Happy Sunday morning:

“There was a power outage at a department store yesterday. Twenty people were trapped on the escalators.” ~ Stephen Wright

That was a joke, actually it was trapping for fur at the fur Trappers conference which we learned about. One thing we discovered is that it’s an awful lot of work. First of all trapping is a wintertime activity. Set traps late in the day and check traps at the crack of dawn – those very times when it’s bitter cold in these climes.

Since I so enjoy my steaming mug of morning coffee – such as this morning – I’d struggle as a trapper.

Beginning a Bear Hunt – Bob-the-forester has plans to spend the winter at the lake. Winter is tough on everyone in these parts and travel is almost worse. Stocking up on supplies becomes an important part of the planning. With meat lumbering through adjacent woods and it being your favorite meat besides, it’s easy to put two and two together.

This week I went out with Bob to restock the bait and blind area he’d selected and set up. Marcia’s old rain-barrel stocked with Oats mixed with Molasses for bait. Then a paint brush to ‘paint’ Molasses on some trees to expand the scent. And, finally some repositioning of his blind to better sight the barrel. He was ready. Now it’s monitoring the tree-mounted camera on a daily basis checking for activity. I’ll keep you posted.

The Trappers Convention – An hour’s drive away is the town of Blind River. This weekend it was home to the 2014 Trappers Convention. The local ice arena was jam-packed with vendors and governmental entities offering educational material. Everything from handmade knives and varieties of traps, pelts, saws, snowmobiles, ATVs, ladies furs equal to the cost of a small car, to spectacular leather mitts with no price tag shown.

For an hour we learned how to snare wolf. Not that I’ll ever be out setting snares. But, it was remarkable to see what all goes into that effort.

Our favorite demonstration was by a Conservation Officer and his dog. The Province has 5 such canine units – each trained for search, rescue, and for finding illegally gathered fish or game.

The dogs are trained to react to thirteen scents which cover every activity they are involved in. The style of each of the three types of leash or harness used alerts the dog as to the activity it’ll be involved in.

For a demonstration the officer had thrown a shell casing into the grassy field beyond the demo area – prior to the dog coming out of his vehicle’s ‘home’. Told to search it took the animal, at most, five seconds to drop next to where it had located the shell. Blew me away.

The Canine unit’s vehicle, a GMC Suburban, was equipped to start the engine, AC, and lower the rear windows automatically when a temperature of 24C was reached all to ensure the safety of the dog.

After leaving us, this team was heading for the International Bridge to the USA to search vehicles for contraband game and fish leaving Canada. I’d suggest passing on trying to run a cooler load of fish across the border.

Animal Planet – This photo is incredible. The tallest tree in the area was recently hit by lightning. The bolt ran straight down the trunk blowing away about a 2” wide strip of bark.

I believe the only nearby hit occurred as I was on a ladder; yup, it was aluminum. I was working on the gutters at Northern Comfort and that’s the only close-by hit this summer that I am aware of.

Fini – Happy Birthday Adrianne, enjoy your gift of a helicopter ride – I am jealous. Then early next week it’s a happy birthday to Sandy. And, finally at the tail end of the week, a happy birthday to Vaioleti.

Then to Derek (6th), Marin (6th), Kellen (3rd), Dinah (2nd), and Vai (1st) have a great start to a new school year – do well! And to all of us drivers, be extra careful now that school has started.

Make it a great week. Stay safe.
Cheers.

Dirk