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Hunting in Dufferin County Forest Notice

Hi everyone, please be advised that as of Oct 1st hunting is permitted in various County Forest Tracts including the Main Tract.

https://www.dufferincounty.ca/forest/hunting

Hunting is not restricted just to the main specific seasons we all know about…deer, turkey, bow & shotgun. Hunting of other small game and fowl is now permitted until the spring (May 31st) so you may encounter hunters at any time moving forward, any day of the week hunting for many other game. There is no hunting allowed on Sundays in the Main Tract.

Please wear bright colours, make your presence known and be aware of your surroundings and if you take your dog, best to get a hi-vis vest for them as well (hunting for coyote and fox is permitted from now until may 31st).

Stay safe and enjoy the trails!

******Important********See below for all the permitted types of hunting….

2020-2021 Hunting Seasons

Please note that the Dufferin County Forest is mainly within two Wildlife Management

Units as defined by the Ministry of Natural Resources and Forestry:

WMU 77 east of Airport Road and WMU 81 west of Airport Road

There is no hunting allowed in any part of the Dufferin County Forest from June 1 to September 30.

Bullfrogs	July 15 – Oct. 15
Pheasant	Sept. 25 – Dec.31
Squirrel	Sept. 25 – Dec. 31
Ruffed Grouse	Sept. 25 – Dec. 31
Rabbits, Hares	Sept. 25 – last day of February
Deer (bows only)	October 1 – November 1
	November 7-29
	December 5-31
Wild Turkey (bows only)	October 1 – 31
Wild Turkey (firearms)	October 13 – 25
Raccoon	Oct. 5 – Jan. 31
Weasel	Oct. 25 – last day of February
Opossum	Oct. 5 – Jan. 31
Deer (shotguns)	November 2 – 6
	November 30 – December 4
Wild Turkey	April 25 – May 31, 2021
Wolf, Coyote	all year
Red Fox	all year
Skunk	all year

Eric’s Birthday Ride…Sat 1:30

Hi everyone, Sat is Eric’s Birthday…he actually gets it on his actual birthday for real!

1:30 start and Eric will be our fearless leader!

See ya!

Gobble Gobble, Sunday Ride

Hey everyone, we are going out for an afternoon ride at 1:30 on Sunday. Looks like a beauty day to spend some time in the Forest!

See ya! Happy Thanksgiving!

Fun TVG Swag!!

TVG now has it’s own face covering, neck warmer, headband, “head warmer” (under your helmet)….(like a Buff).

Great for lots of stuff.

If you donated $25 or more to TVG in 2020 you get one for free! If you want one, just donate $25 or more to the cause.

Come see me when in the parking lot and let me know you qualify as I’ll have them with me. I’ll see how many folks I can get them to this way and if I need to I may consider mailing some out (only if required ). You can also pick one up on some one else behalf if you know they donated.

Saturday Ride 11:30 am

Hi gang, we’re going to head out Sat morning for a ride.

11:30 am start.

See you!

Central Ontario Loop Trail (COLT) – Our take

A couple weeks back Jeff and I took part in a 3 day bikepacking tour of Central Ontario, following the route by Matt Kady (BT700 creator).   We decided to start and finish up in Haliburton at James and Savannahs cottage on Koshlong Lake.  Which was a perfect place to get the adventure started.

A little background, the COLT is a gravel and rail trail loop around central Ontario, hence the name Central Ontario Loop Trail.  It is a ride that you can follow turn by turn, or do what we did and made it a choose your own adventure.  We had end locations where we wanted to get to, Cambellford, Bancroft and Haliburton.  Having these as our goals made sure we stayed on track and on time.  That being said it made for some long days, but that is all part of the adventure.

Bike setup.  For me, I rode my new Marin Pine Mountain with all the bags on it from our Newfoundland ride.  The Revelate designs tail bag, front bag, gastank bag, and a Banjo Brothers frame bag which was perfect!  I was able to keep 3 bottles mounted on the bike with the frame bag.  The tent, chair, spare parts, food everything was on the bike.

Jeff on the other hand picked up a trailer to pull. What a great idea, and the ease of packing, and storage was insane.  No extra weight on the bike, all was behind.    It was a Burley Coho XC trailer.  He also upgraded the wheel to something more for off roading.

Coho XC®

As for the ride, we started out Thursday morning on the bikes by 8am setting off to the Haliburton County Rail Trail, and going south towards Kinmount and Fenlon Falls.  The weather was not great, with just mist and cool.  Made everything nice and damp to start the day.  Our first stop on the tour was Fenlon Falls at the Sobeys to stock up on food and water.  I grabbed a nice 1.5l bottle of water in which Jeff wouldn’t carry in his trailer.  So mean.  The section of trail between Haliburton and Fenlon Falls was pretty good, there were a couple sections that were a little soft, and not great for thinner tires, but the 2.6s on my bike had no problems at all.   Our next stop was going towards Peterborough.   This stretch of rail trail was amazing.  We got slightly lost in Lindsay but we found our way, and hit a No Frills in Peterborough.   From Peterborough we were going to make the push to Cambellford.  This was a push for sure.  Lucky for us the weather got better, the sun was out, not much of a breeze.  After a long 9+hr ride day and 180km we made it to Cambellford for a well deserved meal at a local diner, called Be My Guest.  The amount of food that was scarfed down was shocking, but very needed.   Oh it was sooooo good.  From there we had a short ride over to Ferris Provincial Park where we would sleep for the night… Well lack of sleep…  Provincial parks are great, but when a child is screaming bloody murder from 8:30pm thru to 2am, you don’t get much sleep…

The next morning we woke up to a brisk morning.  We knew that the day would not be as long as the previous, but we did have around 120km to cover to get to Bancroft.  We started the day with a delicious Tim Hortons breakfast and coffee and away we went.  We decided to follow a quick country road for a bit before hitting the rail trail again.  We had a short section of rail trail before hitting the road to grab some supplies in Marmora.  This section is where we had a slight issue that almost derailled the whole ride.  Jeff hit a pot hole on the road which snapped the rear thru axle that holds the trailer to the bike.  After some much need cursing thinking, swearing, contimplating, choice profanity, Jeff ended up McGyvering the bike together to at least get to a hardware store to do a more permanent fix.  This detour and delay put us a bit behind schedule, which we looked at the map and decided to hit some beauty back roads to try and get to Bancroft as quick as we could.  I must say there are some amazing quiet roads in the area, and so many worth while trying.  Out last stint we decided to hit Hwy 62 to get to Bancroft around dinner.  The drivers that went by us, all were great giving us a tonnes of room!  We ended up getting to Bancroft around 6pm, just in time for dinner, which we were lucky enough to stay at Jeff and Karens place.  They gave us food, warm showers and allowed us to warm up our gear in preparation for the final day.  It is so nice to have a hot shower!!

Day 3, the final tour back to Haliburton.  This would be our shortest ride day, covering around 100km.  We woke up to a brisk 2deg C temps, so we decided to wait a couple hours before hitting the road.  When we did it had warmed up to around 9C, and toured over to Tim Hortons again for the daily breakfast and coffee.  Looking at the map, we made a gameplan to ride some quiet back roads.  The only problem on this day, we didn’t have the same abundance of supplies, so we had to be sure to be prepared for 4hrs of riding before we could refuel.  We lucked out with the weather, a beautiful sunny day, and it did warm up nicely.  This day had some major climbs though, first coming out of Bancroft, and then a few between Bancroft and Haliburton.  Nothing that killed you, but they were long and just kept going and going and going.  But all the climbing was worth it coming back into Haliburton.  The downhill we got, wow!!!  When a sign says 9% grade downhill, you just let it go.  One thing I noticed with my setup was any speed above 50km/hr the bike decided to become unstable.  So for me I was limited a bit compared to Jeff who flew down the hills!  Haliburton on a Saturday is a busy place, but for us a great place to take a final break before the last 8km to the cottage.  The rail trail from Haliburton back to Koshlong was great.  All in all we finished just shy of 400km in the 3 days.

Some thoughts after the ride…. It was a great adventure, a lot of time to think and contimplate and just to forget about everything.  I need a new saddle, one more comfortable…. Pack a little lighter, there was a bunch of gear on the bike that was never used…. What will the next adventure be, BT700 for sure….. Would I ride with Jeff again, 100%!!!!!!….

Would I do this tour again, 100%, I may change it up, add a day possibly just to be more enjoyable, but all in all amazing tour.

Saturday Ride 11am

Hi all, there is a ride happening at DCF at 11am Sat morning. Have a great ride!

Fun Fat Bike news!!!

Hmmm, what’s this all about???

It’s been floating around out there…Mansfield Outdoor Centre will be opening this year for Fat Biking on weekends! We’ve been working with them on grooming techniques and MOC single track trails and they are set to go this winter.

The end result will be approx 5-7km of groomed MOC single track, 30 plus kms of groomed MOC 2 track and then you can still access the 18km’s of groomed single track in DCF. No more freezing in an unplowed parking lot as there will always be somewhere inside to change and grab a bite or refreshment.

Lots of details to come in the next few weeks.  Is it too early to get excited about Fat Biking???

Feel free to pass this on to anyone that you think may be interested.

Sunday Ride…Hardwood Hills

As a bunch of us are doing the Epic 8 next week (2 TVG solos, two TVG teams of 4 and a guest solo….so far!) we are going to ride HWH on Sunday.

2 pm start. Anyone is welcome to join in. This will be weather permitting so if rain is in the forecast for Sat/Sunday check for any updates to make sure it’s still a go. No news is good news.

Airport Road Closure Notice

Just a reminder to anyone travelling Airport Rd next week. Airport Rd will be completely closed from Sept 8th-Sept 11th inclusive from Dufferin Rd 17 (lights in Mansfield) to Dufferin Rd 21 (flashing light north of River Rd, old Foxy Burger Rd).

These directions are coming from the South.

The best way to get to DCF will be to turn left (west) at the lights in Mansfield and go to the 4th line. Turn right on the 4th (north) and go to the 20th Sideroad (River Rd). Then turn right (east) on the 20th to Airport Rd and turn right (south) on Airport Rd to DCF. It will add 10-15 minutes to your drive.

Sunday Ride 1pm

Hi gang, we’re going to head out at 1pm tomorrow for a ride. Trails are in great shape after the recent rains…

Happy hour to follow at our place.

Dufferin County Forest user survey reminder

Hi everyone, just a reminder to please fill out this survey for DCF. It took me 5 minutes to do it. Completing this is very important as the information collected is compiled and then can have influence on the Forest Operation Plan. The County is asking for your feedback and there are some questions in the survey that are completely worth answering and you are able to include your comments as well on topics such as what you would like to see in the future to enhance your enjoyment. Take the time to add comments if you don’t see something there you would like.

This is a very easy way to have our voice as cyclists heard by Council. Pass it around (Facebook groups, friends, family..) to anyone you know who is a user and encourage them to fill it out.

Thanks everybody, this is how we can make a difference.

Here is a direct link to the Survey.

https://joinindufferin.com/county-forest-operating-plan/survey_tools/review-comments

https://joinindufferin.com/county-forest-operating-plan

Sunday Ride DCF 2pm

Lots of rain so the trails are going to be awesome! 2pm start for a ??km ride…maybe some “adventure ride” as well. Happy hour at the river after. Can’t ride but want to happy hour? No problem just let me know…

Friday night fun ride

I’ve been talking about this for a while. Sorry for the short notice but it just got figured out now.

Tonight 7:30 start, fun ride, “flowier”  set of trails and lights!! We plan on starting in the daylight and finishing in the dark. Finally, a night ride that is not -10 degrees.

Saturday Ride DCF 2pm

Ride time, 2pm, happy hour and river dip to fallow. As usual, bring river shoes and swimsuit!

Can’t make the ride? NP. Feel free to join the happy hour. Ride will likely be done by 4ish, HH at 4:30.