Its War at Mile 14

Because I've helped harvest thousands of salmon through the years I've become conscious of my animal karma so I try not to kill too many that have eyelashes. The Beavers at Mile 14 are an exception to this rule.

82 feet below my house is the Taj Mahal of all Beaver Huts. Unlike Beavers that build stick houses and create dams these are burrowing under the bank Beavers, the hut is a big round mound. The Beavers spend there lives creating their 'feed bed' which is an underwater (hence under the ice) collection of young willow and birch. Most of it harvested here at Mile 14. In 1996 after the big flood we did a bank stabilization project. This project entailed great expense and effort as well navigating through the government permit process. Because it is deemed 'critical salmon habitat' the permit stipulated that only 'Felt Leaf Willows ' are planted. (coincidently one of the engineers involved in the permiting process also had a side business selling Felt Leaf willow) So, guess what a Beavers favorite food source is ? So now in 2009 and we have no-none-nada one Felt Leaf Willow remaining from all those planted. Now I'll give you that a few got eaten by Moose and a few reacted poorly to having boats tied to them but it was still time to declare war on the Beavers.

So having no knowledge of Beaver eradication and seeings how experts are easy to come by here at Mile 14 I called in a couple of my buddies that are real Alaskan trappers. I soon learned you need alot of stuff. You need Kona Bears, tie wire, openers and safety's. For bait you need fresh willow or red birch, sugar donuts or red apples. If that doesn't work you need the highly coveted 'castor' which I think helps Mr. Beav find Mrs. Then you have to apply an educated eye and discern their highly complex feeding patterns. Lucky for us this turned out to be anything growing within 100 feet of my sauna. Then you set the trap. It takes no time at all except for the 15 minute story about how the last trapping partner who closed a 590 Kona Bear on his hand when it was 65 below zero up on the Big River and the snowmachine wouldn't start to get him to town. Then the next morning I walk up the bank and walla, a 48 pound Beaver. Feeling like a real outdoorsman I slid the trap with the Beaver in it over the handle of my ax and then carried it over my shoulder to the house. Five days in bed with back spasms after that convinced me that the life of an Alaskan trapper was not an easy one.

Once you have the Beaver you theres alot to do. He needs to be skinned, fleshed, stretched and tanned. Then we lucked out and met Sue at Howling Wolf Furs who did the sewing for us. MP is wearing the Little Nikita model and of course I'm wearing the Musher model. The hats are so beautiful thats it hard to believe that they used to be basicly large rats. They ought to come in real handy when it gets that Alaska feel here at Mile 14.

http://www.howlingwolffurs.com/