WILD HOMESTEAD w/ James Alofs | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 161

Name: WILD HOMESTEAD w/ James Alofs | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 161 | Open Video
Uploaded: 2025-03-20T17:40:16+00:00
Duration: 1 h 25 min 47 s

0:00
hey folks it's tronto Sportsman Showtime March 13th to 16th the fishing Canada show is celebrating its 40th year with
0:07
contests meet and greets and fishing Canada merch come celebrate 40 Years of our history plus if you show up with a
0:13
fishing Canada story of your own you might even make it on to an episode fishing Canada fans are getting 15% off
0:19
their admission price by purchasing with the link on our website don't miss out on this incredible opportunity to spend
0:25
a weekend with the fishing Canada guys at this year's Toronto Sportsman Show
0:35
[Applause] this episode of Outdoor Journal radio is brought to you in part by the invasive
0:42
species Center protecting Canada's land and water from invasive species Freedom
0:48
Cruise Canada rent the boat own the memories jmbb Cyca Marine your home for
0:55
all things Power Sports boats and equipment and sail the ultimate
1:01
destination for your Outdoor Adventures did we ever see a wombat I'm
1:06
just thinking about that did we ever run into a wombat no I don't know if we did or not
1:13
they're kind of a weird looking Critter we might saw one we saw platypus I know
1:19
we did that for sure uh well hello there thank you for joining us again sorry
1:24
Caught Us Mid conversation there yeah a wombat I am weird today are you yeah I'm
1:32
[ __ ] partying last night you had a couple a couple extras you know I cannot
1:39
uh divulge okay oh my you uh have you given yourself are you have you put
1:45
yourself into a a state of you're so tired now you can't even do your treadmill at home or you still on to
1:51
that right now lately I can the last I can neither confirm nor deny okay so he's not doing a treadmill anymore
1:57
because if you were doing it you'd be be a proud uh you know what that might have a lot to do with how I feel right
2:03
now good point I never even thought of that how's the diet are you eating properly or is shitty di no it's good
2:10
okay I'm good I'm good I'm good um James alofs for those of you who
2:18
remember that gentleman he was with us uh on a previous episode uh although on that episode He
2:24
was discussing uh chemicals that were being put into the ground on Crown Land
2:29
yes but uh he's also now he's putting cement foundations in exact that's right we'll
2:36
have to ask him about that he now is a homesteader and has a YouTube channel called wild Homestead and doing
2:43
extremely well um I think he's about a year into the project and we're going to
2:49
catch up with him in uh in the Wilds wild H moving downtown to Toronto
2:55
to up north somewhere in the middle of nowhere so w crazy uh we'll see what
3:01
he's got to say it was episode 123 when he was on the show last and the title of that was they're spraying what on our
3:08
Crown Land come on now what was that about does anybody remember you remember that episode wasn't was DDT or something
3:15
like that no it couldn't be DDT was it no it was all the chemicals are I think the forestry companies are are using I
3:22
forget the name of them but they're was the the Chinese forestry kind right now I remember that yeah they're spraying
3:28
them to keep all the weeds down and everything like that it's basically a Roundup yeah ah right right right but I
3:35
think we're the only Province or place in the world that allows them to do it h it was it was a good one yeah we'll have
3:41
to go back and revisit that uh anyways he'll be joining us shortly talking about homesteading how's your mouth Dean
3:49
sore sore yeah very sore you don't look sore you look okay I mean you told me earlier I look sore you know I said you
3:55
don't didn't look good TV now didn't look good you don't look too good didn't say anything look sorry just say he
4:01
didn't look good that's all that's fair I didn't get my makeup today that's
4:07
why what's that I didn't get my makeup today that's why oh that's right I see you glowing you put a makeup on us you
4:13
know baa excuse me see you glowing look even listen to us why would why would he listen bus he's uh I want Dean made up
4:20
if we if we have to put makeup on I want Dean to have makeup on too and you too vaa you should be put it on yourself
4:26
just to just to show us that it's you know solid we're not weird or anything that would be solidarity right there
4:32
even if he doesn't need it he just puts it on because boys are getting it I'm getting it too team we're a team I like
4:39
that thank you I like that anyways uh a great episode as mentioned uh James will
4:46
join us here shortly beforehand uh shop. fishing canada.com or fishing canada.com
4:53
and go to shop get your stuff get all your good stuff I got this wonderful uh
4:58
quarter zip qu full zip Look At You full zip Bud wow I like that look at this
5:04
thing the full zip with the embroidery on it I like this comfortable piece like
5:10
they're all com this I can't believe the these hoodies how nice they are to wear I have to say uh you too can uh be
5:18
wearing one of these as soon as you go to fishing.com and make that happen or you might be one of the lucky
5:25
winners uh later on here this morning will be pulling out are we yeah we're
5:32
doing so stay tuned uh listener feedback Mr Bowman yeah listen your feedback um
5:39
uh Michael be we might not say your name I might not say your name properly here but pronounce it properly
5:46
Michael jeck how is that sound JZ J how about
5:53
jur or hez I'm not sure if you pronounced the J sorry Michael for butchering that up but uh we really we
5:59
give them hell for not sending their names and then they send their names and we butcher them probably fake Michael's
6:05
probably he's probably Michael Reynolds or something he just made it up just so get these guys I don't even know what to
6:10
do anymore in response to episode8 should we be eating large M
6:16
bass that one we just did not too long ago Oliver is perhaps the most Wells spoken knowledgeable guest you have had
6:22
on the show in a long time well that's not saying a lot for the rest of our guests it kind of not he was a very good
6:28
guest I have to say I like that he calls upon actual quantitive research conducted by biologists to come to
6:34
conclusions and not just going with the generally accepted opinions of today from our from my own experience large
6:41
mold bass are great eating fish the meat is just as white as Walley and the majority of time just as tasty if people
6:49
knew this then maybe Walley would receive a little less fishing pressure uh I trust that the biologists at the
6:54
M&R are doing their jobs and the six bass possession limit is is there for a
7:00
reason here's he makes a good point here though let the 2B plus bass go but
7:05
absolutely feel free to harvest bass below that size for a Shor lunch you well there certainly seems to be a lot
7:11
of them let's be honest about it you know when you out it's one of the only fish that does have a six fish limit
7:18
still on it right right well they' dropped down to four and two and whatever like that um tro combination or
7:24
tro even Pike I think is a five fish limit now I think isn't it but anyways conventional thinking would tell you
7:31
well if we start eating them and we start keeping our sex eventually they're going to be down to limits down to two
7:38
and four as well that's the the beauty of having the limits though at least they can if they see it coming now cuz
7:45
back in the back in the day they never went off a 666 until it was way too late right and then all of a sudden here you
7:51
know what we better put slot limits in size limits in blah blah blah and you know some likes it might be too late so
7:57
I wonder I wonder Wonder though I wonder
8:02
wonder go ahead I wonder is the six fish limit put on that
8:10
fish because they're not generally table fair and people generally I think of all of
8:18
our sportfish that we have in this part of the country it's the
8:23
least it's least it's like a turkey behind him there
8:30
it's the one that people don't keep so that's why maybe it's got such a big limit the scientists or M whoever is
8:36
doing this saying yeah give them 100 fish limit nobody keeps them anyways you know what I don't know I I agree with
8:41
that but I don't know in the sense of I think it all started way back in the day
8:46
again we're saying they all had pretty much a six- fish limit on you know what I mean so I think until they discovered
8:52
that people were eating W then there maybe the [ __ ] next and that's the bass so these guys are
8:58
dropping that down but they're keeping the bass the same so um I mean how they come up with a six fish limit to begin
9:03
with who knows but um used to be six limit and 12 possession yeah even not
9:09
that long ago for Bass and everything else now it's down to sixth possession which is good but they're also counting on the fact you know how this this works
9:16
right if if in fact if everybody kept their limit of whatever species it is
9:21
yep if everybody that went out fishing kept caught and kept that limit it would
9:28
be total Destruction of that species there is a Formula there is a factor
9:34
that that that takes place when they're coming up with these numbers on the fact
9:39
that most people will not catch that limit of fish to start with right right
9:45
and then and then most will not retain it so that's kind of the form but if everybody kept all of the limits of fish
9:53
that we are allowed to by law every time that they went out it would be a m
9:59
decline of our population you know and that makes your point even more valid than that since they're not targeted I
10:05
me because because in this modern day and age nobody needs to keep six bass no matter what you know what I mean so they
10:10
should just say you know what let's make it three bass combination of large mode small mode doesn't matter you can keep a three and but they won't do that so
10:17
because I guess there's no real need for people to want to catch and keep and kill and eat and sort of thing like that
10:23
I guess but and speaking of I hope we answered uh his uh did was it a question what no just his point on that
10:29
on Oliver's Michael Michael jurak thank you Michael for that that was uh speaking of conservation and not
10:38
over harvesting uh conservation Corner brought to you by the invasive species
10:43
Center come on now now you see now here here's a case where they should have
10:48
aund fish limit exactly kill them all exactly we're talking about the uh
10:55
tinch it's a fish that uh invaded pretty much every every corner of the planet
11:00
except Antarctica now you know how Hardy this fish has got to be right yeah to be able to survive every place except that
11:07
Artic that's right and it's probably building tolerances up for that in the future too you never know uh they're a mediumsized deep bodied fish with small
11:14
scales rounded fins cute little rascal though no they're not a horrible looking fish I mean like a bouret is uh is uger
11:22
than that you know what I mean so you know it's really ugly have you seen it in Orange ruffy yeah they're uh they're
11:28
not the prettiest either oh how about those lingot out in the in the west coast there's a nasty looking fish have
11:33
you ever saw one is ugly ugly mud puppy ugly now although uh not established in
11:39
the Great Lakes they have uh since been spotted as far south as the Bay of
11:44
quinty Ontario that's not good that's not good so those and the Asian carp
11:50
have also been in Bay quinty I haven't seen any of them there I F they're quite a bit but that's that's a good thing that I haven't seen them there but my
11:55
buddies have so what's the problem with this tench what's what's the big B deal do we know they they're they eat the
12:02
stuff that our little fish eat our minnows our whole food and insects
12:07
everything it's just an invasive species that does not belong right got that's
12:13
what all of them do they just they in invade in Upon Our so our natural fish
12:18
like our perch and our bluegills and our bass that we're talking about and our Wallies and the whole food chain is
12:24
disrupted so and that's why this Critter is on the invasive spe species list in
12:30
fact there's laws that will prohibit you from uh transporting this or releasing
12:37
oras if you get it somehow capture it however you do you do not throw it back in the lake there you go uh learn all
12:44
about the tension every other nasty little invasive species Critter uh just
12:49
go to the invasive species Center website which is that's invading species
12:55
hotline as well you can report if you see one uh the website is uh Ed maps.com
13:01
or for that's for the reporting of right
13:06
EDD maps.com but otherwise go to the invasive species Center website arm
13:12
yourself with the knowledge of what this Critter looks like this and all the other ones to but the tent is our newest
13:18
so yep and get her done uh in the news Mr Bowman yes this is something that I
13:24
didn't really know happened and I know I mean I'm just reading about this today and uh it says gas pocket in ice leads
13:31
to severe burns for ice anguish I I you know I'm surprised when I used to do the weekly report on ice fishing on the The
13:38
FAN 590 I'm I was always surprised that we didn't have more personal injuries
13:46
due to fire on the ice which sounds weird but with the the the the Huts that
13:53
people are using nowadays they've got everything in there including uh the kitchen sink mhm and stoves and heers
14:01
everyone has a heater that's for I'm surprised that you don't see more fires and explos even though it's maybe not an open flame heater but there's a spark to
14:07
it when you start it you know what I mean if you start it in your Hut um Etc anyways this is an Herman Reservoir in
14:14
southern Vermont Joel Shephard and his two daughters Kaye and Emil is it Emily
14:19
em Emily that's a weird way of spelling it but that's cool weird um the the
14:24
injuries occurred when a flash fire erupted inside their fish in tent their
14:30
ice hut investigation suggest that methane gas methane gas I say methane cuz I remember Mr me you remember Mr Mee
14:37
he was a genius uh G Pockets trapped beneath the ice may have been released
14:43
during drilling leading to the explosion so following the incident several community members reported witnessing
14:48
similar methane gas eruptions in the area um so what happens I this is weird
14:55
but apparently how methane can get trapped under the ice or in the ice um it's the organic matter decomposition so
15:02
Plants algae etc etc they sink to the bottom of the lake and the winter when the lake freezes the ice creates a seal
15:09
and traps all the gases below and since the ice prevents gas exchange with the air methane accumulates under the ice so
15:18
it's like your sleeping bag when you zip that sleeping bag all the way up it's the same idea a little methane gas
15:24
happens to I don't know where it came from honey I don't know where that came from when you're sharing that sleeping bag exactly and she goes I do you oh God
15:33
uh where it happens most shallow laks with high organic content like shallow Lakes bogs you know weedy Lakes lakes
15:39
with low oxygen levels that promote an anerobic is it anerobic Dean is it
15:45
that's yeah anerobic bacterial activity Aerials with historical methane deposits such as lakes formed over former
15:51
wetlands and pet lands um so I I'm assuming that you drill a whole you have
15:58
your your Hut set up you pop a hole through there me gas can go into that
16:03
and if you ignite as you're so if you ignited your heater outside which it
16:09
wouldn't do you never would think about that right but they brought it in I would assume that by the time you should
16:15
drill your holes before you put the hut down what it sounds like you should do that's the idea get the gas released and
16:20
then put your Hut up but I don't know if people do that either cuz usually you set up the Hut in a perfect spot and then you go in there and drill your
16:26
holes right so it's like your sleep back bag you always zip it up before the gases I never zip up my S bag you God
16:34
forbid should you do it before you zip up wide open I just like that and every now and then I just when I'm in my sleep
16:40
I can just air rope pretty good you know what I mean anyways it's it's an interesting story it's right on it's a
16:47
weird story man W but it just shows you I always thought why we don't have more of these is beyond me um so if you just
16:56
if you were to just drill a hole in the ice no hot no nothing like that es Dr the hole and you had a sparking device
17:04
on your Aug would that blow a flame up I don't think so Dean any ideas I don't
17:09
know how combustible it is I think what they're saying mostly is just to drill the holes before you light the heater
17:15
like I think even if you're in the Hut like it it escapes pretty quick I think yeah you leave your your door open or
17:21
your flaps your breathing flaps open or whatever like I did that this weekend after reading this story I did it this
17:26
weekend I now you're cognizant of it yeah Dr my holes and then put the I mean I've never had a problem obviously and
17:31
I've never heard of this before but I did it just how Dean's an ice fisherman too how was your fishing this weekend it
17:37
was pretty bad the storm was the walk out was horrible there was like probably 12 Ines of snow and it was it was still
17:45
coming down as I was going so I I knew the walk back would be horrible so I left before it got too late so how far
17:52
uh not quite a kilometer but pretty pretty far and Dean carries uh pretty
17:57
close to 200 pound sled with him so he's got all his gear so it's not like it's an easy track out there to begin with so
18:04
was fun huh time to buy an ATV do know y
18:09
That's the only solution to that right no the boys love them boys that have them I tell you Mikey bur has got tracks
18:15
on his he but the one who put tracks on him he goes anywhere that's perfect uh
18:20
there you go wonderful story I suppose if you are looking to prevent fires in your ice hut it's all there on fishing
18:27
canada.com bang question of the week brought to you by fishfindermounts.com
18:34
a lot of interest in them lately as these new shows especially our leg throat shows all of a sudden people are
18:41
hey what's that hey hey what's the name of that mount system you guys had that looks like it's pretty solid yeah fishfindermounts.com
18:48
there you go this is uh submitted by Daniel waterer via YouTube um you can
18:55
submit your questions via YouTube or info fishing C Facebook Instagram whatever you want you
19:01
can do smoke signals Dean know your huts on fire and the I just but the only way
19:08
you're you qualify for the money is is through YouTube the money not the money the prize right the the the money
19:15
equivalent see so that's through YouTube and they have to subscribe to as well right so you got to and and Daniel did
19:22
all this he did all of it y Daniel's good all right Daniel's eligible then right let's see what he's got now it's
19:28
up to the head kahunas to make that I'll read it an so that you get the you can
19:34
absorb the whole thing and and do the uh the honors of yay and or nay okay hey guys I love the podcast and I haven't
19:41
missed an episode who winner winter chicken dinner so far there's no question there I'm looking for a
19:46
question I may be mistaken uh oh but it seems like both ANS and Pete have been using the same rods and reels for
19:53
multiple Seasons wow still no question I don't see a question mark in your
19:59
opinion do you think ah rod and real technology has plateaued making it less
20:05
important to always have the latest and greatest in fishing gear question mark thanks again keep us entertained okay
20:13
okay I like that I like that's question mark got it a question he's got a question got it he's let in with a nice
20:20
little you know two sentence little intro precursor no I think he's good I
20:26
think he's good to go okay we uh we do have I think probably the easiest the
20:31
reason I'm assuming Daniel and everybody thinks that is because we still have some carrot sticks left and they're so identifiable you know what I mean they
20:38
are they really are this orange bright orange fishing rod that you just can't miss they took a beating last year
20:44
though sted uh he he did some damage did he break a couple yeah we got to get
20:49
it's got to be getting down to the Pine we're right you know the ones that have lasted the best I think are the 8ot
20:55
swimbait rods they're still still good still hanging in there tough those the ones we use for the big Lakers and the
21:01
big Pike we go up North with and all that all the rest of the the lighter stuff you we've been smashing them pretty good for years and anything like
21:07
that so so yes we're definitely using some of the same stuff but we do have new equipment every year we we get new
21:12
rods and reels every year interject it in amongst all the other and we Tred different brands that's the beauty of it
21:18
uh is that we tried you know we got some great bait casters back there and uh and you know we just and we are creatures of
21:25
habit too we there are certain rods and reels that we just like using right there is you cry when you break one
21:32
that's you know oh no it's finally know you you hate changing for the sake of
21:37
change right so we do tend to you know every year I would say 50% of the rods
21:43
and reels that we use are from the previous year or two or three or four
21:49
and the other 50% are are new items that we've just interjected because we wanted to try something new uh we heard of
21:57
something that we you know but the news stop I will say I mean yeah it's not drastic drastic
22:04
drastic let's say from two years ago or three years ago to to this day it certainly isn't drastic but there are
22:10
some really nice refinements from say 20 years ago like in bait casting reels in in spinning reel drags that's a huge one
22:17
to me to me is the the drag of a spinning reel um the rod technology man I'll tell you some of the new rods now
22:23
there's I mean there's rods out there for four5 $600 and more and you know that's not for your average Joe out
22:29
there to to just to afford that are they that good well I've I've used a couple of them and they're pretty damn good I
22:35
don't know if they're worth that kind of money it's kind of insanity when you put a$1 th000 price tag on a fishing rod like a spinning rod for walleye but but
22:42
can you say that that you can feel the difference between A5 or
22:47
$600 golf driver and say just a $300 driver when you go hit that ball to feel
22:54
the difference well that's what you're asking I mean you're asking somebody to feel the difference in Rod
23:00
yeah is there a difference when you're swinging a club I think that that difference is more of can you see the
23:06
difference you're looking for the outcome of that that that driver know you get that nice SL little draw on it
23:13
because now the new clubs have you can adjust the head for the face angle you can do all kinds of crazy stuff with
23:19
these things nowadays so maybe that's what I need I need to upgrade to something like that buddy where we could
23:24
adjust with that slice that you got I I guarantee you if we close that face about that much you would hit that thing
23:30
Square on impact I me you'd be perfect that uh price range you mentioned though would not buy you anything anymore oh
23:36
wouldn't no a new driver like is like 1,000 bucks oh my God I remember when
23:42
they got to 600 and I was just Shing my that's the one that he's talking about that can adjust and cuz that's what I
23:48
need I need one of those why would you guys pull up like chip in for something like that yeah we should for that one
23:54
game every two years that you play be worth it throw in uh few $100 each yeah
23:59
you know get the whole team to it would be it would be cool to find out if it worked you know it'd be really I think
24:06
you should do that we'll do that for you but you have to change your swing habit a bit so that
24:12
you don't look like a dog fornicating a football okay cuz
24:19
otherwise but no but if I did that then I wouldn't need that club you see but with that
24:24
club still you can still look like that it could look like that and goes straight that's where we need to see if
24:30
it works and then maybe we can get an end that's what see now that to me if I'm the manifacturer of that club yeah
24:38
right I wouldn't put it in somebody's hands who's proficient already I would
24:43
put it in somebody's hands who's looking like he shouldn't even be on the golf course that's true that's and then have
24:50
that person hit that ball straight down the line St down 300 boom you know what
24:55
I mean 300 might be pushing it a little bit too little just a just a little bit all right 300's a good hit but it's uh
25:03
not for me it's I don't know I don't know if you could bye still see you guys should chip in once in a while it wouldn't hurt you for God's sakes
25:09
digging deep into those Pock you got you got short hands and Deep Pockets that's the problem no pockets you don't even
25:14
you cut them off my pants the other day the only thing you do with your PO ask him the only thing you do with your hand your pockets is use them as handh
25:22
holders they're warm they're nice and warm when the work's being done you know all righty now the main segment of the
25:28
show brought to you by sale The Outdoor Store if you are looking for anything
25:33
any goodies at all that may enhance your Outdoor Experience whether it's fishing hunting just hiking snowmobiling
25:41
whatever you do in the Outdoor Clothing just nice winter clothing summer clothing every allseason clothing but
25:46
don't forget rods reels all the tackle you might ever want especially I haven't
25:51
been in in a while I got to get I miss my my sale visit I like to get in there every now and then just to look around and touch and feel you probably starting
25:57
on spring believe it or not oh yeah they are for sure they are now anyways uh if you don't have a sales store in your
26:03
neighborhood uh all you have to do is go to sale.ca that's s
26:09
a.ca and check them out they've got all kinds of sales going on right now obviously year end stuff uh they got 60%
26:17
off on some selected items as we speak yeah okay let's bring him on his name is
26:24
James aloff he was last on the program it was episode 23 wow look at you man you're good at
26:31
that I'm good God Almighty I don't can't even remember my age you're get these all these numbers EP uh the episode was
26:37
called they're spraying what on crownland uh he is I guess the best way
26:43
we could describe for those of you who are in our age group Green Acres Mr
26:50
Douglas uh Green Acres Mr Douglas moved to the country left the city and said the hell with that I'm uh I'm out of
26:57
here yeah uh here he is now James elaf hey James how you doing brother gentlemen great to speak with you again
27:04
P an and uh grew up watching you guys on TV with my parents so it's surreal again
27:11
to talk with you gentlemen so just Canadian Legends both of you thank you do you remember the the show Green Acres
27:16
or you you're probably not old enough for I remember watching reruns in the 9s
27:22
at Green Acres for sure yeah good it was a that was such a great is that with with Arnold the pig Arnold the pig
27:27
Arnold he was my favorite that guy was the best uh for those of you who might not be
27:33
familiar with James he's a former actor broadcaster in China of all places uh he
27:39
left downtown Toronto at left the city behind and is currently building a 40
27:45
acre Homestead in Northern Ontario and that's what we've got him on for today to see how that project is coming along
27:51
is that part of it behind you by the way it's got to be it right yes sir yeah the these are logs of the uh the first cabin
27:57
that I built out here so uh not freezing to death it's aboutus 22 out there today
28:02
where I am so I'm nice and toasty inside here nice very going back when you
28:08
talked about James being a a broadcaster and actor in China I saw some of his stuff on um on YouTube and you are so
28:16
fluent like is a mandarin or whatever what what language were you speaking there with with the Backstreet Boys you
28:21
were introducing them or talking English and something else yeah exactly yeah it's Mandarin Mandarin Chinese who was
28:27
my I studied in college it was kind of my major in college so pretty random people ask me about my uh my
28:35
background and I tell them about Chinese and stuff they're just like wow that's very random and and it is it is that's
28:40
what I said I watched you up there I'm looking wow this guy is good so there you go Kudos before we get to all that
28:47
uh I got to congratulate you on the phenomenal success of your channel like you are the hottest thing out there
28:53
right now in this genre and good on you man well thank you J thank you yeah it's
28:59
uh I mean there's a big appetite out there for this you know kind of thing that I'm doing I guess it's kind of a fantasy for especially men like my
29:06
audience is kind of 85% men 15% women but I think it's just it's a pretty big you know human fantasy out there the
29:12
idea to leave the city and build a cabin in the middle of the woods you know did you guys ever have that kind of uh you
29:18
know dream or idea when you were when you were kids or you were just so hyperfocused on fishing that it wasn't part part of that well I'd say the
29:25
cottage more than anything you know I never really had the but your 85 15 is the same pretty much the same demo we
29:31
have isn't it our our demo much the same but I never had the I like what you're doing but I've never had the inclination
29:38
to to go for it or anything like that so but I do like it in my case even today I love getting out there doing what you're
29:45
doing I love immersing myself in that that rugged Outdoors but I'll be honest
29:51
with you I also enjoy coming back to Urban centers and uh being an urbanite
29:56
and and maybe because are two such contrasting backdrops right I enjoy both
30:02
of them um but no when I was when I was younger your age I used to fulfill those
30:08
fantasies by going into places like alanin park for a week and backpacking
30:13
it and and just you know hanging out out there with the Bears it did it for me uh
30:20
right Absolut yeah yeah yeah it was great loved it that makes a lot of sense you
30:27
know for me I tried to get into camping after I moved back from China cuz I'd never done a lot of Outdoors stuff mainly fishing but never you know
30:33
camping or or you know Bushcraft or any of that kind of stuff and I found with camping I could never stand doing it for
30:39
more than one night because all that work you know setting up camp I'm like well now I'm GNA leave I'm like I just
30:44
did all that work to set it up and that's how I kind of got on the well wait a minute maybe homesteading is my thing because you can build and build
30:50
and build and build you know kind of over time that that kind of situation um but um yeah I get it I get it about the
30:58
the the urban thing like you know getting a mixture of both I think probably most people are wired like that
31:03
if I had to guess for somebody listening that might be on the edge right now
31:09
thinking hey you know what uh if James could do it maybe I can do it too can you quickly just walk us into the say
31:16
the first stages of making that decision like what are some of the basic things that you have to think about that we
31:22
wouldn't right well I mean a big thing for me was I had been watching this content on YouTube for like 10 years you
31:28
know since basically 2016 20177 and one of the biggest uh channels out there is a channel called my self-reliance it's a
31:35
guy also in central Ontario not far from where I am a gentleman named Shawn James
31:40
and uh he basically did what he did so that he could basically fish and Hunt more um so that was his reason for going
31:47
out and doing it and to be honest he was a huge inspiration for me without all these other YouTube channels out there I don't think I would have had the courage
31:53
to do it because when you can see other people doing it right uh in front of your own eyes it really makes it more
32:00
tangible um and to be honest I think the biggest hurdle for doing this kind of thing guys is is finding land and buying
32:07
the land right um and you know Ontario is a massive Province it's the size of
32:12
Montana and Texas combined it's uh actually almost twice the size of the country of France um but with the crazy
32:20
real estate prices recently it's just uh it's hard it's hard to buy a nice chunk of land you know my 40 acres that I
32:27
ended up find it took me about a year and a half to buy but honestly it broke me like I had to spend every single cent
32:33
of my uh savings to buy it so it was uh it's it's hard so finding land I would
32:38
say is the is the number one kind of hurdle you have to overcome to do this kind of thing and yeah one thing you
32:44
said in your video James that people wouldn't realize here is uh I believe anyways that the banks won't mortgage or
32:50
anything like this for this land you have to go buy that cash is that correct that is correct yeah you can't so
32:57
there's 's a few Credit Unions that will finance like up to 50% of a of a piece of vacant land they call it vacant land
33:04
um and you know land that doesn't not have any human structures on it however it's not really feasible for someone
33:11
like me doing what I'm doing because um before you build anything on that land
33:17
you have to have a building plan approved you know by whatever provincial
33:22
authorities and you have to have the plan run by the bank and you have to go through all the permitting process and
33:29
um if you don't do that the credit union can actually take the land back from you
33:35
so you know what I'm doing and like what Sean James from my self-reliance kind of the OG you know the goat of this uh
33:41
youtubing category has been doing for the last 10 years is in Ontario there's these things called unorganized
33:47
townships and you can basically build with no building permits and that's what makes all of this possible because as
33:53
soon as you have to start getting the complexity the money it kind
33:59
of shuts down doing the trying to do this thing which is building buildings from the logs on your own your own
34:05
property so the notion of uh settling on land that nobody owns land that you can
34:14
just go out there and do your thing is that all gone is there no opportunity there anymore just to find that kind of
34:21
and and and I guess what I'm talking about I would think this these would be lands that are Crown Land maybe or or
34:28
owned by a by the government that was the true like homesteading days I think
34:33
up until the mid 1960s where you could literally just go on any piece of Crown Land I think as long as you you stayed
34:40
there for about six months you could then apply to the province to purchase the land from The Province and that shut
34:46
down I believe in 65 or 67 um and you have not been able to do that since then
34:52
um but like I know I've got a buddy who his grandfather immigrated from Germany and I think like in the 1930s or 40s he
35:00
found some Lake up in the Moka region like not far from brace brid and he literally bought all the land we're
35:06
talking like probably 2,000 acres around this Lake uh for
35:11
like5 and uh wow oh oh you have to buy you have to
35:17
buy private land wow like a structure on
35:24
crownlands for sure we're having some technical issues there and keep in mind for those of you
35:31
watching and listening uh James is uh out in the boonies right now and so
35:36
we're relying on starlink I guess to get this me message across so if you have
35:41
some uh breaking up don't uh don't dismay we will get you fixed up we'll get you through it for sure what what
35:48
area are you in James right now what part of Ontario you said Central is or yeah I tell people Central so I'm not
35:55
far I'm not too far from sburg um to me I kind of think when I was doing my land search I was thinking not
36:03
necessarily I was kind of thinking in climate zones if you guys are familiar with that so in Ontario Central Ontario
36:09
is basically like climate zone 4 um it basically starts at the top of Lake Simco it goes up to you know Sudbury
36:17
Sous St Marie North Bay um and maybe 50 or 100 kmers North of there and it's
36:23
where you have the mixed uh deciduous coniferous forest lands right you've got
36:29
um White Pines red Pines you've got Northern Red Oaks you've got White Oaks you've got beach trees you've kind of
36:35
got that mix of forest uh because there's still a lot of kind of wilderness in central Ontario but I did
36:41
not want to go into Northern Ontario you know which really starts in climate zone three in my mind which is the Boreal the
36:48
Boreal forest and I know you guys spend a lot of time fishing like in flying lodges and stuff in the Boreal but the
36:54
Boreal is kind of a different Beast uh for me like as a guy Growing Up in Southern Ontario I wanted to have those
37:00
hardwood trees around right like the Oaks and and the maples and whatnot for many reasons um but I am in I am in
37:07
central to me in my mind Central Ontario is kind of all the same in terms of the trees and and the floor the fish and the
37:13
and the game species that are found there right we call it we call it the near North basically and it's basically what it is
37:21
uh that that River that's on your property is there any fish in that River yes sir absolutely there are Brook trap
37:27
in nice you might get a snack of brookies every now and then good for you okay I
37:33
absolutely did yeah you know I I most of my fishing I do for lake trout uh down where my family Cottage is near Perry
37:39
Sound I had never caught or seen a brook trout in my life so when I pulled hauled the brook trout out of the river on like
37:45
the first day on this property I was like wow the thing looked like a piece of art yeah I could I couldn't bring
37:51
myself to eat it because I'm like this is the most beautiful fish that I've ever seen uh I I had to let go now I do
37:58
eat them I've gotten over the beauty it no longer stops me from consuming the brck trout but uh they are beautiful
38:05
fish man so are you relying on the 40 acres that you own for everything in
38:11
other words all your sustenance comes from the land not yet I mean that's the long-term
38:18
goal I'm basically Stranded by Crown Land on all sides where I am so there's a lot of hunting opportunities there's a
38:24
lot of fishing opportunities I did a lot of fishing this summer um mainly like a
38:30
pike and smallmouth bass uh but um right now just getting the first cabin up and
38:35
running there's so much like basic survival stuff that I was just relying on the weekly kind of uh runs into the
38:42
supermarket and the nearest town um you know once a week to stock up on all my my Provisions but uh now that I got my
38:50
first cin up and running I definitely want to do a lot more hunting and fishing uh for sure apparently there's a lake nearby that is very good bourbon
38:58
or Ling Cod I know there's a thousand different names for the guys but my neighbor up here he fishes religiously
39:04
for those things he loves them and uh the way he's described them I don't know if you guys have have spent much time
39:09
fishing for them but I mean they sound amazing like no fishing pressure they taste like you know freshwater Lobster
39:16
that's what my neighbor says you got to fish to them at night apparently I'm not I'm not sure if you guys yeah have have
39:22
fish for them but what do you guys think about those the the bouret well I've never eaten them Deans are but expert
39:28
here Dean ice fishes a lot and uh yeah they apparently especially in the winter time they come into spawn and apparently
39:33
they go up on the humps in the in the top in the dead of night and start do the spawn and when they get thick in there they're they're easy to catch and
39:40
the biggest thing about everybody says about them is they're delicious I've yet to eat them so um but they say they're really good eating so and they're beefy
39:47
they're they're you know they're good siiz fish they're what have you seen one cuz they're weird looking it's going to
39:52
scare the [ __ ] out of you you're going you thought the brook troat was nice you're going to throw this back think it's a devil
39:59
but they are apparently they're really that's hilarious I've seen pictures that they're not going to win any uh beauty
40:04
pageants that's for sure oh that's for sure when I think when a tail wraps around your arm that's when you know you're in trouble and you who like a eel
40:11
like structure thing up at you so but you you'll like it you'll be good so what stage are you at now uh you've got
40:18
the cabin that you're sitting in obviously is that complete by the way uh I'm doing the interior work actually
40:24
this morning I was working on doing the uh the loft uh ladder because I've been using like a metal construction ladder
40:30
to crawl up into my sleeping Loft so far which I'm probably going to end up killing myself doing so I should you know get a permanent ladder in there but
40:37
uh you know the plan was to fil first build a smaller cabin and you know make all the mistakes on that one and then go
40:42
in and build a larger home so my guest cabin here is 12 x 16 ft uh it's made
40:48
primarily out of white spruce a little bit of Balsam fur it's got a very steep slope roof with a metal roof on it and a
40:54
sleeping Loft um I've got sheep's wool and in here for the uh the floor and the
40:59
ceiling which is a very cool material uh you know it's non-toxic it's an old timey kind of material and it's about
41:05
the same price as like rock wool too you know which is the commonly used insulation you find at Home Depot um but
41:12
uh it's a dry cabin like there's no I've got an ouse you know there's no shower there's nothing like that in here but uh
41:18
you know it was a big learning process doing this I used a method called butt and pass where you're literally just
41:24
kind of butting the logs in the corners up to one another um and you're not doing any notching um it's called saddle
41:32
notching you're not doing any Dov tail no no complexity there it was just I doing it this way for the speed of it um
41:38
but definitely do want to do something different for the main the main cabin and in the fall I set up a few
41:44
foundations one for a big barn I've got a sawmill now which will speed things along versus you know hand peeling logs
41:50
which is I've done what I've done up to this point I also set up the foundation for a sauna or a SAA as the fins call it
41:59
yeah I just had a YouTuber from Finland visit last week actually and he was
42:05
adamant that I said pronounced it SAA uh which I thought was very interesting but
42:10
um yeah so I've got a foundation for a SAA down near my river and a few other buildings so I'm I'm excited to do those
42:16
things as well wow sounds like you're going to build a little village in there that's pretty cool exactly that is cool
42:22
is awesome good for you you said you said some of the mistakes jam and one of this one of the things I saw in your
42:29
video when you you had placed your logs in the wrong direction or whatever but what I was what I was thinking is I you
42:35
were hammering in those giant spikes and you had to pull those logs out with those spikes did you have to do that
42:41
like literally pull them apart you know those big 12 inch long like half inch
42:46
diameter spikes the only way to get those suckers out is to use a what I used was a sawall with a metal cutting
42:53
blade on it um so I had to cut all those luckily those spikes are very cheap so I
42:59
just had to cut all of them and then take the walls down luck I was only about six levels up but yeah I had
43:04
discovered that I had stacked the logs incorrectly there were gaps opening up in the corners so that's an example of
43:11
you know you don't want to make that kind of mistake on your main home you want to make it on your you know your your starter cabin home so what sort of
43:18
time would it take a person to build a small cabin like the one that you're in
43:23
oh my goodness there's a lot of variables in that for me I believe it took about 8 months where you know
43:29
everything was finished the installation the roof the doors the windows all that kind of stuff it was a real struggle in
43:36
the beginning because I was just living in a hot tent and I started at the end of November which was really stupid I
43:42
should do not do that if you are trying to build a log cabin uh but I had
43:48
essentially I had closed on this property in the in the in the summer and then I was like you know I'll wait till
43:53
next spring before I go do this but I just couldn't stand the thought of being cooped up in my apartment in downtown Toronto for another winter so I'm like
44:00
you know what screw it and also like my other major in college along with Chinese was geography so we had studied
44:08
uh you know the elino effect and last winter was an elino year and it's very
44:13
reliable like during an El Nino year Central Ontario and Southern Ontario is going to be much warmer and much drier
44:20
so let's precipitation than normal so I knew it was going to be a very mild winter and thank God I did it them
44:25
because if I had started like this winter uh oh my goodness this winter you we've had 17 feet of snow so far here um
44:34
this winter holy smoke how do you how do you deal with that like okay forget 17
44:39
CU that's Unthinkable but but what happens when you get 5 six feet of snow dumping outside your door it's not like
44:47
you can get the snowblower and and and you know open up a walkway like how do you deal with that well Angelo you know
44:54
usually well I have a double double coffee in the morning and when you have 5T of snow that's falling overnight I
45:00
just snort the beans and then the creamer I put it directly into my eyes
45:05
and uh I find that that stimulates me so much that I can just go out and and uh
45:11
and deal with it but you know what I had to buy like literally the biggest um self-propelled snowblower that that
45:17
Honda makes it's like a 13 horsepower Beast I could probably power the city of
45:23
Hamilton off of it if I hooked it up to the grid so it's uh it's a serious snowblower it I think the the the mouth
45:30
on it is like three and a half feet wide um but if I didn't have that and I'm
45:35
sorry there's probably guys with bigger snowblowers that like mana detractors and stuff you know so it's still still kind of a rookie machine but um you know
45:42
it's a everybody where I live has either a snowblower mounted on a tractor or
45:48
like the biggest self-propelled snowblowers that you have because you know we're in an area at the end of
45:54
every great lake as you guys know uh in on onario you get the lake effect snow
45:59
right the end of Lake Erie the end of Lake hiron the end of uh Lake Superior you just get dumped on so you guys have
46:05
seen I'm sure in the news stories about you know Bracebridge and and Huntsville like getting absolutely annihilated this
46:11
winter uh it's been quite quite crazy uhow so see when somebody says
46:18
they're going to go homesteading and they're they're going to live off the land and they're going to you know do all this wonderful stuff I I conjure up
46:24
images of of these very uh hardcore enthusiasts of the throwback
46:33
days and not allowing themselves anything technical not allowing
46:39
themselves mechanical items you know just living off the land you know digging out their Gardens with their
46:46
piece of wood and and now you're telling me that everybody up there does have uh
46:52
a tractor Andor a snowblower Andor is there um
46:57
is there a type of homesteading that that would be Taboo in other words there's no way that you could use
47:05
anything automated at all are there still people out there that do that there are so there I've got a neighbor
47:11
up here an old Finnish Guy and um he is a retired uh University professor and he
47:18
inherited a property from his uh his parents and he's all about the old timey
47:23
way of doing things so his cabin it's a small cabin I think smaller even than this initial Calin I built its
47:29
foundation is literally six chunks of tamarak which is kind of a rot resistant type of wood you know a rare tree specie
47:36
in Ontario but they call it the poor man's Cedar and uh he just uh built it
47:42
on top of this tamarak he replaces the tamarak you know rots out once every 10 years or whatever he has basically no
47:48
power tools whatsoever um when he now he doesn't live here full-time but he
47:54
spends maybe half of his time up here uh or down here rather and um he doesn't
48:00
have a driveway though so his car he leaves parked on the side of kind of the plowed Road right um so he he snowshoes
48:09
into his cabin so you can definitely do it uh I mean the main reason I need a snowblower to be honest is like for my
48:15
driveway so the first winter I didn't need a snowblower a because it was mild but B I literally just had a gravel
48:22
parking pad at the side of the road so I was able to just to hand shovel it but now for security purposes right I've got
48:28
a curved driveway that comes in maybe 100 meters into my property so folks can't see you know if I'm home or not
48:34
and um with the length of that driveway the only way to keep it cleared is with you know mechanical purposes unless you
48:40
wanted to spend you know an entire day hand shoveling it so there's there's all these tradeoffs right um in terms of how
48:47
mechanical do you get how natural do you keep so it really just comes down your subjective taste right like uh so it's
48:53
it's it's a very interesting question this is one of the reasons why there's so many homesteading channels on YouTube is that there's a thousand ways to do it
49:00
right depending on your your personal taste so it's it's quite interesting you must you must have a generator too on on
49:07
on your property you have so many power tools that have to charge batteries and stuff like that Etc you have a Jenny
49:13
what are you doing yes sir yes sir absolutely got a h the generator um I started out with just a battery powered
49:19
by 100 wat panel and that actually got me through charging my like Milwaukee batteries and that kind of stuff my
49:25
computer uh but once I got my starlink unit I upgraded to a larger battery size
49:30
and actually I ran all summer just on a 200 watt panel no problem even you know charging my some of my larger batteries
49:37
like for my electric chainsaw I've got gas and electric chainsaws um and uh what I found in the fall in November it
49:44
got so cloudy I could not reliably charge via solar so that's when I had to get the generator and this whole winter
49:51
it's just so cloudy that uh there's not enough sun to to to charge with solar so
49:57
I charge up my battery it takes about an hour to charge it fully with the generator and then that lasts me maybe
50:02
about a week usually from that hour worth of gas charging so it's a it's a pretty good it's a pretty good setup so
50:09
far do you get uh city folks coming up and visiting like friends family members
50:15
or is that completely out of the question no I do I definitely do I have
50:21
uh friends and family who come up they're just curious like they want to come for a weekend you know and they
50:26
want to they want to help out they want to do some work some people just want to relax I had a buddy in Germany who was a
50:31
college mate who was about to start a stressful new job at Facebook Germany and he's like hey man I just want to
50:37
come for a week before I start my new job and just kind of you know be in the wilderness and experience all this stuff
50:43
before I have a soul crushing you know cubicle job um which thankfully the three of us don't really have to deal
50:49
with that often at least uh but uh so definitely have a lot of curious a lot
50:56
of curious ious folk um if I was further away from the big urban center in
51:01
Ontario which is you know Toronto and the Golden Horseshoe maybe not right like if I was in Far Northwestern
51:06
Ontario or Northeastern Ontario it might be a different situation right if people had to drive eight or 12 hours or
51:12
something you to get where I was yeah yeah yeah how's uh how was last spring and into the summer the the bug
51:19
situation for you black FES mosquitoes you're you're far enough North or you should be able to see some of them up
51:25
there right oh yes sir I became uh intimately familiar with all the
51:30
different insect species you know W waking up with giant wolf spiders you know covering my
51:36
face but uh not that bad not that bad but I do remember in the spring like it
51:42
was just as as the insects were starting to come out waking up in my hot tent at that time and in the little vent near
51:48
the top there was a the biggest I don't know if it's a wolf spider or what I just hate I hate spiders I love all
51:54
other Critters I don't mind snakes but spiders I know about you gentlemen but I just can't handle them uh but uh I woke
52:00
up looking at one of these things and I I nearly had a stroke uh but uh to be honest I had a few neighbors up here
52:07
saying like you know first of all they're like oh the Winter's going to kill you you're going to leave after the winter made it through the winter it
52:13
wasn't that bad they're like oh well the bugs are going to get you you know the bug you're you're going to leave there's no way you'll stay here through the bugs
52:19
and to be honest the bug hatch in the last uh week of May was pretty terrible
52:24
the first I would say all of June was pretty terrible and then in July you guys may experience this because you're
52:30
fishing all over Kingdom Come like in the summer right July the bug population is noticeably going down and by August I
52:37
didn't even need a bug net anymore so it's really about surviving June I would say if you can survive June you're
52:44
you're golden I don't know if you have you do you guys have the same experience on the water well on the water's the
52:49
safest spot for us but when soon as you go back to land any of the camps doesn't matter where it is it's the same thing
52:54
especially June is just brutal no matter how far North you go or you know what I mean but then it does taper off somewhat
53:00
but when you get up really far north even August can be pretty nasty at nights too the mosquitas and stuff like
53:05
that so we uh we we introduced a a newcomer to this country to our
53:11
wonderful collection of bugs a few years ago and uh I remember that for Ed MOA
53:18
our cameraman who's sitting here in the studio today uh and and to to watch his
53:24
face when he first that first exposure to the Swarms it was priceless
53:31
absolutely pricess I were used to it and to see his rain suit doed in musall he just it didn't matter he didn't put on
53:37
his skin he put it everywhere it just like patches of wet oh God it could be
53:42
it can be breathtaking to say the least for people who aren't used to it and uh you know most city Folk are not used to
53:49
it not to that so somebody coming up to visit you in May I think would have a a
53:54
hell of an experience to put it mildly oh yeah I mean stick to stick to
54:00
the uh Lakeside Retreats I in June June you keep referring to your neighbors and
54:08
you're making it sound like uh you know you get up in the morning get your cup of coffee go out on the veranda and
54:13
there's your neor hey Fred how you doing like how often do you see these people I mean you're in 40 acres God knows how
54:20
many they've got how like what's the social life like up there honest it's
54:27
it's mainly via text that's how communication gossip major events like
54:32
that for example my neighbor literally the week that I got my dog my I got a Swiss mountain dog my neighbor up River
54:39
his dog was killed by a wolf pack and uh he literally just found the ribs and then the collar from his dog which is
54:45
pretty intense but um I found out about that via text because as you say um
54:52
unless you actually go searching for your neighbors up here you're not going to see them because most people I would
54:58
say the average lot size is probably 50 acres where I am there's a lot of people surrounded all three sides like I am by
55:04
crownland and uh there's a lot of lots up here that are 1002 200 Acres so unless you go searching out your
55:11
neighbors you're not going to see them like occasionally you might pass them on a road right but it doesn't really
55:18
happen so yeah I mean it's weird uh if you are extremely extroverted you know
55:23
this kind of lifestyle is probably not not going to be for you right for sure for sure it would drive people crazy
55:30
absolutely C wonder what the what are the laws maybe James you've looked into this now that you have a dog this that's a crazy story if you have wolves around
55:38
your property uh is there a point where these are problem wolves and you can shoot them and get rid of them or what
55:44
are the law saying no no no you guys take your chances you know what I mean right I think it's pretty relaxed like I
55:50
think if if I was in one of those um uh what is it called townships or you know
55:57
Wu's is it Wu Wildlife Management un yeah around Al gonin you know where they're trying to protect the Eastern
56:03
wolf I think it might be a different situation there but where I am uh I've ran into a CO actually the week that
56:10
that happened and he's like oh yeah he's like if you ever see a wolf and you're afraid about your your life the life of
56:15
your family or the life of your dog they're very relaxed about you um harvesting a wolf for lack of a better
56:22
term he said as long as you call it in I think he said something you might have to buy a wolf tag I'm not sure you know
56:28
they're 50 bucks I think for wolf or coyote tags um but they're pretty relaxed about that where I am but I have
56:36
heard different things about if you're in and around Al gonin with those those Eastern wolves oh yeah how about bears
56:41
any encounters with bears I encountered more bears probably than any other game like more than white tailed deer where I
56:49
am it's really more of a classical Mose area there are white tailed deer there's wild turkey as well historically there
56:55
were no wild turkey but since the reintroduction in in the 1980s there are a lot of wild turkey here actually but
57:02
um I probably seen more wild turkey and black bear than than anything else um so
57:07
black bear is definitely it's uh it'll definitely uh wake you up without caffeine when you wake up with a bear at
57:14
the end of your tent uh you know awning for for for sure uh because you know
57:19
black bears they actually do kill more people than grizzly bears you actually looked up the stats it's not many it's
57:25
like two perom I think is the average over the last 10 or 20 years in the whole continent right so it's not that
57:31
many but it's one of those kind of things where you you you should have a healthy respect you know for these for
57:37
these Critters for sure do you uh were you a hunter previous to this and if not
57:43
are you a hunter now to harvest some game for eating I do have my license um
57:49
I did not participa in any hunting in the fall uh because I was so busy trying to get the cabin finished before you
57:55
know winter and not freezing to death and all that kind of stuff but fishing and hunting 100% going to next year is
58:02
big on the radar I just got an i AER actually last week so I want to start fishing for these bourett on this nearby
58:08
lake um and get as much of my diet as close to 100% of my diet as possible from Wild game you know we are blessed
58:15
here in Ontario I think a lot of ontarians don't realize how blessed we are with the uh the wildlife we have and
58:21
the uh the Harvest opportunities so um uh for sure want to get into into that do you gentlemen like I don't think I
58:27
don't know if you guys I've ever heard you guys talk about hunting before like do you guys have your hunting licenses I
58:33
don't I do I haven't hunted in a long time but I used to I used to Waterfall hunt just religiously it was my it was
58:40
my deal I just loved it and then I used to do small game and and pheasants and Partridge and stuff like that never big
58:45
game but uh yeah I still have a current hunting license I just keep it and just to to pay my does towards the the fees
58:51
you know what I mean but I loved it back it's fun I I'm going to do it again there's no doubt but I just don't know when but I'm going to do it again I uh
58:59
is it sorry Angela I I I've just never I've never done it i' I've always
59:07
threatened to at one time I was one of the biggest retailer of guns in the province I probably have my name is
59:13
probably on more gun sales than anybody else in the country but
59:19
never uh I just never did it I was so busy doing what I did which was fishing
59:25
that that that it was weird all my bud were you were you a paid spokesperson for like
59:31
Remington or something like that what what was no I was a retailer I had a big ret operation did you used to own like
59:38
laar or something like that or barley the same era that uh learn was in massaga and we had Barkley's in aswa and
59:47
they they were the two this is pre- internet days this is pre- Bass Pro Shops pre Walmart pre all this stuff
59:53
right and uh yeah we were the two those two companies were responsible for
59:59
99.9% of firearms uh ammunition fishing rods and reels obviously tents backpacks
1:00:07
you name it um we sold it and so I was I was I was exposed the whole hunting
1:00:13
thing and great customers and but I just never I never took that initiative you
1:00:18
know it's like when we ask people today especially you know middle-aged 40 45y
1:00:25
old M males you know do they fish and they say no and we start questioning them and
1:00:33
they run the same problem I'm running into right now answering your question I don't know why I just I I just never did
1:00:39
it right and hunting was you maybe it's part of a a way of life like my dad got me into it right so my dad hunted a lot
1:00:46
and and all my buddies around me hunted so I just as a kid soon as I could get my license I got my license right so I
1:00:52
think maybe that's part of it too right your dad did fishing a little bit he hunted he hunt he was for for sustenance
1:00:59
oh wow oh [ __ ] every weekend he was bringing rabbits wow you guys didn't have to hey let Dad go get him Marino
1:01:06
and I will go have a fun party with the girls I just I just never uh I just never did it
1:01:13
was one of those weird things always wanted to always still want to uh but
1:01:18
never seemed to make the time you know and and it's an excuse because it is literally that you make the time people
1:01:25
would say I got time to go fishing well it's [ __ ] okay you make the time if you want something bad enough look at
1:01:31
you you wanted something bad enough that you took the time from your life and
1:01:36
went up there and started home setting because you wanted to right right right right right well the the stat that I've
1:01:43
heard that in Ontario there's 2 million licensed Anglers and there's 400,000
1:01:48
licensed Hunters I believe which just goes to show you you know it's like five times there's five
1:01:54
times the Anglers uh then than Hunters so um I mean I guess yeah barriers to
1:01:59
entry it's almost like uh you know basketball versus hockey you think about all the equipment you need to buy for
1:02:04
hunting versus fishing I think it's definitely a more expensive Sport and like Pete was saying with your if you
1:02:09
don't have a friend network but I guess Angelo you your father was hunting all the time so what the heck happened to
1:02:14
you I don't know buddy buddy I don't know I really don't know it's just one of those weird things that I just never
1:02:21
I think if you'd have started I think you'd have liked it because once you get there the rush was just so good that it
1:02:27
would just it keeps you coming back and coming back and then of course you've tasted it but like in in James's case
1:02:33
when he harvests a deer or a turkey up there or even bear and you get to eat that that meat and all that that makes
1:02:39
it that much more satisfying too right for sure that's that's the nice thing about hunting is that uh you have the
1:02:44
Harvest Factor as well which which you don't I I I was I was a a a speed junkie
1:02:51
right even as a kid I was building Motors and car bad drugs but oh
1:02:59
speed uh so I was in you know mucking around in scrapyards and finding
1:03:05
generators and alternators for my car and that kind of stuff that keeps you going right they busy as hell on
1:03:12
weekends no time for hunting if you're doing that really it's the same thing it's a hobby so just not to move
1:03:18
completely off topic but all right so you're doing this wonderful stuff and you're you know you're living off the
1:03:23
land and it's it's just a wonderful experience that everybody I don't care who who you are
1:03:30
looks at that says man he's living the life I really want to do that stuff but
1:03:35
on the other hand you're also into technology in a big way because you produce a YouTube channel and I know
1:03:43
that doesn't get produced on its own so tell us about that are you doing the editing there at the cabin you have
1:03:48
somebody that you send stuff off to like how does that work yes sir unfortunately I do the
1:03:54
editing myself so it t about a 12-h hour RIT day on Fridays you know compiling all the footage from the week and then
1:04:00
and then getting it out there usually I'm go usually my my I'm going to bed around like 3:00 a.m on Saturday
1:04:05
mornings you know because I I have it go live at 6:00 a. on on Saturdays but uh
1:04:11
it's the only unpleasant part of the whole process to be honest that I do not like um but uh I've tried working with
1:04:18
editors uh twice and they charge a lot of money um don't they though I'm trying
1:04:23
to get rid of All Mine by the way just in case
1:04:28
yeah right right well I mean and the other thing for me is just like the turnaround time I like having my content
1:04:34
from the previous five days go out live immediately because for me because I'm a novice building I can't tell you how
1:04:42
much I value the input from experienced folks that are watching my channel um I get Log Cabin Builders Structural
1:04:49
Engineers Architects telling me I've rebuilt so many things in this process
1:04:54
because of feedback I've gotten from people watching my channel sending me DMS on Instagram sending me emails it's
1:05:01
almost like crowdsourcing you know the construction so if I work with an editor I would need to have like a weak lag
1:05:08
between when I'm filming it and when it's going live and that's probably the biggest issue to be honest is just
1:05:13
keeping it keeping it live like that um but uh yeah that's uh and then starlink
1:05:20
you know for sure so uh there's definitely some technology involved in uh in in what I'm doing out here for
1:05:26
sure how often are you shooting like what's the process have you got a a formula that you use you know every day
1:05:33
you you set up a camera there and do this and then Wednesdays you do that like how does that work I just film
1:05:39
whatever the heck I would be doing whether there's people watching me or not just in terms of trying to get the
1:05:45
homestead where it needs to be because you know heste setting there's literally an unlimited task list of what you need
1:05:51
to do in terms of Maintenance but also building new things and uh when you're a oneman army you know there's just
1:05:57
there's so much to do and uh I film basically Sunday to Thursday and then I edit on Friday and then I take Saturdays
1:06:05
off that's that's the schedule wow good for you man wow you you you leave yourself a day off and that's obviously
1:06:11
important obviously you must yeah you must you must be physically a freak of
1:06:19
nature by now pulling those logs cutting trees like you got to be in damn good shape now don't you yes sir yes sir you
1:06:26
know I was really into weightlifting before I came out here and now just like I don't have you know there's no gym nearby it's and it's you're so
1:06:32
physically active uh I don't lift weights anymore I would actually say I'm slightly chubbier than I was before like
1:06:39
when I came out here you know for the ladies you know I had I like to do you know curl they were they say curls for
1:06:45
the girls right and uh I had a bit of a six-pack going on and you know that kind
1:06:50
of stuff but I'm a little chubbers now to be honest because I just I just eat as much food as I need because it's so
1:06:57
physical like you're saying right espe doing forestry stuff like cutting down trees deliming them hauling them around
1:07:04
that kind of stuff it's very very physical but um I just eat I love dates
1:07:10
I usually eat about a pound of dates per day um on top of like two pounds of steak so um I would call you know like I
1:07:18
think a lot of guys who work construction who like very physical construction jobs like you might look at
1:07:24
a picture of them like in a bathing suit and you'd be like this guy's not a physical he doesn't look like Arnold Schwarzenegger right but I'm telling you
1:07:30
I have a lot more respect for kind of like the blue collar construction guys especially the guys who are like very very physical jobs cuz those guys might
1:07:37
not look like it but they're actually in Crazy shape like they can kind of go at 70 or 80% throttle all day long doing
1:07:46
kind of heavy lifting stuff do you know what I mean kind of like that wiry yep kind of Fitness exactly you mentioned uh
1:07:53
the young ladies so we can't just brush over that uh I'm assuming
1:07:59
you're not married no sir no sir I broke up with my last girlfriend right before I came out
1:08:05
uh here to do this so all right so my question to you is do you get into town
1:08:12
to see people do you like you still have to have some kind of social life don't you like you can't just hunker down in
1:08:19
the cabin a sbur Saturday night there you there you go
1:08:25
Saturday night yeah that's right that's right I remember last time I was speaking with um the Diaries of a lodge
1:08:33
owner I what is that gentleman's name Steve Steve that's rcky yeah Steve and I cracked a joke he asked me what I did
1:08:39
for work and I said that I was a stripper I was a welder by day and a Stripper by night and uh he didn't get
1:08:46
that it was a joke he's just like you know he thought okay this guy's like a weirdo and I think that you guys I told
1:08:51
you last time and you guys were like well that's cuz Steve was a welder himself exactly exactly exactly so
1:09:00
that's why he believed that but no I haven't seen a human female in about nine months wow that's getting a little
1:09:07
uh yeah little antsy getting a little antsy for sure no I do see some human females when I get into town and stuff
1:09:13
uh you know it's it's you'd be surprised about the number of um there's definitely some interest out there in
1:09:20
terms of females wanting to join one on on this kind of Journey right you know I say 95% of both men and women would
1:09:27
would never actually want to live this life but there's 5% that that really do um so actually the girlfriend that I
1:09:34
broke up with before I came up here she actually really wanted to come do this but I just didn't think she was the right kind of personality match she was
1:09:40
also moving to the United States to do a master's degree at that time but um uh I
1:09:46
have gone on some virtual dates over uh you know um Zoom since I got up here
1:09:52
haven't met the right lady yet but uh I think I think eventually it uh it uh you
1:09:59
know it it it will happen I think a good-look young man like yourself living that lifestyle probably gets a lot of
1:10:07
offers from uh uh females to come up and join you for whether it's for the day
1:10:13
the weekend the year for proposals of marriage like you got to be getting that kind of stuff well there's there's I I
1:10:21
would say there's some interests you know like I said there for a small part of the popul female population this is
1:10:28
like a would be a dream lifestyle um you know how do I phrase this um go ahead I
1:10:36
think you know what's that go ahead just go for it don't think about it James is
1:10:42
going to tell us about old G Spen Egger that just called him last week 380 pounds just racked and
1:10:48
stacked I like you James I want to live with
1:10:54
you oh go Schwarz Ander that's hilarious you know like my my mother
1:11:00
told me she's like James don't start looking for a wife until you have a functioning shower and toilet on your
1:11:07
homestead good one so true and my mother's told me she's like James
1:11:12
whatever kind of women you have reaching out to you right now you're going to be able to get a much higher quality mate
1:11:18
once you have a functioning toilet and shower because the number of C potential
1:11:24
candidates that are going to contact you will go up because there's very few hum
1:11:29
both male or female that would want to live without a shower or a toilet and to be honest I'm kind of taking my mother's
1:11:36
strategy on that one yeah so I'm not really like on the app the dating apps
1:11:42
you know I'm not really doing uh proactive searching out there until I get my first shower and toilet kind of
1:11:48
kind of up and running to be honest your mother's a wise woman for sure there you go ladies uh be warned you will not be
1:11:55
well received at this point but but you know what Angelo I mean the counterargument to that is don't you
1:12:01
want to find a lady who's willing to R it from you with you you know from from the start right because then you know
1:12:06
she's actually in for the Long Haul so I think that's the counterarguments of what my mother strategy is but uh who
1:12:13
knows knows but if I'm that young lady and thinking about you I'm also apt to
1:12:18
say hm I wonder how long I wonder how long James is committed to this lifestyle you know
1:12:25
right 5 years down the road 6 years down the road he might just wake up one day and say are you kidding me I'm out of
1:12:32
here you know and then and I'm going to be an urbanite so there is that too right you never say
1:12:37
never 100% 100% Angelo like I could wake I mean I gave myself a year at the beginning right to see if I actually
1:12:44
like this or not and um I think about 3 months in I was like oh yeah I love it I'm going to keep doing this but you
1:12:50
know you never know like you could wake up on the day one of year two and be like hey I'm moving back to you know my
1:12:57
little hell hole apartment in downtown Toronto uh so you know you you never know I don't think it's super likely um
1:13:05
but I mean it it always is a possibility you know um but uh the amazing thing is
1:13:11
is like in Ontario there is an opportunity to do this kind of stuff like even with unorganized townships right there's a lot of countries like I
1:13:17
get messages from people in Europe all the time they just can't do they can't buy a piece of land and cut down the
1:13:22
trees and build a cabin there because the building restrictions don't allow it so you know we are blessed as
1:13:30
outdoorsmen or just you know rural living folk to to be in this province you know what would now you had to seek
1:13:38
out and find this little piece of property with nothing on it that you had to pay for it with cash now James 10
1:13:44
years from now wants to sell this whole setup is there a what's that procedure now is a whole different thing now the
1:13:50
government's all involved and everybody wants to get a piece of this uh you selling now well I think you know I don't know at
1:13:57
what point exactly but banks will finance lands that have habitable
1:14:03
structures on it I think the term is like an insurable structure um so I
1:14:09
actually I believe my insurance guy tells me I'm able to get an insurance policy on this cabin because now my f my
1:14:16
wood stove setup is it's called wet certified that's like the provincial certification for woodf fired you know
1:14:21
stove so I had it inspected and certified um so I believe you are able
1:14:27
to sell it with financing at a certain level so that will definitely change the kind of buyer who could potentially buy
1:14:33
your land if they can Finance it right because most people just don't have that much cash laying around and the
1:14:39
unfortunate reality of of it is like Shawn James who started this process you know he's he's got millions of
1:14:45
subscribers on on uh YouTube started this in uh Central Ontario 10 years ago
1:14:51
in 2016 2017 he bought his first property which I I believe was 20 acres
1:14:56
for $50,000 and had good road access had a year round Creek in the back there's no
1:15:03
way you're going to find that property for Le for less than $150 if not
1:15:08
$200,000 nowadays in central Ontario you know what we were talking about earlier the climate zone 4 from you know Sudbury
1:15:15
down to basically Northern Lake Simco um where there are unorganized townships uh
1:15:21
you know good luck so it takes a lot of cash to do this now which is really unfortunate because for a very long
1:15:27
period of time you could buy land for 500 bucks an acre right wow and that that would have been the whole the whole
1:15:34
premise behind it right is that you know you just want to yeah you want a cheap place that you build yourself that you
1:15:40
are going to put your heart and soul into but if you have to start out with a fortune oh my God you got you got to
1:15:45
kind of rethink that right you know that's that's the problem no incentive in that sense so yeah like I was 36 I
1:15:53
think when I bought this land I'm 38 now so I had to work you know like 36 years to have enough savings to buy this place
1:15:59
uh so the idea of like a 18-year-old or 20-year-old Young Buck going out and buying you know a chunk of land you know
1:16:05
that dream is maybe passed I think that in northeastern and Northwestern Ontario
1:16:10
there is still more affordable land it's still not as affordable as it used to be
1:16:16
but if you're on more of a budget um definitely look into Northwestern and Northeastern Ontario climate zone 3 in
1:16:22
the Boreal and the more the more difficult the access um the cheaper the
1:16:28
land is going to be so there still is a property out there I think for everyone in Ontario but uh it's it's going to be
1:16:34
different very is there a place that people can go and search this stuff like can you can you hook them up with a a
1:16:42
URL or someplace where where you like you know like listings of these
1:16:47
properties yeah honestly the best is probably just realor.com
1:16:54
a good place cuz a lot of people will sell you know rural land on on that platform my location I found via word of
1:17:02
mouth if you have an area that you found that you like what I did is I just went around pulling up into people's
1:17:07
driveways and giving out bags of coffee uh to them and just introducing myself and saying hey you know I'm I'm looking
1:17:14
for land and uh you know never underestimate the power of a small unexpected gift in terms of you know
1:17:20
making a new friend like that so uh that is how I found my property and there
1:17:25
wasn't anything listed in the area that I was that I ended up in to be honest um
1:17:30
I knew about it because I had a relative who owned property nearby um and uh that that was the key
1:17:36
to be honest was uh was word of mouth I definitely had about 20% of people that just told me to are we allowed to swear
1:17:43
on this podcast absolutely hell yeah go for it okay yeah to get [ __ ] right like when
1:17:50
you pull up in their drive that that happens but as long as you have a thick skin uh you know that 20% is okay as long as
1:17:58
you're getting 80% of people you know saying hello to you or whatever but uh you know for sure and then maybe getting
1:18:03
the sweetheart deals someone who maybe has 100 acres and doesn't need the back 50 and will split it you know and and
1:18:10
sell it to you uh kind of situation so that's always a possibility very
1:18:16
interesting it's a fascinating lifestyle I think every one of us at some point you know has fantasized about doing what
1:18:23
you do yeah uh it's just one of those things right and here you are you're living it and it's fantastic uh today's
1:18:31
technology has made it possible for people to live vicariously through you
1:18:37
and maybe maybe not as many of them will go out and seek that lifestyle because they can plug into your channel and
1:18:43
experience it with you and sometimes that's all the fix that they need right they they see the hardships that you go
1:18:49
through and say yeah yeah okay that that's kind of cool all right Martha pack up the kids are going to Disney
1:18:55
right you know so uh it's great that you're doing this because it's helping a
1:19:01
lot of people out uh in maybe making that decision make making that big jump or stopping them from doing it but uh
1:19:08
it's also a great source of Adventure for all of us that uh don't have it's
1:19:14
very interesting viewing when you watch like watch James's Channel and just you might think nah I I won't be interested
1:19:21
in watching that and all of a sudden you just get entrenched in and like oh my God he's doing this he doing you know
1:19:27
what I mean so it's pretty cool pretty neat procedure so uh my friend we've taken way too much time uh you got
1:19:34
buildings to put up and wolves and wolves to fight off uh but we sure do appreciate you
1:19:41
sharing some of that precious time with usol whenever um you've got something that you'd like to say by all means if
1:19:49
we haven't reached out to you please reach out to us we'll keep an eye on you uh where can folks go to you might as
1:19:55
well give the gratuitous uh sales pitch on where they can find you absolutely uh
1:20:02
yes uh it's wild Homestead the handle on uh YouTube uh also wild Homestead CA on
1:20:09
Instagram I still have my wild Ontario news site but I haven't updated that about a year unfortunately uh on
1:20:15
Instagram and uh and Tik Tok and gentlemen uh I greatly appreciate the
1:20:21
opportunity our pleasure man oh a little great time great time to lose the signal
1:20:27
great time to lose the signal that's right I mean I could I could definitely do half of an a YouTube episode if you
1:20:33
guys were ever you know in central Ontario doing a fishing trip even coming out to fish with you guys for a day or a
1:20:38
half a day would not only be an honor for me but uh it would be perfect content for my for my YouTube channel
1:20:44
and my viewers as well like it would be it would be a dream actually to be to fish with you guys for a day somewhere
1:20:49
in Ontario to be honest so I don't know if that's in the books but down your proper Brook maybe we can come and do
1:20:55
some Brook truck fishing buddy you know absolutely I mean it's not like the nippan river you know in Northern
1:21:02
Superior they're not as big as up there man but you're welcome anytime right on brother thank you my friend James you
1:21:08
take care of yourself uh let's stay in touch and uh best of luck best of luck to you man thank you Angela thank you
1:21:15
God bless guys hey buddy wow man that's crazy eh he's he's kind of living the
1:21:21
dream that's a commitment that is a huge without a doubt it's a huge commitment
1:21:26
that is a commitment and just to keep going and keep going he's got one building up it's small building now he's
1:21:32
got to put the big building up it's just a it's probably an ongoing just your mind is constantly going your work is
1:21:38
constantly in front of you I wonder if time is an is is is a factor at all I wonder if you lose track you lose track
1:21:45
of the importance of time like who cares if it's sounds like he's on a schedule right he's on that Friday he takes
1:21:50
Sundays off or what is that what he said Sunday off Satur Saturday's off and back to work you know so I don't know he must
1:21:57
have some kind of a time thing going on very impressive young man yeah very very impressive I wonder how many of them
1:22:02
there are out there it's probably a stat somewhere that'll Dean you could probably dig that up for us at some
1:22:07
point I could I probably could yeah just to see how many people are doing this stuff because they got to be registered
1:22:14
or whatever anyways uh exciting yeah very
1:22:19
cool interesting and that brings us to the end my friends I want to just remind everybody about
1:22:25
good free things fishing canada.com uh good free things good free
1:22:32
things just like just like James is getting good free things with nature well we create those environments right
1:22:39
here on fishing canada.com contest we give more free
1:22:44
stuff than James even gets cuz James really has to pay for all that stuff we're giving these freebies out this is
1:22:49
free not only us but uh J&B cycle and Marine are good partners
1:22:55
scale as well Ontario's largest Princecraft and Mercury dealer in
1:23:00
Sudbury and in Tim Ontario yes sir uh but uh reaches right across the country
1:23:08
um and that are it what are we giving away right now do you anything in particular you want us to talk about or
1:23:13
uh I don't want to be too particular I know it leaves us a very difficult you put us in a difficult place there's
1:23:19
always a garment up there a garment we gave away a Liv scope not long ago we had an ice fishing kit not long ago in
1:23:25
the spring we'll have watches and all that kind of stuff so perfect G is good so the safest thing to say would be just
1:23:32
always go to fishing canada.com the portal the gateway to your next not only
1:23:39
fishing Adventure but next winning prize come on now and Pete actually uh Pete
1:23:44
actually has a bonus code for does he we're also and and we're giving you bonus codes I mean who does this stuff
1:23:51
there we go there's all kinds of papers here and I found it and and we are interrupting this great program to bring
1:23:57
you the latest much anticipated a bonus code for the latest fishing Canada giveaways this week's code is Homestead
1:24:04
h o m s t e a d all capitals Homestead that's a lot of letter come on now well
1:24:12
do that for me Homestead home homie what's up
1:24:18
homie I can't do it anyways thanks for joining us on behalf of the entire team V over there he's getting very board you
1:24:25
can see when I know when W's board got a lot of work to do Bo to the end he sees
1:24:32
the light at the end of the tunnel we're at the end of our production cycle so everybody around here is uh on the last
1:24:39
few days of production hopefully yes big big Applause close um yeah uh boa Nick
1:24:47
and Dean come on now he's Peter I'm Angelo thanks for joining us we'll catch you next time
1:24:56
[Music] this episode of Outdoor Journal radio
1:25:03
has been brought to you in part by the invasive species Center protecting Canada's land and water from invasive
1:25:09
species Freedom Cruise Canada rent the boat own the memories jmbb cyc a marine
1:25:17
your home for all things Power Sports boats and equipment and sail the
1:25:23
ultimate destination for your Outdoor Adventures
1:25:29
[Music]

WILD HOMESTEAD w/ James Alofs | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 161

fishncanada.com

Does Timing Matter in Walleye Fishing?

The Boys Go BARBLESS

Are Canada’s Bass Lakes Changing?

The Day Things Didn't Go To Plan In Antarctica!

River Cruising Wasn't What I Expected. Here’s Why

Great Barrier Reef Tour on Hamilton Island Air Helicopter to Reefworld

Top 10 Adventures in Alaska You Must Try

I Found The Ship's Bell From A WWII Canadian Navy Ship - HMCS Trentonian

The Bests! - GEEKS CORNER - Episode #755

Will we still be able to fish in 2026 and beyond? ACTION REQUIRED

Top 10 National Parks in the USA You Need to Visit

Top 10 Things to Do in Banff, Canada

Up next in 10

WILD HOMESTEAD w/ James Alofs | Outdoor Journal Radio ep. 161

fishncanada.com