Hi, I'm Ken Laninga in northern Alberta, Canada. My cabin is in "moose country" and I love hunting moose, deer, bear, elk, buffalo etc with my digital camera. (sometimes, if the freezer is empty, I use a rifle too)
I'd rather go to my cabin than any other place. Always something new, something exciting, something fun! My blog chronicles my visits to the cabin; that blog is at http://www.sticksite.com/blog/.
This shabby cow moose just could not understand why her newborn calf did not follow her; she stepped over the fence with no problem at all. I kept the fence between her and myself but she put the run on me several times; I had the truck parked within 5 feet all the time and dove into it.
It was, of course, early spring so she was losing her heavy, warm, winter coat.
This high fence is to keep buffalo in. In spite of that, buffalo ("bison") can hop over it without a problem.
In the fall of 2004 I was quite thrilled one day to look out the cabin window to see a fisher very nearby. This was a very black and very large one; I estimate that from tip of nose to tip of tail he must have been 4' (122 cm) long. Luckily I was able to take this and a whole bunch of other pictures of him/her. Weeks later I saw a smaller one nearby. This is one gorgeous creature and, unfortunately, much sought-after by (fur) trappers.
These moose, near the cabin, looked like they were doing a TV commercial for milk.
The moose here seem to be very religious; either this one is praying OR he is mooning me.........dunno.
This moose is on my lawn.
See the "Beaver Sculpture" in the background? For a lot more about that, see my BEAVERS page.
On this particular morning I could see 7 moose from the cabin windows; it was not possible to get one picture with all seven on it, unfortunately.
One evening in November 2007, I saw 12 moose and 28 deer in my field, from the
kitchen table.
It was a snowy morning when this young moose (a bull) came to the cabin with his mother.This bull, only a few months old was about a yard away from the cabin window, showing the buttons which will be his antlers in future years. For anyone who might not be sure, moose do shed their massive antlers every year. ONLY the bulls have antlers. But you knew that!
At my cabin there are both Muledeer and Whitetailed Deer; the Mulies are much larger. Can you tell the real one from the "not so real" one? No, I did not "mess with" this picture; it is exactly what the camera saw.
I took this picture, like many of the others, from the cabin window. On this particular picture, I was lucky; the sun was just coming up and the way the sunshine "lit up" the velvet on this Muledeer's antlers was rather neat, I think.
This young deer was inspecting a pile of "sheds" which are antlers shed (dropped) by moose, elk, Whitetail Deer and Muledeer in the winter. Sometimes we find them.
This fawn was from a momma deer which had three fawns and she raised them all. I was so very proud of her. That was a terrific challenge with all the coyotes, wolves and bears around.
Here's something you don't see from the kitchen window every day; a big black wolf carrying off a newborn buffalo calf which died of unknown causes. One hind leg and the snout had been chewed off, probably by coyotes. There was no visible trauma but it was found dead by the buffalo rancher. After the wolf disappeared into the trees I followed, found the calf on a game trail and dragged it back to the cabin, looking over my shoulder constantly; I had no weapons with me. ;-) I've seen this wolf several times in the past few years. No, I do not want to shoot it.
In honor of those Inuit or Eskimos of the far north, we made this Inukshuk (or Inuksuk depending on where you are from) on the yard.
The beavers are making an awful mess near the cabin but I'll leave them alone; hope to get some video of a beaver falling a tree. Hopefully not on my head! These incredible animals warranted a page of their own; it is http://www.sticksite.com/beavers.htm. I'm taking a lot of the stumps out with a chainsaw; great for pencil-holders etc. This one is working on his dam.
Sometimes magpies get rather plentiful; they slaughter songbirds bigtime so I get out the trap. Here is one. Confession: when I went to grab him and wring his neck, I looked him in the eyes and relented; let him fly away, telling him "Boy, you've got a story to tell your grandchildren." Sometimes we see quite a few birds and I started taking pictures of them; you can see them here: http://www.sticksite.com/birds/
I shot this Whitetail buck with 3 cameras; NOT with a rifle even though it was hunting season and I had the proper license; I just did not 'feel' like killing him after he posed for me so wonderfully. He is about 30 feet from my window.
As you probably know, coyotes are generally *very* afraid of humans. This one did not realize that.
One day I walked down a game trail, went 12 off the trail to 'still-hunt' sitting against a tree. I was 12 feet from the trail and a coyote came up the trail. He passed within 12 of me and then caught my scent in my tracks, spun around and trotted back the way he'd come. But he never saw me. Unfortunately, ignorant hunters kill them indiscriminately.
This one was along a road as we went by. We stopped but he did not run. I took several close up shots with my camera. What a fantastic fur coat he has! This was a "once-in-a-lifetime" experience. They are much nicer to look at than any dog I've ever seen.
IF YOU enjoy this kind of outdoor living, then you are sure to LOVE these books I recently read. In particular "Three Against the Wilderness" was spell-binding; hard to put down.
Just a few miles north of the cabin is the Peace River. Here we are hunting that area.
In June, 2K, I was sitting in the grass beside the cabin with only a camera and let this black bear come to within 4 feet of me. (KIDS, DON'T DO THIS AT HOME!) Later, when I tried to get too close, she made a mock charge at me. At one point she had a paw up against the window and she came up on the deck in front of the cabin, and had her front paws on the armrest of a chair sitting beside the door; I was standing in the doorway; our noses must have been no more than 5 feet apart. She had been bothering my neighbor also, so I finally had to eliminate her; I sure hated to do that, but even firing a gun over her head did not scare her away. One day in June I saw 6 bears near the cabin. Have you read my "Confessions of a Bear Hunter" It lives at http://www.sticksite.com/bearhunt.htm
This is the first moose I ever shot; a 50-inch rack; shot one cool September morning back in 1960, while brother John and our Dad were there too. This moose dressed out at 755 pounds!
Yes, that's me there; when I still had hair.
Here's a very nice Whitetail buck walking by the cabin window. He was hot on the trail of some does and fawns which had passed by minutes earlier.
Now and then we do a little fishing too; this was a Fly-In trip. This Northern Pike weighed around 22 pounds and, laying in the grass, he was 48 inches long. That means that hanging, he would be at least 50 inches long. I still have this one, frozen, so I can show him off! He must be that freezer so long by now he might be completely dried and preserved. So much for ever eating that one.
I took this pic of the doe with her fawn from my cabin window too. I shook the camera and the picture was blurry. A week later they were in the same spot and I managed to "do it right."
If you wonder about the cabin, here it is; there is nothing behind the cabin but bush. No more farms/fields etc. Six miles of solid bush to the Peace River; a very large river. I live in the city of Grande Prairie; this cabin is 145 km northwest of my house. My brother and his family have a bison (Buffalo) ranch nearby.
A couple of years ago I started making Willow Chairs; these chairs are extremely comfortable; you don't need a cushion. I have taught a short workshop in building them. Here is one in my cabin. All the details, plus complete instructions for building YOUR OWN CHAIR, are HERE. You'll be amazed at my one-of-a-kind Diamond Willow Chair!
With my cabin I have 320 acres of land; 130 acres is cultivated and the other 190 is bush with LOTS of trails in it.
Sometimes oil/gas exploration companies go thru the area and cut a good number of trails through my 190 acres of bush, prior to doing seismograph work there. Here is one of the hand-cut lines. These trails are great for hiking, nature study, hunting etc.
Here is a beautiful sunrise from the cabin: (if I had got up a few minutes earlier, it would have been even better!
I've been hunting for Diamond Willow sticks for Walking Sticks all over. After several years, I now have a good collection. I am busy finishing them and they are fantastic; you want to *stroke* them, to *feel* them; to *touch* them. You just cannot help but "bond" with them. (Banner link at bottom of this page) I sell both FINISHED Diamond Willow sticks and UNfinished sticks that you can finish the way YOU want them. I ship them all over the world.