As I mentioned in my other blog I am changing writing subjects for the time being. Fall finds me in the woods taking part in most of the outdoor sports. I enjoy the taste of wild game and spend most of my free time chasing it. Seldom lucky, I eat a lot of hot dogs.
Trapping, a dying skill is one frowned on by some. Where I live the furbearers have become so numerous, people’s pets are disappearing. Raccoons are a problem not only to the neighbors, the wild turkey and grouse suffer due to nest predation.
Should I be lucky enough to harvest a whitetail this season, I will not let it set in the woods overnight. There are so many coyotes and fishers up here that it would be eaten by morning. I have spent many hours in the dark with lanterns recovering either my deer or someone else’s for just that reason.
Normally I write about science on this blog, and now I am going to write about trapping? Where is the connection? If you look at it the way I do, it is all nature really. I like to study nature.
Some will not like my hobby, I am sorry if I offend some of my readers. There will be photos of the animals we take. I know this will lead to some hate mail, but I must write what I know. I will keep it as tastefully done as possible.
Today’s adventure: test drove the new/used canoe I bought. My wife said she hoped it would sink when we took it out, (she was just mad about the hundred dollars I spent on it). We had to portage through tag alters and pines about two-hundred yards. While my trapping partner Nick was climbing into the eight foot fiberglass Indian River canoe, I asked, “when was the last time you have been in canoe?” The last thing I remember was something about the Navy. Needless to say this was a very tippy vessel. We paddled upstream past several boulders through fast moving waters. Both of us need practice when it comes to boating skills.
Every ten feet one of us was pointing at a slide or feed bed. This area contained enough fur to lay most of our water traps. Not far into the journey larger rocks and swifter water stopped our scouting trip. We’ve decided to run this river for only four or five days, then pull everything. I expect to get wet at least once.
The Muses of the Beave are just that. I am writing about what I’m into at the time. Imagine what could be next.
