I had a wonderful time, JR. Thank you for your kind invitation. Sure enjoyed meeting so many good people , and enjoying all the events you helped me to attend. It was fun to be a bit of a tourist, as well as helping to take up the slack.

I would not change a thing , except the time went way too fast. Thank you for watching out for me, that I was kept safe enough , without injury, whilst still enjoying the pace of life lived to the full. A bit of speed driving is good for the heart

Flying back, I was put in the worst seat on the plane. I couldn’t see anything out the window. After all boarded, I saw a seat that would be perfect . I changed seats and happily observed the Alaskan Ranges in clear, full sun all the way down. The dimensions and valleys, the vast ice fields went by all too fast. I couldn’t believe so few passengers didn’t give a hill of beans about enjoying the mountains out their windows. I felt I was the only one on the plane watching below, with exception of the pilots.

Thank you again, Iron Man.

Exactly. You "word wizard....!"

We are having an Easter barbeque on Saturday for the whole family. If you want to fly up to Fbx, I can save you a deviled egg or something...!

Pete

I think my arms might get tired over the Range.

I'm sure you'll have enough devils to go with the eggs!

Thanks for the offer though !!

Good morning and Happy Summer Trappers. Been a busy spring and start of summer. Haven't started working iron yet but been busy for sure. Started out putting a new roof and ceiling in the shop. That was way bigger of a task than expected but all went well.

That spray foam for insulation might seem like a great idea but it sure can hide some failings. Had to replace all but 2 of the top cords of the trusses and every purlins. The roof leaked for many years but the foam held in the moisture rotting the wood. Got all that replaced and repaired, added ten 50' LVL's for extra support and put 22 inches of blow in fiberglass insulation.
Should be warm in there this winter and prepare yourself for a cold winter because this Global warming is going away now.

Still building traps when I get time.

Clear cut a lot on the Airstrip for a friend of mine in exchange for the wood. It was a little overwhelming with the amount of birch that got stacked up in my yard.

That was going to be a lot of work cutting and splitting so I rented a processor.
I liked it so much that I bought it. Wow can a person with some drive put up some firewood with this thing. A forklift or skid steer to feed it helps. The stacking takes some time.
Still have one day of processing left and will be stacking for a while.

Flew out to a buddies cabin for a few days to put new footings under the deck. The runoff from the roof undermined the footings and began to list. We have fixed that and putting gutters on also to help avoid this.


We put in 109 bags of concrete hauled in with the Super Cub. Little workhorse for sure. Here she is at 4am with the sunrise.
We even did a little fishing

Had put a bait out this spring but didn't hunt it. We had a few bears hit starting on May 18th and had the drum empty by the 23rd. Will definitely spend some time out there next spring. 6 different griz hit the bait.


Got a boat in the jig to straighten today and hopefully start working iron next week. Have a safe and productive summer.

A good productive summer. The new roof on the shop looks fantastic. And now, I want a processor too ...

The shot of the Cub at sunrise is perfect. I would frame that.

Good work in everything, Iron Man.

Great pics Howler The Bears are beauties,The pic of the plane at sunrize would win a prize I bet.
You a busy guy.

Beautiful pix !! Especially that Cub at sunrise ))

Would it be safe to guess those 109 bags were hauled in on skis.....not floats ?

JR , you've been one busy fella the shop roof looks great now .

The firewood stack should last you a lot longer than before with the new insulation .

Next bear season the big question will be which bear to shoot !

Nice bunch of #9's I'm sure there's a big demand for them !

Keep up the good work !

There is no question, shoot all of them!

Lotta logic in that comment! I would agree!

Greetings Trappers. Kinda lost my knack for posting this year. Been busy but I'll catch ya up quickly, The fall was spent working Iron but did manage to get down to Delta to do some Sandhill crane and Spek hunting for the first time in 34 years of living here. That is something I will be doing every year. What a blast.

Ran down to the Flats with Masek and did some duck hunting and fishing. Caught a couple nice Sheefish again that trip.

Checked some fall beaver gear a bit later
Helped a friend break in his trapline before I could get out on mine. Always fun seeing someone else's country. Well..... not always.
Had to do a little work to get out to my cabin this winter shoveling in ramps, cutting trees and making Ice bridges. Went through the ice 3 times on the way to the cabin. Good thing I have a hard head.

The ice froze really high this fall so there was a lot of fallouts and bridge building was a must. Spent a lot of time with the axe and shovel.


1st snare of the year caught a coyote and he chewed out.
Caught a rock with the groomer and ripped the hitch right out of my sled.

Caught a beautiful female lynx in the Catch-All set and her kittens were around but with only one trap, ya only get one animal.
Reset and missed with a froze in trap.
New year's day I spent building #9's and thought I'd try something different.

I donated it to the ATA and auctioned it off at the Fling for $600. Figured I'd better make a couple more.
The other end of the line didn't have much snow



Weather got nasty out there my second trip. 40-45 degrees above and wind blowing 40-50mph for 5 days. Hard on gear for sure.



Crazy how many trees blew down. Went to town to build traps and a buddy called wondering if I was willing to go to work iron in Deadhorse. Generally I would have just laughed at him and said not only no but ..... no. After the wrecks I'd had this trip, the warm weather, wind and I guess the biggest thing was how small my bank account was after redoing my shop this summer, I said yes. This is the first year in my adult life where I closed up my trapline to go to work... I told him I'd need a couple days to close up the line and I'd be ready. While I was pulling snare I came upon this feller. Lucky, the lone dog I've been after for 6 years. 102# male.
Had hung 3 wolf snares in the back of the coyote bait and he walked into 2 of them. He has made a fool of me for many years almost like he sat on the hill and watched me make sets. No longer... Not sure why he never joined a pack or started a pack but just hung around within 5 or 6 miles of the cabin. Worked for a few weeks and then came back home for the the ATA Fur Auction and Fling. Was a little slow receiving fur this year from trappers and the ADF&G didn't give us much antler and hides this year for sure. I sure was happy when Masek showed up with his fur. He had just about as much fur as everyone else combined. That sure made me feel better not only for the amount and quality of his fur but the fact that he worked that hard tells me he was feeling a lot better heath wise.
Ol Chuck came through again this year with an exceptional trap for the Fling. it brought $7500 and Mr Masek owns another one. He almost stuck me with it at $7000. Whew, that was close. Bob Yahnke got the Trapper of the Year Award. That was a long time coming. We did really well at the Fur Auction selling $47,499 worth of fur on Saturday and $37,330 on Sunday. I believe The Fling mad somewhere around $47,000 also.

Well there ya go, all caught up. Guess I'll do one more trip out to the cabin hauling freight and then go back to work for a bit. Finally got my wolverine done for the Fling this year and went over well so I had some interest in a few more. I made another one today for a fellow trapper. Our own Sharon drew up the stencil for me. Summer is coming quick so be safe and have fun.

Good stuff JR. Man I like that last picture

Awesome pictures.

Hello JR , it's always good to see you're updated posts of you're adventures ! That new #9 trap should be a added bonus for anyone who uses it !

The metal art wolverine is really stunning to say the least , very nice job Sharon and JR !

Put me on the list for 1 JR.

Tough season this time. Oh, I would have LOVED those fallout areas , I'm sure.....that would have fortified my attitude of them before I really enjoyed overflow , last year.

High wind scares me. Especially seeing trees bending like that. Enduring and preparing for numerous hurricanes kind of had that lingering affect for me.

Another good Fling and auction. Very nice trap . The wolverine looks great. I thought it would . The two other stencils would likewise look good too , I believe. Both full body, one leaping with waving tail, the other striding off in a good 3/4 angle.

Thanks for the share in pics, JR.

Thanks for the write up. Definitely a different kind of year for you. Hope the slope treats you well.

The weather in general has played havoc the last couple years. Seems like we are in quite a warming trend. Low snow and warm temps make it challenging to keep stuff working.

Good stuff JR
The Ata volunteers and members always impress me
Great work! Thank you