I've never thought of you as cocky, Bill. We're creatures of our experience. I registered all my guns when the long-gun registry was introduced and the government sent out workers to do all the paper work and even lick the stamp on the envelope. I didn't want any hassle either.

As far as gun owners being seen as a problem here, I don't know whether it would be much different from the States where a whole generation has grown up with a different slant from ours on killing wild things and guns. I do know certainly that there's far less resources allocated to regulatory observance and game protection.

My guess from what I've read in sporting magazines and seen on U.S. television is that the duck and geese hunting experience generally in Canada and particularly in my region of Nova Scotia provides surpassingly greater freedom and opportunities i.e. fewer hunters, less competition, no blind allocations etc.

I've never felt put upon by anyone. I'm as free today to roam with a double as I was starting out in my fishing village on the Atlantic Coast 65 years ago. I plan to take up an invitation from an Alberta member to hunt his favourite marshes and lakes, and I'll bet that his freedom to hunt hasn't been infringed any more than mine.

We are a different people, of course. We see the world differently. Our institutions, heritage, traditions are different. What Americans consider acceptable or preferable for their societies are not the same here. What some Americans feel is abhorrent may be what we voted for, rightly or wrongly, and vice versa.