The Almighty Alaskan Thread #9

Seeing my foot was put forward to start last years so, if OK, here is the #9. Looking forward to all the posts of everyone's adventures in the upcoming months.

I guess Canada is a little more like Alaska than the rest of the US (except for your silly gun laws) so as a long time, but now expatriated Alaskan, I have no problem with you starting the newest "Almighty Alaskan" thread!

Haha. I got to start the first one! ;0)

And I made the last post on the first one, then it blew up and disappeared forever.

I wonder how many more there will be once I finally get moved....

HEHAHAHHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHAAA, my students are looking at the screen while i am typing. They really like your fur hat wolfwoman.

The #9 thread needs some line photos to get going.
Beautiful -10 day for the first run on the marten line.
A few photos ...

Nice haul!

Finally some marten pictures. Seasons open but no snow yet. I'm hanging in for a couple weeks

Great pics! Looking forward to the first wolf.

Nice miner, I spend some time in the 40 mile country & had a feeling you were going to gloat a little this season after cruising through your hood during a few snow days. Glad to see your pinching some toes.

lol How about another?

We got dumped on here. Around a foot of fresh snow, and still falling. Fire up the blower, I guess.

Would love to move up there!

AV just got the photo from my daughter her 3 yr old was helping shovel put a nice pile of fresh snow in the covered part of the drive that had no snow

Ellis set on Monday and this was his check on Tuesday. As you can see, he's very happy!

You have created a fox catching machine! I was just wondering when you guys where going to start chasing them! Congrats on the fox!

He's figuring it out with Dad's help. It doesn't hurt that they run the same trails nearly every year.

Pretty cool Ellis!

Trapper for life! Way to Go Ellis

NICE! Took me a minute to figure out that wasn't IN the garage!

Got the net set and caught six of these on the first check today.



And I almost forgot.

New china Jeff?

I see your fork doubles as a knife with that serrated handle

Got out the good moose china from china,special occasion and all.

And that is a nice fork, it saws through bones too.

Got a small fm, camera wouldn't work on the line,

Good job Ellis. College money! Where you thinking on selling this year, Kusko?
mt

Way to go Clinton.

Those wolves don't stand much of a chance around you Clinton
You are leaving out the good stuff...
What type of set? How many others?
Thanks for sharing

Congrats! That smile on the young ones face says it all!

Kids & wolves ! Doesn't get much better.

Is that wolf thin in the hair department on her side or is that just the picture ??

It was caught off a moose hide out in the open with a #9 and some lure i made last yr, there were just two of them, she is a bit thin haired w17, camera lens wouldn't come out on the line

One less moose muncher !

they like it too, some of them finished their fur hats. Some are starting on fur mittens using beaver skins. Will see about posting some pics after they are done.

MT, he has been spending his money on guns and scopes. He owns a 20 gauge Stoger Condor and a Remington 700 XCRII in .300 Ultra Mag. The scope he bought is a Leupold VXII 3-9. His goal this year is to buy a VXIII 3-12 for that new RUM.

Nice wolf Clinton!

Kusko I put a 8.5 x25 x 50 Leopold long range on my 300 RUM 700 sendero . I love that gun . All my hunting partners not so much because when They here it go off they no there is somthing down far a way and in a hard spot to get . I tell them that is way we bring chainsaw and winches .

Yukonjeff, I can't even identify most of what is on that plate! Of course when I was guiding I always tried to feed the clients after dark.

Anyone got a # for JR? How is he doing and is he still selling #9s? Got a buyer. Thanks!

Doing good Steve. Got my feeding tube out this week and once that heals then I'll start getting back in shape. Working in the shop, building 9's and reloading now. Still real weak and weighing in at 160#s and gaining. 30 pounds to go. Good luck and be safe to everyone on the line this winter.

Takotna...
Good start! Finally got a few wolf traps set last week myself.

JR, good to see you back on here again! Best of luck with getting back on your feet, it's been quite an ordeal for you!

X2!!! What smalltime said!

Same here Jr. Was great to see that Thumbnail of you popup when I was scrolling.

Hey JR. Great to see you on here ! Ice cream and donuts ! Lots of bacon too !

JR, glad to hear your making progress and good to see you post!

Looking forward to your future trapline photos JR.

Take care.

Get Well soon,looking forward to your pics from the wolf line.

Welcome back JR.

Good to hear from you JR. I got into my cabin last night at midnight. First one out on the lakes. It looks sketchy but is safe. 24 deg and real windy. Waiting for daylight now to head out on the line. Not sure how far I'll get, hardly any snow. Looks like a lot of fox around this year. Might check back tonight. Be safe everyone, been a few accidents and ice is bad this year..

Glad you're feeling better JR, the wolves miss you!

Got another one of these beauties! Bunch of foxes around this year.

Nice! That is a good looking one!

Super nice cross ST.... good job !

JR welcome back. looking forward to you posts again.

Good to hear from you howler! I've been asking Santa for a couple #9s. Hopefully "Santa" contacts you before Christmas. Can't wait to see your pictures this winter.

Yep, there seem to be alot this year here as well already took 5 this year...

Man we started out hot here with fox as well, six first check, nothing now for two weeks. Well we have caught lots of wind. Having a hard time getting the foxes to commit to the sets. They walk within five feet of it but just walk right on by. Any suggestions? this past week tried switching out baits and orders some new lures.

Thurman- sounds like the fox are too full to go after bait. Lots of rabbits this year? Set a blind trap out further where they hang up or right on their trails leading to trap site. Snares are good for fox that don't go for bait too.

This one was in a blind trail set. Got one yesterday in a lynx cubby. Snared a couple around a bait pile. Seems like mine aren't real smart yet.

I called in two reds with a predator caller last night. Had a lynx come in too but couldn't shoot fast enough before he disappears back into the bush.

Thurman are you using traps or snares? Bait station draw with trail set snares to and from is always what I had my best luck on in the Delta.

FT trying both, with the same result. Its odd it doesn't seem that they are smelling anything or seeing something and getting spooked but at the same time just ignoring the whole set and bait. Im going to keep tinkering and hopefully something will work. will try and set a few trail sets.

On positive note saw wolf tracks about five miles from home so got some wolf traps out, cant wait to check them. Till then my wife wont be running our dogs that way haha.

Picked up a little variety today to break up muskrat monotony a little. These fellas about 50ft apart.





Now out to the shop to skin fifty something rats

Sweet! With this warm weather how is the holding up out there?

Happy THANGIVING..TO ALL..I HAVE A PULL CORD GONE BAD ON MY BRAVO.WOULD ANY BODY KNOW IF THE GAS TANK HAS TO COME OFF TO BETTER GET AT THE CASEING.....

As I recall it does. The tank under the hood.

Its pretty fine overall. Water on top of most of it at the moment. Made a lot of ice during that cold stretch. Of course the springs and bad spots that always open back up when its warm are opening back up. Like where that otter is in the picture. Previous check I chiseled through 6" to clear out the muskrats that plugged up both 280's. Now it's open there. Better for trapping. This is my kind of trapping weather personally. I took it very casually during that cold stretch. Worked a bit harder at it for a few days with this wonderful weather.

THANKS...WHITE17

Boy we got snow now! Had 9" overnight a couple days ago. 23" on the ground total.
Been out breaking trail and resetting stuff.
At least still picking up a few marten. Todays run...

Nice ones !!



I hope you will tag those and save the carcasses for Kerry Nicholson at the F&G office in FAI

I'm sending Kerry worms.
Good job on the marten!

Really not cool to find this on the line. Set on a p post, followed the drag marks across the bog for a bit, ended with this. Hard to keep stuff operational in my area, when you finally connect an ending like this isn't very satisfying! Marginal catch in that 750, minimal snow cover. Pan tension was pretty light, maybe that was the problem?



Got one of these, second at this spot this year.



One of these, at a p post.

Thanks trapperjoe!

Chickenminer- PLEASE send that white stuff down here! Congrats on the fur!

ST- That bites! You got some fur though! That is a big plus!

ST, I've lost faith in those 750's for wolves. We are going with #9's and #5 bridger Alaskans. Those Bridgers are way faster than 750s.

Anyway, the boy is still hitting them hard. Here is number 13 for him. He picked up another 3 today. He's getting alot better at skinning.

Congrats to that young man! Are you taking him on the big line this year?

Kusko, I have trapped a couple of wolves with the one Bridger Alaskan #5 I have. Both times they were good catches around the whole paw, personally I like the trap. MB 750 however, I still have to catch a wolf in one of those traps yet. I have 12 750's at the moment, hoping they do good in my country.

Yes, HFT, he will go along depending on the weather.

Nunamiut, I'm just not happy with their ability to come up through crusty snow. I love the way they lie flat, really flat, but they just don't have the power like those #5's and certainingly not like a #9.

I have had very good success with the 750 on wolves but I'd bet my snow is a lot different than yours. I think you may have way too much wind and crusty snow for the 750 to work well. In a sheltered spot you might be fine. They are dynamite on wolverines.

Yes, yes and yes!!

Quite the "killer" your raising KUSKO! He setting wolf gear yet?

Not yet Clinton, heck we haven't even left Bethel yet!!

I have a few of the #5 Alaskans, they seem to be decent traps, altho I haven't connected with one yet, except a fox in a wolf set. I like the big pans. I've caught a couple in 750s, but had this marginal one and another two fail to fire. Wish I had the jack to spring for a few more #9s, but I'll have to make due with what I got for now. Wonder how long it will take to catch up with this missing digit wolf.

I took the pan off my 5s and cut them down so more foot had to be in trap . Have lost wolves to the 750 not coming up through crust .

Stt. I lost one with a toe catch then caught it in a snare the next year. He'll slip up again.

What are you guys' thoughts on double rifles? I can't help but like them. I don't own any, probably never will, especially when you compare the cost of a serviceable bolt rifle to that of even the "double rifle for less" Sabatti. I watched a couple videos on Baikals, but they just seemed chintzy. It just seems like such a cool idea, especially in brush or up close on bait for a big browny.

for a double rifle, I would look at the online auction and sale sites....
gunbroker, guns America, pacific sporting arms, and such

There are typically used doubles, depending on brand, that go from $5-10k, and then get as froggy as you want...

if you don't care about a used double, with some "handling" marks, there are deals to be had.

I have seen some Krieghoff doubles in the $7,000 range, merkels in the $5-6,000 range.....

I still kick myself for not buying the merkel 470NE that was on "clearance" at Sportsmans when I first started there....

I have always wanted a double, but have never found a woman who could afford one.


I think they'd be great on brown bears at close quarters.

Or who would agree to it!!!

Well......yeah there's that too

Ellis picked up a Bethel rarity tonight. This lucky little dude picked up this beauty!






He was so excited, he came running to me "Dad, Dad, I caught a cross fox!"

Putting the smack down!

Way to go Ellis! You going to get it tanned for him?

Oh yes, it's getting tanned. He wants to hang it in his room next to his muskox.

That's a nice one !!

What a tail on that thing! SWEET!!!!!!!!!!!

Fox man always said they were one out of a hundred. I think his estimate was optimistic.

Way to go Ellis. Very nice catch and you will cherish that moment for many many years.

Way to go Ellis! You're going to be writing books on trapping foxes!

That smile says it all. Way to go guys!

Nice!

Good job Ellis nice catch ,you are hooked now.Way to get the youngsters involved Kusko.

Nice going for your boy, Kusko!

Any one have any experience with the bridger 150's for marten?

THOSE THE 5 X 5"?
If so they work really good for marten

Hey all, just checking in. Been gone for a while. How goes the battle?

Spent the last two years building our cabin on the Clearwater. Will try and get some pictures up when the internet cooperates.

-TJ

I was beginning to wonder if you had fallen off the face of the earth Jimmy. Did the family moose hunt go on as usual this last season?

Tj, is that the Delta Clearwater? We built a couple cabins on there a few years back for a couple bankers.

Another uneventful run today. Sure bleak for fur sign other than marten.
Even the wolves are avoiding my area like the plague!
Good thing decent marten population.
A few pics from today.




Someone had a thread about using marten carcasses for bait. I've been using them for years.
They have worked well for me only as a visual bait on pole set, worthless in a coni box.
Obvious they like the bait as I've had them chew up the marten completely while in the trap.
Here's a pic from today. Half marten for bait. I remade the set and what I'm holding is the
remains of the previous carcass. I've got the tail.

Yep, the family moose hunt made it this year. We ended up with 2 moose between three hunters. Not bad and was great to get back into the woods. Only thing that sucked is it rained and snowed almost the entire time. Thank god for the wood stove in the tent!

Yep, the cabin is on the Delta Clearwater. Love it down there and waited forever to get a lot down there. So nice to pull up to the cabin and not have to set up a tent or haul everything in and out. Only down side is we are on the other side of the river from the road, so no access in the winter unless I wanted to cut 5 miles of trail from the Tanana across who knows property. Just not interested in it that bad.

-TJ

Going to have to figure out my photo bucket password and get pictures uploaded so I can post them here. For some reason the system here just isn't working.

-TJ

Good to see you on here TJ. I thought you were still in prison.

I am just super enjoying all of the AK and NWT/Yukon posts, thank you, and Top Jimmy I can't wait to see your photos. That Ellis kid with his foxes is awesome. Here in Pennsylvania I hunt and trap our most remote, rugged area, and it is nothing compared to what you guys have.

I think Muddy missed you TJ. I believe he may have some international jewish banker conspiracies to share with you.

Really? Sure am glad I missed that user. What a waste of time.

LOL !! I think Muddy has those for everyone !

Couple little toads for an AK rat , or at least for me they seem big

finally getting cold out got my first ice ball of the season

Woo hoo! Glad you're getting out!

Way to go!

Nice" Ice Balls" is right on them dam catches.

Built a new Black Fish trap tonight,(dont mind the dead cat)

Don't mind at all. Figured it was a prelude to tomorrow nights "what's for supper" picture.

LOL!

Will see if she pulls through or not.

Hey, meat's meat !


I can see it now . Fricasseed Feline ala litter box.

Do you use the blackfish trap for fish or for mink like they used to use on the Kusko?

I wish my dog would use a litter box! she has decided that her favorite place to poop is right in front of the neighbor's driveway!

I have bigger ones I made out of chicken wire for mink and otter, this one catches blackfish, pike and muskrats pretty regular, my last check I caught two rats and a mink but the mink tore through, that's why I am building a new trap.

I wish I could train my dog to poop in the neighbors driveway.

Caught four of these today. I weighed this one and it was 8 lbs they were all about the same size.



One of my favorit parts.

Does that 8 pounds include the worms ??

Your right, I should subtract about a pound for that.

The burbot in the Peel have burbot that size in there bellies.

One of my favorite fish is the fresh water burbot. If you are worried about worms, just candle them and cut any out. Never found any worms in the fresh water lakes we fish for them. Easiest fish to fillet as they do not have the two rows of pin bones.

Easier than halibut? I always considered them the easiest. 4 swipes, 4 fillets.

How do you prepare liver?

With a propane torch and a jar of Gusto

Boil it in gasoline.

You guys are kinda Nancey's

How big are we talking here muskrat?

I boil it in a little salt and butter along with the rest of the fish.

Was that a female burbot Jeff?

No male, it didn't have any eggs....love those too.

Kite flying anyone?

Going around us.

Was up to -2 today. I'm liking this warming trend!
Had a nice run today. Double on wolverine. Caught within 200 yds
of each other. Don't normally see wolverine traveling in a pair here.

This one was all tangled up and dead already!



#2 was a dandy big male


Here's the two together ...

Nice going CM!

Very nice!

. Which site are you getting those images from?

Nice wolverines was that first one caught in a 114 Newhouse ? looks like teeth on it.

Looks like a couple #9's

Oh yea.

Congrats very nice you don,t get that everyday.

Way Cool! I like the snarl on the second one! I haven't seen that often. Generally just that weird growl they do, over and over. Once heard, never forgotten. ERRR, ERR, ERR, ERR!!!!!!!!!!!

Very cool on the double gulos! The dead one stripped that tree down pretty well. What kind of sets were those?

The empty one looks like a Koro...

First one was in a Bridger 5 Alaskan. Second in a Koro like ST said.
Both in trail sets I had for wolves.

Much better than catching a fox in a wolf set!

Congrats! They look awesome!

Congrats Chickenminer! That is a good day right there!!

Nice going Chickenminer.
Mike. the weather site is
https://www.windyty.com/

Took my own screenshot

Very nice ! Those are the good days !!


Were those both males ??

Nice catch Chickenminer. That is still one of my hightlights on the line when I caught a double on wolverine. Would be pretty neat to trap an area with high numbers like on the coast where they catch double digits of them. Be safe and have fun. Happy New Year to Everyone.

Happy New Years to all the rest of the T-man clan, best of luck with the start of 2016

Looks like it.

Happy New Year Everyone.
Looks like our weather is coming from pretty far south today.

Man that looks ugly. It's not like I preferred weeks of 40 below, but man a regular-ish winter would be nice.

Yesterday was a first! With all the hunters some of them can't leave the fur alone. Last year we had 3 stolen, 1 trap and marten. Someone I know went by in the morning and there was a big dark one hanging. By their return trip it was gone. He called me that evening asking if I was up there today, no I wasn't I replied. He said well someone took a nice one than.
Yesterday a LOW LIFE THIEF, rode past a marten pole with a marten in it grabbed the marten, broke the pole and deposited it 50 ft. down the trail, less the marten of course. There was another one that had an audience, he was alive or he would have been gone, judging by the foot prints around him!

Would it be possible to get away from that main trail to make your sets.The bush looks thin there,you would have to walk a long way in to hide your sets using that trail

No, all the caribou hunter follow his trail.

Boco
Been there since 1983 and too many sets to walk to. Ran over 250 sets until a fire wiped out some of the line. The trail becomes narrower the further I go.
When I first got the line it was snow machine width, see attached photo, than the miners came through widened it up a bit more but the portion of previous picture was where some of the country had burned.

I hate that. Ive had three foxes borrowed from me this year. At least they've always left the trap. Just hope for karma.

Really. Wow that is odd for the village. I had a lynx stole in St Marys. Trooper caught him however and it was a stiff fine. Wasn't much problem before or after that.

that sucks

Sorry to hear that Snap. All we can do is hope that karma gets them!

It does, it's just the waiting for it to happen!

That is a bummer Larry! Like HFT said, hopefully karma bites them good! Great to see the pics of you out on the line!

Ted
Glad to see your back at it with a new sled. Go get em!

Snap ... seems a guy has enough obstacles without that!!
Bummer indeed.

Well, just boxed up a bunch and sent to Mattie/FHA.
Let's hope the March auction is a good surprise this year!

Way to go there. Good for you.

Something different, thought I'd share here too. Spent a few days in New Mexico on the family ranch

Nice kitty. Great spots. What are they bringing

Nice double!!!

chickenminer ur marten look great i hope ya do good with them

Hope you do good also Cminer!

Nice catches! Those non-resident NM trapping license are rather steep. I hope you caught a couple of those kittys!!

Is that yote in a nbr 4n ?

I had an interesting catch today, went to take a pic but the camera was dead. I had 330 on a leaning tree for wolverine and it caught a nice red fox about 6ft off the ground. hit the fox with a perfect suitcase, didnt even shake the 330 off the nail.

Got to keep those camera's warm. ;-)

Nice pile of marten there, cm!

I know in some parts of the states these things are pretty common or abundant here they are fairly rare was nice to pick up this pretty little female.I noticed her tracks on a bait pile and raised some of the snares and made the loops a bit bigger and picked her up the next check. Sure glad we don't have a lot of them I much prefer fox.

Looks like your snow is pretty skinny there Todd.

nice pile of qapviatchiaq chicken miner, I need to set a few marten traps soon.

That fool- Your dialect is similar to ours here in the delta but I see p is added such as in qaviatchiaq for me and qapviatchiaq for you. Qapvik for you qavvik for me. Aklarviq means place where you find grizzly bears. I'd bet your word for it would be something like Aklarpviq.

awesome, i think am not sure for place to find aklaq, maybe aklaqvik or aklagvik. some of our words are mixed between yupik and inupiaq. they used three or four dialects around here. depending on the family.

That is one of the few places I actually walk on snow to check sets. In the brush where it didn't all melt more rain in the forecast. I actually have a few frozen dirthole sets out LOL Awful hard on the snow machine that's for sure

Horrible !!

How do you guys cut trails? I've done it with my my chainsaw and axe, but man it just seems like a bike handled brush cutter would be a sweet way to get it done!

Sandvik is great for cutting brush on the line.Or a power scythe(stihl brush cutter) for serious brushing grown in trails.

Cutting the brush is the easy part. It's getting all the cut stuff out of the way that's the pain in the rear. Having a swamper or two doing the clean-up helps you gain a lot of ground.
For black spruce, I use a machete. Just bend the tree over a bit and give it a whack at the base. It will bust right off. I use a chainsaw for the bigger stuff.

We flew into Grayling today and they had one of those Buffalo in a pen right in the village,it was hanging around the village eating trash and dogfood and breaking into people sheds and stuff. So they penned it up and are going to sling it with a chopper back to the herd after they fatten it up.

Talking to the Bethel Bio a couple weeks ago he said they were already near Russian Mission , and working their way down this way.

Cant wait for some Tatonka.

Garbage Bison?

One was seen just outside of Bethel this winter.

Anybody eating those things yet?

They are getting around thats for sure. Like sending out recon to find the best grazing in Western Alaska. A cow apparently was over by Aniak. Then spent the summer by Marshal and then Crossed back over the Yukon and was Near Russian Mission. All by her self. Then a friend saw one on a flight from Bethel to Akiak. Yep there getting around.

They were promised one to eat at some point, they said no one shot or ate one yet but lost a bunch through the ice this spring during breakup.

Moose go by here on the ice too, I wonder if we will see buffs going by this spring.

What's the earliest you have seen a bear out of hibernation? I have a picture from a friend who saw a brown out the other day. It came out of a den dragged its back legs down to the river, got some water then dragged its back legs back up into the den of willows. It is warm this year just curious if they going to start coming out. Ill have the picture up here this afternoon.

Malukchuk There was one killed up river from here a couple weeks ago I have not heard the condition of the bear so not sure if it was a hunger thing or the exceptionally warm weather we are having

saw bear tracks in december last year. My cousin saw the same tracks too. Heard a growl night time while he was setting traps. When there is hardly any snow or warm out they come out once in a while, not too often though. Could be that they were not fat enough too, had bad berry season the past couple summer. Hopefully we will receive more snow soon and have a better season for berries this summer.

I caught a wolf this weekend in a 330 wolverine box set. Can't believe he stuck his head in that thing. Feels like a 50-60 lb pup. The other wolves must have been laughin at him. No struggle. It was lights out. The cable was still slack around the tree. I can't upload pictures but I'll see if I can send it to smalltime and have him upload it.

Hankit's pics. Tough lesson, but I bet he educated the rest of the pack, lol!

Sometimes it's better to be lucky than.... Congrats Hankit!

Some people have been catching crabs up here with this disease inside them. Anybody know what it is?

Interesting. So it's INSIDE the shell and the crab looks normal on the outside?

As far as I can tell its only on the inside. I got the picture off of facebook from some folks here in Nome.

Looks like "cottage cheese disease". I've only seen it a few times but here is an excerpt from the Biological Field Techniques for Lithodid Crabs (https://seagrant.uaf.edu/bookstore/pubs/AK-SG-05-03.html).

".....is a microsporidian infection and is recognizable by the white, large curd cottage cheese-like appearance in the abdominal cavity of male and female crabs....has been found in red, blue, and golden king crabs......probably fatal (to the crab) because the cardiac muscle of the heart is heavily invaded...."




The shellfish research biologists at Kodiak ADF&G would likely have more info too.

Does anyone have a link to the Almighty Video thread. Seems it may have been pruned.
I can't find it using the search option.
I really hate loosing some of these threads.

Malukchuk - I've seen bear tracks in our mountains in Dec - Jan - Feb & March but it's rare. Those earlier bears came out because of hunger I believe. Snowmobilers had to kill one in January a few years back as it kept coming into camps. Why dragging it's back legs?

FT... here it is.

http://www.trapperman.com/forum/ubbthreads.php/topics/2378240/Almighty_Video#Post2378240

hankit that has to be a first of all time wolf catches i never even heard of that happening not to mention seeing a pic of it , unreal congrats

The weirdest catch of a wolf I have seen was my neighbor at the canyon had a bunch of beaver under ice snare poles stacked beside a large spruce behind his cabin.One morning he pulled up to the camp and seen a wolf dead by the tree where the snare poles were.The wolf had blundered into one and had wound itself up and died.Perfect neck catch with 1\16 1x19 wire.

That was a surprise. Wow. Was it trapping season? ;0)

Remember that picture of Ugashik Bob's ? He caught that wolf in a 330 in a 55 gallon drum.

I do remember that Ken. Seems I remember one more on here a few years ago. too.

Yes it was trapping season,late Feb early Mar,around there.

Thats always a bonus

man weird stuff in the bush huh , years ago my father found a dead beaver crushed under a fresh fallin tree i never seen it but i seen the black and white pics of the scene was pretty neet

Any body using the koro wolf trap? Do any modifications?
I'm thinking I'll just weld the bolt/nut to prevent loosening but other than that it's a monster of a trap!
I just demonstrating setting it to my coworkers in moose hide mocassins

I've been using and holding wolves with chain that has a breaking strength of 630 pounds. What's the breaking strength of the chain you hard core wolf trappers use?

Still need to get some 9's from akhowler but my wallet says it's not time yet!

Ryan,
I bought a half dozen of the Koros. Only been using them for two seasons.
Think I've caught 5-6 wolves and a couple wolverine in them so far.
Nice trap. No issues and I wanted to use them stock to see how
they perform before doing any mods. I would not bother welding the lock nut on.
Right now my favorite big wolf trap.
For what it's worth to ya.

We skinned some cats the other day that we bagged and raided for fleas . This morning I notice 2 little bits on ankle . When we skinned I did see one live flea but he hit floor and did not seam to do much . I am pretty sure it is what bit my ankle . My question is can this little bast*** come live in house with me . Have skinned lots of cats and never been bit.

I have never had a problem before . I can read all kinds of stuff on net just thought I would ask people that probly know the answer .

Shop 20 yard from house but could of hitch a ride on me . Daughter has a cat but does not go in shop .

I have had them bite occasionally, but they won't live on people for some reason. I've kept lynx hides hanging inside the cabin a lot of times and have never had them set up housekeeping inside. It's kinda rare but they will sample your blood every now and then.

The problem is I am one of them people . I hate bugs found a spider in bed one night slept in camper . Now I will spend the next week running around scratching looking in the mirror and bug bombing every thing . This is way I live up here would rather deal with a bear then creepy crawling things . Looking at my daughters cat kinda looks like it needs a shave .

LOL, mind over matter Team V. If you don't mind then it does't matter. Your daughter is going to be ticked at you if you shave her cat.

If you do shave the cat, please send photos

The heck with Photos I want the video

Team V...
I'm one of those people that fleas seem to love. I have to bag lynx with lots of flea killed and let them
set for several days. Just leaving them outside to freeze for a week or so will not kill the fleas!!
I get bites all over and itches like crazy.
Funny but they don't bother my wife at all and our two daughters were split. One they didn't bother and the other
was like me.
We have dog and cat. They never seemed too bothered by the fleas and they don't seem to be a continuing host.

Yeah found 4 bites now 3 on ankle one on side . I now what happened we caught 2 Lynx and fox and some wolves we threw them all in sled together next day day loaded them up came home bag cats and raided . I did not think about other animals I will bet as cats cooled down them wolves stayed warmer longer that is how I got fleas in shop . Just emptied can of raid in shop . We normally bag cats on line just spaced it .

If that doesn't work, use a bug bomb in there that will take care of them. My girlfriend is a dog groomer, she has to do her grooming room often. Good luck.

They have never bothered me, but the wife and kids get bit occasionally. As they are host specific and die in a couple of days, I have claimed complete ignorance in the matter.

Be careful on the ice boys and girls walking by bobcat down I went right on corner of bucket 2 broke ribs . Yea

We always hang the fur in a woodshed for a few days before thawing and skinning.Never have bug problems that way.
If you skin fresh fur you will get ankle bit,happens in the fall sometimes with marten if they arnt hung for a while.

That's going to hurt for a while,

Crossing the flats today headed into Anchorage saw two swans sitting out there. I think spring is here!

My flowers and plants in general are popping, here. Looking like the lilac is going to it's personal best, yet. Planting spuds in a week.

oh, and ravens are already building nests. Go figure.

My rhubarb is up and growing

Several years ago my wife bought a bunch of earmuff frames someplace she recently used them all up and neither of us can remember where we purchased them at. A look online reveled nothing in state does anybody know if there is a place here in AK that still sells them?

Anybody running one of these with the 600 H.O.?

I am. 600 Etec. 2015 model. Great rig.

If you are going E-Tech go Tundra Extreme like Charlie Wright.

For one of you trophy hunters!





Thanks, for the trophy!

Nearly wide as the Bravo is long!

That looks like a good one!

I didn't know stihl made an eight inch bar.

Dirt was that wolf

I think it was a moose.

I suspect wounded in September by unlucky hunter. Frozen in swamp under snow. Not scattered like wolves would have done if we had any wolves. Just, mostly scavenged.

That was funny meant to sa wolf kill Lol

Dandy swamp donkey!

That rack will buy you a few cases of PBR

Alrighty. This is kind of wild.
Yukon campers snowmobile across melting lake surface
See video at
http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/yukon-snowmobile-on-water-lake-laberge-1.3514740

Just thought I would let the interior people no that Compeaus /skidoo dealer hired a new service manager Rodney who worked in sales for years to run the shop . I know some of us had moved to other brands because of old service manager but Rodney is good guy and should do a good job. Saw this on Compeaus face book page .

Any Alaskan bee keepers on here,waiting for my first package, hope they get here alive.

Jeff,
Yup... picking up my two packages in Tok tomorrow. Great weather for starting out
this year! Who did you order bees from?

Nothing ventured nothing gained. How do you intend to feed them initially? There are various ways to get them sugar water. I usually go with the easiest. I like this method.
I take a wood frame the same outside dimension as the hive in order to create a gap between the inside cover and the lid. Thick enough to accommodate a bag of sugar water in a ziplock bag. I then slit the bag and let them draw it down. Has worked for me. I just put new bags in as needed. Don't fill too full or it will leak out initially. Easiest way I have found for a a few hives. There are numerous options. But feeding plenty and regularly is very important to get the queen stimulated to lay. An early laying queen is paramount to having a good population of bees when the nectar flow starts. Personally I have never had much success feeding pollen supplements as our dandy lions and pus-sy willow are usually early enough in Homer they get all the pollen they need early. But it might be something to look at providing. Sugar is expensive. I suggest you get the 25 lb bags to keep the cost down.

This is a bag I actually had put outside the hive.

Chickenminer I got mine on Craigslist (Keith)I could not get anyone to ship Tolklat would ship but no direct flights from FBX and Wildflower would ship but sold out in Feb, so had to send a friend into Anchorage to send them to me, kind of expensive already. lol

What kind of queen did you get?

And thanks for the tips, I built this feeder I copied off the SC bee association, if it don't work I will use your bag method looks dummy proof lol.

How long do you have to feed into summer? we have wildflowers and willow everywhere so this could be good if I don't kill them.
Did you over winter any?

This is gonna be my first year doing it. Trying 2 hives. Bees are supposed to be here the 30th.

Good one !

Jeff...
I hived my two packages today. Got my bees from Keith Malone this year. 1 pkg was Russian stock and 1 pkg of New World Carniolans.
I prefer the Carni's over Italian bees. Decided to try the Russian's too this year.
Your feeder looks like it ought to work. I always just used the baggie method like FT showed.
Since you are starting out fresh you want to feed those bees as much as they want. It takes a lot for them to draw out comb on
new foundation.
What kind of bees did you order? Did you get any pollen patties? If your willows are busting out with good catkins you may be fine
on the pollen front.

I never overwintered bees. A real challenge this far north. Others have tried with varying degrees of success.

Good luck. Bees are way cool critters, the honey is a bonus!
My two hives last year produced 12 gallons of extracted honey. That was a good year though.

Chickenminer what is your honey source mostly?
I fear the temps will be a bit too cool out west but we will see. Even in Homer on cool year it is an iffy situation. This warming trend should be good for bee keeping provided we get enough rain to produce some nectar.
Glad to see others like the baggie method. I am usually in the middle of a tech contract when the bees arrive. My kids have had to hive them the last two years. Last year didn't go so good. I decided not to do it this year.
Good call on the new foundation tip. Been a long time since I had to worry about that. Slipped my mind on the extra needed.

Thanks Chickenminer I built a 2x4 frame to make a space for the baggie if needed. I got a Russian queen too, they should be in Anch Saturday.

I am pretty exited to give this a go, we do have mostly willow with alder and cottonwood and the puss-y willows are opening up and other bees are flying so it must be ok,I did order some pollen also seen on youtube a guy was giving them flower for pollen and they were taking it said it was full of protein.

And wow ! 12 glns is a lot of honey! one would do me

You guys do an update when ever you get a chance, (you too Hankit ) and we all might learn something. My plan is to over winter but its not that cold here like your area.I will probabaly end up killing them before winter. lol

FT...
Early the main source is wild raspberry and wild rose. If I extract frames before the fireweed flow
I get a super thick, dark honey. Awesome tasting honey!
Then the main source is fireweed, with the scattered wildflowers.
Here is the difference in honey.. fireweed on the left, wild raspberry/rose on the right

I actually saw bees buzzing around today. Pretty early.

Chicken what season do they produce the Nutella?

when the hazelnuts bloom..

Anyone other than me and Dirt finding any sheds.

The man who has hives down around Hardin gave me some honey from his hives that have a cinnamon taste to it where as the fella down at Lodge Grass the honey he produces stays thick nearly in a sugar state I enjoyed both.
Jeff that is one nice collection of sheds I need to try training my dog to retrieve sheds for me he has a nose that works over time while hunting birds.
Allan

Nice pile of sheds!
Puts my half dozen to shame.

My 4 lb package of bee's flew in today and I got them hived, was pretty cool. They moved right in. and been out flying all over, was a nice day in the 60s.

Got my double jar feeder on will check it tomorrow, feeding diluted honey and sugar water.

Jeff did you get one of those bee suits and a smoker or are you just winging it?

I did get the suit and smoker. The only thing I am winging is the swan wing bee brush,it just made sense.

speaking of swans, its almost time for fresh bird brain and feet soup isn't it?

Oh yea...no snow again this year, so might be boat hunting white geese here soon.

Plenty of geese and swans going over the house, might step out on the porch and knock down supper one of these days.

rub it in why don't you! lol

yep and it's the right color too

jeff, your inbox is full

Didn't mean to rub it in just pointing out the convenience of dinner, you know like when you guys order pizza.

Cleared my box out some.

lol that's true, Jeff, in fact I had nice combo pizza the other night at Sacketts. We did manage to get a few geese last fall, but not off the porch.


Well crud, I tried to download a pic but it says there's a problem, too big or whatever.

cant wait to go out after the snow geese this weekend, my buddy caught 64 last night!

getting the boats prepped already?

Not yet. Still raking leaves, fixing stuff, painting, plumbing, trash runs. Spring cleaning stuff.

Now thats rubbing it in.

Early break up here on the lower Yukon,I think this is the earliest I have ever seen here. low water too, unusual for sure.

I saw on the news today that this year was the earliest green up in recorded history. Tuesday was the official green up.

Man is that water ever low is that the highest its going to get? You still have huge mud flats looks like early July.

There is high water coming yet bringing all my winters wood. Should be delivered to my door here soon. But it normally goes over the bank or at least up to the bushes in the foreground.

Here is a normal break up.

Guess its time to accept what used to be unusual is now the norm. Last 5 years the hottest globally in recorded history. Not much to debate about when you're living it. Has anyone experienced a colder last five years on average?

Recorded history is a mere blip in the overall graph of the earths fluctuating climate.Right now we are near the bottom of the 3rd interglacial of the current ice age(the quarternary).It will get warmer for the next few hundred years then we will be over the hump and on our way to the 4th glacial.
There have been 5 known ice ages and we are in the 3rd interglacial of the 5th ice age.The last glacial period of the quarternary ice age ended 11000 years ago with the start of the Holocene epoch,which is where we are now.

Yeah, but we now have MUCH MORE political hot air!

Shucks might miss hump day. Better buy some short sleeve shirts.)

Well we went out and got 40, pretty excited about goose soup!

Check out the brow tines on this guy.

WOW! Great find!

Nice sheds! What is that machine the antlers are leaning against?

The machine is a Pac-Trac sc-2300 Its kind of a handy little machine for hauling wood and gravel up from the beach, and loading the boat.It has a hydraulic dump and can pull anything if you put some weight in it.

Must be about 30-40 yrs old has a Japanese gas engine.

That would be handy to pack out a moose I bet.

Yes we use it to pack moose up from the boat most years. Its kind of heavy to haul around.

Found a few morels again this year down on the beach in front of the house, just two steps from the water.I am pretty sure its near where the kids were swimming last year and built a fire.

Will let them grow a few days if they don't go under water and see if they get any bigger, look sunburned already.

Hived a swarm today. Mine of course.

The kings are really starting to come in!

Nice King, I hope they let us have a few this year.

My bugs are doing great.

Nice King HFT. Got plans for any more fishing?


Looks like the girls are working hard Jeff. How much honey you get last year? Our are doing super well this year.

Almost looks like your girls are building a queen cell on that frame Jeff.

I lost one of my hives to a black bear earlier ...


I set up an empty box hoping to capture the scattered girls and put up a game camera. Caught the culprit.

Bummer Chickeminer, good thing you got two packages, might want to look into an electric fence. mine are in range of my 7mm mag from the porch, next to my dogs.

And that queen cell already hatched and they swarmed the first month, I have two hives now

First year Bee keep Full freezer. I hope I can get some fireweed honey this year but might not take any and see if I can overwinter them.

Looks like that bear yielded plenty of meat Chickenminer!

Any body been having luck with the Bears . Here is a few on trail camera and one we took over week end . Have to take pics of phone can't get them to email over . This is what 2300 lb of donuts get you . The hanging barell is between 4.8 and 5 feet off ground

Nice bears! Still waiting.................but I did go to the Chitna and pulled a limit of reds.

Nice bear V, odd year for me for spring bears, they showed up earlier then I have ever seen them at the bait (late April). We took one boar Mid May and the site went cold now when it should be the busiest.

Having problem uploading photos off my phone.

Got a couple bears at the bait this year. Just feeding and getting pictures.

Going to start building a cabin here next week so my baiting season will be short.

I've always wondered if a back bear might get in one of the hives if given the chance.

HFT how was fishing down at Chitna?

FullFreezer, it was kinda slow but steady, not "HOT" yet.

Hey everyone! I took a good while yesterday to scan through what I've been missing on here the past several months. Didn't realize I hadn't been on since late February! Crazy! Been a busy spring for sure.

I've got a question for y'all that live more remotely or have shipped things out there. Currently I'm in Fairbanks and will be out in a village for the next year, I'll need to put things in storage for probably at least a year or two until I get settled somewhere. After that I shall move everything out. I have some lumber: 2x4's, different sizes of plywood, and some odds and ends. What I'm wondering is if it is worth holding onto this lumber and storing it, then shipping out to where I end up, or should I sell it? I was holding on to it now since you never know when you'll need some. Was interested on thoughts about ease of shipping it myself VS buying some new stuff and having them ship it out. I'm having a garage sale soon and debating on trying to sell it.

Also along similar lines... I've got a canoe I'll be storing and was wondering how people typically shipped items such as those out.

Thanks

Depends where you are moving to and for what.

our fishing here has been slow but steady as well, slowly filling the freezer and the smoke house. Got to wrestle some reindeer the other day and they paid me with a bull so that was fun and helped refill the freezer. Cant wait for ducks and silvers! hope every ones summer is going well, keep forgetting to take pics or id share more.

Castor location means a lot when shipping. Can you get things to a hub? Or do you have to transfer to a small plane from a hub. Like Bethel. That where it gets real expensive. Most likely won't be worth shipping wood out.

For this year it would be in storage and after that I don't know for sure yet as for the location. Any place that I want to end up in will not be considered a hub. I guess I'll see what I get offered for it here in town.

Piling up the halibut again this summer Len?

Getting ready to go out and get some of my quota this week. Then do some seining. None of which I am ready for!!

got a subsistence halibut permit for up here but haven't had time to set it yet. Any advice Len?

Thurman, use fresh or salted herring and salmon for bait, octopus is good too, tough, stays on the hooks. Use up your salmon carcasses, freeze or salt them until you can set the skate. If you find yourself running out of stuff to put on the hooks, don't be afraid to use any bloody bird guts or what have you, as long as it will stay on the hook. One year I noticed a huge difference between stanky herring, and herring that was salted before it went sour, might have been a fluke.

Took the family fishing, we had a good time! Until the rain and dime sized hail showed up. A boat with a top may be in my future.





My wife of course outfished me. She got the first fish, the biggest fish, and the most fish. The boys flogged the water a lot, but didn't hook anything this time.



I did demonstrate the proper grip for maximum perception. She failed to duplicate it. This is the same fish, and a smaller sheefish. I got the sheefish, and a hammer handle pike we threw back.



I'm going to try to round up some big silver spoons as well.


I tried to boneless filet the fish, but have never been okay with the amount of meat that goes with the y bones. We're going to pickle the strips with the y bones.

Made a fine meal!


Be safe out there!

Sorry Thurman Been getting ready for fishing.
I have developed some methods for long line fishing over the years that work for me in marginal areas. Fishing with my family I have taken the tactic of fishing calmer water with fewer fish close to home as opposed to the opposite.
That being said I can help you out with a few ideas.
I am guessing your area is marginal for halibut. Heard of them catching down by Scammon bay not sure about your area. What have you heard?

To me number 1 is to fish a bait that will soak for a long time. Octopus is great Herring sucks at long soaks. Salmon heads actually work very well at staying on. But be sure to use only small heads or cut them in half. You will limit yourself to larger halibut with heads.
You can improve the scent factor too. Just thinking of what you might have available.

Are you limited to 50 hooks?
Go snapon gear.
More info I can provide you with more ideas.

I tried flossing reds on the Kenai once. The results I got were less than stellar, were in fact disappointing, probably due more to high water than anything. Thinking about trying it on the Klutina because the dipnet forecast for Chitina is horrible.

Hup, I couldn't find that video you shared about using circle hooks, could you point me to it?

Any other pointers?

I don't recall a video about circle hooks

They were little circle hooks in the video, the contention by the video was that they don't foul hook fish, but work very well at catching the fish firmly and securely in the corner of the mouth. I think it was a Fish and Game video, but I haven't had any luck finding it yet. I'll keep looking.

What really stuck out to me though was the part where you showed up later than others but limited before they did, and didn't have to release any foul hooked fish. Maybe it was someone else...

Ak .... looks like it was a fun trip. Enjoyed the photos.
I see you were all prepared to catch catfish too !

Thanks, we had a good time!

There were 3 more chihuahuas in the little dog kennel...in case I needed bait.

I found a discussion on circle hooks on the Outdoor Directory. For flyfishing I guess they call it the Moffet method. I may try this for flipping the Klutina or Gulkana.

http://forums.outdoorsdirectory.com/showthread.php/116682-Circles-for-sockeye

i only use circle hooks when using bait...
for trout, halibut, ocean fish.....

I wouldn't use a circle hook for flipping, soaking eggs for salmon, or on trolling plugs...

Hmmm. I'm going to tie up both sorts of gear then, see what results I have.

Thanks for the advice, will probably be using herring for bait was able to put a lot away this year. right now im down in Ketchikan getting married and seeing some frineds then heading south for a week, cant wait to get home almost moose and goose time!

My last shed hunting trip I scored an awesome set of ram horns. From the looks of it, they have been out for a few years.


I also went on a camping trip with a couple of younger guys. Both have never caught a sheep, never shot their rifles besides the sight in before the hunt. They were eager to learn and full of questions, their back packs were also pretty small. I took them to a place called Ram-bo, its not on a map and their is no traditional name for it. Rambo came through and we ended up scoring a couple nice rams.


Of course I packed one sheep and the younger guys split the other ram. Reality hits them when we start our long hike down the mountain, sheep meat is pretty heavy!

yippee sheep pics already. Nice you took the boys out but next time buy them huge back packs and you take the small one. Help the boys build some character.

Looks like fun I should try and do that if the dumb rain and wind ever stops.
Nunamuit: ring seals in fresh water; is there a way to hook them before they sink when you shoot them?

I promise to have more pics next trip. We actually seen another 2 groups of Rams further back in the valley. One group of 8 which look like some nice Rams for sure! I have a couple of extra backup packs that they will get to use for sure. I was making fun of their packs,"Why did you bring your college packs guys? Sheep school requires bigger packs!"

All the seal hunting I did on the coast was in a boat, all you can do is haul arse and harpoon them before they sink. If we hunted from the shore in small stretches of water before the lead ice went out we used big grapple hook like "Da King of Da Swap" with about 100' of parachute cord. Swing that thing like an old school sling and throw past the seal, then pull back until you feel the hook hit the seal and pull hard to sink the hook in. Oh I miss hunting seals!

OK I'll have to get some of them grapple hooks for seal. Mine sunk like a rock. Could see blood and ukaruk but could not hook it with a hook or drag. Water was three meters deep.

If you can see the blood and oil coming up you would need to anchor your boat about twenty-thirty feet away and use a hook with lead weight on it. Make sure the hook is sharp. You can loop lead weights or steel on the bottom of the hook where the prongs bend. We usually hunt in shallow water here and are easy to harpoon with a metal deep water spear. Most of the time we try to harpoon first or shoot the nose and then harpoon.

Can you post a picture of your seal recovery system? Sounds like what Da king of Da Swamp uses but be nice to see one. I will have to make a couple.

I am traveling for work right now, will probably head home at end of the month, will post a few pics of it then. For now, here is a pic of my 6.5 grendel I built this summer.

Check this out, all the way from Canada. Even has a picture of Muskrat and Boco on the back.

Ok YukonJeff you got me. I'll be the one on the left.
You will be dressing like TheWildNorth this winter. Have to start watching you videos just for all the cursing.

I can't find the muskrat. I think I see a beaver, though..........

Hey all, how it is going? Just dropping in and checking in. Been a while. Still working on the cabin and back to school. Been crazy.

Will try and get some pictures up of the cabin. Working on the inside now, but going much slower as I like to take time to do some fishing now that it is enclosed.

-TJ

Good to hear from you !! Our spelling has suffered without you.

For the seal hunters, Not sure what your tides are like where you hunt but the old timers in SE Alaska would go into little inlets that had fresh water coming into them at high tide and shoot seals as close to shore as possible. They would sink like rocks. The hunters would then wait for the tide to go out and they would just pick up the seals from the beach as the water receded.

Our tides are not that great. That won't work up here. Next time I'm going to wait for it to climb up on the beach before I shoot it.

Muskrat
Here on the Yukon, all seals are hunted in fresh water. The trick is....don't kill them. Use a shotgun and harpoon it before you kill it. folks here will yell at you if you shoot when its too close, or you hit it too hard and it sinks. Bad jew jew then.

Also, some make throwing spears and spear it first, then harpoon it, and then shoot it. I have a set of spears and a thrower around here somewhere.

That will be my plan next time then and plus I'm still waiting for pictures of the king of da Swamp treble hook from "That Fool". Make one of those and follow your plan and I should be good to go next ring seal I see.

You think the bad l;uck was why I did not see any caribou yesterday? Saw a monster bull moose though. Its rack took up the entire creek it was soaking in.

Cloud berries are almost ripe were going to check the closer patches this afternoon.

Muskrat shoot it in the head and than speed to it and harpoon it. We got 6 bearded seals this summer over 8 feet long that way. Only way I know of.

Bring plenty of shells = lots of fun. keep them underwater ,they tire, then get easy to harpoon.

Get a boat with a harpoon cannon on the front,like the Norwegians and japs use for shooting whales.

I don't want the Bob Barker tracking me all over the place throwing rotten butter bombs at me!

Yesterday I went berry picking in a small shallow channel about 60 miles north of Aklavik. I used my 16' Lund with 25 hp m
Mercury for the shallow water. Berries were plentiful but small and most not ripe. It was rainy but calm with lots of bugs, we picked about a pale. Going home we hit the Peel Chanel of the MacKenzie River and a North West winds came up. 4' waves. Bounced along home,6 miles from home the waves were especially large I crossed an went a little to close to shore. I hit an object under the water and ripped the fin right off my kicker. Made it home with the berries though.

Those fins are overrated anyway

Every one is telling me to use it like that so I might leave it for a while.

As long as the lower unit oil doesn't leak out, you should be fine.

There is still lots of metal below the oil reservoir so I should be ok. Thanks Newhouse.

muskrat I Did that to an old pro 50 Yamaha never cracked the caseing on the lower unit and so ran it that way for 3 or 4 more years before I killed it on a log pulling up to a beaver house. That made for a long couple of days getting home.

Good story otterman

Fishing guide killed a brownie in defense of self and clients with a 9mm. There's a couple links at the bottom, one has pictures of skinning in progress. On of those hard casts went in the flank, through the vitals and was nosed up against the hide on the other side. Still, 9mm just seems so anemic for that purpose.

https://www.americanhunter.org/articles/...ith-9mm-pistol/

Be safe out there!

Still haven't had a chance to get out the seal hook, will take a picture of it sometime. Got our selves a moose the other week. Will be pulling out our whaling gear and going after beluga sometime.

Is it ok to say "japs"? WOW!!

Why is that not politically correct now?
Probably cant say Bohunk,Squarehead,Canuck,Newfie,or Drunken Irishman either-FCOL.

I am a Square Head, and wear it with pride!

http://www.adn.com/alaska-news/aviation/...d-on-survivors/

Yukon Jeff is in this area? Hows it going down there Jeff?

Kusko :

I guess it all depends on an individuals perspective. Jim Rearden is considered an Alaska historian. He has written over 30 books and in several, he uses the term Japs ( Aleutian campaign ). This includes his latest - Old Alaska two:
Events of the 1900's. Then again, at age 90 - he probably could care less about being politically correct.

Mulukchuk I have heard about the same as been reported on the news, I buy fur from the Minok's in Russian Mission, I am assuming that might be his boy.

The cub was the guiding service that flys moose hunters in here.

Sad for sure.

Jeff....
How did your bees do this summer ?
Not good here. My one remaining hive only produced 2.5 gallons.
July & August were just too wet and cold.

Not much tuttu(caribou) around this fall,but aklaks(bears) are always around. This one will make a nice sleeping mat! I thought the view was nice where I caught him. This has to be one of my favorite hunts, probably because its only once a year type deal. Happy Hunting!

Nunamiut that is one nice looking colored bear.
Allan

We have three bears that color at the garbage dump. Would not want to sleep on them though smell rotten garbage all night.

No honey for me, my one hive swarmed. We had a great summer here, I did catch the swarm, but since there is no wild bees here they could not mate a new queen and by the time I figured that out I was dealing with a laying worker.

I did get a new queen shipped in but it was too late as they were already capping drones and varroaa set in bad so they then absconded.

My swarm hive is still plugging along. I did treat for varroa and now hope to winter them, not sure how that's going to work out for them, but we don't get as cold as you do there.

I got a good education this year and hope to get a couple more packages next spring.

I ended up buying some Fireweed honey for $25 a pint so looks like a good way to retire. let the bees do the work

Don't feed you bees to late in the fall Jeff. A common mistake. They need to ripen the sugar water or the moisture build up in the hive during the winter will cause a real big mold mess. Personally given you lack of cold and snow it will be hit and miss. Consistent cold is far better than freeze thaw for wintering bees in Alaska.

Yea I have been trying to feed them for a few weeks but they are still bringing in nectar and not taking much sugar syrup. I will feed sugar cakes in the winter to help absorb some of the moisture.

I do understand the moisture issues they will have and plan on using a quilt box its a pillow of wood chips to absorb and release the moisture through a vent hole on top.

Hope it buries under the snow for the winter.

Holly cow $25 a pint guess I better tell my wife to raise her price

this guy got a free pass yesterday as the freezers are already full sure was a pretty one double shovels were almost identical on both sides

You have far more restraint than I.

Trust me I was all over it. loaded the gun sat there watched him hit the beach and looked him over real good He was very symmetrical and those two big shovels almost did him in ,the final factor was it is late Sept and his neck was swollen already I would have hated to drop him and then have it be to stinky to eat

Does anyone have experience with the Federal F&G Board?

Hello, haven't had a chance to take a pic of the whale/seal hook yet. I got a few picks of the harpoon style I like to use. They have many for different uses. I like the naliq/unnuaq. It has a toggle piece on it that moves and keeps the tip from bending or breaking. They use to use bone,ivory, antler for building so they needed a way to keep the pieces from breaking.

Interesting, but to be frank, that buoy would have a hard time holding up a rock fish. And the points, while cool looking, look highly in-effective. Sorry.

I should add that I see the "toggle" effect, but they appear way too small. Even for a fish, let alone a seal. Of course a whale is silly.

Having used the ivory/antler and brass type on the right in most of those pictures on salmon when short a landing net I'll tell you if they get to the other side they flip and won't come back through. I suspect it would be the same under a seal skin. Never had the chance to try one on a seal when I had the harpoon in the boat, couple times I REALLY wished I had one in the boat and didn't.

As for that little buoy, maybe it's shallow and only to hold the rope up, or maybe just for demonstrative purposes in the classroom. I'm hoping That Fool will elaborate more on it.

I bet those points work good, same principle as a earth anchor, just depends how much depth they get.

I assume the small buoy is only to help retrieve the harpoon shaft.
Neat to see the different points. Thanks for posting.

I don't think it would take much toggle to hold when the point is driven into the meat of the seal, or whale.

Bottom line it works, as it has in the past.

Cool stuff TF, thanks for posting!

Its worked for centuries AV. The buoy is for following the whale once the highly effective point is firmly anchored between the meat and blubber of a whale. most times the water is pretty shallow so the buoy is to hold the rope up, not the whole whale. Pretty hard to hunt or follow the whales head wave in deep water. The areas used for whaling are chosen because whale gather in the shallows.

I see. So the whale, or seal has already been terminally struck prior to the spear. The spear itself is not intended to inflict injury, but rather to mark the location of the animal, and maybe assist in retrieval.

Exactly AV. Some guys use a wooden disk on the harpoon line to slow the whale down. Most guys will follow the head wave and get close enough so when the whale surfaces the harpoon is jabbed or thrown into the chosen whale. At this point some oil can escape from the wound and an oil slick is visible on top of the water. Now, a buoy can be followed to avoid confusion when a large pod is in the area. The hunters will stay close to the buoy and when the whale surfaces again the kill shot is taken. Most guys use 30-30 or 243 and try to shoot right where the neck bends for a quick kill.

Getting tangled in the harpoon line is dangerous and has happened to people before. A guy I know has designed a new style that eliminates the loose rope but I doubt I could find a picture of it.

Extremely crude drawing to give an idea of the design. The buoy is a piece of Styrofoam with a hole cut for the harpoon shaft and the rope is wrapped around the harpoon shaft and held tight with a slip knot. Once the Styrofoam creates friction from the whale pulling the knot slips and TaaaaDaaaaa!

He designed this after his harpooner got tangled and pulled in. The guy arched his back underwater forcing himself back to the surface then the quick thinking driver sped between the whale and the harpooner and luckily his prop cut the rope. Crazy story but true.

Just as Ryan explained the buoy is for for holding up the rope. We have a shallow bay here, the average depth is 15 feet and having the buoy on the whale or seal will slow down the animal. Most of the time we will try harpooning first, if not, we will shoot and wound the animal and harpoon when it gets tire or slows down. We follow the kalliaq(swirls) in deeper water. Kavluunaqs(wake), are present when the animal is in shallow water. If we are going to hunt in deeper water like Shaktoolik or Elim people, we would have thirty to seventy feet of line on our harpoons. We prefer to get them in shallow water for ease of hunting and retrieving. The small harpoon is 5 and a half feet long, the longer one is a little over six feet. The type of harpoon drawn by Ryan is used around here too, we call them kavluunaqsuun. Just a way of saying to throw at the kavluunaq(wake). Most people like them because they are easy to make. The ones I have posted up are called naliq/unnuaq. They are used mainly for beluga and walrus, or giant bearded seals. Many don't have the naliq because they need to maintain the harpoon. The twine on the toggle will get loose every year or so and will need to be changed or retightened. I got two spotted seals with the bigger harpoon this fall, and have taken many seals with the smaller one, also one beluga. I have a throwing board and seal darts as well. I will bring them in and take pictures sometime. I got a seal with the throwing board last year. Anyways, I took some pictures of the whale and seal hook.


Here are the two hooks. The bigger one we use for whales, my dad bought it from the south or southcentral area. They use them for retrieving their crab pots. We found a use for whales for it. The little older one is home made from a snowmobile shock and steel rods. The bushing tube is where we run a line of lead through to add weight to help hooking the animals better.

Very interesting. I assume that no one attaches the line to a boat.

I would have liked to go for a Nantucket sleigh ride AV

I shot my seal laying on the beach Fool. So I did not need the hook but I will make one for next year. Be good for dragging for sunk Beaver. Maybe I will try and make one.

Indeed!

av-No lines attaching to boats, the whale would just break the line or tug the harpoon tip out. The harpoon is a marker for hunting and retrieving the animal. I don't hunt the bigger whales, like bow head. Our bay is too shallow for them to come in.
m411-I haven't tried using them for beaver yet. Might be possible but, we need to have the line at a low angle in the water when pulling, not up at 90 degrees. May be able to use a tremble hook and attach it to a long stick.

First snow of the year last night. Woke up to about 2" of the wet, heavy.

Yup had pictures of two excited grand kids playing in the snow on my phone before 8 am this morning guess they played out in it all day long

Yeah, snowed most of the day. Wound up with 4-5 inches, at my place.

we got ice now, not thick, a few open spots, no snow though. Here is a trout I got from Mukluktulik. Used a rod and reel and cast into open spots in the ice from the bank.

Woke up to a beautiful morning of snow and had this girl and calf right off the back porch. Hope the white stuff sticks around..........20 more days.

That would be an easy packing job if she didn't have the baby. You could keep the window open and listen to the game while you skin and cut her up!

They were lined up for a double shot too. That calf would have made some tender cooking meat, not to mention several bowls of pemmican. The cow would have made a months worth of dry meat. Good moose hide too stretch it out on a frame right where it fell and let the ravens clean the hide for you. all winter. Ready for the tanner in June make dancing moccasins' in the fall.

Not much hunting going on after the fall migration came down the pass heading south a few weeks ago. It was 2 weeks of caribou hunting and filling up the freezers, caribou meat does not last long in this household. Ive been busy with the Dremel the last week working on this piece here and there in between work and my honeydoo list. The ruff looking part is made of ram horn, and the face is carved from moose antler. Ill post better pics of the final product after I get off of work tomorrow.

I finally made it to AFN yesterday here in Fairbanks.

Got to see AkNative and Otterman from T-man, and a bunch of other friends from all over this great State!

So nice to be able to visit with so many folks.

Pete

Sweet carving Nunamiut!
Thanks for stopping by Pete!

awesome carving

Was good to see you Pete. We had a good time in Fairbanks but sure were glad to get home

My trapping partner this year...we are looking for mink. When she was born, I sewed her up a baby blanket with six mink I had previously trapped. Like everything else, she outgrew it...


-Destruction Bay, after dominating the Alaska Highway in a car seat.



Out scouting last week. ErgoBaby line 2016-2017

Way to go!

Not sure how to make this video play in the post, but here's a link to a video of a couple lynx yowling at each other. Thought it was pretty cool.

https://vimeo.com/157041259?ref=fb-share&1

Hey cant remember who it was but they were looking to buy raw skulls, are they interested in buying fox skulls or just lynx? should hopefully have some lynx skulls soon and want to know if i should keep my fox skulls. Thanks, hope every one is having good luck!

I bought myself an x-mas present. 16"x154"x1.6 Ice Cobra for my 600 ACE. It has factory installed ice picks in the lugs. Lets see if I can get 11,000 miles out of this track like my original one.
Ill also be changing out all bearings in my gearbox, the drive sprocket, new brake pads and hyfax.
With my permanent job its hard trying to work, trap and make time for family!



I have a date with my 600 ACE on Sunday for some surgery!

I hope you get it up and running like a champ!

I installed my new track, new skiis, new drive shaft bearings, newer secondary clutch, new oil filter and changed my oil. I think Im going to break trail this weekend and see how she runs. I probably wont make sets for a few more weeks but Im planning on making a line here in a few weeks after I move to a day shift schedule.

Im hoping to break the 16,000 mile mark by the end of the season. we'll see what happens.

I do a lot of traveling by myself, and I have been lucky to not get hung up in overflow yet. I did however add a few tools to my arsenal this winter. The snatch block is rated to 22,000 lbs! a little over kill, but I figured I can use it for my Argo in the summer time also.

New track looks good.

Those ice screws will save your butt sometime B! Keep them handy under the seat with the pulley system. You will be glad they are there one day.

Happy New Year my friend,

Pete

Good to see you got it up and running!!!

I did this the other day......nothing like rolling along at the furthermost point of your line hearing metal pop and rub on your track! Limped her home, pick up the parts tomorrow and should be a easy fix. I have know idea how a bolt could have gotten sheared, I am far from a speed demon, and it was warm.

At least I'm not the only one with snowmachine problems hope you get it fixed hft.

Happy New Years Pete! I hope I don't ever have to use them! No under seat storage, figured I'd keep them in my survival gear tote.

Ouch! Normal wear and tear, I'm sure it must have been rusted to some extent. Did you have a hard time finding the parts for your older skidoo?

Nope, Power Sports Stuff in Wasilla had everything I needed.

I just had to weld together a new support rod and attachment for an IFS on a buddys older RMK. Pretty fun, should be good for a few hundred more miles this year. Was amazed that the machine sat for essentially 4 years and started up second pull like a champ, just need to finish putting on ski's!

Checked the net today. The hole on one end was like a toilet flushing with all the water flowing in off the top.



Was warm enough to check on my box of bugs and add some honey comb. They are eating the sugar brick as well. I think they are mostly alive yet, we will see in the spring.

I hope your bees make it! I don't know the Yukon well enough yet to go out on it when it's this warm.

Thanks me too, and yes best stay off when its like this cant tell where the open holes are.

Looks like burbot for dinner then huh? How big of burbot do you get out there?

The one today was kind of small, we do get some good sized ones. I get ones as big as can fit their heads in a 5.5 stretched mesh .I got one last week that was as big as the one posted on here from CA.

The guys with the big Lush fish traps get some bigger ones.

Warbles are out already. Family and I went out caribou hunting the other day. We did get two, lack of snow and ice kept us from hunting more. As I skinned the animal in my shop yesterday I noticed the warbles are already starting to grow. It's been in the teens upper 20/30 for the past three weeks. Depressing for January weather.

Copy that! Warm weather around here. A aklak(brown bear) has been making tracks all over our country. January and its still out! Alaay!

Man work has been super busy with the power plant being short handed. I have been working 6 days a week for a while now, and not time for fun stuff or family time. I did however, modify some of my 330's, I took the chains off and attached cable with furrels and the big key rings which will cut my setting time down Im sure.

We have been getting the back end of the storm tha hit eastern Alaska, so the extra snow coverage is nice. The land was still barren for the most part it seemed like it, but, long distance traveling is possible.
I went out for a short ride, up and over a pass where I was trapping a few years back.




Next week Im going to pull in some #9's and get them ready for boiling.
Guys from the ville have been catching amaguq(wolf) and qavvik(wolverine) close to home, so that and all the awesome pics and stories you guys supply the site with is getting to be a little too much for this trapperman. One group of guys trapped a pure white fully grown male amaguq at the landfill. Its a beautiful animal! All white, no hints of other colors anywhere on the body, first of its kind I have seen come out of this village.
Stay safe out their!

isn't it about the time to get some of those nasty sucker faced vampire eels? or was that earlier?

that happens like mid November Hup

Calling for 70 MPH winds here for the next many days. Am locked out of the line. .
Going to send my first paltry catch to FHA tomorrow. Hope for the best on marten.

Blowing now:
http://www.kinyradio.com/weather-pages/weather-inside-waters/

Yea used to be late October like Halloween,but getting later more like mid Novemeber now.

The Burbot feast on the eels and get fat from them, good bait if you hook line them.

I went out and broke trail into some new to me country. There were caribou sign, wolf and wolverine also. Im going to dye some #9's tonight at work and hopefully make a few sets this weekend or next when I bring some supplies for some skiers going from Noatak to Kaktovik.
These valleys look pretty sheepy!



Safe travels!

Those willow creeks look like pretty good wolverine spots Nunamiut! Looks good!

The fish are biting pretty good in this cool weather.

They bite pretty good when the bait is a net

You bet, I dont have time to wait around for a fish to bite on a hook in below zero weather I need dinner now !

LOL !!! I hear ya but that red & green stuff looks un-American !!

Nice plate there YJ, except for the rice. That stuff ain't fit to eat.

I thought those were maggots........... knowing Jeff !

Nice looking fish on that plate. Is it burbot?

Rice Rules!!! And don't let mike fool you. He loves it so much, it crosses his tongue twice, every time he eats it!

Jeff, that's the most civil meal I have seen you eat in a long time.

And it looks like maggots, both times.....

LOL!!! Even Jeff is gonna puke !!

Nothing goes together like peas and carrots and burbot, with a side of maggots

I love fish and rice! Had some white fish and rice! Of course I love Florida ice cream too. Florida ice cream: grits cooked with bacon grease and butter, seasoned with Cajun seasoning, add lots of various cheeses, fry fish and shrimp ( In cornmeal of course! ), chop up the fish and shrimp with cleaver, add to grits. Crumble crispy bacon on top. Add chopped onions and various peppers to taste.

Burbot is one of my favorite eating fresh water fish. So easy to fillet also as there are not pin bones. Oh and rice goes well with it.

Where'd you get the track? I need a replacement for my tundra and I think I'd love that track.

Edit: never mind found one.

Started trapping neighborhood wolves with limited sets at Christmas break. They have cooperated! Unfortunately they are not worth more than the moose they won't be eating as they all support healthy louse populations.

Wow you clobbered them. Nice work. Too bad about the quality of fur. Thanks for getting after them nonetheless. ;0)

Way to go Nook, you're helping the moose for sure. Sometimes you just have to grin and bear it with the lice problem. It's a shame though, it looks like they would have been nice wolves. We had a pack a few years ago that had them. We killed them all and a new pack moved in without the infestation. I feel your pain, but good on you for doing the right thing.

Good Job Nooksack I know you enjoy getting after them but it hurts when it doesn't pay squat

Nice catches! You really hit the wolves hard. The pack out by my cabin is infested with lice or mange too. Out of 8 last year there was only one with healthy fur. The one I got so far this year is looking better. I killed 7 adults last year so maybe the pups will be better looking. Either way I will continue to shoot or trap every one I see. If they are bad enough I can hand them in whole to ENR. The one I caught last week had bloodshot jelly on its throat so maybe the others were biting at him in the trap since they did actually eat a trapped one last year!

Thanks guys!
Your right Otterman I do enjoy it but the money lost starts to add up.
I'll try and catch as many as I can with the limited time I have to trap but unfortunately even some of the coyotes like this one my son I a picked up a week ago have lice.

Do the lousy coyote pelts look like the lousy wolf pelts? Same problems?

Boy what a shame on the conditions of those wolves down there!!

Drasselt, the coyotes don't seem to react quite the same. Not greasy and stink like wolves, but rubbed on the shoulders and back. I don't look them over to well since I'm not salvaging skull , possible cape and claws.

Has any body ever seen rabbits move in to a area . 2 weeks ago there was rabbit sign on the line but last run it was like thousands got dropped in spots .I thought it was caribou digging up tundra then I realized it was rabbits . There was areas I went through and it was like locus moved through. I have never seen anything like this before I will take pics next run .

Rabbits move when they deplete their browse, just like cats move when they deplete their rabbits. When the rabbits (hares) start eating spruce needles and spruce bark you know the end of the cycle is near and you will also find dead hares here and there.

Wow! You slammed them wolves nooksack!

OK maybe I have caught some like that with kind of a thin line of weak fur or matted/knotted line down the middle of the back between the shoulders in the hackles but nowhere as nasty as the wolves get it.

Question does a moose bleed some out of it's head when it drops an antler? I found a drop horn and followed the tracks around a little seeing if the other was there somewhere and there was some blood where the moose had bedded. Seems likely to me.

I saw that back in 1979. Overnight ! Where there were none....the next morning they were all over the place. I believe they had to come from higher terrain as I had seen no tracks prior to that at my elevation

Some but not a large amount by any means and not always it depends on how dead things were at the base when it drop at least that's how I understand it

Did the rabbit population crash after this white?

Sometimes they will knock the antlers off a little prematurely and some blood will drip for a bit, and there will be fresh blood on the base of the horn. If they are fully ready to drop, when they come off the base will be a white color and no blood showing. I think the base's may start itching when they get close to shedding time, as I have seen them a lot of times rubbing trees or alders right in close to the base of the horn. When they are shedding velvet they thrash the whole antler in the brush, but this time of year they mostly rub the beam and base close to the head. Saw one doing it today. Watched him for a few minutes. You can see the rubbed alder in the picture.

Yeah I can see that rubbed alder spek. February seems a little on the late side to be dropping but then again we've had so few moose around for years now maybe I'm just forgetting the timing. At any rate, nice to see the herd starting to grow again.

Yeah, it's not unusual here for some of them to still have their antlers, especially the little guy's like the one in the picture. The big boy's are pretty well shaded out though.

I saw a little paddle bull 2 days ago that had both sides still

Saw a 40" or so bull standing by the Glenn Hiway a couple days ago still had both antlers.

Got this pike in the net today it was 33"

That's a fatty! You skipping the boil and fine china now? Did you eat the roe? I like'em dipped in seal oil with soy sauce...used to anyway, been a while, pallet may have changed.

I never opened him up yet, I also caught a Burbot and a Whitefish and had the Burbot for dinner,will open him up tomorrow and see if that's roe or another pike or whitefish inside. I like the eggs raw with salt of fried.

Folks here dry pike this time of year by the sack full smaller ones dry faster,they are cut in one piece,and dried on racks hung off peoples porches.

Once freeze dried dry they are dipped in seal oil. Its dry about the time the geese show up,so good spring hunting grub we eat in the blind a lot waiting for geese.

I do still break out the fine china for special dishes like these smoked, maple syrup silver strips for my bedtime snack.

Man, I miss dried pike! Guess it's time to pull what gear I have left, fire up the auger and go fishing.

best go fishing before they lose their teeth and regrow new ones. they usually don't like to bite much when they do.

Never did go fishing, Viking lost a little bogey and it was back ordered, hope to get it in and take the kid for a trail ride before I park the machines.

Any idea how the trail from Wickersham Dome is right now? I checked the White Mountain website, sounded good.

Any pointers on spring muskrat near Fairbanks? Kid is the right age for an evening paddle and 'skrat shoot. I have never seen one here, don't know where to start looking. PM if you'd rather.

Be safe out there!

My weak nuc didn't make it, But got two more packages of bee's flown in and hived on the 8th. I hope to get honey this year.
Oh and the bee keeper that sold the packages said he had a 70% overwinter rate, I think he is in the valley.

My friends bees didn't make it.

I just bought a quart of clear, sweet honey for $12.00. Is that a good deal?

If its Alaskan honey its a great deal, I paid $50 for a quart. if its the Chinese sugar water, not so much.

Jeff... let's hope this is a good summer for the girls
I got 3 pkgs coming.

Here's what we're looking for, deep supers full with frames filled and capped !

Man I need to learn how to bee keep!

My daughters' bees all died down on the Kenai over the winter even though she insulated the hive and tried to do it right. She also got hardly any honey to mention it started raining about the end of July and never really stopped so the timing was perfect to stop production or so I'm told I know nothing and it was her first attempt. The little honey she got tasted musty and not too good at all. Not sure if she will try again but I bet she does.

Nice Chickenminer ! do you save all your drawn comb ? or crush and strain? I am considering an electric fence this year after seeing your picture last spring, here its Browns though.

Draselt, I talked to a lady in Kenai last year that lost all of her overwintered hives, she is the lady I bought the honey from and was ordering 100 more packages.

I treated for varroa mites in August (and if you don't its an inevitable crash within two years for most hives they say)I saw a lot of them in and around my hive that went queenless and started a laying worker, then had all drones full of mites.

If I can get past swarm season this year without them swarming like last year, I might get some honey, fingers crossed.

Yeah I talked to my daughter yesterday and she has more bees on the way lol hopefully she gets some good honey this year. I'll mention the mite thing to her.

My mouth is watering just thinking about fresh honey! Jeff, if your hives produce, and you want to sell some, PM me. Right now I get one of my wife's brother in laws from FL to send me some from time to time. Just think, before sugar, honey and fruits used to provide the bulk of sweet things in the world.

Jeff,
I let drawn comb be. Easier for the bees if they don't have to draw out new comb every year.
I've never seen mites on any of my bees I get from Steve Victors.

Ya, I bought an electric fence to put around the hives that are not by my cabin.
Bummer to lose a hive with the price of bees now!

FL cracker I used to buy orange blossom honey from a Florida bee keeper on here was great stuff ! although he said the cane was better. will keep you in mind if I get any extra this year.


CM One consolation prize for my dead out was drawn comb, bee keepers gold. so I have a better start this year.

My bees are from Steve this year, and look like great bees.

The mites are not very visible they attack the larva under the capped cell, they build with the bee population, then as the bees decline in they fall they get bad, deformed wing disease, bees crawling on the ground, its a bad deal. I used MAQ strips they are nitric acid I believe kind of nasty stuff, but worked great. My hive got healthy again after I used one. They normally treat after the honey harvest.

Does anyone know how far upstream the hooligan get in the kenai?I heard they get above Soldatna.I am at river mile 26 and was wondering if I might be able to get a few this spring.

Hello is the anybody out there?

I have seen them up at Bings Landing which is about 40 Mile of the Kenai river. However since you are a non resident it would be illegal for you to participate in the Hooligan personal use fishery.

Thanks!! I know just looking to get a few with hook and line.

Going to have yellow feet soup.

Yukonjeff, you can split to avoid swarming, here in Wi its about the end of June. If you have good nectar flow and good laying queen you can get honey for yourself and enough to leave on hive for winter or you can feed like the dickens before October and bees will take in but advise to feed a winter type pollen paddy so bees will be healthier than just the straight sugar water/ Feed one to one sugar water so bees dont have to evaporate so much moisture. Also make sure you have good venting so moisture in hive gets out and bees dont die from wetness in hive and die fm hypothermia. Fun keeping bees alive now days.....good luck

Lucky! I have to wait a little bit longer before I can have some of that good soup.

Thanks RDFX they swarmed on me last year and didn't make much honey, I will try to avoid it if I can this year. I also have a Russian queen coming in June, so might try to split if things look good,so far they are doing great.

Ryan
They just started really pouring in here the last couple days, my first time out, no snows,or many cranes and ducks here yet, lots of swans and geese.

YJ- Hopefully we start seeing a few next week once it starts warming up. I based my time off for this years hunt on last years timing of the geese run and if the geese don't start showing up before next Friday then me and the kids will be kind of bored waiting around for geese.

awesome, i am missing out on bird hunting at home, in brevig mission right now for art and culture expo for the school district.

Tender enough, falls off the bones.

awesome!!! makes my mouth water. three more days of dreaming of hunting birds then I will be able to head out and hunt.

What do you guys think of this as a camp/berry picking gun? I want one, but I can't tell if I want it because it's "cool" or if I'd have a use for it.

Be a handy truck gun in the city.

If it was nickel plated or stainless, it would make a good camp/canoe trip gun. Having to deal with a gun that will rust is no fun when you are travelling in the bush for extended periods of time.

i went out this weekend, just tickle a few, wind slowed down my pellets and rolled off the birds. hopefully this weekend I will have better weather to head out.

Having a good spring up here in Kotzebue.
Figured I'd share since I enjoy reading the journals on this site.

2017 April 29 Saturday
Kids and I took off out of Kotzebue around 1:30pm. Kids were a little apprehensive about the water and slush on top of the ice, but got used to it pretty quick. We were looking to meet up with our friends, Dom & Bobo... but they hunted farther upriver. Saw quite a few birds around… geese, swans, ducks. This spring seems to be a little behind last year, but still a week or two earlier than normal for melting & birds showing up. The weather was mostly calm & clear, sloppy trail once we got into the river. We hunted at the kinnaq island mud spot for about 3 ½ hours. The kids did pretty well in the blind. They sat on their green plastic chairs and played with the slime from the JNES Spring Carnival. We caught a speck & two Canada geese. The kids retrieved all the birds and “helped” pluck one. Heard a few shots from upriver, but we seemed to have the most action… at least in the vicinity.


Taylor & Caleb's Goose Hunt w/Dad

2017 May 5 - 7 FRI - SUN
Friday
My wife went to Fairbanks for her good friend's UAF graduation & the kids are in Noorvik with "Noorvik Aana" & Taata. Bobo and I decided to check out the Jones’ Trail to see if it was travelable for a trip to the WTK Flats tomorrow. Left town around 6:30pm. The weather has been up & down… couldn’t see Jones’ Hill when we left Kotz. I was so excited & rushing to get out that I forgot my goose calls. Luckily, Bobo brought his & saved the day. Couldn’t reach the tundra portion of the trail… too much water. We saw a few geese around and decided to hunt toward the end of Paul’s Slough where I hunted last year.
Dropped a speck and had to water-skip to pick it up. My machine has the DS-2 skis without ski-skins & it wants to dart when breaking through the thin ice on top of the water… very tippy. I need to swap the skis or try the ski skins. Makes me wonder if the T-Motion suspension has anything to do with the tippy action. I can probably mess with the preload on the suspension to lighten up the ski pressure too.
Two specks landed in the decoys while I was outside the blind hauling willows & Bobo was standing up in the blind looking through binocs! I scooted around the blind to my shotgun (knee still isn’t 100% from the patellar tendon tear in November) and we got both geese. I had to help Bobo out with his… his Remington Sportsman shells weren’t quite up to the task of killing a landed goose at 20 yards.
Started packing up decoys & getting ready to leave… and as it always seems to go, more geese showed up just after we started packing up.
Didn't bring the Go Pro on this hunt.




Saturday
Got up early (6am), packed up the sled & made the quick trip back to the blind. Brought a few more decoys and gear than yesterday. The weather is supposed to warm up by 10 degrees. The backcountry is still a little scary to water skip with… I need to adjust the suspension or swap skis. Seems to do OK if there is no ice on top the water.
Bobo came out for a few hours to hunt before graduation, shot two geese before he got there. The birds were very active, but the 15 mph NE wind was making it hard to get them to come in to the decoys. Several groups came in, but would be just out of range since the wind would push them down the slough. We moved the decoys closer & that helped a little. Bobo dropped a speck before he had to take off for town.
I wing-shot a Canada goose and it landed out in the wide-open flat, just wounded enough so that it couldn’t fly. About 2 minutes later a couple of snowmachines drove up, didn’t see my blind, but they spotted the goose. The guy in front stopped (looked like my buddy Beanie) & got his shotgun out and drove up to the goose and shot it. The guys looked around & it seemed like they spotted my blind where I was standing up & looking with the binocs. I was expecting them to come over & trade the goose for a shotgun shell or something… instead after a few minutes they started up their machines and drove off with the goose. Couldn’t help but laugh at that.
Started seeing big flocks of snow geese show up later in the afternoon. 10 – 15 flocks of 50 – 150 snow geese each. Some flocks were traveling and heading north, but other flocks were circling the tundra & the flats and sticking around. Didn’t get any chances at them, but got 13 specks & 5 canada geese for the day. Packed up the sled & took off for home around 11pm. The action was picking up quite a bit as I was packing… I even shot one speck after I had all the decoys picked up and my gear piled up outside the blind.


Jones Trail Goose Hunting 2017

Sunday
Didn’t set an alarm, but woke up at 6am wide awake… decided to make a quick trip back out to the blind & hunt before the kids come back from Noorvik at 2:30. Rode the wide-track (with the good skis & ski skins) this time… waterskipping over the partially frozen water was much better.
Still windy, but I was able to call geese down & they would circle the blind a couple of times getting lower & lower until they were in range. Got 5 snow geese out of two flocks that were on the edge of shooting range. Only brought a box of shells today… having to pick & choose my shots. Ended up with 9 specks in addition to the snow geese. I had to use the Go Pro footage (previewed in the iPhone app) to find one of the specks that I spent about 30 minutes looking for & couldn’t find.
Lots of fun & lots of action for less than 4 hours of hunting.


Jones Trail Goose Hunting 2017 Part 2

Happy hunting & be safe out there.

That appears to be lot more fun than what I am doing (replacing a roof on the old house....!) I'm jealous!

Pete

Watched your video on youtube. I've always been limited to 3 shots when waterfowling, dove hunting, etc but many times felt like I shoulda saved that 3rd shot. (especially with the price of non-toxic loads). What are your thoughts on 5 shots? Is it beneficial ? Thanks for the very interesting post !

Busy spring, I've been out bird hunting and harvesting caribou. Last weekend I harvested 4 geese on the first day, boy the wind was blowing. I was feeling a little rusty as I did not hunt birds last spring.
Second day I woke up early and hit the blind. I did a thorough clean on the Stoeger 12 gauge. The first few shots were smooth as butter, I left the blind with the shotgun and walked about 50 yards, some birds came so I got down and waited. They flew right over me and Boom! The bottom side of the metal part of the shell blew off completely, while the cylinder part of the cap stayed lodged in the barrel. My ears were ringing bad and I was a little shook up!
This is the first time I have tried Winchester Blind Side ammo, and probably the last. I did some research and found out these "blow ups" are more common then I thought with that ammo. My action was all busted up, I think if I had a pump action gun it should have been a lot worst. So I just hung out the rest of the day and called in geese for the other guys.ul
3rd day I took a ride and harvested 4 bull caribou. It took me 1hr 40 minutes to butcher with a couple of 10 minute breaks. A little slow for Nunamiut standards, but I had nobody to race so I took my time.
Be careful out there and hunt safe!

That is crazy about the shell blow up! Very scary, I've never heard of that happening.

Nice work on the goose and caribou harvest!

Ben,

Protect those eyes and your eyesight. I had a bad cartridge in a .308 explode on me in 2007. Blew off the L side of the rifle and I ended up with wood splinters, shards of brass and bits of burned gun powder imbedded in my cornea. They saved my eye, but it was some very expensive and very painful surgery. Had stitches in my eyeball for months. Not fun.

I was not that good looking to begin with. The accident only made me look worse....!

Pete

Yeah it's no fun when you feel the blast pressure when that happens! It'll shake a guy up pretty good. I'll try to get a pic of the shell stuck in the barrel, first I have to find where I threw it into the tundra where I was hunting. Lol I use over the glasses ansi rated shades when shooting anymore.
The first time it happen in 2013 I had a 22-250 blow up on me. I looked like you in the picture minus the red eye. Shrapnel to the face and a bruised right cheek from flinching so bad I slammed the stock into my cheek, natural reaction. Now that blast was not fun at all!

I want to order a new gill net for fishing season. Anyone know where I can order one?

What size mesh ? how long? pre hung? or ready to hang? not sure about other areas but unhung ones here all run 50 fathoms in length actually they are 55 or 60 but hung to 50 you can start with LFS if you want already hung you may have to look locally then what the local market is will set the the price here a 10 fathom red gear ready to fish is around $125 King gear is more

Thanks otter, pre hung would be nice. Prefer the 5 7/8", 50-100 fathoms.

Where is Len?

malukchuk Donalsons or however you spell it in anchorage has pretty fair priced prehung nets.

Donalson's is technically just Anchorage LFS, but if you want pre-hung gear that is done by the individual shop so they might have something different than one of the other LFS. LFS is kind of the primary choice, with them taking over Homer but there are still a couple Redden left and you can always go straight to Seattle. It's not immediately clear to me what you are looking for, but I can tell you that any personal use nets Donalson will have (and they do have some) will just be 10 fathomers as that's what is legal in South Central, and they won't have a 5 7/8 unless they hung it for people to fish silvers in Kachemak Bay. If you actually want 50-100 fathoms, that is, one or two full shackles you might be able to find them, but brand new will be very expensive, and any "stock" gear they have in Anchorage will be to Bristol bay or Cook Inlet standard specs. (29 or 45 meshes deep) Homer or Cordova LFS would maybe have some 60 mesh deep ones (due to PWS standards), but again I highly doubt they will have 5 7/8 just because that is fairly custom in modern day gillnetting (ie. not standard red gear). In fact I am 99% sure Homer has no pre-hung new gear but they might possibly have unpayed for stuff that they are tired of sitting around in shop. (usually garbage lines though) You can find cheap old silver/king gear left and right from PWS guys though as its fished very little now days.

If you want to have something built to spec the other big cost variable is leadline weight and number of corks. 200lb/100fm leadline is around 2$ a foot if you don't have good account discounts.

I can almost guarantee you wont find the 5 7/8 inch gear any place in Bristol Bay the biggest they use here is 5 3/4 for silvers and even that is a bit on the big side of things Like Joe said 50-100 fathoms prehung is gonna cost you a lot of cash and then there is the whole shipping issue

We use 5.7/8 " here for chums and silvers, most hang their own, Kwikpak in Emonnak might have pre-hung ,wont be cheap,about $1200

Had a interesting afternoon yesterday, was working in the yard and I heard a woof and looked out on the river and saw a brown bear on a ice flow about 50 yards out in the water,soon as it saw us it swam off and right towards us. I went in and grabbed the 7 mm mag and watched it come right towards the yard with the chained dogs going crazy.

I hollered and chambered a round as it hit the mud beach and turned it away from town, I sent a couple rounds under his feet to keep him moving.He went up the creak behind the house near my bee hives.

They said another one got off and ice flow closer to town and ran up through it.

So later before dark I went down on the beach to check, I saw a moose out on the beach that looked afraid to go back into the willow.
I might regret my humility later this summer.

Here you can see the tracks going by the smoke house, the kids play on that swing almost daily,lucky it was a school day there were about 12 there the day before.

Thanks for the information guys. UP here our net needs to be less than 6 inches. I do have a king net already. The other net I have has a few holes in it. I am not to worried about the price. Freight would be easy for me I have an account with NAC and good friends that work for Lynden.

Hanging net would be a good thing to learn. A search of YouTube was pretty good. It's just clove hitches at the proper intervals, and what I saw on YouTube seemed like it would show those things.

How deep? The vast majority of stock gillnet gear any of the shops may have on hand for commercial guys will be 5 or 5 1/8. 5 7/8 is generally big enough to be thought of as king gear if anything in most of south central.

There are a LOT of variables, but I can tell you that a 60 mesh deep, 5" midweight net hung on 200# leadline with a 1/2"corkline, 24" centers, poke and tied on a weedline will be in the neighborhood of 2500$ per shackle anyways. You almost certainly don't need all of that and could have a cheaper net built. That happens to be the specs for the last net I built from scratch. Lines last for decades and can be re-hung on over and over.

are those stretched measurements or open measurements?

Mesh size is measured stretched tight knot to knot. Net length is a bit variable due to fishery/personal preference but as a general rule of thumb you need twice the stretch length in web for the length of your net. I.e. Approximately 100fathom of web for a 50fathom shackle.

I go by stretched length as well, I have ran into people that measure with open meshes.

Well it's not how it's sold that's for sure. Lol. My family has a 24 net setnet operation so I maintain 30+ nets for that, and do a bit of gear work for a few gillnetters in the winter. All PWS/CI stuff but yeah outside the tiny west side CI directed king fishery catching kings is like a dirty word these days and I don't think a new 5 7/8 has been hung for 15 years. Heh. 4 1/2-4 3/4 pinks. 4 5/8-5 1/8 reds. 5 - 5 1/8 chums. 5 1/8 - 5 1/4 silvers. Those are the standard ranges nowadays. Huge range on reds because that's the money fish and people go to some length to target specific stocks/year sizes and it's worth trying to match the right size.

First time I heard that was from a copper river drifter in 1985

That's a pretty good story Jeff, the bears floating in on the ice and all. By the tracks in the mud it looks like that one made the right decision. It was pretty hairy like that for quite a few years around fish camp but then they finally gave us a season and it is not as eventful now, the bold ones went to the tannery.

awesome, we make ours 9 inch for kings, haven't really been able to go after kings the past few years. Our openers are usually after the kings go through or they are hardly running.

Drasselt, We usually see a bear or moose going down the river floating on a piece of ice during break up, we see moose sometimes go under the broken ice while its grinding bank to bank ,never to surface or be seen again.

Never had a bear get off and want to come up into the yard though. I did actually have a musk ox walk through the yard years ago and once a walrus swam by the house going up river. never know what you will see around here.

Scenes like this are pretty common in my Grandmothers hometown of Old Crow YT. They don't always make it off alive. We see moose on the moving Mackenzie from time to time. I have video of some arctic foxes stuck on a pan of ice drifting out to the ocean, they lucked out and a temporary bridge formed from a bunch of ice pans.

Cool picture Ryan. I did get a bit of video of the bear swimming in to the beach and thought I had it all on camera but it shut off just when things were getting exiting, hard to handle a camera and load a gun at the same time.

Goose eggs and greens,so good it will make you want to slap a chicken.

And what might those greens be?

Not real sure what the name of them are, an old lady showed them to me years ago, she didn't say what they were in English. Might be wild spinach, taste like it anyway, good stuff.

Well, the butter looks good!

Love them eggs. Got some eggs myself this year. Fried up a mess of gull eggs the other day.

OUCH ! So it was your left eye huh ?

AV "Well, the butter looks good!" NOW that's funny!

Check out this guys 70 "er

WOW! Wolf/winter kill?

No, it was from last fall he shot, was just showing it to me.

How's your Bees Chickenminer, Gibb

Is that 4 separate colonies of bees?

Three colonies ,one in each stack.

I'd take geese eggs over chicken eggs any day.

Me too. Much better than those sweat shop eggs.

Some Dog Salmon showing up, they are even letting us keep the kings we catch.

Those fish in the tub are dog salmon? I thought the big fat pinks were dog salmon? Your water is clean enough for fishing already? When your next video coming I want to rock out?

Yes Muskrat those are Dog Salmon=Chum. Except the big one is King is a Chinook, Pink is a Humpy, Coho is a Silver. I don't know why they all have two names, confusing. lol

The Yukon is always muddy, it clears up in the winter some but still brown. Nets don't need clear water to catch though.

I do need to work on some video someday.

Got them cut

I'd like to see a video on the fish above process. Cutting, brine, smoke etc.

Those chums are the first fish up?

Rare to see one here before end of July.

Good call Huperest what you want to rock out to on his video Banaram?

Those Yukon chums sure don't look like southeast chums!

Same thoughts here on the Bristol Bay ones

Your wish is my command.



And we only have chums/kings/silvers and pinks here, I catch a lost red every year though, I usually feed it to the dogs.

Our chums bring a buck a lb in the fall they are not your average pale meat cat food kind of chum.

and there ya have it... nice...

so you don't fish the early chum run commercially?

also, why not trim the gill plate and fins off before you dry them, instead of after??

We do fish the early "summer chums" but regulated to dip nets these passed years until the kings pass. We get 60 cents a lb for them, the fall fish are fatter and run all the way into Canada ,hence the high oil content and commercial value, they have more oil in them than a Bristol bay King

The gill plate needs to be left on, or the fish will curl up and not hang right, needs the weight.

The fins are no problem to cut off after they dry,normaly they are not left on, but you don't want to make any cuts in the skin or any unnecessary cuts, because the fly's will get in and lay in any crevice.

thanks for the answers.

do the higher oil content fish dry as well? do they tend to go rancid with the higher oil content??

I can easily tell the difference in the fat content between a copper river red and a kenai red. IMO, the copper fish don't make as good of a smoked fish product because there is so much oil. the bellies are awesome smoked.... id rather eat the copper river ones and smoke the kenai fish.

No they don't dry as well, like king strips will drip forever, so you need to cut thin and smoke them a long time and hope for good drying weather wet weather can ruin them. Can take a few weeks or more.

King bellies here are like eating butter,and mostly used for salt fish.

I don't care for the oily fall chums they dry kind of greasy, the summer chums are what most folks make dryfish out of here.

I like the king strips jarred after two days of drying,smoked for two more and then pressure cooked.


Almost forgot....tonight's dinner maple syrup pepperd king head, hot smoked 24 hrs with apple wood and alder, then boiled in salt water.

"Here's Lookin' at ya " !!


I love really oily belly strips with a cup of sweet tea. Love that grease dripping off my chin.

No comments Hoopy !!

Belly strips and the collars are my absolute favorite part of kings and sockeye.

Another nice video Jeff!

The heart is the best part of a salmon.

It's like a tender chunk of prime meat encased in a shell of cat food, err, salmon

If you haven't tried the hearts, you should. Especially the ines out of a bigger king.

Unlike jeff, I leave the eyes for the seagulls

Jeff,

Great video. Was curious how much salt you put in the brine for dipping them before hanging. When I was down in St. Mary's, it seemed they put in enough salt to float a hard boiled egg when doing strips and then it was a quick sit in the brine before hanging. Just curious if you measure it the same way.

-TJ

TJ
I really don't measure it I add salt till it looks like it will dissolve no more. But..... I only dip them in the water swish them around for about three seconds (no soaking at all) and then hang and drip dry. That way they are too salty, but has enough to not need to add salt when you eat it, and helps keep the flys off while drying too.

Fish is done ,and turned out good.

Jeff !!! I am very disappointed to see you cutting on plywood rather than spruce bark !!

The spruce trees are all peeled when they get here.

Pulling those logs out of the river gives new meaning to the term "dry" wood!

Jeff nice handle on that ulu in the picture with the dry fish.

The guy did a pretty good job cant remember his name. Its ivory and stainless blade, real functional Uluak.

Yeah that's not bad. I like it.

Tis the season.

Man that looks good, be a couple weeks here yet. Make a berry picking video with some Kid rock music

Not Kid Rock but...

I'll watch it again but really think doing a new video with sound track by Senator Kid rock would be the way to go.

nice! picked about half a gallon today and found a spot thatll be ready soon!

Our King run has been awesome this year, they lifted the restrictions and we have a huge escapement,so no more subsistence restrictions, hopefully we get to commercial fish them again soon.

Got this one the other day ,still dime bright this late.
(I like it when one fish makes one case.)

Great news Yukon Jeff. Hopefully enough of those fish make it to Dawson that they can have a fishery this year. Trump on Office one year and stuff already getting better.

Could be, They are now letting us sell the incidental kings caught while chum fishing, most of the kings are past here by now though.
Paying $5 a lb ! good fishing next year for them, I hope.

Beekeeping on.

The Dick Proenneke documentary.

Its soup season.




Also a million and a half fall chums headed up river, its a great year, they are still pouring in now mixed with Cohos,gettinga buck a lb for those.

You get to use nets now Jeff?

-TJ

Yes we only use the dipnets in June when the majority of the King run is passing. The intention was so we could release Kings. By mid July we are using nets again for the rest of the summer, and all fall fishing.

Oh, and we got our first hard frost here yesterday.

Jeff,
The video says salmonberry, but aren't those cloudberries?

Yes you are correct, they are Cloudberries not Salmonberries, but they got named wrong here in western AK and it stuck.

I believe true Salmonberries are high bush and grow in the S/E. I ate them in Cordova on Hawkins Island once (I think).

I rewatched your cloud berry video. You sure you are not going to make one for this year. I see you even had a guest appearance by Bat Man. Up here our cloud berries will not grow in grass. Also ours grow in much drier ground then whatever that stuff you were walking in was.

I am still picking blueberries, there are a lot here this year. a lot of cranberries now too. I am making jam with these late Blueberries, they are nice and ripe.

And the cloudberries grow on low wet tundra here, can be rather buggy and tough walking.

Just going out after work to check if the crank are ripe.

Suppose to be crans. As in cranberries.

whitefish agutuk, that's where most of my berries go.

What in that Jeff

Boiled whitefish, deboned, squeezed the juice out, and then flaked. Crisco shortening whipped by hand ,with sugar added ,then frozen berries, I use both blue and salmon and what ever cranberries,blackberries if I have them.
Very popular here.

Man I could make myself sick on that meal !!! Good grub !!

Thanks, these aint bad either.

Grayling is some good eating.

Lovely eats YJ! My mouth is watering over those last two meal pics.

Thanks guys, I hated to cut off the heads and tails but they wouldn't fit in the pan.

Now you're talking! I LOVE grayling!

A buddy hooked me up with some seal ribs.

What are those ribs comparable to Jeff? I've only had black meat a few times.

Taste alot like Beluga whale meat or fishy goose, but real tender.

Makes real good jerky dried.

I was never told if it was Beluga or Bowhead that I was given, but it was pretty good in my book! Gotta love tender.

if it was white or light grey and the skin it was beluga if it was black it was Bowhead we are talking the skin here not the meat.

Didn't have the skin attached when I was given meat. For muktuk I have always preferred bowhead.

The Lush are biting.

How thick is the river ice there now? Heard it’s not yet fully frozen in Pilot. Everyone there just use nets or do some folks build a big trap for the lush?

Its just freezing up now. Ice is about 4 " or less. still some open holes.

Some here set big pots with funnels about the size of commercial crab pot, a pole tied on each corner to set and check it. they set it along a cut bank and build a fence of poles to funnel them in.
I have picture but dont know where.

A guy brought in a locked up set he found. The bigger one was 68" the smaller was 60"

That’s pretty neat, what a find! Must have been quite the battle. I wonder how many of those bigger boys perish due to what they go through in the rut. I have seen them with gnarly gore wounds and puss oozing from their heads.

I'm sure they take a beating ! I killed one with broken ribs and split ears. Another one with only one eye.

It's always neat to see the locked horns. One of my old trapping partners found a set a few years back the troopers got wind of it and told him they belonged to the state because the skulls were still attached. They let them stay in the village but he had to donate to the school where they are still hanging today

That sounds like some BS. I have a feeling the Troopers were in the wrong on that one. Selling it I could see a problem, but not just possessing them.

-TJ

Yeah that sounds like the troopers were wrong on that one.

I agree but they were pretty pushy on it. It's in a good place though everyone can enjoy it and he doesn't seem to mind he was wishing he could have sold it but knows that would have been a big nono

I have friends here this fall that called FnG about taking antlers off of dead moose, they said go ahead. Of course they will still need to be cut off to sell them in Alaska.

Found antlers on or off an animal are completely legal to keep. There is nothing in the regs about possessing any kind of antler or horn on or off the skull. What the regs say very clearly is you can not SELL antlers or horns while attached to the skull. I wonder, Otter, if the troopers assumed, or had info, your friend may had purchased the set?
There are federal regs on picking up found antlers on federal land. Specifically, Park Service lands, which includes monuments.
mt

I am a little late to the party here, haven't checked this thread for quite a while. Sure miss salmonberries. Loved the video, Jeff. Only someone who grew up in the time you did, and then lived where you do could put "crimson and clover" and salmon berries together. Awesome!!
Have picked salmon berries in a few places in Jeff's country. Below LA (Nunam) but my favorite memory is the time my ex proved to me Yukon Delta berries were the best. She always said they were better than Nome berries. Left Emo one July day and headed to the North (Yukon R.) channel. Went up a side slough somewhere and maybe over a beaver dam. Nice tundra patch surrounded by willow and the biggest, milkiest berries I had ever tasted! They were so good, and better than Nome berries. Never got back. Her brothers said the beaver dams got bigger and couldn't get in there anymore!
Keep the vids coming, Jeff.
mt

Those Berries get thicker on the coast. Back in the King salmon days when everyone here was rich, they used to charter float planes to the coast to pick salmon berries.
Glad you like the video MT, was from a few years ago.

Putting some salmon berries to good use as I type. They make awesome jam too.

Looks like Alaskan cole slaw!

By the way, I have made it nearly 2 YEARS with-out censor! Don't take away the red, though. I am a published author, now, and all.....................

So AV, what does it take to get the fancy font color on your handle? You and white got it figured out, lol.

If the troopers had said info they were dead wrong he had three people watching him chop them out of the frozen ground. They were on state land. I know within a few hundred yards of where they were found

Looks like you joined the fancy font color guys, last one I saw in green was James

Sorry I asked, guess I'm a greenhorn now!

Seen a rainbow in January. That's a first. Got some rain before after -37C ON FRIDAY.

Raining again. There's already a crust on the snow outside so that's going to change up the trapline. Lynx traps are likely freezing up right now.

Raining in W. Alaska too.

Those two weather observations sounds like my whole season. Freeze and thaw is standard business in my parts.

Snow?? Ryan what is that?

Warm up this way as well, up in the 20's lately.

Jeff is making my mouth water again...

Been another warm winter out here the coldest temp so far has been just -4

We have rain again now.

On the bright side,my bees are alive and well in the two big hives I can hear them buzzing. Wolves came in and checked them out the other day.

With these temps the bees can eat more than normal as well as break cluster. Keep your fingers crossed and be prepared to feed them early.

They had at least a full deep of honey and I fed all through fall, and put a XL sugar block on as well. I will feed soon as I can again for sure.

Had this fox come into my dog yard and was charging up to one of my dogs, It was last thing he ever did.

Looks old, had a lynx come right into a friends dog yard years ago in the middle of the village, pretty exciting till it was shot.

Could be,I have a lot of them that hang around the house. This one I could hear barking a lot walking around the dogs the night before. Could be love sick

Built a new Blackfish trap the other day. This one will catch rats pretty good too.

\

Here is a Burbot trap sitting on the beach. I think I counted 12 funnel openings in this trap. Very few left anymore and these will be a thing of the past soon.

So do they bait the lush/burbot trap, or do they just swim in like other fish traps?

-TJ

No bait. They usually set along the bank, and build a fence of poles set in the ice on the outside like wings to funnel them in.

Time for another vid, Jeff! Setting the blackfish trap. Won't that trap catch mink if you set it in the right place?
mt

When mink was king here on the Y-K delta, they used those Taluyuks for both mink and bigger ones for otter. They work great.
I did a BF video already check it out if you haven't.

I have a video somewhere of Johnny Sheppards crew in Mt Village setting a trap. Pulled up over 400 burbot in it.

Now that is a lot of good eating there Len!

Our ice here is finally looking good and with our cold weather showing up it is helping. Holes in the ice here soon I'd imagine .

I changed out my sugar brick in two of my hives, they are both still very much alive and both put out a pretty good roar. A few of the hard core guard bees flew out at me.

This is what the inside of a hive looks like at -10.





I see they still have some capped honey left.

How do you make the sugar brick? Is the hay or grass just on top of the sugar brick for insulation?
Glad there doing good

I put sugar in a trash bag and spray it with spray bottle with water and cider vinegar, mix until damp and pack into pie tins and remove and dry for a few days.

That is a empty super on top of a inner cover packed with dry grass for insulation and moisture absorbent. they call it a quilt box, usually dry wood shaving are used ,I am trying dead grass.

I'm not trapping this year, just couldn't make it work with all the schedules in the house. But we've been trying to stay busy, I take the kids out as much as I can, try to give them things to have fun outside with instead of being inside on a darn device.



Be safe out there!

Good priorities Temple!! No Great Priorities!!!

Temple,

He is getting pretty darned good! Keep it up.

Pete

Thanks Len and Pete!

This little guy is hanging around the yard.