Standing in the Palmville Cemetery recently, after a family
funeral service, I thought about what the land adjoining the southwest
corner of the cemetery looked like when my late uncle Martin and aunt
Irene Davidson owned the quarter (1932-1971) and the northwest wind used
to blow unabated through the tombstones.
Deer grazed along
what used to be an open field in 1971, and before that, some 70 years,
an old wagon trail wore through the woods following the west side of
Mikinaak Creek to its confluence with the South Fork of the Roseau
River, northeast of the cemetery, where it flows northward toward
Wannaska, some three miles distant.
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| A fifty by thirty mile survey map of Kittson, Roseau, and Marshall Counties |
The now-indistinguishable Thief River Falls to Roseau Wagon Trail, and
clearing that the field had become is shaded now, north and west by tall
rows of 41-year old white spruce and hybrid cottonwood trees that I
planted in 1981, towering above the aspen, willow, and baumigilead
growing in the creek basin and the bur oaks on south of the cemetery.
Red fox and skunks sneak through them doing what they will during the
night, as do deer, raccoons, and coyotes, and owls on their way afoot
and wing. (Rumor has it a wolverine has been sighted by area residents;
I may have even recently captured one on a trail camera.)
Little has changed for wildlife here except they aren’t as persecuted at
every turn as in the hundred years past. There’s little trapping done
anymore; fewer people are living hereabouts, farming. This means fewer
people traveling on rural roads to take shots at ‘varmints’ meaning:
gophers, skunks, fox, woodchucks, brush wolves, gray wolves, weasels,
hawks and owls.
All the same, YouTube is full of images of urban brush wolves
(coyotes). They’ve been populating cities across the country for years,
and been needing a few varmint hunters to keep their precious cats and
dogs safe from depredation. Instead of people shooting each other, they
could hunt four-legged varmints. Unemployment rates would plummet. Pets
could sleep on the stoop unmolested, if coyote (and raccoon) numbers
would spiral down.
https://www.dnr.state.mn.us/livingwith_wildlife/coyotes/index.html
I have to say my wife isn’t fond of raccoons; she thinks they’re
rummaging around wanting to find a way into the house via a chimney
(which we don’t have) or roof vent (which we do) to den in our attic or
put our drivable collection of very old cars to ruin with their wily
goings-on. Raccoons go past the game cameras every night, one after
another, trailing their big fluffy tails.
To appease her,
over the years, I’ve live-trapped several and released them unharmed on
some DNR land on the Hovorka Ridge, 4 or 5 miles away. I’ve always
wanted to mark them somehow to see if they make it back here eventually.
Some people say just poison them; but I don’t have the heart to do
that. I’ve gotten soft over the years, sure, but when the wife says,
according to the videos, all they’re doing lately is digging up worms
and grubs, I think ‘what’s the harm?’ I may regret it some day, but I’ll
cross that bridge when I come to it.
Yes, yes, yes (groan) she feeds the birds this time of year, yet. In
years past, we have solicited bears doing this, but not this year so
far. The fact is the benefit outweighs the threat of bears on our
doorstep. We wake up to the birds singing every morning and throughout
the day, and this makes her very happy except for hearing one annoying
bird, who, all day long, sits in different trees all directions of the
compass, and emits a highly discernible “Eep” every two or three
minutes. This does not make her happy; so I am made aware of it just as
often -- unless I can make myself scarce.
She has looked for
it on-line and learned that other (women mostly) people are disturbed by
the same repeated call which they have identified as baby Great Horned
owls. The owlets are in the very early stages of semi-adulthood, but
still waiting for their parents to come with food for them; and waiting
and waiting and waiting. “Eep! (Ma!)" And "Eep!" and "Eep!” See how
annoying it is? ARGH.
But on the other hand, it could be
worse, just as she poignantly pointed out yesterday morning, bless her.
We’ve really got it made living herein a rural environment; far from
next-door neighbors (and I’ll bet the feeling is mutual), amid the
beauty of northwest Minnesota’s woods, weeds, and water. We get to sit
in our big shaded screen tent on cool mornings, and leisurely drink
coffee (or other beverages), play a few hands of cards, and appreciate
the world around us for as long as we are physically able to acknowledge
such mediocre things more every day just off the Thief River Falls to
Roseau Wagon Trail.
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