You got the disease Bullgetter and there's no cure!
Red: They were fat and tasty. My in-laws at the time were first nation and had the right to harvest spring birds. We ate ducks, geese, and sandhill cranes. I saw a painted pelt at the WSF banquet in Red Deer, very unique.
The spring hunt was a social event as well as a harvest. The sun was warm, water flowing, and no bugs yet! In those days the hunting/trapping camps were common and whole families were on the land. It's almost inconceivable to me that this lifestyle has been lost during my lifetime.
The rat and beaver were both trapped and hunted. I remember all kinds of tricks I learned that must have been developed over generations. We'd squeek rats in by making kissing sounds on the back of our hands.
If a beaver sank we'd take a long alder pole and split the end and put a wooden match in to hold the split open. You'd feel around with the pole until you proddded the beaver. We'd jab down, holding the beaver tight against the bottom, and twist the pole. The beavers long hairs got twisted up in the split and we could pull him up and retrieve the beaver.
I'm not sure the fishing rods and hooks we used to get floaters from the pond were authentic first nations techniques but it worked too!
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