Youve, most likely seen this on other sites I venture to post at.....
At the risk of being repititious, and certainly not to brag, the last two weeks went quite well, bringing a nice FAT Browngrizz back on the 15th, a few inches short of 8 feet (plywood sheet length ~LOL!~), enough Wolves to make a blanket and sheets set, and then things just went from there.....
With a gas trip to a small ocean side village, we stayed a night with our oldest son at his new house, bought gas and effected repairs to my clutch, I visited old friends and prepared to leave......My old friend Gibson M being quite nice (which was kinda unusall), and we parted with smiles after a couple hours of visiting, his brother called me over and but 2 hours later was quite dead. I confirmed that, called the troopers and we spent the next 5 days digging and preparing.....
Anyway, after was all said and shovled, we returned to our mountain cabin and moved our gear to our Spring area, to which we shall return soon.....though we almost stayed anyway when my RMK's power valve snapped off and went into my piston, seizing my engine.......soooooooooooo, to make a long story short, we tore down and rebuilt that engine, in awsome sunshine, right on the trail, 75 miles from anyone........and it got us home.......
Caught this one howling from the rocks above
The wife skinning inside the "White house" cabin.
Skinning a few more in Deering, as we hunted our way there, quite sucessfully.
To have Bear Paw soup, one must first catch a Bear....
Done for the day
The top of a "Caribou Corral" which oldtimers used to funnel herds of Caribou into sets of snares and such, with a hundred others as a giant "V", the 'Supermarket" of its day
Ther herds of Caribou are gathering and it was almost crazy with too many running around, making tracking a real "job" ~LOL!~
Yu have to enlarge the photo, and you'll get an idea of just how big and open the Tundra is, and how hard that can make stalking, so were often tricky, walking up slow, just like some ol' Caribou yerself....
Oddly, we only saw (and caught) grey and white Wolves, not a single Black one.........
One of a dozen or so Fox I caught as well. Fox in the late season are often Cherry with a touch of yellow, a cool color varient to skin sewing woman.
Heres something I do well at.....
And something I dont do so well at........
my attempt at "Eskimo style" skinning, open belly, not cased, and the wife wouldnt stand to watch me do one, least the four there that night..........~~LOL!!~~ but she sews 'em, so one must do as told or step aside..........
A night made for Howling and drawing them in close so I could track them at first light.........
Some years I do much better than this, some years I take pictures and watch them do their thang.........It mostly depends on the wife, what she wants or what she needs, and if she is indeed sewing, as she took about two years off, and only this last year picked her needle up and went back to it.
As for posting pictures, its the best I can do. My internet needs to be upgraded from what we have now (it WAS soooooo much better till Dec.) Dial up would be an upgrade now......Ive got a Bear shooting downloading on 'Facebook' and a two minute vid is looking at 14-18 hours to download, so I'll sleep on that ~~LOL!!~~ but all else 'times out' so Im screwed.......
Breakfast steaks....
The wife tying down at the start of the trip....
Me trying to be unbrokendown.....on a beautifull day.......actually "At home" as its smak in the midddle of ourt Summer/Spring Hunting grounds..Id be perfectly content to break completely down there nad stay.......
Nothing like a powervalve stopping the show.
Pinched the top of the cup to the rings, so recrafting the widend piston top a shave smaller and in 'round at the top.... that with a pocket knife and a needle file were the order of the day, AFTER stripping down to the crank to remove the 'small things".........but were home, repaired and rolling........just gotta love having a sone who can put 9 hours nto your engine and undercarriage....heck, sometimes I think he might have listend to me....it's running like a dream now.
Now, as the vid get started, we cruzing up a ridge, but a bit before, we were driving along the base of the mountain, passing creeks and the ridges glassing inbetween and up on a bright , sunny 20 above day, trying to cut fresh Fur tracks, looking over moving Caribou, and having had quite a bit of sucess, we were ready for a few more when the wife was certain there were 3 or 4 more Wolves walking along a rocky ridge top.
Now I cant just up and chase them, they will go 3-4 directions depending on how many ther are.....I turned back down the ridge so as not to spook them, and decided to manouver to a ridge about 4 miles North and headed for it at about 30 -40 Mph, nice and smooth.
insted of riding the ridge, I decided to take the much steeper creek that would get me to the top, about two miles ahead of said "Wolves" and being in the rocks above , we could howl them up close and get them all
However, we quietly argued over weather they were indeed Wolves, I was quite sure they were Caribou, she argued :Wolves", with her "Yes, they are."....followed but my "No, No theyer not.",, "Yes, now go..." "Ok, but I dont think so", to her "Yes they are..... now go." about like that every few minutes.....
Well as we rode up the creek, I see Mr. Bear all layed out in the sunshine on his backside, lifing his head and slow rolling to a sitting position, most likely looking at us in wonder......we stared back through binoculars, deemed him Fat and worthey......but not now, maby later, and his tracks were limited to the creek, I didnt see his hole, though Im sure it wa close.
"BUT" we were after fur, not meat, so I decided to tuen around and leave him alone, pending the "Wolves" we were already after......so I backtracked, and tryed riding the ridge that we had already passed to gain on the Fur that was a ridge over and we contenued up.....aiming for about 3 miles ahead as our turning point to the rocks (Rocks can ruin your day on a snowgo, instantly, so you must plan) and our ambush spot.
It changed inna glance anyway ~~LOL!!~~
We now saw Mr. Bear was also going up as we found him comming on up the side of the hill , almost on an intersecting course.
Well you can not chase animals on a snow go, so while he was still aproaching I came to a halt, and a few seconds later he was headed back down hill........but we dismounted, still were debating weather they were 'Wolves" or "Caribou" and since I had enough gas to get him to camp, and the "Wolves" were most certainly Caribou , I told her I was gonna try to catch him.
By the time we decided we were going to have him, he was down the hill and across the creek, walking slowly up , across from us.
I slid the rear sight to 4 (400meters on the Sako) , paced him for a moment as he walkedand put the first one in his head dead on.
He flipped and pitched forward, then rolled and I hit his head again, this time was the finish.
We rode down, my wife did the Bear it's rites and the skin and meat work got started, both splended and fine for use
Its melting like crazy and Im going Geese Hunting tonight for a few days,then I hope to Kotzebue, but I dont know about that all right, depends on water, weather and the machine. The real problem now days is getting them to the photobucket, facebook or any other place that will host them.
One problem I ve gotten solved was buying a couple Pentax underwater sports cameras, they take the beatings and cold very well, 'cept batterie life at -40 is only a minute or less, as its totally uninsulated, but I may try and have a hot pocket pouch sewn up, so I can keep it warm with chemical heat, but thats sometime down the road. They are child, cold, idiot, water and drop proof, so they may last awhile........
My only true problem with teh camera was during our high noon ammount of light. When we took picture with light above and nothing but reflective snow below, we had a lot of Black squares where picture were supossed to be,~~LOL!!~~ because we pushed the button and snapped the picture before the camera had adujusted for the intense ammount of light. We later figured to let the camera have 30 or so seconds to get adjusted before we started snapping and all is well.
Still not gettting anywhere with the Shooting end of a couple good shots, but this go through..........so I will keep trying.
We crested the ridge and he was comming in our general direction, but he saw us too, same time , and promptly gave us the "Tail". I stood on firm snow and put the sights to 'em, Running fast and hard, but in a straight line, (unless their trying to keep an eye on ya,some do) this guy came to a lopeing gait and I had him, and slow swung through like a shotgun on a Goose but at 300 yards and moving away.
The bullet hit his low mid neck, buzzed through the lower side of his skull, came out his backjaw/nech, and blew the rear teeth out with the bone. Pretty much Sudden Death, and definitly thick and clean Fur for next winters use.
This guy we tracked a long way before catching up and making the shot. He had heard us comming but ran down a creek bed, which we circled and got above him, then sat and waited abbout 5 minutes till he caught sight of us again, as he came up (the hillside was blocking us from seeing each other )and when he came into view tryed vering running up and out, to his demise.
The shooting is only the beginning of the work........The shot is a fleeting moment, the meat lasts quite a few delicious meals but its 3/4th gone now, but the hide is the best rug/bedding youll find in a campers world.
Heres wet scraped Brown.
You can see where me and the wifes cuz Jeff have made long strokes and removed the wet membrane.
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Inna couple days I'll put it on a strecher and dry it flat, then work, work, work, work, work it soft and store it till I use it.
I am a Subsistance Hunter and this Bear was eaten by my family and many other who enjoy such fat in lean months.
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Yes, I shoot cute, cuddly , sweet little Wolves, for fun and profit.
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