The smell of your pelt reminds me of home <3

This morning Dario and I took the canoe out to Deer Lake. I was going to visit Sandra around noon so we headed out at about 8:30 so we had lots of time to just relax and go at our own pace. Well... I should say his pace, since he rows me around.

Today while we were paddling along, we moved rather close to the bank to watch some ducks. As we started to take off I thought I saw some little birds or something so I asked him to go back so we could look. While I was busy looking in that direction, Dario all of a sudden says: "What the hell?! There's a ferret??!!"

I was a little confused as it is quite unlikely that you would see a "ferret" in a natural setting, especially in Burnaby. I turned to look but it was already gone. Then the little bugger came running out again. I had Dario's camera so he paddled as fast as he could to chase along side the "ferret" so that I could try to take a picture of the little guy. I couldn't get any good ones since that sucker was running and we were also moving but I managed to get two that are somewhat okay.



He was SO cute!! I just loved him. As we started following him he dived into the water. Which I will say straight up, is not the characteristic of a ferret or even a weasel. At least not that I knew of...


Just as fast as he jumped into the water he completely dove under the water. He was under for about 5 maybe 10 seconds at best. I had the camera waiting to try to get a picture of him popping back up since I knew he'd have to come up for air sooner or later... but when he did pop back up he took me by complete surprise. The little thing had a frickin fish in his mouth! AMAZING! In no more than 10 seconds MAX this little creature had caught a fish. I won't lie that I was completely impressed. I tried to get a picture of him running off with his catch but it turned out to be a piss poor picture.

It was the complete highlight of our little canoe trip to Deer Lake. Dario and I were both excited about it, it is really neat to see stuff like that especially when you're in the middle of Burnaby.

When we got home we looked up weasels to see if that's what it was because I wasn't exactly convinced that it would be a ferret. While the pictures of the weasels looked similar, and the pictures of the ferrets did as well, they didn't completely match but we agreed it was a weasel and I headed out of the house to run home for a bit.

On my way home I called my dad to ask him about it. Him being a hunter of many years I thought maybe he'd have seen a few in his lifetime. He started looking on the internet and said "Maybe it was a marten?? Are you sure it wasn't an otter?" ... He was equally confused by the fact that this thing could swim and catch fish.

Finally he exclaimed "Maybe it's a mink! Look it up." By this time I was at home on the computer googling images as well, and finally found some pictures like this:



He was most definitely a mink, they have the same tail, fur colour and they frequently prey on fish.

This might seem extremely boring and lame to some but I thought it was pretty cool. I've grown up in the middle of nowhere and spent nearly 20 years of my life in that "nowhere region." In those nearly 20 years I've seen a TON of wild animals -- Lynx', bobcats, wolves, deer, moose, elk, black bears, brown bears, grizzly bears, too many birds/water fowl to even try to name, porcupines, skunks, muskrats, beavers, foxes, coyotes, and wolverines... but surprisingly never a mink, weasel or marten.

Of all the animals that are found in the northern/interior BC regions... I haven't seen some of the more commonly known animals. I found it funny that after 20 years of living in the friggen bush, I see my first mink in the middle of Burnaby.

I should have recognized what it actually was... considering at least 1-2 times a year during elementary school and highschool we would head over to the FSJ Historic Park for lessons on our towns history. During the tour of the park there is one old building you step into that they used to use for fur trading. They have pelts in there like you would not believe. We would have to feel each animal pelt and try to identify what each one was by the size, colour, thickness, and softness or courseness of it's fur. Back at school we would head to carriere class where we would learn about the natives way of life. Both trapping and fur trading were a huge source of their income (aka means of trading furs for foods and supplies) so we would learn about which pelts were the most valuable, as well as the methods for trapping all of these animals.

You would think... YOU WOULD THINK... that somewhere in those however many years I spent walking through that same building, petting the same damn mink/marten/weasel furs that I would know how to identify that stupid thing while we were out there today... BUUUUUUT no.... I will say though that if I had seen this instead...


... and I could have felt it's hard dried out skin with fur... then I probably wouldn't have had a problem.

When I think back it is unbelievably cool at how many animals and other things I have seen in the wild... things that many people have never and possibly will never get a chance to see. I guess what's even cooler is that now that I have left I live in a place that still has little bits and pieces that remind me of being back in Fort St. James.

Perhaps that is why I don't ever miss the town I am from. Everything I could ever want or need is right here. The one thing that will never change? ... When I was asking my dad what it was and I said "I'm just not sure..." he replied with a good old fashioned "You should have shot it! Then you'd know for sure!"

Ahh I love the simplicity and amusement of a rednecks answer.