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My daily walks with the Norwegian Elkhounds were getting longer, as the young sister pups, Ragna and Melsie, were getting bigger and stronger. They could now keep up with old Signe, but they had the habit of stopping to check out every interesting scent they came across. Signe and I would continually have to stop and wait for them to catch up.
On this trip we ventured about a half mile Northeast of home, to check out a Bald Eagle that was feeding on a carcass out in the middle of a field. I had noticed it earlier with my binoculars and thought we might find some deer bones.
Once we got closer, the Eagle lifted off. It flew to a woods a short distance away and roosted in the top of a large tree, in order to keep an eye on us. The pups caught wind of the deer and soon raced ahead to check it out. Signe picked up a little speed too, but she knew what to expect and saw no threat from the pups.
From the tracks in the dirt it appeared the deer had been hit by a car and managed to stagger out into the field before it collapsed and died. The Coyotes on their nightly rounds located it, and had stripped all the meat and hide off the bones during the last couple of nights.
During the day the Bald Eagles had taken their turn, and there was little left but a skeleton. The pups were so excited they did not know what to do. This was their first experience with a dead deer.
Signe checked the remains and moved the sisters aside with a low growl and a display of teeth that got the message across. Most of the skeleton was still connected but Signe found one entire hind leg separate from the body. She immediately picked up the heaviest bone and started for home. The long leg with the hoof still attached, dragged in the dirt behind her.
The pups took turns trying to haul away a bone, but they were in a tug of war with each other over the carcass. I used my knife to cut off the lower leg bone of each front leg, along with the hoof. When I presented each pup with a section of leg, they wasted no time in trotting off after Signe.
Once they were on their way home, I grabbed the remaining rear leg, and dragging the entire carcass remains, I fell inline behind the team. We no doubt looked like a small gang of experienced hunters, hauling the remains of our kill home.
The pups had to stop and rest a couple of times, but they refused to abandon their piece of the treasure. Signe was home and chewing on her leg bone, with sheer delight, by the time the rest of us got home. The three of them worked on the deer remains all evening, until they were too full and too tired to continue.
The pups were not big or strong enough to crack open the leg bones to extract the marrow, but they happily chewed on a hoof until it was gone. Then they went to work on the ribs. The last time I checked on them they were lying contentedly in the yard, fast asleep, with deer bones scattered all around them.
About midnight, I awoke to some serious barking. From the sound coming from Signe I could tell something threatening was in the yard. The pups joined in, but they had no idea what was going on. I went to the back porch and tried to quiet Signe down but she convinced me we had a problem.
The fearless pups kept yapping and moving towards the pitch black woods, through a small grass covered field that lay between the house and the trees. Signe kept moving forward, but she stayed close to them.
I was not dressed to charge into the black void, so I went back in the house and dressed.
When I came back out the three dogs were at least a hundred feet further from the house and the barking was getting a lot more serious. I had a flashlight but had to use it to see where I was walking in the deep grass and rough ground.
When I caught up the to pups they were barking very excitedly, while Signe had a deep throated growl and from her stance I could see she was very tense and about to attack. She was displaying a full mouth of very deadly teeth, behind her curled upper lip.
It was at that point that I used the flash light to scout the edge of the woods that lay about fifty feet ahead.
Reflected back by the flashlight I saw a pair of bright shining eyes and the face of a Coyote. Signe seemed to be concentrating on something to our left so I swept the beam in that direction and the flashlight showed three more pairs of glowing eyes.
The pack of coyotes had followed the deer carcass drag trail and were there to take back their deer!
After a short stand-off I managed to force the pups to back off and moved towards the house. They were not big enough nor wise enough to tackle one coyote, never mind four. Signe was capable of doing a lot of damage in a fight, but four to one was a little too much.
Signe stood her ground until we were on our way home and then she slowly gave way and moved back with us. Once at the house I got the three dogs in, and everyone calmed down. The pups were very pumped up with the venture and wanted to go back outside and deal with the interlopers. Signe quickly fell asleep on her blanket, having experienced just another normal day in the Minnesota Northwood’s.
In the morning, the visitors, and the main part of the deer carcass was gone.
The dogs loved the trails through the deep snow because they could race up an down with ease.
When they got on the track of anything interesting they would jump into the deep snow and wade about pursuing some wild beast, be it a rabbit, coyote or mink.
The particular trail we were on led us east across a field and then through a narrow woods that contained a small creek. This area was also a delight to sharp noses, as it contained lots of tracks and smells of game.er The creek was well frozen as the temperature was ten below Fahrenheit and it had been colder for a number of days.
After crossing the creek, we then followed the trail over to the pond, which was another northern dog delight. All three dogs were full grown and weighed about fifty pounds each. When they reached the pond they were able to go anywhere they wished, as the snow on the ice was only a few inches thick.
I stood watching them explore the bulrushes around the edge of the pond, as that was where the most fresh tracks were. Eventually all three dogs were on the far side of the pond and I noticed that Ragna had found something interesting. I saw her pick up an object from the ice at the edge of the bull rushes. She then walked about ten feet out onto the ice and dropped whatever she had.
She proceeded to eat what she had found, before the other dogs could get to her. I was curious, so started to walk across the pond to where she was. In the meantime she had gone back to the original site and once again picked up something and took it off a distance, as she obviously did not wish to share it.
When I got closer I saw three or four minnow on the ice, and she was eating them one at a time. Some were flopping around so they were alive. Melsie and Signe by this time realized there was food to be had and they were following Ragna when she went back to her treasure location.
By then I was very curious as I could not understand how she was getting live minnows from a pond that had at least three inches of ice on it. As I came up behind the three dogs I saw that Ragna had grasped another mouthful of minnows and the other two dogs were trying to do so.
I pushed the dogs aside to get a better look and at that second, the ice below my feet broke and I went into the pond feet first. My feet hit the mucky bottom so I was left standing in water that was up to my chest. The water around me was alive with hundreds of churning minnows.
The ice around me in the bulrushes was very thin so I turned to face the middle of the pond and tried to get back up on the ice that was thicker. I noticed the water was very cold.
All three dogs thought this was great fun and all three stood on the firm ice and tried to lick my face. They were barking and jumping about, in an excited way, as I stood with not much more than my head showing.
It would have made an interesting photo, but fortunately there was no camera man present
When I made an attempt to climb up on the ice, my weight, along with the dogs, was too much and a large piece of ice broke away, and I fell back into the water. The dogs jumped back in time and did not get wet.
I was getting colder and a little mad at them so yelled to get them to back off.
I managed to get one leg up on the ice and after some difficulty I crawled out of the water. I stood there for a few moments as the water drained off my clothes. I was wearing tall rubber boots but I had them half folded down and they were full of water. I did not dare take them off as I would not be able to get them back on again.
There had been so many minnows in the small pond, they were starving for oxygen. They gathered by the bulrushes where the ice was thinnest and their activity of coming up to the surface to get air kept the water from freezing.
The first dog had learned to catch minnows in shallow creeks in the summer so she instantly realized what they were, and started feeding. Her weight was not heavy enough to break the ice.
I lifted each foot up high behind me and allow much of the water to drain out, then headed for home. I was soaked up to my armpits and my toque was the only thing left that was dry.
Before I had walked across the pond my clothes on the surface started to freeze. I was wearing long underwear and heavy pants and jacket, and they were all very heavy with water. I half walked and half jogged home to get there before everything froze worse. The dogs of course, were running ahead on the trail and thought it was all a great outing.
It took ten or fifteen minuets to get to the house, and I had to get around to the front where I could get into the kitchen porch and get the outer clothes off. Just as I jogged around the house I saw a car in the yard and my friend Bob was walking up to the house. The dogs rushed out to greet him and his attention was focused on them.
I stood on the snow covered sidewalk as Bob walked the rest of the way towards me. After a few greetings he asked me a couple of questions, but I no longer remember the topic. At some point, as he was talking, he started to notice my wet jacket. By this time more water was draining off me and I was standing in a small puddle that was growing in size around my feet.
Bob had a puzzled look as he stared down at the water that was beginning to freeze in the ten below temperature. “What happened to you?,” he stuttered in amazement.
“Fell into the pond through the ice” I replied rather frostily.
At that moment I felt something in my pocket, pulled off my mitts, and removed two flopping minnows.
Ragna rushed over to pick them up as I dropped them on the sidewalk. A quick check of the other pocket produced another minnow.
Bob took it all in and realized I had to get in the house, so he turned, and shaking his head from side to side, left and said he would check on me later.
Once in the porch I struggled to get out of the soaked jacket, rubber boot, and pants. By now, most of the excess water had drained away. I quickly and coolly stepped into the house, and once in the bathroom I stripped down and was soon in the hot shower.
It was not long before I was dry, clothed, and much warmer. Bob phoned later to get the full story and then remarked that he always found it interesting to stop by and visit.
The next day the dogs were very excited to head off on another fun filled hike.
We went a different trail.
