Life in the delta

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?

I’m using coney for bait and Martin magic lure.

Checking the marten line today and fresh tracks hit our trail. Rounded the corner and spotted this guy climbing a tree. He was just starting to eat a marten so I’m glad we took care of it before it started checking our traps for us. Beautiful fur on this one.

That is awesome!!! How did the rest of your check go?

It was good. Picked up a few marten including 4 on the way back to the truck. Weather’s warming up so I expect a good couple runs this week. Soon I’ll be done hauling coni boxes and I’ll do some setting for the wolves. Me and my partner leap frog our way down the trail and he just happened to be in the lead when the wolverine action happened. Pretty awesome. I thought he was caught in my 220 at first but then it started climbing and Sonny dropped it with his 223. Great day on the line today.

Year over year can not get over the abundance of wildlife you have there Ryan. It must cycle sometimes to scarcity? We have marten no problem but our caribou are gone for 10 years now and wolverine disappeared almost 100 years ago. We never had ground squirrels and maybe that is a part of the wolverine disappearance too. Moose and wolf numbers are very low too. Lots of white partridges and rabbits but lynx are low. Lots of fish here too and a lot fox this year but they are near worthless. Seals too but they are also worthless except to get a few to eat. No trapper subsidy programs here. And appreciate none of it comes easy; you still gotta work for it.

As the Americans would say it appears you are blessed.

Congratulations Ryan on the wolverine and the marten how's thing's going for Bobby on his line ?

Do you have a registered line, Ryan?

Bobby’s line has been slow Allen. Last check coming up then were moving to a better spot. More likely to catch foxes but a fox is better than an empty snare.

MT- nwt got rid of registered lines. Everyone knows who traps where and most respect each other’s lines. I’d strong some snare wire across my trail if someone started trapping my line. Good luck trapping with no nose I’d say. Just kidding (or am I?)

There’s so much land up here that you can always find animals even when cycles are low. There’s thousand of square miles that nobody ever goes to.

I was wondering if that was the case , I also had a fox trap line close to home when I was much younger that was a one or two fox and done place .
Have a Merry Christmas and Stay Safe out there even if you don't want to ha ha !
Allan

Nice interception with that wolverine.

Yeah, glad you got him before he developed a bad habit!

Soon as we got one marten thief taken care of another shows up. 1 eaten again at the exact spot we got the wolverine last trip. That would’ve been a marten double but one was eaten and the other chewed on. Had one trap and marten taken by a wolf too so we set up a place for them. Lots of fresh snow so hard to tell what ate the double. I’m guessing it’s another wolverine but we will find out soon enough.
Pretty awesome trapping good marten country. I’m sure enjoying it so far

And we pulled
Bobby’s snares for now.

Well I sure hope you get the culprit!

I got a good friend in yellowknife that I think you and him know each other. He mentioned a McLeod a couple weeks ago while he was here deer and elk hunting. He was saying coyotes and whitetail deer are starting to show themselves up there. You been seeing any?

Norwestalta you may have read how Ryan gets a seat in the full bar on Saturday night before.
It goes something like this; in a load voice; " Hey McLeod your wife is coming down here soon, and she is mighty hot about something "

Did you take her bingo dabbers ?

edited for dry communities
only works when above the lattitude of Red Deer Alberta

Lol. Ya I think there's a few of them up there. Can't remember the first name of the fella my hunting partner was talking about.

Merry Christmas everyone. One of my friends went out Christmas morning and I said I hope he finds a present in his wolverine boxes. Lucky guy got 3 presents. Two wolverine and a red fox. I said I can’t wait to go check for my presents and today is trap check day. Pretty windy and some blowing snow today but we should be alright. Got a whole bunch of traps to look at today. One more cup of coffee and I’ll be on my way. Have a good day people. Stay safe.

Good luck.

Caught the marten thief. There’s a new wolverine cleaning up our bait station too. He ducked all the wolf snares and ate one whole beaver carcass. Re adjusted a couple traps for him there.

Looks like you got some good presents and might have another on the next check.

Yup. 30 nice gifts yesterday.

Looks like a awesome run! Hope you connect with the wolverine!

Heading out to check my cabin. I have a few wolverine boxes to look at. Probably haul a load of wood for the cabin and another half load to haul to town for my warehouse. Tomorrow’s plan is to go and pull everything from my old highway line and get it all ready to extend my new line on the 2nd. Busy days but I love it.

Got one of the two that was hanging around. Highlight of yesterday’s trip. Low point was breaking my crankshaft and sitting by the fire for a few hours waiting for my buddies to pick me up

Good deal on the wolverine! Bites about the sled at least you had buddies to come get you instead of walking out!

Congrats on the wolverine and rescue. Good luck with the sleds the rest of the season.

Broke the crankshaft? How many miles on that engine?

No fox tracks and no eaten marten through one section so I’m sure it’s the fox i caught last trip. Today’s bonus catch had eaten 4 marten too. We listened to the wolves howl for about an hour today while we set up a bait station. Tried moving in on them slowly but called it off. Didn’t want to risk pushing them further away. Having fun trapping this year.

Not enough to be breaking crankshafts. Weighing my snowmobile options right now but I have a working 550 and it’s getting the job done. I was pulling a load and the overflow was deep and heavy. I over worked the engine the exact same one in spring 2020. Engine was working hard but I can’t wrap my head around a broken crank right now. Just going to keep trapping and working with fur and figure out if I’m rebuilding or selling and buying new. That half a sled load of dry spruce I was pulling when the crank broke came in handy for the wait in -40 weather.

Good deal on the wolverine and hearing the wolves! Hope you get on them! Bites hearing of the sled problems, been there more then once! I'd suggest going big and getting a new one! For as much and as far as you run it would not only be an investment but a piece of mind.

My VK seized up today also. Not sure what broke. It was running good then I got stuck. Packed the snow down backed it up a little bit. Walkedit out about 8' and it stoped dead.

Good catch on the wolverine and marten eating fox. Hope the wolves stick around for you.

This little guy showed up and watched me unload my trailer. He was still sitting there when I left the truck


Getting some bright yellow marten out of one section of the line. I like the black legs and yellow body on this one.


Adding up.

Nice collection of marten. That yellow one with the black legs does look sharp.

Say is that a tick in the middle of the forehead ?
Nice collection adding up.

Nice Marten Ryan-how many you got there so far about 50?

Pretty colors! Good deal on stacking the fur up! You get that youngster out there with you?

N50- not a tick. We haven’t really seen ticks up here yet.

Boco- there’s about 42 there. Me and my partner have brought home about 60 each so far. Easily the best marten country I’ve seen yet and we’ve barely scratched the surface. Planning to make it to the half way point this weekend and set a tent.

HFT- we’ve been having cold weather this winter so Bobby hasn’t taken a run down the long road with me yet. Hopefully soon though otherwise we have plans to trap hard at our camp for the first half of March. Lynx wolf and wolverine is the plan. He’ll more than likely go bear hunting with me this spring too. I haven’t told his mom yet but I’m sure she won’t mind. I’d be happy for a mature 7 footer while my boy is with me. There’s usually a few wolves around too that I normally pass but if Bobby’s with me he can try a shot or two.

3 bonus wolverine. One shot, one in a 330, and one in a Bridger 5. I like the middle one most

Shiny one with a different tail. Sending this one to my taxidermist friend. I’m thinking to get a couple mounted for my house too.

Got a full body wolverine mount on my mind too. There’s a lot of space to fill in our new house.

Very nice!

Ryan thanks, cant open up the pic and enlarge it on puter.
But I bet that there are some on that ruffed grouse that are unique to the galliformes, for some reason they really like to eat sawdust

Good stuff!

Is besides the point about the tick but am thinking that is a male spruce grouse but Ryan knows.

Good stuff Ryan you and your buddy.

Woke up to -39c and thought “what a great day to hunt moose”
They’re everywhere in the river now that we have had some snow. Lots of snow in the lakes pushes them out to the rivers. Didn’t have to go far for this fat cow. My 550 wouldn’t start so we pulled it to the tuck on a sled then pulled a load of dry wood out as well. Man is it ever good to have some fresh meat. Working on my second plate of tenderloin with potatoes and corn.

Good going Ryan. Cow moose? Always said "Never met a cow moose I didn't like" lol. Rare to get a cow, fall or winter, that is not in what we call "good order".

We have more moose than people here. Pretty common to see 25-30 moose in a day when you’re looking for them. No worries about getting cows here.

Good stuff Ryan, thanks for posting. Nice clean meat when there is snow to lay it out on. Sounds like you are thick into the marten, too bad prices aren't better.

Congrats on the wolverines!

We lost a good friend this week. My buddy Gus was the kind of guy you could call at 4am and ask for a hand with anything and he would show up with a smile on his face. Me and Gus grew up together. Im happy that he was with us on Bobby’s first caribou hunt a few years back. He went out of his way to do whatever Bobby asked of him. Heading out for an overnight trip down the line tomorrow and bobby is coming with me. We’re Taking a tent and everything else we need. I always use the land to deal with loss, it’s where I find my peace. RIP bro and thank you for everything.

Sorry for your loss. Friends like that are rare.

And now there’s a big wolverine running around town. Me and Bobby checked for it but only seen tracks. Few sightings spread across Inuvik in the past couple hours

Dam.

Congrats on the moose Ryan fresh winter meat is always welcome .

I'm sorry to hear about your friend Gus good friend's like that makes life interesting and for good stories .

Very nice wolverine and marten to ! I hope you can catch up to the one roaming around town .

In Great Falls there's a mountain lion roaming around there now the population is close to 100,000 + I'm surprised we haven't had one around here this winter with all the deer living in town now .

Ryan sure you dont boog with flies when skinning moose....lol

Few pictures from our weekend. First time me and Bobby picked up a wolverine together. We had a great time

Awesome! Looks like a fun trip. Do you leave the tent set up for the winter?

Hope you didn't leave the safeties on the double ender box...

Saw the saftey thing too....lol

Looks like you have some snow this year. Thanks for taking us along.
Double enders are always nice in new territory.

Hope that boy had a blast! Looks a little chilly out there Thank you for sharing your guys adventures!

Looks like a nice cozy camp.
I tried a few of those boxes exactly like that-caught marten on top and bottom but never at the same time.

Fine looking camp Ryan these are memories that will last a life time !
Congratulations on the wolverine hopefully the first of many !

Trap safeties came off after the picture. Lots of marten activity in that spot so I set the double end box.

Nice! Love it when the kids get to go.

I stand corrected. We didn’t take them off after the picture. Turns out they were already off. We use one spring on the bigger traps.

Sorry for the loss of your your friend Ryan.

You and Bobby are doing good on the line, keep at it!!

Alive and kicking here guys. Taking a good break from social media. few furs are done. new skidoo on order.

Good to hear your alive and kicking! Good looking fur to! And love that youngsters smile What are you getting for a skidoo?

Expedition sport ace 900 with the 16 inch wide track. I can’t haul my boy around on junk.

Sweet! Hope she runs like a champ for you!

Nice winters rewards! Smile makes it worth a new machine.

Thanks. He was laughing because he didn’t expect the bundles to weigh so much

Big foot I called him. 2 months of stealing bait caught up to him when I lowered one wolf snare

Nice to have you back Ryan. You will love the Expedition Sport.... Great ride

As Howler said nice to see you back Ryan!

Great Marten pic. Thanks.

Beautiful!

Good that you were around some caribou .
Line robbers are a pain to deal with. So it probably cost you 1/4 of a new snow machine before justice was served !

That looks like hungry country.

AV you mean the caribou pic? That area is actually overrun with tracks of all kinds. That’s just off the porcupine river. Long trip to find a few caribou

What a grin on that boy!

Yes. Not much to eat, and not much cover. Caribou lead a tough life.

Yup. add in 4-5 feet of snow and wolves constantly on the hunt. These 6 were pushed out into this open flat by wolves. We could hear them howling while we skinned and butchered but the trees in the creek were just too thick to try get them. It would be a great place to trap though. lots of marten, wolf and wolverine.

It's good to see you back Ryan I've missed seeing your pictures and reading your stories .

Bobby you're looking good holding up those marten you and your dad keep up the good work young man !!!!!

That's a fine looking sled !

Afternoon well spent with the kids

Looks like white spruce. Some saw logs in that. You running a band saw mill Ryan? Oldest boy into that a few years now and big savings on lumber as he always building something.

I’d love to have the saw logs you guys have in the big land. With the way things are going here and the prices for lumber saw logs are getting scarce where I am.

Black spruce for firewood. Load like that goes for About $600 now. Good way to make a little extra on a weekend

Wow on the price of firewood.

Double wow! Around here that load hardwood, oak, hickory,hard maple, might bring $90 delivered.

Yup. $150 in gas and fuel to haul that wood. Heating fuel is at $2.40 a litre here. Life is expensive in the north. $400 to fill my truck right now.

Thanks for sharing the pictures Ryan. Nice to see what goes on in the north country.

I would hate to see next summers fuel prices there. Is it not barged up the McKenzie ?

no need for a gym exercise when doing wood like that. but a few tubes of AbsorbineJR sure helps

I think its barged up. wood hauling is a good work out for sure especially in deep snow And you just have to love when those buried willows start catching your feet.

What the heck is a litre? lol Joking aside thank you for sharing your line pics. That young son of yours will surely grow to be a great man like his father. Setting expectations high will lead to him setting his own. Keep the posts coming!

Thanks. Having bobby eventually take over the trap lines is pretty high on my list of priorities. I know I’ve said it before but he’s one of the best partners a guy could ask for. Helpful, comical and positive.

I gave my Mom a wolf last year and she made us both a pair of mitts.

Darn nice mittens Ryan if those don't keep your hands warm nothing well !

A flock of geese flew over the house tonight our local geese are back already .

Good looking mitts! Envious of you having a trapping partner like that Looks like you could make some good money in firewood up your way!

Beautiful mitts!

Be careful out there

Spring awaking time
Got a standing photo, my guess here it would be towering over that brush

He ain't in your sled???????? We still got about a month or so before they are out here.

Too small to take. Maybe I should’ve though because it’s more than likely headed to the town dump

Be careful out there Ryan we had a grizzly kill a shed horn hunter not to long ago between Livingston and Yellowstone National Park , sadly he didn't have bear spray or a gun with him which was a costly mistake on his part .

Started prepping the camp for the big geese hunt.


Another “things you see at work” entry

Got 20 330s dropped off today for the first, of what I think will be many more, beaver removal contracts. I’m hired to clean out a river system north of town. Looking forward to everything spring brings

That's good news on the beaver removal trapping they're a nice change up from predator trapping .

As for the wolf you need a little seed leftover for next year ! I wish you well on the goose hunting !

Good deal on the beaver job! Hope you and the youngster have a blast doing it! Had a flock of about 600 geese fly over yesterday so it shouldn't be much longer for you guys to start see them! Is your boy going to be shooting this year or is he going to play retriever for you?

Bobby inherited Morgan’s 410 and I got him 4 boxes of 3 inch so he’ll be shooting. He tried last year too. He hit a couple but the geese just giggled and kept going. 😆. Morgan’s going to be shooting 20 gauge again.

Sweet! I hope they knock a couple down!

Ryan, I have to ask what would be the purpose of irradiating the beaver on an entire river system in your area?

Trapper Les, it's simple, irradiating beavers makes them glow in the dark, Ryan must want some glow in the dark beaver pelts for mitts and hats.

Really
and all along I thought it was to make and give to his old girl friends so he can stay clear from them walking home in the dark.

It’s a fish bearing creek that has never had beavers before. They’re really moving north damming up the creeks and making traditional fishing locations stop producing. This river system is now dry so I’ll be hitting the inland lake pretty hard. Traps, snares and the 22 magnum. The beavers are out of control up here. People don’t put much value on beaver compared to lake trout

Man, I wish I was there, lol, I guess I didnt realize that beaver were what you'd call nonindigenous to that area. Messing up the ecosystem, so to speak, and it's probably happening all over the north.

So Ryan some of those creeks are spawning runs for the whitefish that overwinter in the Beauford Sea ?
Just hope the Grizzies don't figure out the 330 dinner bell ring like some black bears do down here.

Whitefish, coney, lake trout, grayling, etc. All getting killed off by low DO levels over the winter when the beavers dam up the creeks yup. The area of interest is Hans creek which drains into Husky lake which is one of the most prized fishing locations around

That's good Ryan you have a job going after them. There will be more interesting stories this spring and summer going after them then.

Hey Ryan! These guys showed up this morning on my pond. Made me think of you guys, they should be on your hunting grounds soon if not already!

No geese yet but the eagles and bears are showing up. Won’t be long for geese. Once the gulls show up around town I know it’s worth sitting and waiting for geese.

My boy is adding to his collection of hunting gear. Our Aunt gave him this old style fancy shell bag. Reminds me of the old dog packs and harnesses that people used to use up here. Dog harnesses would usually have bells on them.

That is some real fancy bead work

Picked up the marten line yesterday. Surprisingly No bear tracks. Lots of marten and wolverine tracks though so looks good for next year.

Nice cargo hauling set up, I would like one of them sleds.

I just started beaver trapping here, as it's opening up, but we have ice on alot of still water here yet, and snow in the woods. latest spring for a while. I'll have ice in the woods in the middle of May if I look for it.

I suppose you are a month away from spring rats.

Hi les. Right now is bear season and muskrat trapping in push-ups. Geese should be here any day. Can probably start Shooting rats in about 2 weeks when the sides of the lakes open up. 3-4 weeks and should be full out shooting rats season.

Last day of work on Friday until may 18. Looking forward to a good break and Bobby is more excited than I am. Young feller can’t wait to be at the geese camp

Big ram freshly killed by a lone wolf. They battled all down the side of a high mountain. Wolf hadn’t even fed yet. Just got it opened up.

Wow!

45 1/2 x 39 1/2 with 13 3/8 x 13 1/8 bases respective. Nice big ram.

double that wow

That's insane what a find ! What a sight to see even if it's just the aftermath !

That is a dang good ram! I bet he put up one heck of a fight! Bites the wolves got him but good for you to score such a find!

Saved a few calves for sure.

Congratulations, looks like a nice black wolf….Good!

Yes the wolf is Surprisingly good for may

Good deal!

How old was the ram?

11 years old

What kind of shape was that wolf in for a loner?
Looks like the loner that past my trail camera a few days before. Be interesting to get an age of that big guy.

Wow, that is an amazing find! Do the fish cops let you keep that? I assume you tracked and shot the wolf?

I spotted the wolf about 100 yards up the hill leaving dodge I just had to pull up to the ridge and fire.

I keep the horns yup.

Skinny

What are the horns used for,or can you sell them in the south?

Interesting, I think I'd eat that ram, lol

That's what I figured. It was big though?Looks like really long legs.

notice how the wolf travels; it is on the tracks of the snow machine a certain way
the camera must have a noise on the picture take mode by the way the wolf looks

Looks like there could have been enough cape left to salvage. They bring more than a wolf or wolverine.

North of 50 Camera Must make a noise

Now that's a nice puter screen shot if there ever was one.
and his buddy saying, : "you camera hog"

411

Now you know where to make your wolf sets…….

Oh Snap: for sure, next year

You could crop that picture and sell it on line in the mean time…..$

A guy I know has a Moultrie camera on his air strip way out of town. It was -60f and a wolf walked up and got his picture taken. I’ll try and get a copy of it!

Oh snap it seems the wolfs curiousity is under rated. Too much attention may be paid to outwitting there warryness while the odd wolf may be caught with curiousity sets. I have cought wolfs in 330 iconnibears n blue and black Milk crates.

Got home last night from 11 days at the geese camp. Did a little rat trapping with 120s and 1.5 drown sets. Sure didn’t want to come home

I thought about taking the cape but it was losing hair by the handful

Strange how only Bobbys homework fell behind the bed


Kids always like running for birds

I see a little ice in the bodygrip pic....sometimes I use to lay a 1 1/2 longspring in the bottom of the run, especially a mudrun, for that dog paddlin rat.
Some folks will say that's obsolete since the conibear came along, I say it's forgotten technology.

Hi Les. It got cold that night and froze a little. I like the 1.5 for muskrats. I usually chisel the feed bed to barely hold a trap so as soon as it snaps it falls in. This was my first time trying 120s

The day we left town



I grabbed the stick to dispatch the live rat. I was pretty surprised to pull up the second. First 1.5 rat trap double for me

Looks like good times out in the land!

Ryan is the rat shoot on yet? My nephew works on the slope and has some friends in Fairbanks and they told him it was no problem to shoot 1000 rats now , it that real?

Quality rats right there. Sometimes I want to think I'd go to Alaska just to live through rat shooting in the spring

I put Wild River pans on all my 1 1/2 Dukes...big mink pan with half the tension, much better trap for everything, in a 1 1/2 coil. I dont always have the opportunity here to set a pile of them, but right now, Lake of the Woods is flooding and on the Canadian side I hear the dams are wide open because there's record levels again, just like 2014, I expect a good rat fall coming up. I hope I'm healthy and feel good when that happens 5 months from now.

Good deal on the geese and rats!!!! Did Bobbie bust any geese?

I could be shooting rats and running traps at the same time right now. I’m sure I could shoot a couple thousand. Id like a hired skinner for that though so that I could just hunt every night.

It’s a great time of the year. I love pulling into a new lake and seeing rats sitting all over the edge of the ice and little waves all around the edges of the flooded willows.

Bobby tried a couple times but didn’t hit any. It was a slow spring so he didn’t shot as much as we planned. I’ll take him north on Monday and let him shoot until his arm hurts. I’ll be flying back to my camp tomorrow for a couple days to catch the later than usual migration then I’ll be ready to start ratting and taking some beavers out. Enjoying as much of the best time of year as I can.

Good to hear he got a little shooting in! I am sure he will figure it out and I am willing to bet he will be a dang good shot when he does! Hope you guys have a blast on your next adventure!

Are you sure that's not an argali? Did you take any measurements? Is his right horn broken or is it the same length as the left side?
Amazing ram.

The coat is amazing, as well.
I remember seeing a ram that was taken a long time ago, in January, that was in Gary King's. The cape was incredible.

7am waiting for the chopper on the last geese hunt.

Got a few good nights of rat hunting in close to town. Haven’t done much all nighters due to work.


Going to try get 200 more this weekend then shut it down for the year.

My friend James jus happened to be in town at the right time and jumped on the chopper with me. We hunted dry land until it all went under then hunted flooded willows until strangely the water dropped and we could once again hunt on land.

Good deal on the geese and rats!!!!! What is your game plan with the rats? They going to auction or do you have someone local that sews?

Thats awesome on the rat hunting Ryan

The rats look plump. Do you trap the rats also?

My daughter has a muskrat belly parka her lower Yukon delta grandmother made for her. Don't know whatever happened to it. Look like pretty big rats. I've done spring hunting twice in years past. Good times. Even made a canvas canoe the first time.
Enjoy the pics and the peeks into your lifestyle!

I think that was my last rat hunt this spring. Good all-nighter on Friday-Saturday. 2am-2pm I think. Made it to my camp and had to mount the engine on the boat before we could do anything. Got it all lined up and drilled the holes and had a ball.

Very good !

I like it

Ryan in all my years I have never had the opportunity to hunt any rats and I t may seem like a stupid question but do they float or sink when you shoot them?

They float.

Thanks Ryan! It sure looks like fun!

Thanks for sharing, can't get over the size of the rats!

I always tell him one of these days we’ll be the same speed and then later on you’ll be faster than me.

Love seeing that! Brings back memories of when I was youngster and learning

Fantastic pictures as always Ryan ! Bobby you're doing great keep up the good work both of you building memories that will last a life time and then some when the stories are retold again !

Great stuff. Teaching the boy a lot of hands on. I see a lot of books on the shelf too. Hopefully he likes to read too. A person can learn a lot from books IF they have the hands on ground truthing experience to sort out the BS'ers writings from the good stuff. I date myself. Lots to learn from the likes of U tube too but again watch out for the BS'ers and put it up against your own life long hands on learning.

Thumbs up

Nice beautiful rats

Help. That was actually supposed to say hello. Autocorrect.
Maybe my phone is speaking for me. Lol. Just kidding but man it’s been busy lately. Work all day and then skin and stretch rats all night. Pretty hot for the last couple day after a long cool spring. Started the last freezer of muskrats so shouldn’t be too much longer and I can move on to other stuff to keep me busy until fall comes around and the nights get cool and dark. Then it’s time to look for the big bull caribou. After that it’s moose and trapping preparations and so on and so forth. Ive got all the parts for my old 243 so I’ll be putting that together and getting the kids more time shooting their rifles this summer. Never ending busy busy busy but I like it.

This was the first black rat for me. I’ll hang it up beside my blond rat

Great looking fur Ryan and Bobby.
How are they for bites in spring.with the high populations you got there?

Bites are not too bad this year. Lots of the rats I shot this spring could pass for early spring trapped rats

About 1 in 500 is a black one here Ryan. Noticed a guy (in Maryland I believe) posting a while ago he gets quite a few. I put a piece of string thru the eye with a small cardboard tag saying "black 'rat". Afraid grader might miss it where I think they grade 'rats so fast. Better price usually as everyone knows. Have topped the sale with them before. Yours gonna be a wall hanger and good. Have never seen a blond one.

I was thinking back to when I was starting out similarly to Bobby is now , I asked a local long time trapper and fur buyer about how to flesh muskrats in a hurry he suggested using a old ringer from a old washing machine or better yet a hand crank one if you can find one , just a thought .

Allan one would be great but those McKenzie muskrats have been under the ice for 8 months and are just the fattest rats going.

One of my friend got this one this past season. I got one about 12 years ago

Tks for posting blond 'rat Ryan. First ever heard and seen one. Learn something every day.

Question to people in other areas. Black 'rats seen to be, although rare everywhere (except maybe Maryland?), widespread. That true - rare but widespread?

How about blond 'rats? How widespread are they? Presume scarce regardless.

The same question came up when we collected blond and black phase of some Red Squirrels, seems the coat colour is a genetics where a chromosome is flipped. Thirty years later observed some squirrels with the same pelage so it was in the local gene pool.

I've only caught muskrats in southeastern MT but I've never seen a rat that color some like a few of our beaver are " silver dollar's " and look as if they were chrome ha ha

The ringer was just an idea to run the muskrat hides through to get some of the fat off them quicker , I've never had the chance to try it or any big numbers of rats at one time .

I prefer clean skinning everything I catch besides wolf and sometimes wolverine. They can go on the beam. Other than that I find it’s easier in the long run to clean skin. Then when that last flick of the knife separates the nose from the carcass you know it’s ready to board.

Only caught one black rat in my life,and also only one white one.
Never trapped large numbers of rats in any season.

I have used the Ringer Washer in the past. It will push the Fat off of the hide, May require a small amount of touch up on the stretcher..That being said; You need to make sure that there is no folds or pockets in the hide as you Wring it. If there is any the fat will pop through the hide like the innards from a Zit..

I mostly use a cheap fleshing knife and go from the skirt tward the nose under the armpits, then fro the nose tward the skirt for the rest and do a crappy job on purpose if going to the market..Heavier hides grade better in this area. If it will dry leave it on the hide, LOL

Think it was me referred to from Maryland. Where I am, I’m blessed with a high percentage of black rats. I can’t speak for the Chesapeake Bay guys as I trap mostly the coastal bay guts that feed into the coastal bay. Some of those guts, I won’t catch a single brown rat, but my overall numbers are nothing compared to the Chesapeake guys. Some guts I may only catch 15 rats or so, but as I say, for Black rats , I’ll grind. They are some kind of pretty. I’m grateful for these but jealous of you guys with the black beaver.

Tks for posting Mud. Interesting info.

Those are some nice black rats man that’s awesome. So far I’ve got my one black rat out of thousands. My cousin Doug’s daughter shot a black one this spring too.




The end is in sight for finishing the rats. We were working quietly this evening and out of the blue Bobby said “you know what Dad? I sure like doing stuff like this” Proud quiet moment for me to hear my boy say that. Charlotte Mighty Mouse McLeod came out too and watched for about 2 minutes before she asked if she could help. I got her stringing rats for a while and then she pulled a few tacks. Morgan went to sleep early or she would’ve been helping too. Should be easy to get 500 done once all 3 of them can handle more. Sure is good to have the help though. 3am right now and I’m just stopped for a smoke. Back to skinning and stretching muskies shortly.

What do the bellies look like on your black rats?

Now I’m just stalling. Few more from spring hunting and the last time I seen my geese camp a few weeks back. Ice took out a bunch of willows the past two years. Water has also touched the bottom of the 2x6 floor but luckily no flooding back to work for real this time

Interesting question on the bellies of black 'rats. Have had them like the one above but also have 2 on hand now that have black backs and bellies like the ordinary 'rats. Not sure what the graders will do with that. Backs are, no compromise, jet black backs but bellies ordinary colour. Assuming/hoping black backs is what is most important and they will grade black.

In the freezer now. Can get 80 (two rows of 40 packed head to tail, one row on top of the other) in some fold out boxes got on a Costco trip years ago. About the best way can get them in a freezer without crushing. Got to hold til next January. How you holding yours Ryan? Access to a walk in freezer would be sweet. Gonna need freezer space next fall for moose and caribou so soon as turns freezing, and the bugs stop, they come out and go in the shed.

That is a wack of rats in the boat, looks like a good trip.

That's a lot to be proud of !

The blacks here have a more orangeish brown belly. You can kinda see it in one of the pics near the throats of them. They’re interesting to see. Last season I had 80+ grade black in the lg-3x lot. And I can tell you they missed a few. I kept them separate until I shipped them, separating them as I fleshed them and had over 110 black out of 230 rats.

I don’t envy the graders trying to spot them if your belly side is on the longer side on the stretcher. And usually there’s a few brown guard hairs right along the opening cut on the blacks which I’m sure causes more than a few to end up in the regular lot.

Thanks Mud and exactly what I suspected re. grading and brown colouring on the belly on many of the blacks. That is why I tag them for the grader. That is one spectacular ratio of black to brown at almost 50%. Must make for some great averages. Ryan does it on volume not colour lol.

BTW great pic's again Ryan.

Man that's awesome!

A lot of the best lessons in my life have been learned through hunting. Lessons that don’t only apply to hunting but to almost everything in life. Anybody that knows me knows that once I start telling hunting and trapping stories I tend to talk and talk often getting off subject so for today ill just talk about this one time when I was about 11 years old and my grandpa and I had a harder than usual caribou hunting trip. Caribou were scarce that fall before freeze up and we didn’t have the usual amount for ourselves and for sharing with others. Once late September rolled around and the ground was frozen just enough we started looking around but there was no caribou to be seen that fall.

It was now late October and Once again We left Aklavik well before daylight making our way through the old mountain trail that has a lot of stories of its own. We were headed for John Martin Creek and the familiar cabin that sits on the hill. Most years we might’ve ran into a herd close to the first big hill but not on this trip. After settling into the cabin we packed our day bags in preparation for a hunt. The two of us headed south towards the head of willow river stopping to look around with binochulars for caribou, tracks or the craters in the snow where they have been feeding but time and time again our search was coming up empty. Travelling conditions weren’t the best at that time of year with such little snow cover but we kept going anyways. It was pretty hard for me to keep up with my Grandpa once he set his mind on something, especially finding caribou, but I loved the challenge so I did my best. A couple moose were pretty tempting as they chewed on willows in the creek but they would be around all winter. Besides, we were looking for caribou and we had a few days to find some.
Our last stop of the day was on a high hill overlooking a very big valley. A place you could expect to see caribou if they were in the area. I was already scanning the land while my Grandpa poured himself a cup of hot tea from his thermos. After a few minutes I said there was no caribou but my Grandpa, without binochulars, pointed to a faint line on the far hillside and said that looks like caribou tracks. Sure enough it was.
We got our guns ready and made our way down towards the tracks and as we travelled a few caribou starting making their way out of the creek below us. With my Grandpa in the lead we used the terrain to stay low and get as close as we could. Everything worked out perfectly and before long we had our load of caribou down.
Back then we always stopped shooting at 14 caribou. That was what we could haul in two canvas toboggans. Of those 14 we would usually give out half to those that couldn’t hunt for themselves mostly elders and widows so nothing went to waste. Even the bones were smashed and boiled to make grease.
About halfway through the butchering the weather started turning cold. One of those days where the cold shows up as a wall of fog slowly moving in on you. Keep in mind we were working hard and sweating. We got our sleds loaded just before dark and started back to the cabin bouncing along at a slow pace as we pulled our heavy loads of valuable cargo. Back then I didn’t really keep up but as long as I could see the tail light of my Grandpas skidoo I figured I was doing ok. Turns out we couldn’t climb back up the steep bank to get out of the creek so we decided to follow the creek bottom back to camp. There wasn’t much choice so off we went navigating through rocks that sometimes caught our skis and made us spin out. Sometimes we would drop through the hollow ice and get stuck that way too. I say we but I think it was mostly me getting stuck. Getting “unstuck” can be a lot of work. I lost count of the times I had to disconnect my toboggan that night. Before long I was pretty exhausted and I could feel the cold making its way through several layers of damp clothes.

Up to this point the creek water was shallow but there is one section where the water is deep enough to get into some serious trouble so following the creek was now out of the plan. We found a place where the bank wasn’t too steep so we cut a few willows and piled some snow to make it easier to climb out. Easier said than done. We just couldn’t get out of the creek. After a few tries I felt like giving up. I was cold, tired, hungry and it just didn’t feel like we were going to make it. If I was alone I think I would’ve went to sleep right there but my Grandpa said some thing to the effect of “Anything worth doing is going to be hard. We have two choices. We can either find a way to get it done or give up. Its that simple”
Both thermoses were empty. Our lunch was eaten earlier. My legs felt like jelly. I felt like giving up but he was right, we did only have two options. My Grandpa was digging around in his hunting bag and he pulled out a can of Mandarine oranges. He opened it with his knife and handed it to me.
They were almost completely frozen but to this day I don’t remember another time that anything tasted so good. I thought about what he said about only having two options and between that and the frozen oranges I felt a renewed motivation to get it done. The sky was clearing and in the light of the full moon I could see the cabin in the distance. If only we could get these two heavy sleds from where they were to the top of the bank we would be home free. Once again we piled snow. My grandpa started his skidoo and Gave it more throttle this time. He Made it! I started my skidoo and was getting ready to hit that cursed bank at full throttle but my Grandpa came down and said he can drive it up. I didn’t argue and just like that we had our loads back on high ground. My grandpa went ahead since it was easy from here and about half an hour later I pulled up to the cabin with smoke and sparks shooting out of the chimney. We couldn’t just leave the meat to freeze together so we dug into a snow drift like always and buried the meat. Once everything was done I just sat there and looked up the creek where we just came from. What seemed impossible earlier was now done. Many times since I’ve run into similar situations in hunting and in lifes struggles and those words always came back into my mind. Anything worth doing will be hard and when you hit adversity you can choose to sit there in the creek shivering or you can find a way to succeed. It really is that simple.

Oh and by the way I still eat frozen canned oranges to this day.

Great story. Good lesson. Can you elaborate on what a "canvas toboggan" is?

Old style wooden sled with canvas wrapper. Everyone used them before the fibreglass sleds showed up. My grandparents used to redo all the lashing on my grandpas two sleds with caribou hide about every two years

Good story Ryan
many a downfall has been an empty thermos before the end of the day
2 scoops of honey X thermos.....sure is nice for that buzz

Great story Ryan ! Spending time with grandparents is important that's for sure !

Grandpas like that are pretty valuable, thanks for sharing.

This picture will probably post small but our sled were something like this. I did a lot of miles standing on the back of a toboggan. Fell off and/or got dragged a few times too.Haha. Good times. We had a box built into the handle bar area and that’s where we kept our axe. If nobody was handling sled then we tied 2 jerry cans on the back. We always did the full job of butchering all the meat right on the kill sight too.
One year just before the rut when caribou bulls were as prime as they’ll be all year myself my grandpa and my friend blue shot 17. What a job that was. Lakes were just barely thick enough to avoid the real rough tundra. Quite the rush pulling 6 mature bulls on thin ice to save time and energy not to mention abuse on the equipment. I think I was 16 years old at the time with 5 more years experience after the rough trip I wrote about earlier. We ran into a big herd. I’d say about 4000 give or take. I led the way this time through a low route and when we climbed out they were everywhere around us. Nice line of about 20 mature bulls were right in front of me so I knocked down 6 for myself and 3 for blue to fill his sled. He shot 3 as well so we both had our load within 3-4 minutes of shooting. I looked off to my right and I could see my grandpa staying along the edge of the herd. They weren’t running or anything. He disappeared over the hill as we pulled all the dead caribou to one spot. After a couple minutes we heard one shot then back to driving. Wasn’t sure what my grandpa was doing. Then another single shot. 5 shots all together separated each time by a couple minutes. We could hear the skidoo getting closer now. Sounded like it was working pretty hard too. My grandpa came over the hill pulling two of the biggest caribou I’ve ever seen yet to this day. Said he had 3 more to pick up plus his sled. Me and blue went and helped him get everything in one trip then we all spent the next several hours working. Turns out he went and hand picked 5 of the biggest ones in the herd. That hunt sure fed a lot of people. Didn’t mean to make this long of a post but I thought of the trip while I was skinning rats before.

We were using these sleds by that time.

Good stuff Ryan. Been there done that especially on the trips when it turns bad cold and gone for days. Nothing of course compared to way, way back in the day. Lashing not a term you hear much anymore. Used to lash the komatit and lash on everything that went on them. Now all nails and komatik boxes.

https://youtube.com/shorts/3f8MYhz8gp0?feature=share

Woo hoo!

It was a good ride ! Thanks

I got this 243 when I was 10 after shooting my first caribou. It was a gift from my late grandma Esther. I used it for a good part of my most active years until it broke in an unfortunate hunting accident involving a very big wolverine and some very rough terrain. Young and dumb.
Parts weren’t easy to find but I managed to get a mainspring tube and firing pin follower made. It’s been wrapped up soaked in oil for at least a year. Got it all cleaned up now and redid the blueing. I’ll do a good barrel cleaning and reassemble soon. Lots of adventures with this old BLR.

That part is all done.

Very nicely done Ryan those are a good rifle I've got a cousin who shoots one and he loves it !
A good hand me down rifle to !

One of many projects on the go but a sentimental one for sure.
Phone battery is going to die pretty quick here

Sure feels good.

Your rifle project turned out very nice that will bring home a lot of meat for many years to come !

Very nice rifle! About how for do you shoot? On average.

100-150 yards average. I like sneaking in close though and comfortable taking longer shots when I have to

The closer I get, the more I enjoy the hunt as well. Can take longer shots, but prefer not to.

Yessir. When you can hear the animal chewing you know you're close enough. Nothing like being close to a big moose in thick willows.

Bobby designed it, I stamped it then we painted it together. I’ve been fooling with leather gun straps on and off whenever I have some free time this past month or so.

We’ll add some color the next time and have it ready for the first caribou hunt most likely the weekend of the 18th.



Made one for my cousin Bam too

Moose hide ?It is good for the kids to create useful things that they will use !

Really cool!! I like those paw prints! What season is coming up next? Inland shrimping season just started here. And muscadine grapes are coming in. You just got to beat the wild life. Lol

Added some color

Just kicked off the season on Saturday

We were hunting caribou but couldn’t pass up this obese bull moose

Very nicely done Bobby and Ryan ! I like the paw prints on the sling also !

Caribou is fine eating but moose is darn good too !

Look fat as a tick.

Woo hoo!

Congrats on the groceries!! It looks like little man, is having a great time !!

Knocked over a few caribou this weekend

Congratulations on getting some caribou that's some fine eating there now !

Bobby is doing great getting meat for the freezer nice shooting young man !!!!!

Keep it coming Ryan and Bobby! Looking forward to watching the season progress up there.

Nice gun straps too....they look like they would be work nicely on a Gibson Les Paul too!

Good job! Filling the freezer!!

I'd feel rich with a moose and a caribou tucked away in my freezer.

It felt good to share most of the meat with family. I've eaten moose or Caribou almost every day since so I'm pretty happy

Happy 62nd anniversary to two of my favorite people in this world. My grandparents made sure I learned how to hunt at a young age. They would take me out of school more than once a year so we could go and spend time on the land doing the things we love to do. I owe them everything when it comes to the life I live today. Endless encouragement, endless patience and Endless ammunition to name a few things that have helped me get to where I am today.

great tribute to your grand parents ryan. are either or both still with us?

Both are still with us. My grandpa was just out to his cabin by boat yesterday. Hes got a couple nice boats He was hauling 1-2 sled loads of wood a day all winter into his early 80's. he did a solo Caribou hunt a couple years back despite some concern from some of the family (not me I just said you know your self best) came home with 9 Caribou My grandmother was cutting moose drymeat last week. Very thankful for them and all the lessons and memories they've given me.

So awesome the Love and direction you recieved from your Grandparents they obviously made an incredible impact on how you chose to live your life and raise your family, you are so lucky to have them! Happy Anniversary to them!!

There it is. The last bull moose of the season for me. It took a bit more looking this fall to get a moose for Greg’s family. Overall a good season.

Helped another buddy with his moose too.

We got Greg’s moose on one of the last days before snow came.

Winter is coming

Thank you.

Congratulations to your grandparents Ryan that's quite an achievement !

Good job on the moose also !
As for your snow the forcast for here tomorrow is 86 above and no chance of rain if you're wondering yes I'm jealous of your snow and cooler temps !

What cartridge for the moose? And what are some of the more common cartridges used for moose in your area? Thanks.

270 shooting 130 grain federal premium Sierra game kings.
Lots of 270 and 30-06 shooters up here. 243 is common. Few guys I know use 300win mag.

I’m a little surprised. That’s a lot smaller cartridges than what the internet says I need to use for moose. Seems as though bullet placement is key.

Thanks for the response.

Whatever you do don’t tell the moose that 270 is too small. 👍🏽
I’d like a bigger gun eventually for those long distance shots at moose when boat hunting but 270 has never let me down so far. Just leaving town to take care of some problem beavers. Plugging up the fishing creeks again

Good luck with the beavers. Thanks again.

Couple from the annual char tagging project.

Birthday gift.

Another one from fish creek

Failed attempt at getting to our camp in early October. Too shallow to make it and Big waves and darkness prevented us from coming back to town so we slept in the boat. Nothing wrong with that when you’re prepared for it. Bobby did a Metallica air guitar solo to start the day. My deadly partner.

Second attempt after snow melted was better. We picked up everything we needed and closed up for now.

I finished up another beaver contract. Busted 5 dams and got water flowing normally. I shot 2 adult beavers and didn’t see any repairs to any of the dams so I figure these were dispersing beaver. All the dams were made with fresh green willow so they weren’t there too long. Still busy like always. I did all the dam work with a spade shovel. I picked away at it everyday hoping to get more shots at beavers. Once the water dropped overnight I’d dig the dam down a little further. At the end I was working on all 5 every day after work.

Thanks for the pictures ! I enjoyed the trip .

Moose die much easier than elk; I never have been able to figure out why.

That has been my experience with moose. I figured they are so large that they need all that their lungs can provide them for oxygen. If you punch them nicely in the lungs they mostly will stand and then topple without taking more than a couple steps.

Moose die much easier than elk; I never have been able to figure out why.[/quote]
That has been my experience with moose. I figured they are so large that they need all that their lungs can provide them for oxygen. If you punch them nicely in the lungs they mostly will stand and then topple without taking more than a couple steps.[/quote]


Interesting point, but I think it would make sense.

more like the fear and flight response differences with those two animals.
Thanks for the northern up-date

If you want a moose to drop in its tracks, try the hump shot. It's a guaranteed bang/flop. I've had them move a bit with lung shots, not ideal if they are standing near water.

https://youtube.com/shorts/X_wnbk_P-wQ?feature=share

I stand behind the head shot 100%
It’s like pressing the off button.

X2

Works on every animal I ever used it on... Except when I had some bad 22 lr ammo years ago, shot several cats with it that just knocked them out. It is always interesting when you pack out a bobcat over your shoulder and throw it down when you get to the rig and it jumps up.

Cool you make shorts now!!

Good morning. I was out on Tuesday to set a few traps. I hung 36 marten boxes and set 3 wolverine boxes as well. When I limbed this tree I was thinking how nice it’s going to look to see a marten hanging by the trail. Didn’t have to wait long as I had my first of the year on the way back to the truck. 5 o’clock can’t come soon enough. Looking forward to checking the start of the line after about a 48 hour sit. I’ve got 16 more boxes baited and ready to go.

That is a pretty sight! Hope you have a bunch of tight chains on your run
!

Great start to your season, good luck out there!

Living the life and doing it all with my boy by my side

Good deal on making the memories Congrats on the critters and TY for sharing!

Ryan as always it's great to see the mixed bag of animals you catch ! Bobby has a great teacher and the two of you are making memories that he'll some day tell his grandkids !

Keep up the good work and Stay Safe out there !

Looks like a good time!

Good to see you out there with your son, good luck this season!

Thanks for posting up the pics and for narrating them as well.

These trapping update threads are something that I look forward to reading and yours is one of the top ones (they're all good though).

Cheers

Yes as cocon posted you sure have a talent with camera and words. Thank you for sharing what a double senior can no longer do!

Will you be selling the marten, Ryan? Where will you sell if you do?

Thanks all. I’ll be sending to FHA like always. I did ok there last season with my marten. Same with the handful of lynx I sent out.

https://youtube.com/shorts/neDW9Hh5YV0?feature=share

Bobby driving us home with a load of caribou. We had a medical emergency with my grandpa in the middle of nowhere the day before the video was taken. We had to drop everything and race over 2 hours to town. Luckily I have my advanced wilderness first aid. I was able to revive him twice before all 3 of us were forced to jump on one machine and b line for town. He’s ok now but I sure thought we lost him that day.
Me and Bobby along with a couple of our friends went back the next day to pick up everything we left. Glad I didn’t inherit granddaddy’s gun just yet. I’m Still struggling to sleep since it happened. Looking forward to checking 130+ traps this weekend though.

My boy. Already great under pressure. He was on the ball and really understood the seriousness of the situation. Helped me a lot to get grandpa back to town. I told him to hang on and don’t get sleepy as we evacuated the area. He said “GO! Don’t worry about me” before he got on and held tight for the long stressful ride to town. I took this picture a couple weeks ago when we set the tent. We hadn’t put the floor in yet but he was so happy to “just be sitting in a tent best place to be” in his own words. I’d already take my boy as a partner over most adults.

Crazy the stuff that goes through your head in those situations. I’ve never been one to panic and it sure served me well that day. My plan and my “find a way or give up” outlook comes directly for his lessons to me as a kid. Once I had a plan my own experience took over.

Good to hear Gramps made it and is OK.
There are a lot of worse places to check out than out in the bush on a trapline though.

That’s my preferred way to go.

I'm glad Grandpa is still hanging in there and that Bobby is a real top hand in the making !

I saw that video on social media.

Glad to hear that your grandpa is okay and tell Bobby that I admire his strengths and talents - he is an impressive young man from what you've shared with us.

Glad you got him out ok, sounds like a stressful deal.

Glad Grandpa made it out, sounds like you had good help.

Busy as always.

Mine is by jealous husband.
I don’t want to be guilty, I just want my street cred....

Darn nice pictures as always Ryan ! I can't get over how big Bobby is getting the two of you are having a great trapping season !
I hope you're grandpa is doing well !
Allan

Bobby is getting it done!

New addition to the family. JAX McLeod. Very Smart German shepherd


My cousin Bam dropped him off when I was on the trapline. Got home at 330 am to this little guy. He’s in for some good adventures

Darn nice looking pup Ryan !

Cute pup Ryan.

Let's Go Brandon's pup that he gave to Ryan.

Put your good boots up high ! With training the pup can be a useful tool on the line and other times as well .

Signing out guys.

Edge_x500@yahoo.ca of you want to check in on me.

My pictures always end up on NT Hunting stories of the day on facebook as well.

Take care and be nice to one another.

I well understand about the postings Ryan.
Wish you well in the future and
Merry Christmas !

Good luck and may you have all good times. You will be greatly missed!!!

So sorry to hear your leaving Ryan I have enjoyed your posts more than anything here on
Trapperman! Following you has given me a glimps of what i have always dreamed of God Bless

You have the best journal on T-man Ryan,especially including the kids.
Merry Christmas to You and your Family,Ryan.

X2 what Boco said. Very best Ryan.

X3 always read your posts first, will miss the pictures and stories.

Merry Xmas Ryan and family. I'm casting a vote for you to stay.

Hate to see you go. Really enjoyed your posts and pics.

Ryan ,I have really enjoyed your adventures you have shared with Trapperman . I hope you will continue to post as your time allows . Blessings to you and yours . smith

Loved your posts and watching your kids grow. My best to you and yours, you will be missed.

just in case ANYONE missed this post
Best of Luck Ryan and your family