So where's everyone at?Not sure if this is the main line or not.Not sure I like this newer version either.Anyway here goes..been real busy hauling material into my cabin,moose #'s are looking good in the area.Did a great scouting trip for next years line and real excited to start it up.Caught several lakers thru the ice that went over 12#'s and also some tasty burbut!Can't wait till I have the time to hit it "hard".Waiting for ice out,June 9th is my guess.Heading up to bait my bear stand around the 12th of May.Should be hit around the 26th,give or take a day.Got a big Cold Bay bear trip planned for October.This will be the 4th time going.Never brought back one bigger then 9-2 but someday the "big" one will be in the wrong place.Take care everyone,hope your trapping season's were worth the work you put into it,(mine was...I think!).

Steve ,good luck with your cabin building,looking forward to seeing it finished as I'm sure you are.
What sort of bear do you hunt ?
Al

Hey Steve.
Seems the Wilderness forum is taking on a new personallity. Looking like the reg trappeman thread but it is Alaskan flavored. Post picts of your cabin progress.
When is the best time to hunt bears and how late can you shoot a good hide on the Kenia Pen do you think. Kids and I are going to go after them to and put some miles on the horses after the middle of May.

FT, you have horses?? How many and what kind??

Too many and all kinds! You asked for it here it is.
Actually my wife is riding an older Tennesee walker mare. Great horse- Bomb proof and has done it all Alaska has to offer. Not with us however YET!
My daughter rides a big belgiun cross. Head of the bay horse that was raised on the Kilcher homestead. "Jewel Kilcher's Dad's ranch" Done it all. Incredible mountain horse. Rode it last fall through some country. He really took care of me. At one point he came to a underbrush infested swampy area creek crossing. He asked for his head and put his nose to the ground and started sniffing like crazy. Lifted his head and walked right through it. I was impressed.
My son rides a morgan poa cross. Smaller sized and a little Napolian we call him. Supposed to have a lot of packing experience and was used on trail riding dudes when we bought him.
He is great unless around a mare in heat. Then all bets are off.

My other daughter rides a shetland pony. What more can be said other than it isn't too far to fall.

For me. My wife and I both got the Tennesse Walker fever after riding them last fall. Absolutly incredible. The amount of country you can cover is amazing. My wife bought one. Well I got jealous of her Tennesse Walker and said if I was going to ride it was going to be something comfortable that could keep up with her without trotting. I have a Tennesee Walking Mule! This is a story in itself.
It was broke to ride and apparently was a great mule. Came off a mule ranch in the lower 48.
A lady in Kodiak bought her as it was her dream to have a riding mule. Paid a lot of money for her and shipped her to Kodiak. Rode her twice in the last two years and then tried to sell her and couldn't. No one in Kodiak wanted her. No one wanted to come look at her and go throught he hassle to get her ferried from Kodiak. My wife took a trailer the day after Christmas and picked her up for an incredible price. She seems like a fantasic mule. But I have yet to ride her. Just doing a lot of ground work with her for now. Working with a mule is a lot different than a horse.
She is supposed to be gaited. We called the previous owner before we went to Kodiak that owned the mule ranch and he told my wife if she wasn't on the next ferry to go and get her she was crazy. Soo we will see.

Bad news Kusko is your goat area has no horse access unless we take them over by barge!
Head of the bay has Goats that people use horses to hunt but I didn't get a permit. We are going to put in fo caribou up out of Cooper Landing.

FT : Did the horse come from Tennesee Millers way back ? Good you have horses . It can be a big walk back to where they are from Cooper landing. A few guys tryed the bike route, but never again from what I heard.

Piper not sure of your question. Tennesee Miller? We got the horse out of Wassila. She had been up here for a long time.
If it is a joke I am too knew to the Tennesee Walker world to catch it.
Hope to look for some moose calf eating black bears this spring and let the kids do some shooting.
Also hope to ride the burns for morels.

I have rode horses since childhood. New to it in Alaska.
I will say to anyone who has rode a horse. If you ever get the chance to ride a Tennesee walker take it. It will be the experience of a life time. It is hard to believe how fast a horse can walk. Other horses will trot or canter to keep up. And the tenesee walker rider will be able to hold and drink a can of pop at the same time.

FT : He was a guy who bred and sold them in the Sterling area for years.

I used a horse on the trapline one year. IN my dogteam!

Yea Pete, that was the line of thought I had. They make good bait too!
I suppose in the warmer climate of Homer that would be useful. Must cost alot to care for.
mt

FT, I wasn't implying using your horses for the goat hunt. I was just asking as my mom has horses and I was curious to what you had.

How much is hay down there?? Is there a large animal vet too??

Kusko I would love an excuse to go see tthe country at the head of the bay where the goats live.

Horses for me is payback to my wife for living in the busy for 16 years and allowing me to keep doing it for months at a time. We got a little carried away however
It is very expensive and we probably won't keep it up for too many years. But for now all the family is headed in the same direction and that is cool. 4-H,horse club, pony club, camping , riding and hunting together. That is a good feeling. Being able to do and enjoy the same things as your kids to worth it for now.

We have local Hay here but it was a bad year for hay with the rain. To get good Hay my wife took on the role as hay importer to get good hay. She ships it in on 40ft Connex vans to Seward and trucks it to Homer. Comes from Bend Oregon in what looks to be a compressed 60 lb brick. Fantastic hay and local hay can't compare. 22 tons to the van load. We get what we need and she sells the rest. I just got done unloading one the last few days into peoples trucks and trailers.
Cost It is crazy. 498 a ton.
Local Hay comes out around 250-300 a ton as most sell it by the bale but it can't compare.
It isn't the most econimical decision I have ever made that is for sure. I keep telling my wife marten trapping will be better next year.

Several years back some hippies ( well ok, many years back) took a bunch of horses into the mountains nearby here and thought they'd live in teepees. They didn't last long when it got cold and they turned the horses loose and fled the country. There were still a few descendants of that bunch of horses running around the Dillenger river drainage as recently as three years ago. I'm amazed the wolves haven't cleaned 'em out.

We had two horses in McGrath for a couple years. They eventually became part of a dog team. At least we weren't a one horse town. You know someone has more money than sense when you see a horse being unloaded off a C130.

Did any of you see in the Anchorage paper (I beleive it was Wednesday's, but could have been Thrusdays) about the BEAR WHISPERER???? I kid you not!! But this one, according to the paper, REALLY IS a bear whisperer!!!

Is that somethign a person can get certified in??

Treadwell #2, just a matter of time.

FT you ever try alphalfa cubes? We pack then when we take the horses back into the mountains and we know feed is scarce. I can't imagine shipping hay from the lower 48 up north. I have wild horses down on one line, they're tough and harder to sneak up on then an elk.

OK, what is up with the Alaska Trapping forum? I went over this morning to check things out. All of a sudden, I have access to all the other boards on the Alaska Gold Forum, except that one. Has anyone else been over there and have the same problem?

-TJ

TopJimmy,
I have had that problem for a couple weeks

Top Jimmy Are you logged in? if you are PM Jim and let him know, he restricted access again because the anti's got in there the other day, it was real nasty.

Thanks Fish. I have been hitting that button to get access, but no reply. I sent him a PM like you said. Is he checking in with all that has happened? I wonder if Ace is doing the checking.

-TJ

I know he was online yesterday to take care of that problem.

I don't think Ace is doing anything as he could not delete the nasty stuff that was posted there.