I Blame Ray Mears - narrowly escaped widow maker

[Laurentius]

Not sure what the concept of "Native" means in these parts. I can trace members family back 400 years in the area where I live, in neighbouring parishes. I have not done any of this DNA stuff, but I think it is fair to assume that I would be a mixture of the invading Saxons and Danes and the Britons who lived here before and did not just disappear.

In Coventry where I live though, "natives" have long been in the minority, because as a major industrial city we have attracted people from all over. Scottish, Irish, Polish, Indian, Carribean, African and heck everywhere really. My allotment neighbour is Syrian, he speaks little English and his little boy translates as best he can for his dad. A nicer bloke I have never met though. Fortunately I know a little bit about Arab culture from my dad, and that is based on generosity. We hear too much about Syrian fanatics ISIS and all that, but the fanatics are not native Syrians for the most part.

 

[Janne]

I Europe we are so mixed up, that I only see the Northern Scandinavian and Russian people as Natives.
But even the Same and Kvens are pretty mixed up with the other Europeans.


I can trace my mothers family back to the 2:nd Crusade, dads back to the battle of Austerlitz.

I have taken an DNA test. Yes, I am a mix of everything, except native American, and (unusually enough) no African.
Makes you wonder what the women did on both sides of the family.......

 

[Robson Valley]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I think of Europe as layer upon layer upon layer of populations
of hominims that shifted from one region to another. That and considerable genetic "drift"
from east to west over the millenia.

North America was first populated by asian ancients, at least 14,000 years ago.
The europeans came from the opposite direction. Probably Vikings first, more
southern europeans from the 1490's and more recently. Read: "quite suddenly."
Remarkably little intermixing (Metis) and so mostly deliberate displacement.

 

[santaman2000]

Our moose is a creature of "edge". Not open ground, not forest, edge. .....

That's actually many species of animals; including quail and white-tail deer. But I don't believe it's true of all species of moose. If I remember correctly most eastern moose are bog (swamp) species.

 

[santaman2000]

...As I understood it, you can still hunt bears for food, just not for "trophies"?

Pretty much all animals are hunted for the joy of hunting. Any food or trophy is just an added benefit.

 

[Robson Valley]

In Canada, the answer is yes you can hunt bears.
Black bears are respectable meat as food. Very much a pork-kind of critter.
Hams, chops and so on. The ham is OK.

As a matter of fact, trophy hunting for Grizzlies in British Columbia is being phased out over the next year or so.
Ask me again tomorrow = I expect almost daily changes in government plans.
At the same time, there's always been an ethical consideration to utilize the meat.

However, these bears carry substantial parasite loads. You decide if you want to contend with that in your kitchen.

If there's meat hunting, subsistence hunting, that's mostly for moose and the different deer species, maybe elk.
I've always intended to eat every bird that I can put beak-first into the dirt. I'm quite good at it.

Click on the pictures on the home page to see a whole bunch of successful hunts, me included.

www.kettleriverguides.com

 

[Janne]

Trikinosis. Same as Free Range Organic pigs.

Cook it long and well, and you will be fine!

I have never shot or eaten Bear. Bears are hunted in Sweden now.

 

[petrochemicals]

Here you go g
MR bod

Pictutpre 1 and 2 are of a paper birch in the uk, as you can see the brown layer is dead.

Picture 3 shows a dead brown layer with the white protective layer underneath the dead brown

Picture 4 is of a ring that goes round


On picture 4 the brown on the left is above the 2hite sleeve, but on the right the vertical grain of the wood is apparent. The wood is exposed and the tree is half dead.

Now this IS NOT to say ringing a tree of its silver kills it and NOT to say ringing it is ok. This is a uk paper birch. Young. The bark on a PAPER birch apparently grows y3arly like the rings and it adds alayer a year with the layer fadind to white as the tree withdraws its nutrients. Go through too many and the tree wood is exposed.

I would add i have never been able to take bark from a uk spieces and leave an acceptable bark layer (i have tried with cut wood only) downy and silver birch in maturity fissure to look like pine or oak (in the uk, i do not know about norway, but someone was saying of the difference) i should say the only time you could take bark safely is from a matire paper birch, ie nice and thick, and do not run your knife around it.

 

[Robson Valley]

It's too bad that Mr Mears didn't, wouldn't or couldn't explain how the whole birch tree is used, far beyond a little origami with some bark.
Fresh birch wood is really creamy to carve and bend for pack frames, snowshoe frames and canoe parts.
It is the multipurpose tree of eastern North America as the western red cedar is for the Pacific Northwest.