Timber Wolves

Timber wolves are wild animals that look like a large dog. They have a long bushy tail and can be identified by their tail. They have longer legs, longer feet, wider head and shorter ears that stand upright. The timber wolf weighs more than 100 pounds full grown. The male weighs more than the female.

The timber wolf is many times called a gray wolf because it's coat is medium to light gray. They are found in Canada, Alaska and in wilderness areas in the northern states, like northern Minnesota and northern Wisconsin.

The timber wolf is smart, strong, quick and is a hunter of deer, moose, small animals and livestock. They work in wolf packs to kill the larger animals.

A wolf pack is a family group of wolves that live together, usually over a long period of time.

Several summers ago, my wife and I were walking down one of the many trails on the cabin property when a timber wolf was walking on the same trail towards us. The wolf was looking down and didn't see us approaching. He raised his head to see us.

I thought the wolf was a neighbor's dog, but the neighbor's dog was black, so I thought it must be another neighbor's dog. The wolf reacted like a flash of lightening and disappeared into the woods in less than a second. It was only a quick flash of his bushy tail that identified him as a timber wolf.

The timber wolf has an innate fear of humans and they try to avoid people.

There is a feeling by our citizens that we may have too many wolves or not enough. This debate is ongoing. All the wolves need is a place where there's enough prey and where people won't kill them.

Making Tracks In The Snow

A snowshoe is an odd shaped device that permits a person to walk over deep snow without sinking into the snow. The snowshoe distributes a person's weight over a large area. The adult snowshoes are about three feet long and a foot and a half wide. Children's snowshoes are smaller as their weight is less than an adult.

The traditional snowshoes are made of a light weight wooden frame, bent into a long oval. A weave of strings of raw animal hide are stretched across the frame. The strings are tied to the wood frame and both are coated with several coats of water resistance varnish. Native Americans were the first to use snowshoes in the regions of deep snow. Many of the traditional snowshoe shapes are modeled after these early Native American snowshoes.

To walk with snowshoes, one moves their feet so that the snowshoe glides over the surface of the snow. An outward motion to the snowshoe with each forward step must be used. With practice, one can cover many miles over the snow. It is an excellent form of exercise, different than walking, but is most enjoyable; as it gives one the ability to view the wonders of the winter forest.

Today, modern snowshoes are made of light weight tubular metal shapes and wide plastic webbing similar to the tranditional snowshoes. The modern snowshoes have small and different shapes and other accessories to aid the user in snowshoeing, especially when climbing or going down hill. Our traditional snowshoes seem to support us better without sinking deeper into the snow than the modern metal snowshoes.

It is magical to walk in the deep snow with snowshoes at night, especially when the moon is full. The snow glistens from the light of the moon. The snowshoes steps make no sound and the dark shadows of the winter forest seem ghost like. It is a scene that shines with a luster with a dropback of the large pine trees that appear as silent sentinels against the sky and the sparkling snow.

Wild Rice - Flash Back

In the late 1940's, my father and I visited an old friend of my father's who had a place on the nearby river. Not far down stream from the friend's place was a widening of the river with a large bed of wild rice.

It was in the fall of the year, and the Native Americans were harvesting the wild rice by pushing their canoes into the wild rice beds. The harvest process began by bending heads of the plants over the gun wales of the canoe and then beating the wild rice grains loose from the plant . One stick was to bend the plant head over the edge of the canoe and the other stick was to beat the grains loose. The grain fell into the bottom of the canoe and collected. After many hours of work the wild rice grains were brought in for further processing.

Wild rice, not related to rice, is an aquatic grass that grows from 4 to 8 feet high. Wild rice grows naturally in shallow rivers and lakes in our area. The grains are long, spindly; grayish is color.

My father and I watched and admired the skill and hard work the Native Americans used in the harvesting of the wild rice. Wild rice is a special delicacy used with fish, duck, pheasant or or sausages. It is also used as a side dish with many meats . Wild rice is rich in vitamin B. .