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Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: ROOSTER BOB] #1867831
03/03/10 06:49 AM
03/03/10 06:49 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,079
Columbus, MI -63-
SgtMaj Bob Offline
trapper
SgtMaj Bob  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,079
Columbus, MI -63-
Keep it coming! This is great (and I just knew Ken would be a riot to hang with)!

Thanks Okie for sharing!

S/F,

Bob


If someone has done better than you, you settled for less but, it's not their fault.

Semper Fi,

Bob
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: SgtMaj Bob] #1867850
03/03/10 07:15 AM
03/03/10 07:15 AM
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 160
Central W.Va.
J
jropreacher Offline
trapper
jropreacher  Offline
trapper
J

Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 160
Central W.Va.
OKIE WOW and THANKS

John

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: jropreacher] #1867853
03/03/10 07:22 AM
03/03/10 07:22 AM
Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 916
Pa
S
Striperfred Offline
trapper
Striperfred  Offline
trapper
S

Joined: Feb 2007
Posts: 916
Pa
Okie, thank you so much for taking the time to share, definitely the chance of a lifetime (maybe 3 lifetimes) as I knew it would be, if the auction ever happens again, hopefully I will be in a better situation with more savings, just for future referance, can a home and real estate be sold on the trap shed?lol


life is good......
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: jropreacher] #1867855
03/03/10 07:23 AM
03/03/10 07:23 AM
Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 184
Texas USA !!
TxLady Offline
trapper
TxLady  Offline
trapper

Joined: Feb 2009
Posts: 184
Texas USA !!
This is really great..can't wait for the next episode !!.. smile




TxLady~~

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: TxLady] #1868269
03/03/10 11:44 AM
03/03/10 11:44 AM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,341
LA
E
Eric Cottrell Offline
trapper
Eric Cottrell  Offline
trapper
E

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 1,341
LA
BORING!!!! So did ya catch one or not?

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Eric Cottrell] #1868744
03/03/10 04:03 PM
03/03/10 04:03 PM
Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 956
upstate new york, Chemung coun...
huntinhard Offline
trapper
huntinhard  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2009
Posts: 956
upstate new york, Chemung coun...
great read for sure.

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: ] #1868844
03/03/10 05:13 PM
03/03/10 05:13 PM
Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,460
havelock, NC
Rye Offline
trapper
Rye  Offline
trapper

Joined: Oct 2007
Posts: 4,460
havelock, NC
Great story and photos to boot!


"Don't go around saying the world owes you a living; the world owes you nothing; it was here first. "
--Mark Twain.

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Rye] #1869025
03/03/10 06:44 PM
03/03/10 06:44 PM
Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,219
U. P. , MI
Birddog Offline
trapper
Birddog  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jan 2008
Posts: 1,219
U. P. , MI
Been waiting for this since he won the bid!

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Birddog] #1869245
03/03/10 08:15 PM
03/03/10 08:15 PM
Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,436
Corunna Michigan
fur_minator Offline
trapper
fur_minator  Offline
trapper

Joined: Jun 2009
Posts: 1,436
Corunna Michigan
Sure wish that was me on that trip!!!


Michigan Trappers & Predator Callers Association
Public Relations Director
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: fur_minator] #1869268
03/03/10 08:21 PM
03/03/10 08:21 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Sure am looking forward to day 3.


Nevada bound
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Bruce T] #1869329
03/03/10 08:42 PM
03/03/10 08:42 PM
Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 951
Statesville.,NC
Hunter50 Offline
trapper
Hunter50  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2009
Posts: 951
Statesville.,NC
Only in my dreams

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Hunter50] #1869739
03/03/10 10:53 PM
03/03/10 10:53 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
M
mark Offline
trapper
mark  Offline
trapper
M

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 5,808
Logan County KY
where the heck is day 3?????


A "half truth" is still a whole lie.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: mark] #1869743
03/03/10 10:55 PM
03/03/10 10:55 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Originally Posted By: mark
where the heck is day 3?????

Lol.I'm waiting also.


Nevada bound
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: mark] #1869745
03/03/10 10:55 PM
03/03/10 10:55 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,129
McGrath, AK
W
white17 Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
white17  Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
W

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,129
McGrath, AK
I think Okie is making it up as he goes.


Mean As Nails
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: white17] #1869751
03/03/10 10:56 PM
03/03/10 10:56 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Originally Posted By: white17
I think Okie is making it up as he goes.

Lol


Nevada bound
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Bruce T] #1869820
03/03/10 11:22 PM
03/03/10 11:22 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
O
Okiekajun Offline OP
trapper
Okiekajun  Offline OP
trapper
O

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
Day 3

Friday February 12th 2010
7:00 AM Clear and Cold, 8 below

While eating the morning breakfast we notice that the marten has raided the hanging bait bag. He’s torn a hole in the side of the bag and made off with at least one chicken. I tell Ken he’s pushing his luck. Over breakfast we watch him return to the scene of the crime sniffing around and just generally trying to entertain us and let us know he meant no harm. We’ve named him the “camp raider”. He is pretty amusing, so he gets another reprieve. We move the bag into the storage shed attached to the cabin. No way he gets in there.



After the morning breakfast we load up the sled and hit the northern line to go make good on our promise to really set the area up hard. Ken’s had a revelation through the night that a “hay set” may be just the ticket for the unknown canine. While this may not be the first true Alaskan hay set, to our knowledge it’s the first in this area, and the first to be documented. We load up the equipment and head out. Before lunch time we’ve put in another wolverine snare (in the bowl area that is covered in tracks), a snowmobile trail set, a pee post, and of course Alaska’s first documented hay set (all in the area of the unknown canine tracks.)







Since we are in the tracked-up bowl area we decide we have no choice but to check out the nearby wolverine sets that we had made yesterday. Ken nonchalantly tells me to go check the wolverine bucket on the far side of the pond. Surprise, surprise there he is…My first marten. Caught in a 330 wolverine set. Man am I happy! That is one cool critter.




After the first marten, I’m thinking I cant hope for more than that. After all these traps have been out for less than 24 hours. Just then we drive by another one of yesterday's sets. It’s the set that Ken had recommended I make on the log he had always planned on setting. That belisle 120 had knocked a marten dead right there. The critter hadn’t flinched a muscle. Marten number two was in the bag. Talk about a good day! Not even halfway through our second day on the line and we hadn’t even made our first real check yet, but we already had two marten in the sled.






We return to the cabin and have our warm tea and salmon strip snack. Ken has decided that in order to get to the Southern section of line, it would be best to break out the trail today then return later to set traps. We pack minimal trapping gear, but we will need the chainsaw, ax, and snow shoes. He says we‘ll have to break trail from the river through a timbered area to get to the tundra, where hopefully there well be enough snow to run the sled but not so much as to cause us to need to snow shoe a trail through the tundra. Unlike the other lines, this is not an area that Ken has already broken trail, nor is it an area he had made any bait stations. I’m excited by the idea of going to an area that Ken has not been to yet this year. Something about the idea of unbroken snow gives me the thought of an even more remote location then what I’ve seen so far. I later realized I must have been partially intoxicated on either the salmon strips or the sight of two thawing marten, because I should have know enough to be leery of the term “breaking trail”.

As we travel up the river it is obvious that the river’s attitude changes quickly. We go from a gentle sloping bank bordered by willow flats, to steep and rugged hills that have a vertical drop to the water. As I enjoy the smooth ride over the flat river ice I peer in to the surrounding hills wondering if anyone has ever set foot on their ridges. This truly is a vast and untamed country.



My daydreaming is cut short as Ken pulls to a stop near a head high bank. He asks if I’ve ever worn shoe shoes before, and I tell him no but I wonder how difficult it can be. They look like fairly simple devices, seemingly put on this earth to make “trail breaking” easier. Oh how wrong I was. Snow shoes are actually archaic torture devices, invented centuries ago (quite possibly by white17 himself) and designed to inflict maximum suffering when worn by fat out of shape losers that think they can master them in one afternoon. We each pack enough equipment to complete a couple of marten leaning pole foothold sets and we strike off into the unknown. Ken says we‘ll need the shovel, the ax, and the chainsaw. I proudly volunteer to carry the chainsaw. Man what a mistake, maybe if I’d let him carry the shovel, ax, saw, and me, I might have stood a chance. We initially have to construct a snow ramp from the river to the top of the bank in order to get the machine and sled to the top. Feeling pretty good about my ramp making abilities we proceed to snow shoe into the wilderness. Between making three leaning pole sets and frequent rests for me to shed another layer of clothing we do finally make it to the tundra. Once there we can see that there is very little snow and the clumps of grass and bushes are clearly going to make the sled ride in rough. We decide there isn’t much to be done about it other then to tough it out and deal with it when we return to set traps. On the way back I notice it looks like a redneck garage sale, about every fifty feet we stop to pick up another one of the articles of clothing I’d shed while gimping my way in.

The highlight of the trip was getting to see “gulo ditch”, an area that had been appropriately named considering the numbers of wolverine that Ken recited taking from the drainage. I figure all together we traveled at least 17 miles by snow shoe, Ken tells me the actual number is closer to two. The guy sure is talented, but he obviously cant be relied on to accurately judge distances.





That evening, after eating warmed up leftovers, I had to make a sudden departure from the table to deal with something Ken referred to as a “common snow shoeing side effect.” I refer to it as a pain from my nether regions to my knee that’s intensity can be compared to child birth. I spend the rest of the evening limping over the cabin floor, afraid to sit still and cramp up again. Ken comforts me by telling hilarious stories of his past (I’m sworn to secrecy) and even serenading me with a variety of folk songs, including the heart wrenching ballad of Dan Mcgrew.

Lesson Learned Today:

If snow shoeing were an Olympic sport…
Ken would have at least ten gold medals in the Senior Olympics.
I may or may not recieve a "participation" medal in the Special Olympics.


Alaskan certified...
Taught the traditional Alaskan "bush" life by the legendary white17.
Taught the modern Alaskan "bush" life by Hupurest and Alaskan.
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Okiekajun] #1869881
03/03/10 11:41 PM
03/03/10 11:41 PM
Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,129
McGrath, AK
W
white17 Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
white17  Offline

"General (Mr.Sunshine) Washington"
W

Joined: Mar 2007
Posts: 35,129
McGrath, AK
Here's just a couple pix from days 1,2,3.

Here's one of Okie filling wolverine buckets with Ambrosia d'gulo. He's the one with the hat on.



And Here's my mittens next to a set of smokin' wolverine tracks. I practically had to tie him in the sled when we found these.



We had one area that I had pre-baited and when we got there the wolverine and marten had worked it over pretty well. Here is a pic of Okie setting his first snare over a wolverine trail.



Since we had so little snow we decided to try a hay set out in the tundra targeting fox. I have never tried this before but it sure did create some eye appeal. We picked a bunch of grass along the river and hauled it to a spot where a fox had previously dug a hole. Okie baited the hole with a couple of beaver chunks and some Dobbins Klondike Call. The trap was an MB 550RC straight out of the box. No dye, wax or cleaning.

here's Okie blessing the set.



Mean As Nails
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: Okiekajun] #1869892
03/03/10 11:43 PM
03/03/10 11:43 PM
Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 985
Hillsboro, MO. 36 yr. old
TroyMcDaniel Offline
trapper
TroyMcDaniel  Offline
trapper

Joined: Nov 2007
Posts: 985
Hillsboro, MO. 36 yr. old
Come on day 4 LOL!!!!!!!!!

Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: white17] #1869917
03/03/10 11:47 PM
03/03/10 11:47 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Bruce T Offline
trapper
Bruce T  Offline
trapper

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 41,592
Northern Maine
Great story and pictures.I love to snowshoe.I've snow shoed all day before beaver trapping and bobcat hunting.


Nevada bound
Re: Great Alaskan Adventure Day 2 [Re: TroyMcDaniel] #1869919
03/03/10 11:48 PM
03/03/10 11:48 PM
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
O
Okiekajun Offline OP
trapper
Okiekajun  Offline OP
trapper
O

Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 865
Golden Meadow, Louisiana
Originally Posted By: TroyMcDaniel
Come on day 4 LOL!!!!!!!!!


LOL, The guy making this stuff up only has time to do one a day!
FAIR WARNING

Day 4 should be on scheduele, Day 5 may not make it Friday, but should be posted on Saturday.


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