Wolves, Bears and being Barbless

Where to start……..so much has happened. Well, a good place to start is to mention the fact that after two months in Canada Barb has had enough and she left me……….Not only did she leave me, she left Daisy too!!!!! Before you get too alarmed, she will be back as she is spending a few weeks with our kids in Salt Lake. She has been gone about 10 days and has 10 more until she returns. I have come to the conclusion that I would not make a very good bachelor. The trailer is a mess and it is starting to smell like a locker room. Luckily she will never know what a mess it is as I will have it cleaned up before she gets back!

My meals have been somewhat lacking, two nights ago I had some Dorito’s and beer for supper, it does not get any better than that! Well actually it does, as last night one of the groups that come up every year invited me over for a rib eye dinner with baked potatoes and corn on the cob! In addition, Chad’s wife, Michelle has been kind enough to make me dinner and breakfast a few times

Last week a friend of mine, Tom Mabry, came up camping with his wife Sandy for the week. Although I was not able to get out fishing with them, it was really good to see them and hang out with them in the evenings (and eat dinner with them!). They had another couple with them along with their son and two daughters ranging from 19-11.  They had a great week and caught lots of fish. Daisy made a new friend in Reagan who was nice enough to watch her while I was out during the days.  I was really impressed by each of the kids, it was cool to see such good kids and a truly great family.

Raelin and Colton with a nice stringer



Jim with a Northwind walleye

Reagan with a 13" perch

 

Before Barb left she and Michelle had been getting up at 6:30 every morning and running 3-4 miles. They have been very devoted running weekdays for several weeks. This is a pretty big feat given the fact that Barb is deathly afraid of bears. Although they see bear sign while running they have not seen any actual bears but there was a bear sighting by a fisherman on the driveway two weeks ago. Since then Barb has been wearing her bear bell while running so any bears hear them coming. We have been teasing her that the bear bell is actually like a dinner bell for the bears so she is more likely to attract bears rather than scare them away!

Speaking of bears, the bear season opens in two weeks and we have been ready putting up trail cameras and getting stands ready. Bears as well as other creatures are starting to show up at the stands. It is amazing what you will catch on cameras out in the woods!

A bear with a stripe down it's back????

A young collared wolf at one of the bear sites

I was able to get out fishing twice with two couples; one from Minnesota and one from Thousand Oaks California. It is always interesting to meet new people, especially those from so far apart and learn how they are connected. These two were high school friends who were separated due to their careers and had a Canadian fishing trip on their bucket list. We went to both Northwind and Onaman and had two great days of fishing. One of them also had a goal of catching a 25+” walleye which we were able to cross of his list during our trip to Onaman

During a recent trip to Thunder Bay Barb and Michelle stopped by the suspension bridge. They said is was pretty interesting and took some beautiful pictures.

CJ at the suspension bridge

Probably the most interesting thing of the past week is a wolf that has decided to take up residence in camp. He has made several appearances over the past few days stealing garbage out of the trash cans and leaving piles around the camp marking his territory. There is a reason for concern as wolves typically want nothing to do with humans and this one does not seem to be afraid of us.  It is a pretty big wolf that appears to be an older and probably is not able to hunt on its own. As a result the kids and dogs are not allowed to wander the camp until it goes away. I tried to take a picture of one of the tracks with Daisy’s to the right of it. It is hard to see but you get an idea of how big the track is. Daisy on the other hand thinks she is bigger and wanted to run into the woods when she smelled the tracks and got on it's scent. We have keeping her on a short leash as she would make a nice little appetizer for this guy!

Garbage Stealing Wolf!

Wolf print on left, Daisy print on right