Of course, one of the attractions of a Provincial park like Killbear is its wildlife. On entry to the park, we were greeted with the sign indicating a bear was active in the park, and after checking with the ranger, it turned out that there were actually multiple bears roaming the sites. The Visitor Center tracks confirmed wildlife sightings and during the week we were there, the tracking board included: Black Bears (multiple sightings), Deer, Pileated Woodpecker, Great Horned Owl, Porcupine and others.

Our personal sightings included a mother deer and two fawns that stopped traffic to leisurely stroll across the road while we were returning from an ice run, a large deer that wandered through our camp site, raccoons (including one that spent a considerable amount of time keeping my buddies and I company, rooting through empties while we sat around the fire at around 2am one morning) and a huge brown bird that we suspect was the owl. In addition, we heard loons and owls most nights. I never actually spotted a bear, but one of our neighbors did. The second night we were there, I woke around 4am to the sound of deep growling and snuffling around the trailer. The sound of exploration went on for the better part of an hour and I’m ninety percent sure it was a bear -it was far too deep and throaty a sound to be a raccoon, but I didn’t want to draw it’s attention by opening a window and I couldn’t find any tracks or proof the next morning.

We were careful to burn off the grill thoroughly each night and all foodstuffs and the cooler went into the truck and were covered with a blanket each night. Mind you, after reading what happened in Denver last week, nothing is entirely bear proof. I kept a nautical horn near our bunk, just in case (since we didn’t want to spook them too badly, we told the kids it was to wake them up in case they slept in). We didn’t see any snakes, despite the “Brake for Snakes” road signs, but we did talk to a camper across the road from one of our sites whose brother had been bitten by a rattler while camping at the park last year, resulting in an unplanned three day stay at the Parry Sound hospital.

So great is the name for this kitchen device that it’s possible it came before the gadget itself: The Smoking Gun.

The Smoking Gun is a gun-shaped home-smoker for infusing foods with all manner of charred-wood flavors. It works a lot like a hash-pipe (and will undoubtedly find use as one in some homes): you load a small wire basket with the wood-chips of your choice and light them. The smoke is drawn away and pumped through a tube into the target food container.

Because of the distance, the smoke is cool when it hits the food and therefore doesn’t cook it. Thus, you can cold-smoke raw meats and keep them raw, or even smoke fruits and other things that are damaged by heat.

The whole kit looks very convenient, and runs on four AA batteries for portability (camping!). The set costs $100, which is a little steep, and only includes a half-ounce each of hickory and applewood sawdust. Further dust costs a whopping $25 for a box of four one-ounce jars.

The Smoking Gun is a new gadget, but has anyone out there ever used anything like this? I’d actually buy one if it worked well. And after the initial $100, it’s pretty cheap if you make friends with someone from the local sawmill.

The Smoking Gun [Williams Sonoma via Oh Gizmo]

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