color of the river changing to a more beautiful site along the banks of Moncton. Probably, the color or when the larger ships docked on the Moncton River edge. Bravo.. Nature has won one battle against Man.

The boot, or Wheel Clamp has capture cars all spring, and opinion about the device and its legal argument has been discussed on the radio and in the newspapers. Where private parking lots in the downtown area have been using the Boot and car owners charged $75 to get it removed; everyone has had their stories. Almost every day there has been something, from Lawyers in Fredericton (N.B.'s Capital) and Moncton declaring it as illegal; to the Riverview, the hub-city twin, wanting to pass an Municipal bylaw which bans the boot. Latest, has been a Downtown organization concern with the effect such parking problems with have on summer tourist; creating signs for all private Parking Lots.

Then there has been the Hockey finals. Montreal in the Stanley Cup has found a lot of support in this Acadian city with two and three MC banners flying from cars. But most hockey attention has gone to the Moncton's Quebec Major Junior Hockey
League, the "TigerCats". After having won the Eastern division against the St-John (NB) Dogs, they are now fighting for the Memorial Cup in Brandon Man. Here the four top teams, each winning their regional finals fight for the 2010 Memorial Cup. Tonight's Brandon Wheat Kings and last years cup winner, Windsor Spitfires start play; with Moncton Wildcats meeting the Calgary Hitman tomorrow.

But my biggest excitement is the Petitcodiac River which I remember from my youth as a major attraction. I knew the Magnetic Hill and was happy to see with all the development there with Zoo, Concert area and Tourist attractions has not changed the Hill. You can still without charge, drive your car to the hill and allow it to roll back up the hill. But where it is normal for me and my companion to go down to the Petitcodiac along the edge of downtown Moncton and watch the Tidal Bore Arrival. It has always been a muddy river, whether downtown or up one of the inlets. Today, the Tidal Bore is higher and in today's paper we have a photo from up river where the river water is blue. Yes Blue...!!! One says we are seeing History as these changes occur. It is good to see the difference in water level, the tidal Bore size, but even greater is the excitement of the fish which are being found in the river.

I can remember as a child in Springhill walking back from Oxford with fishing rods full with Gaspereau caught on the river there. It is a bony fish but about 12 to 18 inches long and does it migration at this time of the river. To those who may have in the old days saw the waters black with Salmons now the Gaspereau will do the same migration treat. Every kid deserve the excitement of a Jigged Gaspereau running up and down the stream or river. If my daughter has experienced that in their youth instead of pond trout fishing; they might still be interested in the outdoors activity.

A ceux qui peuvent avoir dans les vieux jours a vu les rivieres noir avec avec Saumons maintenant le Gaspereau fera le même plaisir, avec leurs migration. Chaque enfant mérite l'agitation d'un Gaspereau sur leur ligne et le laisse accumuler en haut et en bas le ruisseau ou as la rivière. Si mes filles a éprouvé cela dans leur jeunesse, au lieu de leur pêche à la truite; ils pourraient être toujours intéressés dans l'activité de plein air.

NEW BLOG IMAGE. One would think that a photo of 1800 ships at the Moncton Wharf on the Petitcodiac River is the OLD. Not so.. This Blog was started several years ago and titled "Our Invisible World"because I wrote about things I saw in daily life which we ignore to be Socially Correct. Today, I will change the image and page structure and the contents will be for my grandchildren and their parents. Writing about Moncton N.B., on Canada's East coast and my life of retirement back home where I grow up. Enjoy, I will attempt to do two entries a week and may even throw in a little French (Acadian live around this area)

The Moncton Newspaper is the Times & Transcript and recent news has been about the recent "Release" of the Petitcodiac River. Blocked just above Moncton by a Causeway which allowed traffic across the to Riverview on the opposite bank and forming what some called Lake Petitcodiac This photograph shows why the river has been nicknamed "Chocolate River" and we must go to the Telegraph Journal (St-John) for the whole story. (Click Link for News Story)

Here are some extracts.

"In the early 1970s, people stopped fishing the Petitcodiac because there were no fish," Victor LeBlanc says. "Before, you could go out and catch maybe 200 shad, now you might catch 10."

"LeBlanc, a retired school teacher from Belliveau Village, near Memramcook, is one of only about a dozen people who still have a licence to fish the Petitcodiac,.....

His father and grandfather were among as many as 150 fishermen who had licences to fish on the Petitcodiac prior to the construction of the causeway. The main fisheries at the time were Atlantic salmon, gaspereau, smelt, sturgeon and shad."

Today, we buy a Tim Horton Coffee and go down beside the old Moncton Wharf (which is no longer there) and watch for the Tidal Bore. When the Bay of Fundy Tides rises faster than it can get up the river it creates a wave running up the river followed by the higher tide. Betty and I watched for 6 months almost 2 or 3 times a week before seeing it.

The Telegraph Journal writes "Fort Folly First Nation Chief Joe Knockwood recalls the tidal bore that came up the Petitcodiac and the loud rumbling sound that signalled its arrival."
"It was high. It was beautiful," he says. "It's one big wave coming upriver and that's the tide coming in "¦ you can hear it. It's just rolling, rapid. It's a lot of noise like a river tearing a huge wave."
Fort Folly First Nation is located downriver from Moncton just outside of Dorchester.

God keep you..

Pour les enfant (francais) "Rappelle le Vague de Marée qui est monté le Petitcodiac et le son grondant bruyant qui a signalé son arrivée ». « C'était haut. C'était beau, » il dit. « C'est une grande vague qui vient en amont et cela est la marée qui suive » ¦ vous pouvez l'entendre. Il roule juste, le rapide. Il est beaucoup de bruit comme une rivière déchirant une vague énorme ».