Random Animals of this Late Fall, Early Winter

All those photos were taken at the cabin, not miles away in the bush apart from the coot.

Black wolf.

Boreal Chickadee

Coot

A fisher. I had  never seen one before, than I saw one in my yard and then later in the same morning I saw another one. Two the same day!!!

A fox

A ptarmigan

And ravens

The Weasel Turning White

It has been a very busy fall and start of winter and I have done a lot of fun things but one of my favourite was to follow the weasel (known as The Kid) turning white.

He is so handsome

 He is strong

 and slowly is starting to trust me more

 You can see a little white starting on his cheeks

He is curious, and wonders about the camera: is it food?

The way he turns white is a little messy really.

He is totally a meat eater

He is so fast that he makes squirrels seem slow. Taking his picture, with the slight delay you get in digital cameras, is not that easy.

He turned totally white in two weeks from the days there was a hint of white on his cheeks.

Still wondering if the camera can be eaten.He is climbing on me to see what I have in my hand.

And not shy!!

"Hello, some of us are out here waiting for food!!!" He really makes me laugh.

Everybody Wanted to get Involved with the Latest Moosehide

It was kind of fun to see that I wasn't the only one who wanted to work on the latest moose hide.

The whiskey jacks were the first to show up. 

Then the weasel was there and very interested.

Fall Colours with Tamaracks

I love the way tamaracks turn such a beautiful yellow.

More bear hunting

Just some photo, nothing gory.

The skull of another bear (who was smaller) and a jar of bear fat before it cools down enough to congeal and turn white.

filleting pickerel

Here is a photo series of how to fillet pickerel.

The problem with pickerel is that they are full of spikes

Sharp teeth

Spines on their fins

and even inside their gills.

Here is how it is done: first open their gut

Then cut the upper part of the fish from the open belly to the tail

But don't cut the side off at the tail, leave it attached

Then go to where you started and the belly is open but the flesh still attached in the upper part of the body and cut this off following the backbone

 All the way to the end

Then cut what you just cut off below the arm-like fin

This is what you have

 This is why the tail being attached is good. It gives you a handle to skin the fillet you just cut

And this is how you do it. Keep the knife still and wiggle and pull on the fish

 Ta da!!! you are nearly done

But now you have to take the bones out

On the pickerel another part really good to eat is the cheek