Yukon bush life

We’ve had a few moose encounters recently, the most significant being the one I shot. The Tr’ondëk Hwich’ën people believe that if you think about an animal, you draw it to you. I thought about nothing else as we hunted and later, processed the kill and so we’ve had lots of moose visitors. I am now thinking hard about fine wine and vast sums of money. I imagine the theory is only for animals but you never know.  (Update- a kind friend gave me a bottle of wine yesterday. It works!) Hunting by boat We started hunting early. I’ve learned a lot about moose from people here and from reading blogs. The rut is around the last two weeks of September. Bulls don’t come down from the mountains til it gets cold. Best time to hunt them is just before dark or just after sunrise as they move around at night, or round midday when they tend to get up for a stretch. Moose tracks and Neil prints on the beach From the moose themsel...

After a fractious week trying to rebuild the roof on our old cabin, there’s no better balm for marital relationships than a common enemy. We have one. The squirrels. Despite our best efforts to pin chicken wire into the eaves of the old cabin, they have got in already and begun to scatter our fibreglass insulation into the snow. Our squirrels are not the galumphing grey type that you see in London. They are smaller and soft amber brown, with tufty ears and tails that look like they’ve been sketched by a cartoonist in a few pencil strokes. They are also the most aggressive, noisy and bothersome creatures I have encountered here. They chant abuse nonstop at each other like little football hooligans.  Squirrels causing trouble at the football They get so livid, they wheeze asthmatically between each scream, desperate to suck in enough air to keep up the fight. In the warmer months, they will be up before us squeaking furiously, carry on all day, and still be at it when we...