Campfires are great places to have discussions. There’s no better way to spark up a meaningful conversation than around a fire. Over the years, it’s the chats with friends around fires that have stuck with me the most. 

 In this Outdoor Narrative series, Kevin Dergez and I will get together each week, around a fire, to talk about stuff related to the outdoors, hunting, fishing, wildlife and wild issues. I’m Robert Koopmans, and welcome to Around the Fire. 

 This week, Kevin and I dove into a topic almost too deep to talk about — saving species from extinction, and what’s happening in the Interior of BC with Thompson River steelhead. The story of the decline of steelhead in the Interior has been ongoing for decades now, and sadly, the chapter on our steelhead looks to be coming to a close.

 Kevin and I chatted, in all our simplistic ignorance, about why we think the decline of steelhead has happened, as well as steps we need to take as we ponder the best way to save the species we share a planet with … 

 Thanks for listening. If you have a question or a comment, send me an email at [email protected].

Campfires are great places to have discussions. There’s no better way to spark up a meaningful conversation than around a fire. Over the years, it’s the chats with friends around fires that have stuck with me the most. 

 In this Outdoor Narrative series, Kevin Dergez and I will get together each week, around a fire, to talk about stuff related to the outdoors, hunting, fishing, wildlife and wild issues. I’m Robert Koopmans, and welcome to Around the Fire. 

This week, Kevin and I chatted about the ones that got away, as well as plans that those missed opportunities often spark for the future.

 Thanks for listening. If you have a question or a comment, send me an email at [email protected].

Campfires are great places to have discussions. There’s no better way to spark up a meaningful conversation than around a fire. Over the years, it’s the chats with friends around fires that have stuck with me the most. In this series, Kevin Dergez and I get together each week, around a fire, to talk about stuff related to the outdoors, hunting, fishing, wildlife and wild issues. I’m Robert Koopmans, and welcome to Around the Fire. 

Today Kevin and I are talking about a new suite of hunting regulations being proposed by the BC government for the 2020 hunting season, and how important it is for everyone who cares about such things to get involved…

 This year the government is proposing 95 updates, revisions or entirely new regulations. Some of the proposals seem straightforward, although more than few of them have some potential to raise eyebrows …

Link to the proposed regulations: https://engage.gov.bc.ca/govtogetherbc/impact/angling-hunting-and-trapping-results/

Welcome to The Outdoor Narrative, my podcast about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columbia and western Canada.

I’m Robert Koopmans and this week I’m talking with Ed Henczel, who joined me on a bowhunting trip to Texada Island in search of Columbia blacktail deer. 

 Texada Island is a small island located off the Sunshine Coast out of Powell River. It’s considered one of the Gulf Islands, and like many of these islands, it has an abundant population of blacktail deer. The deer were introduced decades ago and with no natural predators, their numbers have taken off.

 The island is rugged and mountainous and covered in thick rainforest. It is a much different environment than the fir and grassland hillsides I’m used to walking in search of mule deer in the Interior. 

 Ed and I ventured there for a few days over the New Year break, hoping to take advantage of a one-month bow-only season from December 15 to January 15. The season offers a liberal harvest limit of three deer a year, and two of those deer can be does. 

 We had hoped to spend a week there, but unfortunately, Mother Nature intervened, and the arrival of a massive winter storm changed our plans. We left a day earlier than expected, hoping to outrun the advancing weather.

 We chatted about the time we had on the island — as well as some interesting new hunting regulations being proposed by the BC government — as we waited for a ferry in Langdale en route to the Lower Mainland. 

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. If you want to share a thought, send me an email at [email protected].  I’m Robert Koopmans, thanks again, and we’ll catch you next time.

Welcome to Episode 37 of The Outdoor Narrative, my podcast about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columba and western Canada.

 I’m Robert Koopmans and this week I talked to Kevin Dergez, a friend of mine who also shares a passion for wild pursuits.

 When I started this podcast nearly a year ago, Kevin was the first person I talked with, in an ice fishing hut on Rose Lake near Kamloops. It seemed fitting, then, to wrap up the season with a discussion with Kevin.

 We sat down one morning this week to talk about how our summers went, and how fast it all seemed to fly by. We also talked about what the next few months look like and finding a balance in life between the things we want to do and things we have to do.

 ***

 This will be the last podcast episode of The Outdoor Narrative for 2019. With Christmas around the corner and some work demands looming, it felt like a good place to end Season 1. I’ll be back in January, though, with a new plan and a co-host. Kevin has agreed to help out with the show, and will join me in some new weekly segments we have planned. I’m looking forward to those conversations and his perspectives on outdoors activities.

 Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. If you want to share a thought, send me an email at [email protected].  I’m Robert Koopmans, thanks again, and we’ll catch you next year.

Welcome to Episode 36 of The Outdoor Narrative, my podcast about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columba and western Canada.

 I’m Robert Koopmans and this week I talked to Kamloops fishing guide Jordan Oelrich about fishing in Alaska for predatory rainbow trout. Later in this episode, I also chat with Megan Robertson from Cabela’s about the retail giant’s Canada Outdoor Fund. 

 ***

 I have always been fascinated by the relationship between rainbow trout and salmon. Every year, in rivers and lakes where salmon spawn, including around Kamloops, trout key up in big numbers to take advantage of an abundant food source. Like bears prowling a riverbank to fatten up before winter, trout cruise in search of salmon eggs in the fall and smolts and fry in the spring. It often makes for intense fishing as the hungry trout feed aggressively on a resource that lasts for only a short period of time.

 Kamloops fishing guide Jordan Oelrich recently made a week-long trip to Katmai National Park in Alaska to fish for rainbows that show up with the waves of salmon there. This was a scouting mission, as he is planning to take clients north for the experience in October 2020.

 While the fishing for salmon-focussed trout in our area can be interesting, it is downright wild in Alaska, Jordan says, as the spectacular surroundings add to the experience. Throw in scores of 1,000-pound grizzlies to share the riverbanks and you have a trip impossible to forget.

 I chatted with Jordan about his experience, the fishing and how it is both similar and different from fishing for rainbow trout in salmon rivers in southern B.C.

 ***

With 10 superstores across the country, Cabela’s is an outdoors retail giant. The stores, with walls lined with amazing displays of taxidermy depicting North American game species in wild settings, are a must-see experience for anyone interested in outdoors activities.

 A few years ago, Cabela’s started a program across Canada that offers customers the opportunity to round up their purchase to the next dollar. Those dimes and pennies are collected and used to fund a program that gives money to groups working to improve hunting and fishing sports or the environment.

 To date, the store has provided more than $500,000 in grants, including several groups in B.C. such as the Wild Sheep Society of BC and a variety of educational programs designed to provide outdoors opportunities for children.

 I spoke with Megan Robertson, who works in the Abbotsford store, about the Canada Outdoors Fund.

 ***

Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. If you want to share a thought, send me an email at [email protected].  I’m Robert Koopmans, thanks again, and we’ll catch you next time.

 Jordan Oelrich's website: http://interiorflyfishingco.com

Info about Cabela's Canada Outdoor Fund: https://www.cabelas.ca/pages/outdoorfund#apply

Welcome to Episode 35 of The Outdoor Narrative, a podcast about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columba and western Canada.

 This week, I talked to Stacy Webb and Adrian Clarke of the Freshwater Fisheries Society of BC about raising sport fish, illegally introduced species (including goldfish and an occasional piranha) and the science behind stocking the wildest trout possible from hatchery environments. 

 Most anglers never think about where the fish they catch come from. They are just there, always present and hopefully eager to bite. The fact is, many of our best sportfishing lakes offer great fishing only because of the work of the Freshwater Fisheries Society, the not-for profit agency that runs B.C.’s fish hatcheries and stocking programs.

 The program is supported entirely by money from the sale of fishing licences in B.C. The sportfishing crowd is getting older, however, which means fewer people to buy licences as the years pass.

 The FFSBC is well aware of the trend and works hard every year to encourage new, younger anglers to give fishing a try. It’s just one of the many challenges FFSBC staff face when managing a complex operation across a diverse province such as B.C. … 

 Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. If you want to share a thought, send me an email at [email protected].

 I’m Robert Koopmans, thanks again, and we’ll catch you next time.

Welcome to Episode 34 of The Outdoor Narrative. Every week, I chat with people about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columbia.

 This week, hunting friends Jeremy Jensen and Matt Jennings joined me at my home as we cut up a young mule deer buck we were lucky enough to kill a couple of days before …

For most hunters, high-quality meat is the prize. And while the work you do with a firearm or a bow when hunting deer is a critical part of the experience, it is not the most important part in determining how your meat will turn out.

How you treat an animal after it has been shot is more important to the quality of the meat than almost any other factor. Paying attention to all the details from the shot to the freezer will determine in large part how enjoyable your eating experience is going to be.

 Butchering your own animal is one way to ensure all the right steps are taken, and cutting your own meat adds to the hunting experience by completing that field to table process…

 Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. If you have a question or a comment, or an idea for a show, send me an e-mail at  [email protected]. I’m Robert Koopmans, thanks again, and we’ll catch you next time.

Welcome to Episode 33 of The Outdoor Narrative. I’m Robert Koopmans and every week I talk with interesting people about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columbia.

This week, I talked to Jess Findlay, an exceptionally talented wildlife photographer based in Burnaby. Jess is a passionate, motivated photographer who at just 26 years old has done more with a camera than most people who are twice his age …

 Every once in a while, you come across someone with talent that, well, to borrow a cliché, simply takes your breath away. Jess is one of those people. There are few adjectives to describe his ability to capture evocative and emotional photos of birds and animals in their natural environment.

 Jess has photographed extensively in B.C., Alaska and elsewhere throughout the Pacific Northwest. His travels also take regularly him to locations in Central and South America.

 He has won many awards, including the Natural History Museum Wildlife Photographer of the Year. His work has been featured in the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History, the London Natural History Museum and the Royal British Columbia Museum.

 Jess shared with me some of the stories behind his favourite photos, what he’s working on these days, as well as some tips for those with aspirations to capture nature and wildlife with their own cameras…

If you’re at all interested in wildlife photography, do yourself a favour and check out Jess’s website at www.jessfindlay.com. 

Welcome to Episode 33 of The Outdoor Narrative. I’m Robert Koopmans and every week I talk with interesting people about fishing, hunting and other wild pursuits in British Columbia.

This week, I talked to Lee James Mcguigan, a Canadian researcher based in New York, who has taken a keen interest in the motivations behind hunting televisions shows. In particular, Lee has sought to better understand why displays of killing are shown almost as forms of entertainment in shows that claim to be about conservation, ethics and sportsmanship.

 It’s hard to find a hunting show — and some are worse than others — that does not emphasize, sensationalize or glorify the act of killing an animal as part of the hunting narrative. Last year, Lee wrote an academic research paper about the links between commercial messaging and kill scenes in hunting videos. 

 That paper, which was published in a journal related to television studies, served as the basis for our discussion …

 Thanks for listening to this week’s episode. As always, if you like the show please subscribe through Apple Podcasts or wherever you find your podcasts and leave a review or a rating. As well, if you have a question or comment, send me a message through Facebook or Instagram or an email to [email protected].