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Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: Idtrapper] #1934923
04/04/10 09:06 PM
04/04/10 09:06 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,408
Ohio
Minker Offline
trapper
Minker  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 3,408
Ohio
its probably the tattoo's .
the pictures of HUP and Alaskan on his back were bad enough but the heart shaped one on his butt with the number 17 in white in side the heart really did it.

and then theres the body piercings she found !

we need to get TOB to post some storys on here , hers are probably better than white 17's and since he's probably forgotten things he did , she could fill us in.


he probably wishes he was a dead nute right now !


Fur Trapping ;
Its not about making Money, Its All about the Adventures you'll have on the Trapline .
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: Minker] #1934932
04/04/10 09:08 PM
04/04/10 09:08 PM

H
Hupurest
Unregistered
Hupurest
Unregistered
H



Originally Posted By: Minker
its probably the tattoo's .
the pictures of HUP and Alaskan on his back !


He does have two tattoos of boobs on his back, but it isn't alaskan and me...... I think he got those in prison.

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: ] #1942872
04/08/10 10:57 PM
04/08/10 10:57 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
Ken, is he ever going to finish this thing?


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: mark] #1942887
04/08/10 11:01 PM
04/08/10 11:01 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,102
McGrath, AK
W
white17 Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
white17  Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
W

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,102
McGrath, AK
I hope so. Everything I get from him has been sent from his phone so I think he must have computer problems. I haven't heard from him in many days.


Mean As Nails
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: white17] #1942889
04/08/10 11:02 PM
04/08/10 11:02 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,102
McGrath, AK
W
white17 Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
white17  Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
W

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,102
McGrath, AK
Thanks Minker


Mean As Nails
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: white17] #1943212
04/09/10 08:17 AM
04/09/10 08:17 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
Well, let's hope he gets it straightened out soon, what ever it is. This is a great piece of work, but I am affraid that the interest is being lost as we move closer to time to do other things. I am on the road a lot this time of year, and only get time to peek in once in a while, and I would sure hate to miss the ending. Already on our 10th show of the year with the Ciders etc.......most of which have been close enough to home that we are home nightly, however, pretty soon we'll be traveling longer distances, thus gone days at a time.


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: mark] #1943221
04/09/10 08:21 AM
04/09/10 08:21 AM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,700
South Central Michigan
Freepop Offline
trapper
Freepop  Offline
trapper

Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,700
South Central Michigan
I got tired of waiting. We have a couple more days of season so I'm going on my otter quest. The camper is loaded and breakfast is cooking, hitting the road soon.


Born to hunt, forced to work

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: Freepop] #1943814
04/09/10 03:28 PM
04/09/10 03:28 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
Well, go get them Freepop, maybe he'll get around to it by the time you get back or in time for next season to get started.


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: mark] #1943816
04/09/10 03:32 PM
04/09/10 03:32 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Must not have caught anything else, unless it was crabs.Lol


Nevada bound
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: mark] #1944285
04/09/10 08:25 PM
04/09/10 08:25 PM
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,700
South Central Michigan
Freepop Offline
trapper
Freepop  Offline
trapper

Joined: May 2007
Posts: 1,700
South Central Michigan
Originally Posted By: mark
Well, go get them Freepop, maybe he'll get around to it by the time you get back or in time for next season to get started.


Well Mark, where we're camped now, I have coverage. If you want a story , I'll give it a try.

[url=http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/1944275.html#Post1944275][/url]


Born to hunt, forced to work

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: Freepop] #1944472
04/09/10 09:38 PM
04/09/10 09:38 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
If that's a link, it ain't working


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: mark] #1944561
04/09/10 10:10 PM
04/09/10 10:10 PM
Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 891
Southeastern Pennsyltucky
STINGER Offline
trapper
STINGER  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2010
Posts: 891
Southeastern Pennsyltucky
Originally Posted By: mark
If that's a link, it ain't working






mark ............ i think he was trying to do this .......




link to freepop's otter adventure


Let's Hunt that stuff can wait

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 1 [Re: STINGER] #1946297
04/10/10 11:45 PM
04/10/10 11:45 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
OK, I'll check it out, but right now I really need to get some sleep.


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: mark] #1947785
04/11/10 10:37 PM
04/11/10 10:37 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
O
Okiekajun Offline OP
trapper
Okiekajun  Offline OP
trapper
O

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
Day 12

Sunday February 21
Cloudy/Snowing 20 above

It‘s the next to last breakfast I‘ll have here in the cabin. It‘s a dreary thought to match the dreary weather. I watch out the window as the snow sifts gently down. The cloud cover is thick, making the snowy ground and snowy sky blend into a leaden grey. I’m glad for the extra day, this weather may make it a little nasty to check and pull traps, but it would seem downright dangerous to try to fly in.

We’ve decided to pull the line left to the south today. This line will take us to the gulo ditch, and ultimately, the site of the “death march on snow shoes”. It was smart planning on Kens part to pull this line first thing in the morning. The crust of frozen snow will make the packed sled trail firm, and should make it an easy run on the sled. I guess he thought it was far enough along in the trip that he didn’t want to chance killing me on a forced snow shoe march.

As we discuss our plan of attack we figure the same plan should apply to tomorrow. We’ll leave early to check and pull the remaining line across the river, the line to the north, and the spur line on the creek. We hope the weather continues to cool, and we have a firm trail to travel.

We fire up the Elan and head to the river. The trail is hard as a rock and it seems the going should be smooth. I’m anxious to see the area of gulo ditch for what is most likely the last time. Something is different about this area. I realize it’s ridiculous, but it seems even more remote and isolated than other lines Ken and I have ran.





Leaving the river, we travel through several hundred yards of large cottonwood and birch, then a few hundred yards of tundra and black spruce. We check three sets as we cross the tundra. The first vertical can set is untouched. The second and third leaning pole sets have been raided by birds. We then drop off the bank into gulo ditch. The leaning pole set is untouched, but the wolverine bucket we set has caught a large male marten. A short run down the ditch brings us back to the tundra and scrubby black spruce, where we have a view of several mountains two or three miles away. Our angular track across the tundra leads us towards the mountains and the further most edge of the tundra. Here we have caught a large male marten with a unique throat patch in a leaning pole set. Turning left, skirting the tree line and leading back towards gulo ditch we stop the sled and walk into the wolverine set I made during our last trip. Instead of the wolverine I’d hoped for we find a dark little female marten. Three for the day and number sixteen for the trip.



I spend the afternoon thawing and skinning the barely frozen marten. I’m hoping for a banner day tomorrow and I don’t want to leave Ken with too much skinning to do. I'm by no means quick, but i'm getting better at the skinning. I've got the three done in time for an early supper. The fact I’m leaving soon cant wipe the satisfied smile from my face as we set down to a hearty dinner of moose and rolls. No matter what the next day brings, for now at least, Ken is still cracking me up with his stories, and entertaining me with his singing. Although the sun is setting, and the clouds are still heavy, I cant help but note the grey dreary day has a new glow to it.

{Authors Note} I sat here writing this almost two months since seeing gulo ditch for the final time. While on the adventure I jotted notes concerning every day…except for this one. I cant tell you every detail of that last run on gulo ditch, but I can tell you it’s one of those moments that I need no notes to refresh my memory. The area holds a special interest to me. It has no reasonable, specific, or remarkable difference than any other line we ran. In fact I never connected on the wolverine I’d hoped it would produce. Just the same, when I close my eyes and return to Alaska, it’s the gulo ditch line I always see.



Last edited by white17; 04/11/10 10:48 PM.

Alaskan certified...
Taught the traditional Alaskan "bush" life by the legendary white17.
Taught the modern Alaskan "bush" life by Hupurest and Alaskan.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: Okiekajun] #1947813
04/11/10 10:49 PM
04/11/10 10:49 PM
Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 199
Southcentral Alaska
M
MartenFoxTrapper Offline
trapper
MartenFoxTrapper  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Mar 2010
Posts: 199
Southcentral Alaska
YAY you got it up!


Don't let someone tell you it won't work. Try it because it just might.
2nd year trapping
Formerly JustTrap
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: MartenFoxTrapper] #1947827
04/11/10 10:55 PM
04/11/10 10:55 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,219
U. P. , MI
Birddog Offline
trapper
Birddog  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,219
U. P. , MI
Originally Posted By: MartenFoxTrapper
YAY you got it up!


X2

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: MartenFoxTrapper] #1947835
04/11/10 10:59 PM
04/11/10 10:59 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
good job, hope you're not just teasing us though.


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: mark] #1947844
04/11/10 11:06 PM
04/11/10 11:06 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,088
Piney va. soon be 19
cotton Offline
trapper
cotton  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 8,088
Piney va. soon be 19
thanks man


John 3/16

ifin your gonna be dumb ya gotta be tough
VTA life member

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: cotton] #1947864
04/11/10 11:17 PM
04/11/10 11:17 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 281
NE Arkansas
Alex Lane Offline
trapper
Alex Lane  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 281
NE Arkansas
Glad to see another day. Great story.


You've got to stand for something, or you'll fall for anything...

Refuse to follow.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 12 [Re: cotton] #1959935
04/19/10 09:10 PM
04/19/10 09:10 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
O
Okiekajun Offline OP
trapper
Okiekajun  Offline OP
trapper
O

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
Day 13

Monday February 22
Snowing 20 above

I open my eyes and wake to the sound of Ken stoking life back into the coals from last nights fire. It’s pre-dawn and this is almost the same waking routine that I’ve had since arriving. Well…there was that one exception. Around day six or seven, following a long day on the line, and capped off with a marathon of skinning until midnight, jet lag and exhaustion met with me in a cozy bunk. My eyes literally never opened until 10 the next morning!

I’m never sure of the time here. There's two reasons for this: One, is because of the sun. I can tell you when I got here it would get to be daylight around 9 AM and dark around 5 PM. But that’s not entirely accurate anymore. This time of year we’re gaining around twelve minutes of sunlight during each twenty-four hour period. Secondly, I don’t know the time because I haven’t seen a clock since I got here. When unpacking on the first evening, I proudly told Ken “I wont be needing these for a while”, and then proceeded to shove my phone and my wallet deep into my bag. At home I never wear a watch, and I've got my phone in my hand more than enough to keep track of the time. So far I think I’ve asked Ken the time once or twice, but it’s really been of non-interest to me. For the most part we eat when we’re hungry, we run around while it’s daylight, and we sleep when we’re tired. Usually Ken wakes (what he says is 5 AM) when the cabin has started to cool off, and builds a fire. I wake hearing him stirring, and when the cabin warms I’ll crawl out of my sleeping bag and heed the call of nature. After the fire and the "honey bucket" have both been tended to, we both usually make our way back to our respective bunks and doze until the day gets some light to it.

This morning, after returning to my bunk, I’m doing less dozing and more daydreaming. This will, in all probability, be my last morning waking here at the cabin. This has been an experience I’ll never forget. It’s a trip I’ve dreamed of since I learned that Alaska existed. I couldn’t have asked to spend it with a better guy. Laying here I replay each day of the trip, and cant help but start snickering at many of the humorous occurrences. I have to mind I don’t start laughing out loud. It wouldn’t do to wake Ken now. According to him this time of the morning may be the best sleep of the night for him. He says I snore like a freight train. I do acknowledge my wife may have elbowed me once or twice in the past for said offense, but Ken reports that his wife has never complained that he snores. I feel sorry for the Ol’Blister, she must be near deaf.

Daylight arrives and we both roust ourselves out of our bunks, Ken seems to be no worse for wear after my morning giggle fit. I think it’s a good thing we’re both well rested. We’ve got quite a few traps to pull and miles to cover, and the snow is falling at a pretty good clip. We don’t waste much time this morning, Ken starts the coffee and breakfast while I get my gear packed up. We’ve got a lot to do before afternoon. Curly will be arriving about 3 PM to fly me out to his lodge. He’s offered to put me up for the night before flying me to Sleetmute the following day. It’s bittersweet to think of leaving here, but I know my time is up and Curly’s offer includes doing some “sightseeing” flying on the way to his lodge where unlimited hot water, a cozy bed, and hot food awaits. It’s almost like going on another adventure in itself, so that helps to ease my leaving.

We strike out across the river first, pulling the line as we go. This, as you may remember, is the line that has been so productive. This is also the line my gulo came from. Our sets have been empty all the way up to the double 330 wolverine buckets. Ken makes me turn away as we get to them, saying we’ll check them on the way out. I do as I’m told even though the temptation to snatch a peek is overwhelming. We get to the last sets of the line and see that we’ve taken another nice marten. This one is caught in the 330 wolverine bucket where my gulo came from. We collect the catch, pull the sets, and return the way we came. As we arrive at the double bucket sets I’m surprised to see we haven’t caught anything. This line has been our most productive, and to have this small of a yield does not bode well for the two remaining lines we have to check. In addition to the marten, this line does have one other surprise to dish out before I leave. Overflow. While taking the machine across the creek to retrieve the bucket sets, the Elan bogs down and the water starts flowing from under the snow. Ken looks back over his shoulder to tell me to unhook the sled, but he has to yell, I’m not on the sled anymore, I’ve already bailed off and decided to run back to Anchorage for help. Ken steps off the Elan and I see the water is less than ankle deep, I see I’ll be getting my feet wet(pun intended)on my first Alaskan overflow adventure. Ken is kind enough to lend me a hand the whole way through the process. By “lend a hand” I mean he points out where to shovel the snow under the machine. This is just shallow over flow so it’s short work to build a pad under the Elan and Ken hops on and runs the machine up the bank. I follow dragging the sled through the slush. I can see where overflow could be a real pain, but this short stretch wasn’t bad. If I had to grade this I figure Ken would deserve an A (he’s got experience at this) and I would get a C+ (for not continuing to run away).

With no time to spare we stop at the cabin just long enough to unload the traps and marten, and then it’s on to the Northern line. The snow hasn’t let up much, but Ken says the cloud cover is not too thick or low to prevent Curly from flying. We continue with our plan to have everything pulled and be ready to leave by 3 PM. As we ride across the tundra and we near the hay set we made using a "straight from the box" MB550. We peer through the falling snow and spot movement. BINGO!! Interior Alaska’s first hay set has produced. It's a puff-ball of a red fox and he is tugging away at the grapple. Man what a pretty sight. I think we both had high hopes for this set, but had pretty much given it up for a loss. That UN-DYED, UN-MODIFIED, STRAIGHT FROM THE FACTORY BOX, MB-550 must have punched up through at least an inch and a half of frozen snow to make the perfect top of the pad catch. Incredible. I cant say enough about the perfect catch made by that MB.

At home I usually use a .22 cb for all my dispatch needs. Ken handed me a short piece of 1x1 slat to accomplish the task. A frisky fox, ten foot of cable on a grapple, and a two foot long stick. It made for an interesting video. I was just about at the point where a major league ball player would have been called "out"…twice, when I made good and the fox went nighty-night. Between fits of laughter Ken was pretty critical of me for breaking his “good stick”. When it was all over I had a beautiful male Alaskan red fox, and Ken had about a foot of “good stick” left.







In high spirits we continued on to the leaning pole where Ken had always wanted to set, but never had. If you remember this set had already produced a beautiful marten, and today it produced another. Marten number two for the day, and number eighteen for the trip was picture perfect.



We by-passed the “Gulo Gauntlet” and continued to the northernmost set on the line. This was a leaning pole foothold set that had not produced…until now. What appeared to be a monster male marten, number three for the day, and number nineteen of the trip was hanging there. We took a few minutes to enjoy the catch and talk of the great day we’d had so far.



We gathered our catch and turned back, returning to the “Gulo Gauntlet”, where we were surprised again to discover no fresh wolverine sign, and no catches had been made. I hope Ken is able to set this area heavily next season, we both know that there are wolverine (plural) there to be caught, we just ran out of time. There is also an extremely lucky marten still alive in there. The sign was obvious, he had visited nearly every set and jumped through most of the snares and never tripped a trap.



We reluctantly pulled the traps from Gulo Gauntlet, and turned to check the creek spur line. Our first set of the line was a wolverine bucket that contained marten number four for the day, and number twenty for the trip. What a catch of marten, considering we were not deliberately trying to hit them hard . I can think of a hundred locations that we didn’t set for them, yet we still took twenty in less than ten days with less than two dozen total marten sets.

We rounded the creek bend and approached the intersection that had been so heavily tracked up. Both of us were looking intently toward the ice hole, but as we parked the snow machine and walked to the set we both were disappointed it had not connected. We were hoping that the trail set directly above it, that had been blocked from our view, may have connected. As we turned the corner there lay a whopper otter perfectly caught in the ice hole 220. What a surprise! It was laying right there on top of the ice, it must have been in a slight depression keeping us from seeing it.






What a day! Four marten, a red fox, and an otter on our final check.





We return back to the cabin, where I hurriedly snap a few pictures and start preparing to leave. I take the hour or so I have left to remove the final drying marten from the boards and skin one of the ones caught today. I feel bad leaving Ken with that much fur to handle, but he laughs it off and says it will give him something to do until Curly flies him out in the next three or four days.



I’m just finishing the marten when we hear Curly arriving, right on schedule. We gather up my stuff and head down to the river. With the snow fall increasing we waste no time stowing my gear and saying our goodbyes. I cant thank Ken enough, or tell him just how much this has meant to me, I don’t want to get all mushy in front of Curly. As we begin to take off, Ken and I give a wave to each other. Through the snow and the blurry windshield, I cant tell if Ken’s turned away to hide his face from the wind of the prop, to hide his jubilant laughter at being rid of me, or to hide the tears of sorrow at my leaving. I tell myself it’s the tears.



DAY 13 TO BE CONTINUED….


Alaskan certified...
Taught the traditional Alaskan "bush" life by the legendary white17.
Taught the modern Alaskan "bush" life by Hupurest and Alaskan.
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