Thanks ,it was a good ride !

Looks like a good place to deal with a moose when he got up out of the water in your pic. Why didn't you shoot him then?

You ever shot a moose and later thought “I wish I didn’t even bother shooting?”
That’s one of those places. Very muddy beach. Moose was covered in mud. Dripping wet. For sure a bit smelly. 10 minutes of daylight left.
Plus we have 8 caribou put away. One of my buddies called earlier and he wants a young bull moose so we’ll probably go calling again.
My grandmas health is in decline so while I’m home I’m showing bobby a lot of my old stomping grounds and doing a lot of what I used to do but haven’t had time for in years. Calling rutting bulls out was always one of my favourite things to do around freeze up when I was living at home in aklavik.

Pic looked like a sandy beach, hard ground. Mud is no fun!

The delta has some real mud. Water had just dropped a lot the night before so there was more saturated mud further up the beach than usual. I was loaded and aiming when it got to the shore alright but just didn’t pull the trigger. There’s a lot of moose running around right now and once I see a good one in a nice grassy dry lake I’ll for sure pull the trigger. Bobby didn’t like my decision not to shoot but after a few minutes he was talking a mile a minute about the close encounter.

This beautiful lady I had the privilege of calling my Grandma was called home today. I can honestly say I wouldn’t be who I am today if it wasn’t for her. Once the harvest was home she would go to work. Me and my grandpa used to bring home two sleds load of caribou at a time. 7 in each sled. We would give one sled load away and she would work with one sled load. She’d be in the meat house round the clock until it was done then say we can go get more now. I learned lots from watching and helping her.
She skinned my first fur too and said “ you better watch close cause I’m not gonna skin all your fur for you”. At the time I thought why not? But now I’m thankful she did that otherwise I wouldn’t know how to work with fur now. I cut off a lot of tails when I was learning.
She always said if you’re going to kill something you work with it the best you can. Have respect for what you hunt. One time i brought her 2 caribou in late august and she asked me “where did you get it?”

I said “in the hills how come?”

She said “there’s not even sticks or grass on it.”

I told her if that’s too clean I can always throw some sticks and grass on the next ones.
“Don’t you dare” she said with a smile. We liked to tease each other like that.
When summer would be coming to an end I was always excited to start hunting but it wasn’t just so I could shoot caribou and moose it was because I knew I would soon bring her all her favourite things to eat and for me that was the best feeling of all.

How lucky I am that I was my Grandmas hunter.



She called bobby her little hunter too. When he was born she said “now Ryan finally has a good partner.”

My deepest condolences go out to you and your family and friends , Grandparents are important people there's no doubt about that !
May she rest in peace !

Sounds like a great lady, condolences to you and your family.

Sorry for your loss. I hope you and your family find peace, always difficult losing someone we love so dearly.

Awful lot of original type knowledge goes when people like that pass. Unfortunately the way it is and not many left like that now. Hopefully we all met again.

Great tribute to her

My condolences.

A wonderful lady! With such love and respect you were lucky to have each other in your lives. Sorry for your loss.

Outstanding thread Ryan. Thanks for sharing your family with us.

Ryan I am truly sorry to hear of your grandmothers passing. She was an amazing woman!

Last load of meat I brought home for my Grandma.

I could’ve made faster time that day but in the back of my mind I knew I wouldn’t get out again. I kept telling Bobby there’s no rush today. Let’s enjoy ourselves and take our time. I sat and washed every page of 3 “bibles” that day in the hills plus the stockings and thimbles and in my mind It felt like it was the last time I would be cleaning what she likes to eat as I’ve done countless times before. The skidoo wasn’t overworking when I stopped but I still chose to stop here and just sit and talk with my boy. Sun was shining. Ocean was calm. Just a beautiful peaceful day. Same with the boat ride home. I took in the familiar feeling of pride all the way home knowing I was bringing Grandma what she likes to eat for what I believed was the last time. I’m going to miss that feeling and now as I think about it, a big part of why I always wanted to hunt, was to make Grandma happy and proud (except for geese hunting. she didn’t like when I was on the ice late).

I keep thinking a part of me died with my grandma but a bigger, stronger part of her will stay alive in me for the rest of my time here on earth. I had a talk with my son earlier about all these feelings and from his replies I know Grandmas lessons, and the outlook I have due to grandmas lessons, are alive and well with Bobby Ryan. We also talked about the last evening hunts we took together when we were still able to tell Grandma our plans. She asked Bobby everyday “you have everything you need?” Bobby usually listed all what we had for lunch to her. Few times Bobby was telling her about all the places he’s seen so far and all the animals he’s harvested. Sure could see how proud she was of him, and few times I caught her listening to him but looking and smiling at me. Im so thankful Bobby was able to see and understand all this in Grandma’s Earthly presence at an age where he will remember it.

Good stuff Ryan. And interesting what you have set up for your grandmother. Fir brush (what people put on tent floors around here over spruce if they can get fir) is starting to be a thing to do here on a grave site. And the caribou antler I put one on the grave of a close good young guy, who had his demons and struggled, the other day. All about respect in this life and after.

Grandma's have such a special role .I cannot express it . In no way in competition with Mom . Sorry

Yup