Muskrat Trapping and Grey Owls

Muskrat trapping and skinning was one of my highlights from Culture Camp. Because of the wind (and being shut in the kitchen tent for three full days) our trapping and snaring time was shortened. I will describe a bit about muskrat trapping and rabbit snaring here.

The view from the muskrat trapping lakes

To trap a muskrat you first need to locate the muskrat push up on the lake you are trapping on. The muskrat push up is where the muskrats keep their food. They keep it open and work very hard to not let it freeze over completely. The trap is set under the muskrat push up, knowing that the muskrat comes there to feed.

The traps are checked the day after they are set. Of the two initial traps we set, we trapped two muskrats. One was dead, but the second was alive. It was writhing around like crazy, and biting at the person removing the trap. I had to look away for the next thing that happened.

Pulling out the trapped muskrat

The muskrats are skinned by first cutting off the legs and skinning it from the bottom up. After the legs are cut off, the muskrat is hung from the ceiling to make the skinning process easier (cutting downwards, using gravity to help). The muskrats were boiled to eat and the skins can be used to make mitts or hats.

Skinned muskrat ready to be boiled, and fur ready to be turned into mitts or a hat

We didn't catch any rabbits in our snares. I did an acrylic painting of a rabbit hoping it would help, but it didn't. While checking traps, however, we did see a grey owl, which was another highlight of Culture Camp. The grey owl was on the look out for rabbits too. I trust that he had better luck than us. We were able to observe him for some time and below are a few photos of him hunting from a tree and flying away.

Grey owl flying away, off to hunt rabbits

Grey owl hunting from atop a tree

I'm really enjoying life in Old Crow. The Yukon has some kind of magic and magnetic appeal that is difficult to describe. My puppy, Ayla is keeping me busy, and she is turning out to be a wonderful ski buddy for my mostly daily skate ski on the river.

I am preparing to go to Dawson City again in a few weeks for a violin residency that will hopefully help me and a friend here start a fiddle program for students to learn how to play the fiddle.

The daylight is coming back faster than I ever could have imagined. It gets light at 6am now, and doesn't get dark until 10pm. It 9pm right now, and it is as light outside as it is in the afternoon. It is amazing how light affects the human body. I find that I don't get tired at the same time at night that I normally do. I also feel much more awake in the mornings. In not too long, it will be light all the time. People tin foil their windows to keep it dark...should be interesting.

Hope you all are well.

Warm Regards from Old Crow,

Haley