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...how is everything up in the Great White North?!?!?

Wondering if any of you know of Andrew Stanley and his dog Charlie The Beaver Retriever - The Wild North.

I first noted him about 8 years ago while searching Google for trapping tips.

Anybody.?

No one.?

Surprising.

358wsm;
Good evening to you sir, I trust all is well with you on this second last day of the year.

After reading your second post I looked up a couple videos and in the back of my mind I've seen this chap on youtube years ago.

Having grown up with family who lived and worked in First Nations communities and knowing a few subsistence farmer/trappers I'd say that other than videoing what he's doing, Andrew isn't or better said wasn't that unique.

When my brother in law was teaching in a Dene town in northern Saskatchewan in the '70's it wasn't uncommon for boys to accompany their fathers on the trap line for weeks at a time. They used dogs then too as snowmachine gas was way too expensive.

Then again - I'm a semi old guy too, so my information is likely decades out of date.

Anyway sir, all the best to you in 2018.

Dwayne

Dwayne,
So good to hear from you, sir!



I like and appreciate reading your posts.
Because of your humility, it won't be easy to recieive this but.., you da Man!!!

Yes, yes, nothing unique about Andrew's way of life up there. As you said, there are many who live that lifestyle.

That way of life speaks to something deep in my own life not sure to what, like fiber in my soul it is a romance of sorts I guess and I connect and identify with it, somehow. I'm really not sure why.

We all have various triggers in our lives. If from our past there was a wound often something in our life that happens (a harsh word or ill treatment) in the present that triggers that old wound shotgunning our inner man. In the same way, so do the things that were good and pleasant from our past. Those positive experiences are also triggered by something enjoyed today.
I guess that could be part of the romance. I get recharged by being out there, it's my santuary, and It connects to that "somethin" within my soul.

I enjoy the trapline, and I like observing others in other parts of the world running their line.
Apart from Andrew's vids, I've never seen a dog, a beaver retriever, fetching beavers out of the water. Thought that was quite unique.

Best to you Dwayne,
Scott

Scott;
Thanks very much for the kind words sir, I appreciate them and will do my best in future to deserve them for sure.

Your ideas about "triggers" mirror many similar thoughts and theories that have slowly percolated in me over the years. Especially when one rears kids it's - to me - obvious that some things we're born with, whether that's musical ability, the urge to hunt or the appreciation of a camp fire. Personally I believe it's deep in our being - perhaps someday science will find it in dna - I can only speculate.

I had the privilege of accompanying a trapper friend years back and trapped a wee bit one winter in Saskatchewan when I was a boy. Speaking personally I couldn't get used to seeing the animals in the traps, but had no problem dispatching them - and no that doesn't make any sense to me either, but there it is.

Anyway when the fur market began to implode it had a horrendous, negative effect on northern First Nations communities as it was about the only source of income that could be derived locally. As I said to a militant anti-fur neighbor when trying to explain it, they can't grow lettuce up there.....

Thanks again for your kind words Scott, I do appreciate them - but no it's not something I can hear with ease somehow either.

All the best to you again in 2018.

Dwayne

PS;
When our girls were still in high school we spent a week on Oahu one spring break and then another week in south Kehei. I absolutely loved everything about Maui and have to say the folks there treated us Canuck wonderfully without exception.

Dwayne,

I want to respond to your point about seeing animals in the trap.

When I was a very young boy, maybe 4 or 5 years old, I had a slingshot that my dad made for me. I wanted to hunt with that sling shot, so dad, with his 22LR and I with my slingshot and a few stones headded into the woods behind our house and sat down against a big tree. Soon a squirrel appeared on top of a fallen log. I took a shot with my stones and missed, so I wispered to dad "you try." At the shot the squirrel dropped, and I got on my feet to go look at our kill. Moments later we were back home about to eat supper, and as I got seated I started to cry. My folks asked me why, and I simply said, "the squirrel is dead" and cried some more. I had empathy even at a young age.

A few years ago, my wife suggested we get two farm kitties. Well, I gave in (at the time I had great distain for cats) and we got those kitties. Today, they are precious to me, and because of them I have really gotten "soft" when it comes to suffering animals.

Every life matters, it is not only sacred but an integrial part of the plan since the "garden."

As to you Dwayne, your salt and light has been shaken and shone all over this 'fire and it has encouragement to many here, including myself. Thank you sir.!

And yes, Maui has its perks.
I am not from here, but I am working here


There is lots of huntable game here too. Kind of a fun place to be.