I’ve visited the canoe museum, once, in Peterborough, Ontario. The lady who worked there mentioned that a canoe or a beaver should be the emblem on the Canadian flag—not the maple leaf.
Beavers are found in most provinces and territories. They used to be eight-feet long and weigh about 200 pounds (check out the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre in Whitehorse). Did you know that a square inch of beaver fur holds 77,000–148,000 hairs? The toes of each hind foot have split nails, which makes it easy for grooming. What’s amazing is how far into the bush, away from water, that they walk for their food (up to 30 metres), and that their teeth cannot be discounted as weapons—not just for felling trees but for defending themselves. Beaver teeth have iron-laced enamel that shows up as orange; therefore, they can cut through trees that are up to one metre in diameter.
As for their hide, it would not get much (about $30) at an auction (you’ll send the hide in “green,” which means it’s not tanned but, rather, fleshed and dried), so I would opt to send it to a tannery rather than to sell it tanned or work with it myself. Then I would have the beaver skull. And the tail skin could be made into a wallet or eaten dried and smoked, once the hair has been singed off. We’ve eaten backstrap (beaver has protein, and its liver has iron) and dried the highly priced castor glands. Do you know what industries use beaver castoreum for? It is often added to expensive products such as ice cream (especially ice cream with raspberry, strawberry or vanilla flavouring), to beverages such as whiskey, or to perfumes such as Givenchy, Chanel, Lancȏme and Dior.
We have a muskrat that lives in an abandoned beaver lodge in a side-channel (there is not enough standing water in this channel anymore, therefore the beavers have abandoned it because they are vulnerable to predators). Muskrats are plentiful in northern Yukon. They love marshes and the water plants that grow along channel bottoms. They burrow into riverbanks and use their long, naked tails as rudders. Their tails are scaly, black and flat from side to side. The muskrat is the largest “mouse” (really)—a field mouse that has traded meadows for marshes.
Each freeze-up, like clockwork, two or three otters come to the lake. They poke holes in the thin ice, walk along the edge of the lake, dive in and play. I watched one of them eating a fish (two ravens were eager to steal it). Not impressed by the ravens’ advances, the otter just walked under a tree, which hung over the lake, and enjoyed the meal. This scene reminded me of Gollum with his “precious” ring (in Lord of the Rings). Otters are probably the most-playful of Yukon wild animals. Another time we watched an otter go sledding! It would walk up the hill and then slide down onto the frozen lake. It did that for about 15 minutes. These views, including the changing light of the seasons and the fire in the wood stove, are our “TV series” out here.
The lynx, a member of the cat family, has very sharp teeth and has claws to hold and kill its main source of food (the snowshoe hare) with one bite. It waits patiently for a hare, then pounces on it. Or, with its snowshoe-like paws, the lynx zigzags through the bush until it scares a hare out of its hiding place. Every 10 years or so, the snowshoe-hare population crashes (perhaps because of disease, the production of toxins from their favourite shrubs, or because of food shortage). Then the lynx will go after squirrels, mice, grouse, ptarmigan or whatever it can find. Or it will travel away from its territory. Younger lynx starve, as the females give birth regardless of food supply. But when there is plenty of food, they’ll cache the surplus under mounds of grass marked with droppings.
We always take garbage bags with us in case we trap a lynx or a fox (they carry fleas). Back at home, we spray Raid into the bag, tie it up and leave it for a few hours.
The Grey Wolf can be different colours, from almost white to black. A pack has a territory of 1,000 square kilometres (males travel up to 500 kilometres in search of breeding females). A pair of wolves kill, proportionally, more moose and/or caribou than a pack will kill. The pair will eat until full and then leave the rest for scavengers: ravens, eagles, wolverines, martens and even chickadees will happily eat meat. A pack has a highly developed social hierarchy with a female as the alpha who leads the pack’s hunting efforts. If a wolf gets old and isn’t able to help with the hunt anymore, it has to go. Winter is an easy season for wolves to go on hunts, as moose are not able to jump into the water and cross a river or lake.
Wolverines, also called Gulo gulo (“glutton” in Latin), have large neck muscles and a very strong jaws, to crush bones, and are therefore superior to a grizzly, which would have to give up his kill when a wolverine shows up. Adult males have a home range of 400–700 square kilometres. Their fur is sought-after for hood trim, due to the fact that it is frost resistant.
Some fur-bearing animals are edible: lynx is very tasty (similar in taste to turkey). We’ve also eaten muskrat, beaver, squirrel and hare.
Now what about lures? All wildlife goes crazy for beaver, but there are still specialized lures to attract just the animal you want. Martens eat berries and they would love raspberry jam. Lynx respond to catnip, valerian or a perfume that you don’t wear anymore (a curiosity scent). Lynx are also attracted to a dangling feather or some flagging tape that is hanging. Some trappers make their own lures (one trapper told me he uses shaving cream). You can also use vaseline to make a paste with all of your other ingredients: it will retain the smell even during a cold spell.
Here is a favourite Yukon government webpage for you to check out: yukon.ca/outdoor-recreation-and-wildlife/yukon-wildlife. Just click on the animal you want to learn about (you can even listen to its call/growl/song).
Sew long fur now,
Sonja Seeber, Yukon trapper
