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I was born on a farm near Staples Minnesota on October 12, 1916. My early childhood was spent there, and I had to walk a few miles each day when I started school. In 1928 my grandfather from Laverna, Saskatchewan came to visit and he persuaded my father to move to Saskatchewan to farm his land. We moved with two model "T" Fords, carrying most of our possessions and a family of eight. That year there was a bumper crop but the next year drought came and the depression. My dad was forced to go north and he filed on a homestead near Beacon Hill in 1932.
The land that my father chose had a lot of jack pine trees because he intended to start up a sawmill. My brother and a friend had built a small building for us to live in. My dad removed the engine from his car for power to saw lumber and eventually he built a house and got the saw mill operating. He sawed lumber for neighbors and also we sold lumber in Cold Lake, hauling it with two teams of horses. We also earned money by selling blue berries and Seneca roots, and we trapped weasels and squirrels. One year we sold 1000 pounds of blue berries for three cents a pound. That was $33.00 - good money in those days. My brother Ken and I hunted to help feed our family. We shot deer, partridge and prairie chickens.
In 1939 I married Walter Pikowicz, a trapper and commercial fisherman. His trapline was near Muskeg Lake, fifty miles from Pierceland. We built a log cabin and started our life together. Over the next years we had two daughters, Sharon and Myrna and a son, Zane. The kids and I stayed home while Walter trapped and commercial fished. When Zane was old enough he accompanied us to Primrose Lake when the military allowed commercial fishing. We worked in temperatures as cold as minus fifty to sixty, but we dressed warm and kept moving and didn't mind the cold.
In the '50's we travelled to Mankota to hunt antelope, and I shot my first and only antelope. We bought a summer resort at Pierce Lake in 1957 and started up a Red and White Store in Pierceland. Walter also bought a ranch south of town, and in 1964 we sold the store and moved to the ranch. I enjoyed ranch life, but in 1976 Walter suffered a stroke and was unable to continue working. We sold the ranch to Zane and eventually moved into Pierceland.
Walter and I still had hunting and trapping in our blood so we bought two skidoos and worked on the trap line together. Walter was paralyzed in one hand, but he could operate his skidoo. I made the trap sets under his guidance. We had a few harrowing experiences, like the time a large conibear trap caught both of us. The trap accidentally snapped shut, grabbing us each by one hand. We didn't know how we were going to get free, but fortunately my hand was small enough to wiggle out of my mitten and I got Walter out. We trapped lynx, otter, fisher, mink, fox, timber wolves, coyotes and squirrels that year. One winter Walter followed my tracks across a creek, and broke through the ice into water up to his armpits. I tried to pull him out, but each time he slid back in. Just then my brother appeared on his skidoo, and we got Walter out and to our cabin. We built up the fire, wrapped him up and he never even got a cold!
Walter passed away in 1985. I still go hunting but I miss my partner. My family worries when I hunt alone, but I let someone know where I will hunt, and when I will be back. Zane is very busy during hunting season but he goes out with me when he can.
I always enjoyed moose hunting. Although I remember missing one bull four times, I have had good success and have killed 15 moose. A couple of seasons back Zane flew my friend Gladys Sharp and I into a good moose area, but we didn't have any luck. Gladys told Zane that she called in an old dry cow - that's how she described my walking over to her during the hunt!
I was recently drawn for mule deer and was able to bag one. Last whitetail season (1999) I had the good fortune to take a beautiful 10 point whitetail buck - my best ever. I guess that I got excited as Zane had to go and find my cane that I had hung in a tree after I shot the big buck! If my good health continues I plan to continue hunting for many more seasons..
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