Brook trout - a member of the 'char' family - is an introduced angling species in Saskatchewan and most of Manitoba.

Catching Brook Trout in the Prairie and Parkland

May 17, 2016 in Nature & Ecology, Outdoor Adventure

Brook trout are fish that live in beautiful places. They require cold, clean, oxygen-rich water to thrive, and a relatively undisturbed environment to reproduce. With a preference for clear, spring-fed lakes and stone-bottom streams, it's fair to assume that the presence of brook trout is a good indicator of a healthy body of water.

They are aggressive predators that will sometimes out-compete native fish species for food resources. Their diet consists mostly of larval/adult aquatic insects such as stoneflies, caddisflies and mayflies, as well as terrestrial insects like grasshoppers, beetles and spiders. Their preferred menu goes on to include minnows, worms and frogs. Larger brook trout will sometimes even devour small rodents swimming across the water surface.

The Off-grid Gourmand: Duck Fat-fried Potatoes

April 13, 2016 in Outdoor Adventure

Vegetable oil has a nasty knack for making an expensive backpack worthless in seconds if you don't screw the cap on properly. Thankfully, there is an alternative. Sure it will probably destroy your gear just as easily, but if it's going to happen it might as well smell like Christmas dinner.

*Oh yeah, hear that sizzle—frying potatoes in duck fat collected from a prior roast.*

You don't need much to make an impressive batch of hash when you've got this secret ingredient. A tablespoon of fat will usually suffice for a large pan of potatoes. Add salt and pepper to taste, then cook slowly over a fire until cooked through (this can take as long as 30-minutes if the potatoes aren't pre-cooked). Cover your pan with a metal plate to cook evenly, then remove the lid and crisp the potatoes to your liking. Add two cloves of finely sliced garlic just before removing from heat.

Duck fat will solidify in colder temperatures, but it melts quickly when warm. Keep it in a sealed container and you can crisp up any food you would normally fry with an added aroma that will make you feel right at home.

How to acquire this godly grease

Getting the fat is easy! First, you shoot the duck. Then you roast it. After it's done cooking, remove the bird and place the skin trimmings back in the roaster with 3/4 cup of water. Let it simmer for 1-2 hours, or until the skin is crisped and the water evaporated. Remove the skin and pour the drippings from the bottom of your roaster through a strainer and into a glass container. Keep refrigerated and use it at home, or save it for your next trip.

Or ignore this entire article, which was just an excuse to post a picture of potatoes I thought was pretty good.

Eight Lessons from a First-time Winter Camp

February 29, 2016 in Outdoor Adventure

I'm back in Regina with all of my extremities intact, so I'm going to call our first back-country winter camp a rousing success— more or less. Although we were well-prepared (and I've somehow had colder sleeps in the woods) there were several lessons we picked up along the way.

As promised, here is the follow-up to our last article, Essentials for Winter Camping in Saskatchewan. This is what we learned:

This is a 19th century map of the estimated boundaries of Lake Agassiz. Following the western shore, from upper-left to lower right, you will find the prairie "mountain range," also known as Pasquia Hills, Porcupine Hills, Duck Mountain, Riding Moun… — This is a 19th century map of the estimated boundaries of Lake Agassiz. Following the western shore, from upper-left to lower right, you will find the prairie "mountain range," also known as Pasquia Hills, Porcupine Hills, Duck Mountain, Riding Mountain and Turtle Mountain.

Prairie Peaks: Duck Mountain

January 28, 2016 in Nature & Ecology, Outdoor Adventure

In Duck Mountain Provincial Park, Manitoba, the prairie peaks start to make a little bit more sense.

Even though a small portion of the Duck Mountain highlands are in Saskatchewan, the topography pales in comparison to the eastern ridge in Manitoba. That's because this prairie "mountain range" was part of the western shore of a deceased glacial lake, Lake Agassiz.

Alright, they're not true mountains in the sense that they were never formed by tectonic movement uplifting the earth's crust, or volcanic activity. They were formed solely by erosion and the accumulation of glacial till. Still, this is enough to give the elevation prominence when considering the flat prairies beneath.

Wilderness camping tips and articles by The Saskatchewan Border are featured on Regina-based cultural blog, The Bicycle Gang. — *Wilderness camping tips and articles by The Saskatchewan Border are featured on Regina-based cultural blog, The Bicycle Gang.*

Essentials for winter camping in Saskatchewan

January 15, 2016 in Outdoor Adventure

Let's start with a disclaimer - I am writing this article while my friends and I plan our first camping trip into the deep-freeze this January... However, this will be even better than having tips passed down from your "professional" survivalists! Firstly, you can see exactly how well these tips pan out once our story is published on our Stories page. Secondly, pros tend to gloss over details that come second-nature to themselves, but not necessarily to those who are venturing out for the first time. Thirdly, we're terrified. We're going the extra mile to research what we need to make this comfortable, especially since we'll be setting up camp a fair distance from the vehicles.

Hope for the best. Prepare for the worst.

Here is a list of essential gear and strategy for camping in Saskatchewan's most unforgiving season: