i'm leaving on a jet plane

[ozy clint]

bye bye north america      

i'm on my way home to australia today. we fly out of san fran at 9pm pacific time.  
i'll have to come back for a hunt sometime.  since i didn't get much of a chance this time around.     :(        :(  

i'll have to come back and get a bigger ground squirrel. my only north american kill.

of all the tradgangers who we/i meet and stayed with, thank you for your hospitality and the chance to have a shot/hunt with you.              

it's a shame things didn't work out for us.

watch this space..........i'm going hunting.          

[JEFF B]

have a safe trip home clint  

[Bryan Bondurant]

ozy clint, Did you have the Squirrel mounted?

[ozy clint]

no. not sure what i'd have to do. no doubt i needed a permit or something to say where it come from, tag or something. i was a bit over the 'you can't do this or that unless you give us money' thing the canadian government has going.  

[Bryan Bondurant]

ozy clint, Ouch, not the Canadian Government again? They ruined my hunt to Anticosti Island in August of 97. I got accused of all kinds of things by the silly guy at immigration, working without a work permit, drug smuggling, being a liar, and a few other things.

 They had initially asked me where I was from which I stated Arkansas, then they found my drivers license which was Key West Florida and everybody knows we are all drug smugglers, yea right, guess they never heard of Salt Water Fly Fishing. When confronted as a drug dealer with 0 evidence other than having a Florida Drivers License I told the idiots, I'm from Arkansas, I live in Florida, check my passport as it clearly says where I was born.  

 I also had a box of Archery information (All provided for free by the Arkansas Game and Fish) for Canadian guys that were interested to deer hunt Arkansas in December/January as one cannot even draw a bow outside in the weather up there at that time. Thats where the "No Work Permit" allegation came from.

The bottom line was it cost me thousands of dollars and I never got to go hunting on Anticosti Island as I had planned. I was told with a finger pointing in my face that I was not welcome in Canada by a uniformed officer and ungracefully sent packing.


 I do have some great Canadian friends and some people did offer to fix things with the Gov so I could come hunting but it was way to late for me, so many years later It still makes me angry to think about.


  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anticosti_Island

[bretto]

Have a safe trip home Clint. Wish things would have worked out for You and Your Wife. Good luck and happy hunting.

bretto

[2treks]

Have a safe trip HOME Clint.
canadian customs,OUCH.
1992 bear hunt started with a 4hour delay at the border and ended when I threw $900 in the face of the jerk that said "you are taking this personal" darn right I did. I was escorted out of the building.

[Sharpster]

Clint,

Sorry to hear you didn't get your bear. I've not read all the threads but, did you even get a chance to hunt, other than the small game stuff?

Wow! Canadian regulation, laws, and customs are rough huh? I' didn't realise they were that bad.

Safe trip to you Sir, let us know when you make it home.

Ron

[McDave]

Was great to meet you, Clint.  Wish the best to you and your family in the future.

My own Canadian story:  I donated a dozen arrows to the St. Jude cause, that were won by a guy in Canada.  I took the arrows to a UPS store, where the guy filled out papers and sent the arrows to Canada.  A few days later, I get a telephone call from the customs agent in Canada.  Why are you shipping arrows to Canada?  Why does the guy in Canada want the arrows?  What is he going to do with them?  How much did he pay you for them?  (Well, he didn't really pay me, he paid St. Jude) which opened a whole nother line of questions about St. Jude.  I don't know if the guy was just bored or what, but he spent a good 10 minutes discussing the dozen arrows with me.  He was nice enough, but imagine the commerce going back and forth between the US and Canada, and having that much discussion about a dozen arrows!

[tradtusker]

have a good trip mate
and bring on the hunting pics when you get home    

[Big Ed]

Safe travels and hope you enjoyed your time here!!!

[the elf]

McDave--I finally did get the arrows as you know--
but the -------- charged me duty and the arrows were all loose in the box---not in there holders.
However they do fly well.

[akdd]

Have a good trip home.

[bowhunterfrompast]

Ozy..at least you got to chase the dream, too bad it didn't work out for you and your wife.

Have a safe return.

Rick

[ozy clint]

yeah, to have tried and failed is better than to die wondering.