Hello there. I thought it was fitting to end my previous journal with my sons first caribou since it started with him looking at guns.
First moose of the year was taken on the coast. seen 17 moose that day and ended up shooting this fat 3 year old.


I started hauling material for a new trapping cabin. Probably go 16x24. Once i dropped the material off I fixed two cutbanks and cut some new trail.
I planned to call moose on the way home.



I ended up calling two bulls out from deep in the swamp and brought home another fat 3 year old. No caribou around for awhile so we're eating moose for now. Work has been extremely busy and Ive barely had any time to get out on the land. I can probably take some time off in mid october but ill probably just save it all for after freeze up.

Little man's rifle is all set. I couldn't get the right fit with low rings for his vortex diamondback so he's got my old trusty leupold for now. Maybe ill end this thread when he gets his first wolf, bear or wolverine.
Safe travels.

Interesting to see how folks in different areas handle their moose.

I like your boy's camo outfit !

Hi white. The way that moose is sitting I can take the arm, hind quarter, backstrap and neck meat in one piece, brisket and ribs and pull the guts. Then I flip it onto a clean tarp and repeat for the other side.
Bobby had that bacon onesie since it was WAYYY too big for him. Soon he’ll outgrow it. Time sure flies

I get it on the moose. We pretty much do the same but usually leave the head on to anchor the thing while we take off the various parts

Such an amazing Life for You and your Family Ryan! It has always been my dream to live a life the style of yours, however it never came to pass for me
and at my age the dream will go unrealized but thanks to your Journals I can live with you on your Journey and it is awesome! Thankyou so much for taking the time to share your life with us! I love to follow you as the season progresses and watch as you teach your children the most valuable lessons in life! Take Care my Friend and may The Great Spirit Bless your Days and touch your Home with his loving Hand!

Thanks a lot Guy. I’m glad you enjoy the journal. Lots more to come.

This thread may be allot shorter than your last one. Your boy looks like he can handle his gun now!

I have shot two moose in my lifetime, one when I was 50 and one at age 52. I have not been back since as the price tag to get a tag is over $2500.00. Moose taste so much better than deer. I am now 74 so I do not think I will ever hunt moose again, but that's OK.

Early birthday gifts for Morgan and Bobby.

Reminds me of Tell Sackett from a Louis L'Amore novel: "I've been packin' a gun since I was able to keep both ends out of the dirt."

I like that Lazarus. Theyve both been shooting since they were about 3. BB guns, 22’s, stepped up to the 410, 223 then the 20 gauge. It’s always been priority for me to have them comfortable and responsible with guns. As much as I’d like Bobby to shoot my 270 I’m holding off so he doesn’t develop a flinch or any other bad shooting habits. He can hold it up though

Looks like you all are off to a great start this fall!

Yup grow 'em up good and grounded wherever you are. No guarantees but a good start don't hurt.

Yup. Lots of time spent and lessons learned on the land will help in them in the long run. It’s what helped me. Simple lessons like getting wood if your cold and ice/snow for water if you’re thirsty might be pretty straight forward but you learn to help yourself and not depend on others. I think when you’re on the land you’re always working towards a goal too so you learn to keep your focus on the end result instead of the actual work. Hard trips will happen but you just do what you have to do to get things done. Toughens up the mind and body and it reflects in a lot of things in life like school and sports to name a couple.


Little evening project. Shelves and a coat rack. Hopefully I don’t have to work tomorrow so I can haul my last load of plywood and Tin to my camp. Water is going to drop soon and it’s just much easier to get it all in now with a boat.

Ryan thanks for sharing this with us I've really enjoyed watching your adventures and Morgan and Bobby growing up the right way I'm sure your proud of them , they are sure getting big !

The cabin is looking good also !

Well put Ryan ! I know one thing I have learned from the land is that little mistakes can add up.Consequently I TRY to do each small part of a task to the best of my ability. The result may not be perfect but it is usually successful.

I always am reminding myself to 'take little bites'.

Ryan, as said by another poster, you are living the life I wanted to live. I am 71 now and that ain't a gonna happen. But I live it through you and your family's stories. Thank you for that.

Don’t forget little Charlotte. I have a feeling she’ll be the one setting the pace once she catches on to hunting and trapping. My determined and fearless youngest.

Thank goodness its got the bolt on the right side for him ! Thanks Dad he will say for that .

Supposed to be out tagging char today but of course the weather isn’t cooperating. Time for plan b. Going to haul the last load of plywood and Tin to the camp today and spend some time doing some prep work for trapping season. Carrying the 270, 12 gauge and 22 magnum today. Hopefully have some good updates when I get back. Pretty much have to take camping gear now with out increasingly shorter daylight. Fingers crossed for a nice delta bear or moose guys.

And gals….

Ryan how are the tag returns with the char ? Or another way of asking is> does the local population send in returns ?

Local fishers send in the tags with a bunch of info and they get $25.

Slow day so far but now me and Bobby are getting ready to head out. Good chance to get stuff done around both camps and stockpile wood. It’s so much easier and safer to haul stuff now with the boat. Then after freeze up i can travel light for the first couple trips on thin ice. Bobby’s been waiting all day to leave. He even got 2 hours of pushups and sit-ups in already. Never have to ask my son twice if he want to go with me. I’ll take lots of pics

It is a great thing for a man to make the time to be with his kids and teach them.

Leaving town all set for whatever we run into.


Boat always puts him to sleep though


We travelled to our closer camp and spent the first night there. Woke up to snow and dropping temps


Bobby’s favorite breakfast before leaving for the further camp


Had to break some ice to get to camp


Walking for bunnies but none to be seen. We had fun though and got stuff done. Bobby’s always learning and he loves getting out with me whether it’s cold or not.


Unlimited 22 ammo just like I had when I was a kid


Colder today on the way home than it was on the way out. Seen 8 moose but no dry cow amongst them.

Where's your propane heater?
That blanket looks warm is it one of then itchy wool ones?

Propane heater? I’m trying to toughen him up.

That old green five star is more than enough. I’d sleep
Outside in the winter with that one. Grey one is supposedly high tech but can’t beat the old goose down blanket.

Looks like a cold boat ride but your son sure looks cozy tucked in there.

That’s been my life’s goal since they were born. Like it or not the lifestyle is fading away slowly. I want my kids to keep the traditions strong. I always tell the kids that they might slow me down now but in the future there’s going to come a day where we’re the same speed and later still they will be the ones waiting on me.

Charlott going to be telling you to toughen up and not give you propane heater on them long boat rides.

Yeah. They’ll probably start leaving me at home soon as they can take care of themselves. I’ll be the best dang fire tender ever. “Just stay home Dad you might get cold” they’ll say.

You're kids are very fortunate to be living the traditional lifestyle their ancestry has provided them. Kudos to you for keeping it alive and showing that people can successfully keep a foot in both worlds.

My boy made the paper

Your raising those kids right!!!!

That's awesome!

Great stuff Ryan. Lots of good mentoring going on. Kinda like the 14 yr. old girl in Saskatchewan (on the Trapper Talk forum) who arrowed the huge mule deer buck. Not into antlers but myself got to respect the mentoring and discipline that went into that also.

That gun looks like a bull barrel. Tikka? Gotta be small calibre like 22-250 there being no need shoot caribou w heavy artillery.

Thanks crosspatch. Bobby’s gun is a savage axis 223. Morgan’s is a savage 110 in 243.

Standing on top the beavers house. There’s 2 330s about 4 feet apart in the run on the right and a snare pole with 2 snares on the left. No ice to work with so we did what we could from the house. Everything is anchored solid.



Nice to see some cat tracks.

Looks like you will be skinning in the morning.

Ok Ryan bolt and foreshock on little man's rifle distinctive.

Cat tracks sweet. Too bad market sucks when everything else going up in cost.

Ten minute walk to the beaver house


Sticks are moved


First catch of the season



Make him work. At least give him a taste of the work involved.

Ryan looks like dragging bvr. backwards. Run a sharp willow stick thru nose cartilage and tie line to either side of that. Bvr. slips along like crazy carpet on its back and dries out good too. U can drag along 2 - 3 at a time like that hooked up nose to tail. Suspect you already know about but just never bothered on that one.

Anyone wants to see how that is done pretty sure it is shown in "Cree Hunters of Mistassini/Big Rock)" made in 1974 by the National Film Board of Canada. Really good film documenting a lot of stuff that is getting bad forgot. Sam Blacksmith and his group are the people in it.

I usually drag them headfirst but with no ice to stand on this was the fastest way to dry it off. I carried it after it dried.


We set this one after the first check and it was snapped yesterday with a stick between the jaws. We moved it to deeper water as the temperature is dropping and we’re making ice every night now.

He falls asleep
In the warehouse all the time.

My little partner. My Grandparents are sure proud of him for going with me all the time. This picture was taken at his supper for his first kill this fall. He got all kinds of useful gear from the family.

Great pics as always Ryan. Your family sure are growing up.

Ryan great pictures as always you got to love a chance for them with grandparents !

I’ve been suffering with migraines since I was ten years old. Yesterday was a bad one and it killed the whole day. Good new is I’m up and healthy this Sunday morning but I have nothing to show for my whole Saturday. I’ve been waiting all fall for wolf tracks to show up and they did on Friday. Yesterday was supposed to be a day of looking for their kill and setting some 750s. Today’s plan is to go investigate. I’ve also got the beaver traps to look at and I plan to move them to a new house that my cousin Doug the moose whisperer scouted for me. Looking forward to a busy productive day. Enjoys yours as well.

That is a priceless picture.

Slow freeze up here. Can’t go boating cause the ice is too thick and can’t go skidooing because the ice is too thin. I hate using the word bored but I am getting there. I knew where there was an active den not far from town so I went out to check it with high hopes of a bear coming out but unfortunately the den caved in this summer and that resulted in zero action.

Fly over hang out with gramps. Hunt at the dump with Brandon.

November 6th and the big river (Mackenzie) is still running ice. More waiting before I can make it to my camp. I guess I’ll go trap inland for a while.

Even though the the value isn't there, I always enjoyed trapping beaver so much. Back where I'm from in MN, they say it's the "land of 10,000 lakes" but that's named lakes, and there are probably more like 30,000 lakes. Then ponds, streams, creeks, rivers, and swamps. With the low prices and trapper numbers decreasing, there is little interest, and the beaver explode. There are literally beaver on every body of water, and the only ones that get trapped are the ones that are obvious, right beside the road. Most of those don't even get trapped. It's just the die hards that do, like me. I like to bring the young men with me when I go. I have one that has really caught fire and is all about doing it on his own now. He's 16. Unfortunately, no beaver anywhere near me down here in Homer - so I have to live vicariously through you guys who are doing it elsewhere. It's fun to see - especially when you involve the young ones. That's a great photo of your son sleeping in the background behind the beaver. Shows he has worked, is content, but still doesn't want to miss anything important (or else he'd go to bed).

Other than that it’s been pretty quiet. Bobby has a bunch of new winter gear for the season. -60 rated boots and a good base layer will be a big help on the line this winter. I made 8 new 330 boxes and 7 280 boxes. That’s 15 more chances at picking up a wolverine

Go to Anderson River or Kugaluk; be top marten producer on T-Man and win top NWT producer of fur. And top NWT producer of deadly trapping videos.

Set a bunch of deadfalls while you are there too.

Well I gave in and set 5 snares and two traps before. Next up is setting a short marten line that usually has a few wolves and wolverine hanging around. Hopefully shoot a moose when I set that line. There’s a beaver house there too so I think I’ll set that up too. Get this season going while I wait for safe ice in the delta

Bobby wanted to set his own snares this evening so we went out and he set two. Did a pretty good job of it too.

Good deal! I hope he connects!

Thanks HFT. They’ve been around all fall so it’s just a matter of time I think. He was up after 8 this morning asking to go and check his snares

One of the coolest threads on here . Love the pictures. Are you guys pretty close to the mack river ?

Getting caught Bobby and keep your dad on his toes !!!!! Ha ha

I'd ask Santa for a headlamp it makes checking snares a lot easier trust me .

Thanks. We’re 13km east of the Mackenzie river. I almost named my son Mackenzie.

Hi Allen. His hat has a built in light but I got him to turn it off for the picture. He will be getting a nice rechargeable light soon though

Good deal Ryan sorry about that last message I wrote it in a hurry ha ha I ment to say get to catching a bunch but spell check on this Kendal changed it for me ha ha

I also must admit this is a favorite thread of mine also keep up the good work !
Allan

Good luck and be safe this season Ryan

Thanks Jr. I still haven’t been out to the camp. This warm fall we had has delayed that trip by a week to ten days so far. Hopefully try on Saturday. Can’t wait to get some serious steel out.

Nice . I hauled fuel out of hay river to YK . They got that bridge over the river now so I guess it’s easier then the river crossing was.
I sat and watched the Mackenzie during late January once and it was still pushing ice under that bridge . Pretty incredible

haha, OR, "Since I was Knee-High to a short sheep" is the other one that sticks with me (another Louis L'amour fan).

I dunno if I can think of a better gift? The smiles on their faces! Heck, I didn't get my first until I bought it when I was 12. Back then, you could buy a Mossberg Pump Action Model 500 for about a hundred bucks at the local gas station. Anyways, your kids have got the jump on me, and that's good!

I got a Nice painting from a researcher that I work with. I’ve told a lot of wolf stories and she must’ve been listening. Now I need a frame

What a great gift.

I like it!

Very Talented

I think the perspective is interesting. The wolf is towering over you as you look at it from a submissive position.

Fantastic print of a wolf Ryan I'm sure it won't be long before you will be sharing pictures of the real thing .

We pulled up to the start of the walking trail and I said “no fresh tracks today” Bobby said “doesn’t mean we didn’t catch anything. Maybe something came from the other side”

He was right. His first fur catch came off the lake and right into the snare. My internet is slow today so I’ll put up a couple pictures of bobby and his lynx when I can. Proud of my boy. He’s always positive even when we don’t catch so seeing him connect was just awesome.

That is awesome to hear!!!! Happy for you both!

Resetting the same spot. We first seen the stick missing and you all know what that means. I let Bobby sort out the drag marks himself. Good neck shot with 1/16 1x19. His lynx hung up just short of Morgan’s snare.

Nice work!

Awesome!

Nicely done Bobby congratulations on the lynx I'm sure it's going to be one of many caught this season by you .

Woo hoo!

Good stuff again.

Good job Bobby. Now the Wolves and Wolverines will have another McLeod to worry about.

Bobby you are doing great!

For the first time all fall I have a working machine. Did a bunch of work to get it to a usable condition. It’s got a new clutch and track. Good used front shocks that I made my own bushings for. All new drive train bearings and a patch job on the left side plastic fender. I had it taken apart for 4 years and had the new pieces bought or traded for one piece at a time and put away in storage.
When I found a broken jack shaft bearing on my 800 (the night before I planned to go trapping) I ordered parts and got to work getting this one ready to use until my parts arrive. I might as well send the 800 shocks out to be rebuilt and get all new front end bushings and bearings for this 550. Then I’ll be ready for anything this winter with a working 800 and a working 550 for my back up. I picked up an old bombardier formula s 380 short track and another older model Polaris 340 long track for projects too. Both have potential for the Kids to follow me or for me to use when SHTF with my main rides as it sometimes does

And the bearcat has all new engine seals and gaskets but has a timing issue that may or may not be an easy fix. Someday I’ll raise dogs for trapping but for now I’ll keep on wrenching and rebuilding stuff.

The 380 and 340 are good machines and pretty easy to work on. Just bites trying to get parts for the older sleds. That would be awesome for the youngsters to ride along and follow you! Hope you get them all up and running!

So what is Bobby going to do with his very first lynx?

I’ve used and worked on both the 380 and 340. I find eBay is good for finding older model parts. They’re also both common machines up here so there is a gold mine of parts for those willing to look around.

Bobby decided to hang his first lynx in his own room.

Good to hear on the parts!

The first of many critters I am willing to bet

Yup. He’s been asking when are we going to the camp almost every day. I’m thinking I’ll start a new line for him just a short one for now that he can expand at his own pace.

The look of -37c (-34f). Add the wind and it’s -47c (-52.6f)
Got an afternoon of field work on skidoo’s today

Darn nice picture Ryan temps like that makes me homesick for Wolf Point Mt ha ha Stay Safe out there !

That reminds me I need to get to work on my sleds as well. Always nice having a backup because we all know things happen.

Finally getting packed up for a trip to camp tomorrow morning. This is about the latest I’ve ever started but I’m raring to go. It’s supposed to get warm after the weekend so i think I’ll try get a few marten traps set. For sure a few wolverine boxes too. Can’t wait. Hopefully I don’t have any major problems. Looking forward to hauling wood and getting my fish for bait. Lots of reports of wolves and wolverine this year

Old timer Harry Carmichael got two wolf this evening.

Monster coney. The ones above it on the left are pretty big and it makes them look small. Got my fishing done. Set a few Wolverine boxes. Hauled some wood. Couldn’t do as much as I wanted because of all the overflow but I stayed busy. Got the house banked with snow. My old snow drag froze into the mud so I just had to do laps with my 550 to get the snow packed down in the cabin yard.

Nice bunch of fish Ryan so do you put them in the smoker fillet them then fry them up ?

We finally got some snow down here so I'll be working on my snowmobile soon also .

Ryan: boys from Dry River were trying to travel down Easu River to make trail to visit you. How far you think it is from mouth of Easu on the Peel to your place?

They can be cooked all kinds of ways but these ones are for bait

Not that far.

You probably meat there trail eventually then. Lucky guy have visitors.
I finally saw a Lynx track in the school camp portage. Couple otter tracks also.

Set 59 traps today. Was a long day. Started at 7am and just got home. Can’t wait to check them

Sounds like a good day!

Good to hear! Hope your first run you have a full sled!

Altogether I now have 57 marten sets, 5 wolverine boxes and two pee posts for wolf. Looking forward to getting a lot more set during the holidays

Sounds like a busy day! you must have had some stuff prepped up pretty well to get that many traps set in a day. Good luck!

Yup. I prebait my marten boxes at home. When I stop I just grab a box and trap and my drill is in my inside parka packet to stay warm.

Thats some impressive trap setting. Wow I am slow!

Crazy moon to start the late night trap check









Missed a picture of one

Fox took one marten and trap at this spot but I reset another trap anyways. I’ll carry some #3s next check


Set this wolf trap on a newly opened section. Set another 5 120s over 3 km. Also one wolf snare and one 280 for wolverine

Darn nice trap check Ryan I hope you get the trap and fur thief fox !

Awesome run and congrats on the fur! Hope you get that fox. Look forward to hearing about your next run!

Nice run, how many marten do you usually take every year?

Good catch!

I’ve never had good marten country to trap. I got 89 one year and 78 the next year in an area where you had to work pretty hard to find small pockets of marten. I always wanted to see what I could do in really good marten habitat.

Thats a good run on the line!

First walk of the year last night. Tie rod boot ripped and filled my air box with snow. Froze up luckily I was only about a mile from town when it happened. I was 50 miles out earlier. Made me postponed checking and setting more marten traps until tomorrow.

A mile isn't bad when you put it in perspective!

Nice catches Ryan.
What you using for bait?
Do you use lure?