Camping Articles - Learn How to Camp

I'm walking in my own yard. The family dog is romping about taking no notice of me. I survey visually my man made kingdom. The log pile I call home centered nicely by my pond. My trapping shed sits like a little brother next to my pole shed.

The dog finds a good spot. Does what a dog does. I call her to come and in bounding play she is at my feet. I go one way she goes angling towards the bridge. The winter browse season is just about over. I want to check to see what’s left. She’s looking for the dogs eye view.

As I stroll around I notice all the trees I’ve spring planted over the years with varying degrees of success. Some got froze out from lack of snow, others girdled off at the winter snow line by rabbits just above the man made bark protection. The ones trying, keep getting pruned down by marauding deer. It’s a battle.

My yard has its enemies. I see evidence of it throughout the year. Moon lit tracks, arrowed mud cuts; nipped buds and bulbs dug or pawed right back out of the fresh turned earth. If it’s growing a fruit or vegetable, the specie is of little worth naming, the bugs birds or fauna, win in the end.

My dog locks into a crouched stance and stares focused. I see nothing. She low growls and then in a terror stricken bark she goes full protective mode. Stiff legged and fierce she barks herself to a shuddering, almost rabid dog attitude.

I see nothing. She smells something? She heard something? Did something go through the yard last night, lingering now in aroma only? Wolf, coyote, lynx, black bear, I can’t imagine what makes the dog so crazy. It has to be an instinctive fear, cuz this house puppy has never been in any dog scuffle I’m aware of.

To watch the dog so menaced by the unseen, I kneel next to her and try to pet the angst out of her dogged mind by hand brushing her coat. She will not be soothed. It emboldens her. I grab her collar just in case something would suddenly appear in the yard. She looks at me and the barking fades to growling. She sniffs some, growls half heartedly. Whatever dog ghost or canine demon, has passed. I release her.

She’s back to breeze sniffing dog. Half a growl. Takes a few steps and then looks back at me. She must have saved me from something pretty ferocious. Too bad her bark, can’t save my tree bark.

The trout whisperer

Inside the Mind of a Guide

Living the Dream in God's Country - Superior National Forest

Join author, professional guide, and master storyteller, Karl "Trout Whisperer" Seckinger, as he takes you on a 20 year, mystical journey into the Superior National Forest.

On this CD, Trout Whisperer's unique manner of storytelling, and digital sound effects, will transport you on a journey that will place you in the heart of the 'super natural forest' that is known as the Superior National Forest.

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