I'm not sure if its the fresh country air, the trees or simply the lack of contact with human life but living out here is apparently bringing out the hunter in me. Who knew?
A couple weeks after we arrived here winter's annual blanket of snow descended upon North eastern Ontario and our little unorganized township of Goulais River. Though I am not known to my friends as the outdoor type I really do like the snow. It seems to give the cold weather and dark hours of winter some meaning. And it is quite beautiful as it lays itself over the trees and buildings. I began to notice something in the morning, especially after a really cold night. These imprints in a group of four all in a line. What could they be? I asked my husband and he confirmed my suspicions...rabbit. Specifically White Hare.
"Cool" I thought, "an animal around here that can't maim or kill me." The more I thought about it the more I was touched by how close we really were to nature. It was all around us and we were all around it (metaphorically speaking of course). Suddenly a lot of things came into my mind all at once, breaking my peaceful ponderings on God's great gift of the natural world. "I bet we can eat rabbits." Another inquiry and sure enough rabbits around here are very good to eat (great in stew I'm told) and are actually quite pricey when found at the butcher's counter at the grocery store in town.
I'm not sure if it was the thought of free meat but many other questions popped up. What could we do with the skin and fur, could we make money from this, how about mittens my hands are really cold. Of course we could! We could catch a rabbit, skin it, eat the meat, tan the hide and make all sorts of great things. There is a large First Nation's population around here, there is bound to be someone who knows what they are doing! This little suburban Chicky had no idea what she was doing or how she was going to do it but somehow I was going to snare a rabbit!
Easier said than done.
We have a friend in town who knows how to set snare lines and so he came out with his family one snowy Saturday afternoon. He and my husband tracked back in the bush and set out a couple snares with sticks and wire in places they saw tracks. The idea is that when it is really cold the rabbits run all night to keep themselves warm. They tend to run in the same patterns so all you need to do is find a well travelled spot, create a bottleneck with your snare and voila you catch one (if you are interested you can google the details of exactly how the snare kills the animal but I have to keep it PG for my mom...she's a little squeamish).
The first morning my husband and oldest daughter excitedly walked back into the bush to check the snares. We all expected them to come back with a rabbit. I waited. They came back with....nothing. Yes, apparently the rabbits had been around but none of them went through the snare. The next day the same thing, except this time the rabbits seemed to run over it, knocking down some of the sticks. D fixed them and excitedly waited for another night. The next day still nothing. Indeed the rabbits had been there but this time not only did they knock over the snare but they also pooped all over it. I'm not kidding!
Alright, so I underestimated you bunny but you haven't seen the last of me! Ok, well maybe until next winter. I'm not really sure how to track rabbit when there is no snow so we may have to wait. But believe me, they won't poop on my trap next year! Really, believe me!
