Hope this finds everyone doing well Health wise I am doing pretty good, still have issues but am grateful for what I got and have been taking advantage of every moment of being alive Had a pretty busy spring, summer, and fall harvesting critters and fish Spent a lot of time with a few Tman members, Ted aktrpr up in TOK, Tim wolverine hunter down in Homer, and Matt here in Wasilla.

I had never gone hooligan dip netting. Matt gave me a call and said they were in on 20 Mile down by Girdwood so we made run down there. We ended up filling a cooler I tried smoking them, a little salty but good. Got a few gallons for trapping bait but the best use I found was for the halibut! Those jokers loved them! A herring tipped with a hooligan worked very well for me.





Matt also went out and helped me blaze a trail to a new bear bait location and get set up. Not much action this year, a few blackies on camera and a brown sow with cubs, It always amazes me how those dang brownies can wipe out a barrel so quick! I did harvest a nice blackie.



Did a little King fishing with the daughter and a bunch of friends. This year it was about them connecting not so much me. The quite times out on the river the company, the conversations all created some pretty good memories





Went up to TOK a few times and spent time with Ted and we did a few adventures

He has a pretty nice boat and we went down to Valdez twice to do a little shrimping and halibut fishing, I had never been down there and it is a very pretty different place to fixh compared to Homer or Seward. We caught a bunch of fish but only a few shrimp. The coolest thing happen one morning, Sitting there in the bay in the early morning drinking my Mountain Dew, watching the sun come up, I heard a buzzing sound coming at me. It took me a second to realize that what I was hearing and then seeing was a humming bird! Stopped three feet in front of me, turned around and buzzed back to the shore line.







He took me to his fish wheel, that was pretty cool to see. Sitting there watching and waiting for it to scoop up a fish you turn your attention away for 5 seconds and there would be a fish Never did see it scoop one up but when we left we had 25 reds Helped him put in a platform for his bug tent at the site.



He ran me out to Mansfield lake one day and we did a little pike fishing, I caught a bunch of dinks and he ended up getting two nice ones, One thing is for sure that man knows how to fish

I went up there the first week of moose season Different terrain and a different style of moose hunting. We saw a bunch of cows but it was just to dang hot and the bugs were something fierce! He ended up getting on the second season and is hoping to get his grandson on one this week.

I spent a lot of time talking to him in his trap shed Picking his brain on the kitties, his style and methods of trapping up there, He has quit the store with a lot of quality products and lures Our next adventure is suppose to be chasing ducks together after moose season

So after leaving Ted's I came home and had a friend that really wanted to go out and get a moose, They were coming up on Friday so I went out and set camp up on Thursday. So I got camp set about 3, took a nap, got up at 5 and figured I better go poke around and find were the moose were, As I was sitting there putting my waders on I looked down river and sure enough there was a moose! I closed the gap to about 250 yards and was sanding there looking at it trying to see if it was a bull or a cow, When it dropped its head to get a drink of water I could see that it was a young spike For a moment I thought about the trip I had planned with Ted the following week and the opportunity to get a toad or filling the freezer, well I am not one to look a gift horse in the mouth and the freezer is full



I have always loved chasing cranes, rib eye of the sky



Then I got a call from Tim down in Homer. He had drawn a goat tag for a unit down there and asked if I would come down and if the opportunity presented itself help him go after his goat, if not the we would chase bears and ducks. Well the first evening we cruised out to glass the side of the mountain we didn't see anything, but I did pick up a little dink of a blackie The next morning we cruised out there again and saw nothing, I ended up getting two more blackies! I have never seen so many freaking bears in one area in all my life, In he alpine, in the tidal flats, right on the freaking shore line! It was pretty amazing, Then add in all the wildlife we saw, sea otters, walrus, seals, star fish, He took me up into one drainage and I have never seen so many humpies in my life!





The next morning we got up and planned on chasing ducks if there were no goats, sure enough no goats but plenty of ducks
We ended up getting a bunch of mergansers and I got my very first Harlequin!





The following day we stayed in and I helped him on the honey do list. As we finished up for the day he puled out his spotting scope and from his deck we were able to glass the basin that we have been looking at we didn't see anything and you could see that he was getting bummed. I mean after 20 days of looking and three trips up that mountain I would be bummed to that a opportunity didn't present itself.
Well he went in to grab a shower and I started looking again, sure enough I picked out two small white dots! Not knowing if they were those famous goat rocks or not I waited about ten minutes and looked again, sure enough they had moved!
I was planning on leaving the next day but I told Tim that fortune favors the bold and lets go get his goat!
I will never ever go goat hunting again in my life! That mountain totally kicked my butt!
Was very proud of myself for making it to the top, that mental and physical challenge after all I have been through was a pretty dang good feeling We ended up getting on a goat and he connected The climb down took a little longer then what we expected but at the end of the day he accomplished a dream Happy to be part of it.

Have one more hunt planned, taking Tim, the daughter and her boyfriend out to moose camp this week to chase the moose and brownies. Then it is on to beavers!

Be safe out there!

Nice adventures John with friends, family and full freezers. What else can a man ask for. Remember, you are only as strong as you think you are and only you can carry yourself up that mountain. Nice work..... Stay healthy and outdoors...

Love it! Keep us in the loop we like to hear about your adventures! Stay healthy!

Glad it's going good for you.

Way to go! I love your never quit attitude. Way to keep going!

Great adventures HFT-You're a busy man.

Life is good! Looks like you are living the dream.

I enjoy reading these kind of posts.

Wow you have had an amazing summer and start to the fall! Glad you are doing well and taking advantage of all the opportunities.

Good job on the bears! That duck is awesome! Thanks for sharing!

Thanks for the kind words guys!

Got wolverine hunter out there last week along with my daughter and her boyfriend. We seen a few moose 8 bulls total and a bunch of cows. My daughter saw one over 50 but it was on the other side of the lake, way outta range, She named it Melvin and promises to be back out there to get him next year,

Her boyfriend and Tim named this one Hank, he came in hot and bothered twice, once for the boyfriend and once for Tim. Pretty exciting way to get people that never hunted moose fired up We estimated him at 47 inches hopefully next year he will be legal.



Looks like my saga is going to continue of only finding one side of a shed



The third day out there it warmed up pretty good and everything holed up and went quite, a few grunts here and there but hardly any movement. Pretty awesome time though, good company, awesome conversation, and memories.

I had a owl try and land on my head, that was pretty dang cool.

Gotta take care of a few things here at the house before I chase the beaver but I am looking forward to it!

Be safe out there!

Thanks for the pictures and the stories to go with them I'll bet the moose and bear are darn good eating !
I hope you have continued success this fall and winter !
Allan

Very clever of you to train Hank to come in over and over....... until he grows a 50+ inch rack or some more brow tines!

Pete

Well finally got out yesterday and got a little over a dozen beaver sets in. Talked to the landing manager and he said that with them opening up beaver for shooting and the harsh winter and low water levels the beaver sign was pretty scarce. I have not seen that river as low as it is right now in the years that I have trapped it.

As for the sign, I am used to seeing big cottonwoods knawed through, fresh cuttings along the bank and feed beds and lodges. Well none of that sign was there this year, looks like everything is in the bank. Took a little to find the right places but I managed



Always alot of talk about using Duke #4 and how they won't do a back foot catch...........



I tried a few DBL springs, not a fan. Out of three set 2 held live beaver that were suppose to go down the drowning cable. Have no issues with coils but it seems like I might be doing something wrong?



I found a section of river with a few runs and put in 4 sets. As I started the second set this joker showed up and watched me do that set and the following two. This morning all three of those sets had sprung traps, the first one that he didn't see me set held him



Ended up with 7 nice ones and one little dink, not a bad run Checking and pulling gear tomorrow and hope to get at least 4 more.

Nice job! I have the desire to trap beaver in open water as it is a lot easier/less work in my opinion than under ice. There is just too many other fall activities I am already doing. Looks like fun though!

Looks like you got some good sized ones in there too. Wide tails.

I = 5 or 6 good sized beaver. What would you have done if you had caught that many more? Die on the river? See, you had room for me haha

Bet it's fun to be trapping again. I miss the beaver trapping. I always go after them with the #330. Different style.

Fall trapping on that river 330's have to be fully submerged, kinda limits their use, for me anyway, spring trapping no holds barred and I have a dozen and a half I employ

that is awsome keep up the good work. never quit you are a legend...

Is it just from looking at enough moose that you can judge 50 inch versus 47 inch moose, I would need a bit of help to do that. Glad I looked in on these posts to see some trapping going on, hope you make some money on them, they all turn into work once you catch them.

Nice job on the beaver!