Hideeho from Yukon!
By 
It’s been a long two years of no travel and we’re out in the world again. It’s weird, and freeing, and the pandemic is seemingly over here, and most places, except home.
People are friendly in Yukon. Too friendly. Everywhere we go people say hi. They go out of their way to greet us. It’s weird.
We were even told to say hi to animals. Specifically bears. And specifically “Hideeho!”. While out in the wild we may choose to have casual conversation. However, at indeterminate intervals we were told to yell “Hideeho!” so as to warn the bears of our presence. So this became our trail (and now our sporadic Yukon) cry! It’s worked this far as we’ve said hello to two black bears!
This is not one of them. Animals are hard to spot from the road. It did not respond to my call and now I know why. I swear it looked like a bear from the road!
We have been testing other greetings with reasonable success.
Baby foxes responded to “Joff-tchoff-tchoffo-tchoffo-tchoff!”. Odd, but it seems like the song was right..
Yukon is full of cultural history (in addition to wildlife) and the crow plays a big role. Particularly the big crow. The story and history behind it is for another day, but for now, here’s the big crow, and I mean big! BTW it responded to “CAW!!”
Yukon is covered in trees, lakes and mountains.. and where there’s lakes and trees, there are beavers! We caught this one stealing some branches for a dam. It responded to the simple question: “How much wood would a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood?”
Driving along the roadway in Yukon can yield some amazing sightings. Here’s one such sighting. I tried to bugle with her, but she ran away, so I’ll keep trying other Elk calls..
We also tried calls away from the roadway. We took a hike up a mountain and called for these horny fellows! They responded to “Billy!!” Which is weird cause they are Dall Sheep, not goats!
Finally, the elusive moose. We tried many calls; “Bullwinkle! Rocky! Dudley! Boris!” And then…
However, driving at moose o’clock with the express purpose of moose spotting paid off…
Our wildlife calling, and spotting continues… stay tuned and thanks for reading!
