Vance, we haven't had any accumulation of snow here. Nearly two weeks ago it snowed here then just melted as soon as it came. Yes those northern lights were amazing! They were dancing all over the place, there seemed to be a Halo that formed for quite sometime too towards midnight. I couldn't imagine flying in a plane on a windy day, let alone with gusts of 50mph. I tend to get plane sick if I stay in a small plane longer than two hours

Day two of the volleyball events here at Russian Mission. Teams are; Holy Cross/Grayling, McGrath, Mountain Village and Emmonak. Talk about excitement Day three starts at 9:30am Saturday.



Jeff, there is more ice heading down your way. Ice really started flowing down just a couple of days ago. I have got to build me a new "eel stick" soon. Those eels are tasty when baked, and I do agree they do taste like sardines for some odd reason

GOOD MORNING , ALASKA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


White17: Looking a bit chilly in McGrath this Morning!!! Do you have your snow shovel and Rock Salt ready ?? Got the Snow Blower all tuned up and ready to go ??

Jeff, can you use fish traps for those eels? Seems you could keep several going at a time and fill them up. Especially some larger traps.

-TJ

I have "snagged" a couple of those creepy looking things while trolling for salmon down here. Pretty weird critter.

Thanks Nick..it seams a little early for thick Ice running but it could be I am just not ready yet.. and Go Strivers

TJ- I think a trap would work I have never seen anyone try one but I dont see why it wouldnt..one problem might be the running ice might grind it into the mud,or take it away or another thing is you might not be able to lift it back up on the ice if it gets plugged with eels ...it would be heavy.

You guys get any snow there in the last week? Was up at Kako Retreat Center with a bunch of guys from our church last week cutting fire wood & it was supposed to get nasty after we left Saturday morning. It was blowing pretty good when we left. Northern lights were sure nice Friday night. [/quote]

Vance, we haven't had any accumulation of snow here. Nearly two weeks ago it snowed here then just melted as soon as it came. Yes those northern lights were amazing! They were dancing all over the place, there seemed to be a Halo that formed for quite sometime too towards midnight. I couldn't imagine flying in a plane on a windy day, let alone with gusts of 50mph. I tend to get plane sick if I stay in a small plane longer than two hours

Day two of the volleyball events here at Russian Mission. Teams are; Holy Cross/Grayling, McGrath, Mountain Village and Emmonak. Talk about excitement Day three starts at 9:30am Saturday.

[quote=yukonjeff]

Glad it's not piling up on you guys yet.
Yeah takeoff at Kako was interesting. Nice gusting tail,cross wind. Fueled in Aniak, also strong crosswind. Interesting in the Caravan.
Tournaments like that are a ball (no pun intended) no matter where you are, & the more sparce entertainment is the more fun the tournament!
I'm not ready for winter here in Kenai yet, Still have 3 boats (friends 23' Bayliner, father in laws Koffler sled, my junk drift boat)in the yard to put away, 2 one man pontoon boats to put away, 2 snowmachines & a snow blower to get running, a couple of spare (junk) cars to move, & about 6 more cord of wood to cut. Oh yeah, I need to get stuff ready for my meager trapline & we are supposed to have a permit opening for brown bear starting the 25th. Just remembered I also need to the yearly maintainance on the generator. Oh yeah, & change the balljoints & brakes on the truck argh...
2" of snow in the yard but supposed to be cool & clear for almost 2 weeks.

Vance was Dave and Vera there? Good friends of mine. Great people there. I used to teach in Russian Mission and spend a fair bit of time there. I used to trap the kako valley for marten years ago.

Well, I survived another Kodiak goat hunt!
The view from camp...

Spike camp

The goats like this stuff...

The billy was at the top of the brown slide when I found him, exited stage left. Shot my goat on the right side of the mountain around the corner from the rocky bluff (far right).

Dead goat... (head was too bloody for decent pics)

Loaded in the sled and ready for the long haul out...

Friggin back trackin bear! Couldn't find my stash though...lol!

Another old billy goat. Ready for halloween!

Frozen mirror...


Thanks for looking!

Yup they are both still there & doing pretty well. Hard to slow them down! It was Vera's b-day (80?) while we were there & she was making meals for the whole crew. She had hearing implants last spring that helped her out a bit, but not a lot. Dave's son Jonathan was there with his new bride (got married last spring). Don't know if Bill & Brenda Johnson were there last time you were in the area but they are still there too (been there 2yrs full time now I believe).

Cool that yopu used to trap there. We had to take a 4wheeler down to the landing one day & I noticed quite a few leaning poles set up. At least one was fairly elaborate in the way it was done.. Leaning pole was notched to set on top of a cut off pole that has semi-pointed. Usualy I've just seen guys wire or nail the leaning pole to a tree or brace it over a branch. Beautiful country. Last year we were there late in the month & there was fresh snow each night. Nice wolf track right down the runway one morning.
Would love to spend some time playing up there. A little different than the Kenai area...

Sweet:) way to go pawpincher, good to hear the brownie didn't find your goat stash.

Beautiful pics pawpincher. Thanks for sharing!

Thanks Vance, Scott. He would have had to have gotten real lucky to find it. I had it wrapped in my bivey tent which is impermeable, then buried in the snow below an outcropping which had 25 to 35 mph mph winds whistling over it and into the great blue beyond. But you can bet I was at port arms as I approached... lol!

Looks like fun...how is goat for eating? I bet you get tired of those bears..lol

It was hard work for sure but it was a blast! Goat is very good, some of the best game flavor wise there is... but most of them are tough. Great rare to med rare, in a stew, or as a burger. I brought out one shoulder bone in, to slow BBQ in the oven. Cooked on 180 for about eight to 10 hours covered with BBQ sauce, sliced onions and bacon strips... usually comes out fork tender.

You are making me hungry pawpincher!

Vance that runway at Kako is kind of hairy and down hill.. I spent the better part of a winter there about 15 yrs ago drywalling one of the houses and spray textured the lodge there.

It is a pretty place I was also able to trap and ended up catching a wolf down at the end of the road by the lake..Dave flew over it when I was on my way to check traps that morning and saw them eating something on the river...it turned out to be my wolf and the pack was dining on it

Not much left when I got to it but a bare skull with my snare attached to one vertabre.

At the time Dave was trapping Marten along the road he had some pole sets he could check on a drive by, (might of been the ones you seen) I used to bring his marten back for him when I made my run.

Glad to hear they are still there and doing good..he taught me how to pan for gold and Grant taught me how to fly while I was working there
I have fond memories of the people and place.

When ever you go back tell them Jeff said Hi.

Awesome pics akpaw, one of my favorite places in the world to hunt. Kodiak is a bowhunters paridise. Haven't been down in a couple years. Heard the deer took some punishment with last years winter.

Looks like it was a good time Pawpincher! Thanks for sharing!

Awesome Greg glad you scored, beautiful country.

Jeff, Dave knows I trap a little so he's told me about your wolf. A couple of times! Told me again just last week
We have gone up two years in a row & are hoping to make it an annual thing, so when he mentions it again next year I will remember to pass on your greetings.
That is an interseting runway with the dogleg in it. When we left this time the wind was cross/tailwind from the Northwest. Our pilot was holding full right rudder & still had to tap the right brake a couple of times to stay near the center of the strip. That big vertical stabilizer on the Caravan grabs a lot of air!