An Arctic View

miis adventure

2011-02-05T23:53:00.000-08:00

2010-12-13T20:53:00.000-08:00

When ever a politician picks up a gun, I am concernd.

Candidates posing in Duck blinds, Vice Presidents shooting their staff in the head, Bush allowing the "assault weapons ban" sunset, .........well that tool they either admire, like myself , or despise and wish to take away from you and I.....well that IS important, because in this great land, we have no "Right" in the Constitution to hunt, simply the Right to Bear Arms.

In a Hunting forum thread, Sara Palin was the topic, and her use of Firearms was commented apon along with opinions on her as well. Nothin' wrong with that, for SURE..

If Political Correctness is picking up a turd from the clean end, then all politicians are Turds in my view, and are open to discussion, disgust, and disregard as needed........even disemboweling if it wold keep 'em honest (someday )

Im no "Tea Party" type, but I do give Kudo's to Sara Palin, the First Woman Politician who, on TV has shown the masses a legitimate use of a firearm without agenda or pulling up fake stats to 'prove' we cant be trusted , or someone getting shot in the process.
Hillary made apassing comment (actually a Lie, 'cause the politician spoke) about Duck hunting, but Im sure it was beyond her control, if it ever happend at all.....

Hey, if a Politician wants to hunt and shoot on TV, Im all for it, but there ARE Public people, and personal comments do go with opinions on how Polit's hunt and use their firearms, 'cause were dealing with Snakes of sorts here, and as in any arena, actions speak louder than words..........Go Sara, Go!..... whatever your evil political agenda may be

I will defend, to the Death, her Right to Bear Arms.....I will defend her hunting, it is "Alaska" for what thats worth....I am impressed, but I aint voting for her either......

Its a Free Country, and I reserve my Right to Be Politically Incorrect

And then theres this, an excellent poem , by Eskimo Unkown......

I think over again my small adventures,
My fears,
Those small ones that seemed so big,
For all the vital things
I had to get and to reach;
And yet there is only one great thing,
The only thing,
To live to see the great day that dawns
And the light that fills the world.

Anonymous (Inuit, 19th century)

That was just too cool not to post........

Getting Ink done.....

Then , too , the wife has been at it, with a Ribbon Seal.

2010-11-29T21:07:00.001-08:00

Took a ride this afternoon on the ol' Bearcat, mostly hunting wood, but while tossing logs down to the snowgo on the river below, a bunch of Caribou appeard WAAAAAAAAAAYYYYYYY down river, but after a 1/2 hour or so were apon us

Being above and in willows, they walked on by, and I sized up three fat ones for "us", though I dropped only two (only I brought a rifle) at about 50 feet, splatting brains on snow, The rest buched up and ran after the second shot, so that was that.

2 was good, but took one home and the other 2 guys out wooding split the other,(we met by chance at the same trees, and decided to work three loads together) so I came out ahead.....seeing how I was still clearing branches, Koonuk was packing logs, so Mike took care of the "meats", but not quite the way I do them....oh well, he did the work, left in the liver, heart and tongue as well as leaving the skin on......(I skin 'em right away n Winter ,if possible) But I'm not coomplaining, I came home to Sheefish and rice anyway

The camera has a nasty shadow and the batteries sukk outside at -21.......so I stepped back and took this with my photo camera in my front room ~~LOL!!~~

Hard Water Fishing

2010-11-05T00:55:00.000-07:00

Well Hello.....
Been awhile, But Ive been busy, in Kotzebue for a week, and helping where I can around Noorvik. THis time of year, theres good reason to stay inside , if you can, as this is our season of thin ice and schools of Whitefish, wood gathering and intermittent Caribou hunting, but plenty dangerous yet rewarding if your carefull.
A friend of ours went off into the water on his fourwheeler, but his body has been found, after two weeks, nearly a miracle itsself. Thats put a somber mood about town.

On a different note, no Chainsaw, damn it, got a refund 'cause the company dosent ship to Alaska.... they coulda told me a month ago when we called and order'd and paid for the frikkin' thing............ so we've been axin and keeping up on the heat, just gotta re order one else where. Been thinking of something with a 24 inch bar allright, near 700$, though, so its a consideration , not a plan, yet.

Lincoln said "he who chops his own wood warms himself twice"....but he didnt live in the Arctic, either...LOL! Im glad the broinlaw and wife are Ax swingin' Eskimo's, and we do well.

Were using Snowmachines again, but waiting for the ice to thicken more before we travel far or alone, or get heavy loads, but the cold is here and getting colder -0- already at nights.

This is us getting across the fresh ice a couple weeks ago.
This is a dangerous time of year and a great many folks get killed between October and January when the deepest cold sets in. Especially then, getting wet is often death.

A Walking Seal clubbed and given away

Caribou hides Ive been scraping, from all the Caribou I got this summer. Maby a new Parkee or two....

Heres an Ice net being made, to suspend under the ice for Whitefish, schooled up and full of Eggs.

Starts with mesh, twine, ropes and weights, but the wifes recycling an old leadline, and adding a few bits of lead along the bottom for Xtra weight.
When the net was done, we streched it out and plotted our holes, with the two furthest being large and permanent , the small ones every 10 or so feet were for passing the rope along under the ice. Passing the rope from pole to hook'd pole and brought up and repeated untill the rope has been passed from and to both end holes.
Nets are then passed under by pulling the rope and feeding in the net. Weights are used to hold the net down and not float up against the ice, haveing the net get frozen in, a bad thing....

The wood that is passed through the hole is there to keep anyone (me) from chopping the rope while chopping the hole clear of ice each day, and cutting such would be spelling disaster or a hella lotta work... But the rewards this yerar have been very good......130 + a day for two weeks now, with the largest amount today, in a slowly climbing , ever larger Numbers every day... well, today was 196.
freeking SWEET !!! Got some "food security" till spring if need be.

Dividends

2010-10-10T15:43:00.001-07:00

Alaska Permenant Fund Dividends this year are 1,281$ this year,and mine is in my pocket, beeen there almost 24 hours now and gettin' HOT.
There payed out yearly to each and every Alaskan as "Profit share" sorta with the State of Alaska.
There are disqualifyers out there, so theres a few folks without, and you have to be in the state 1 full year before you can even apply for one...

Its $$ I always have spent bettering my life through the use of Firearms and discharging them at every chance.. I do the same with my tax returns, usually getting shotgun shells at that time of the year, and upping my ammo stache on the side.
Might just be .22lR this year in bulk, well see...
I kinda stick with Hunting on this blog, but this is sorta relating to hunting anyhoo......
Crapola is that today is Sunday, tomarrow is Columbus Day and it aint till Tuesday at the earliest that I can stop this Burning Sensation....~~LOL!!~~

Fall Fat Hunt hard water...

2010-10-01T22:19:00.000-07:00

Agnes cruzing the ice free river...

Took a bit of a campout this last week to tie up our Fall.
besides the Caribou we caught a couple weeks ago, we put out an 'extra speciall Kiss Kiss' hunt to kick off the new Hunting Seasson, you know ,the one that followed Yesterday...

A Cousin, Alex, the Broinlaw Joe, a friend and camera man, Mike Z and myself started the day as normal, getting into a loaded boat.....

So, upriver we went, merrily cruizing witha load or gas, tenting and guys, up for the first night while the wife and daughters brought up the rear, a day behind us, overnighting at her sister Nita's in Kiana and visiting around.

We waited for Caribou to come down the hills to their Doom while crossing the river, but they were having none of it. Temps have plunged the river into solidifycation, one piece of ice at a time, and growing.
With Bino's and scopes, people at Kiana village watched a herd of maby 500 decend to the river valley , only to turn and go right back up again, and to join up with another group, all awaiting 'Something"....

We waited two days, and with the arrival of the girls, who enlarged and normalized the camp as a Butchering sight for a good ammount of Meats,we still waited... but the meats refused to decend....... and no new sucess's anywhere below the hovering Caribou, we told the ladies "Later!!" and burned our way further up, tward Kobuk sand Dunes and Caribou Bulls.
For two days we had seen Caribou closely, but all were dead and in boats headed down, So we made a plan to not return untill we were done in one form or the other.....

We gassed and went, while promising that everything would be OK if we didnt return that night , and after a spell of winding driving, we had crossing Bull Caribou shot by boats infront of us, hundred's of heads lining the river, lungs floating by and with two hours of light left ........and a group of 50 headed out to swim.......

We drove very slowly, as they meanderd about 500 yards ahead, the lead Cow splashing, HUGE Bulls flowing, all Prime, Fat, unrutted prizes of taste and nutrition, walkin out when all hell broke loose, the band reversed as one and like water spilling over a table went up and dissapered into the bushes a few yards North.

Around the corner came two boats adrift, who had seen the Caribou and only later, Us. Actually turned out to be the next door neighbor and crew, and when we talked it over, they kindly apologized a bit and we told 'em "You couldnt know" and we all laughed.....as we had not seen each other untill the Caribou were gone anyway.

Then we decided to build a fire and stay the night.
We shot a crossing Bull and ate to our fill with meat over the fire and heart-tounge soup and broth to drink.
Slept out in the open , in the lower twentys as the river grew louder and louder through the night, when ever growing pans of ice crashed and heaved into each other in the rivers flow......
After a night of sleeping on bare frozen, rockhard sand we awoke to a foggy solidily frozen river, about 1/2 an inch thick....several inches where it had plied and frozen.....

We were lucky in having a tin boat and a powerfull motor and we wasted no time getting ready to leave after coffee and a meaty breakfast.
We watched several Caribou , in small and large groups approach to cross, but all turned back after testing the ice with their hooves.
We crossed the river and made our meat with the MosinNagant. Not the way we wanted, but the way we had too. Coulda' piled up the body's all right, but not this time, with any certainty of returning for more loads.....
We were under Caribou supervision constantly as group after group approached and skirted us as we made quick work of the meats.
We limited our catch to two Fat bulls, which were in the boat and busting ice within the hour. We knew we were gonna be busting ice and a wasting gas by the bucket, and since nature delt the hand, we played it safe and folded.
We spent the next 5 hours crashing, smashin', busting ice untill were were free about 5 miles upriver from the ladies.
We pulled up, hoping they had been lucky, but they were packed and loading, Caribou less and a note on a Steak telling us to get the Hell outta Dodge, as the wife "knows".....

We busted Ice to Kiana, burning burning, burning gas as we barged on down, hardly finding a gap to make plane with.
Left one boat and took a big load down, our plan was to avoid any further 12$ a gallon purchase's and return with gas, but the next morning the wife was given ten and she, with a load of Girls and the bro, Joe, came on down them selfs, and we met them not quite 1/2 ways....all was well.

The ****ed up part is that Mike Z , with 70+ excellent pictures of this small hunt cannot find his camera......**** **** PISS!!!! ya, those astricts cant even describe how we collectivly felt...

"But" the oldest Daughter did snap some from her cell.......and I in my UNJ Tee shirt..~~LOL!!~~ You can see some of the ice behind me, around the boat.....

Got some good ones of the girls, round the fire and in the leanto.

Some artifacts I found.
The top one is a net making gauge, so you can tie uniform mesh's and a little Marlin spike on the tip to slip and loosen any knots.
The bottom antler spear tip is missing its tip that would have held a small point. These were loaded into an antled socket'd end of a shaft and speared into swimming Caribou , just behind the ribs, through the liver, and the shaft was reloaded to dispatch more Caribou.This was done as a stone lance can snap its blade and be worthless. Steel changed that.
The spear tip has small lines of ownership 'marks" so every one knew who's Caribou it belonged to when they were floated to the shore during community hunts at these crossing spots, every fall for thousands of years.
My camera has a bad shade that is sometimes 1/2 the picture.......sorry bout that, I took it when I got home, that's why I left it behind anyhoo....~~LOL!!~~

Fall is here

2010-09-22T17:18:00.000-07:00

Well, Fall is here. Weve had out first freeze up and things change when that happens. Its sure to fluctuate, but the temps will get the Caribou moving and the berry picking will end....so does picking the last of the greens out there till next June.
Time to blast Ducks and Geese too, before they are gone till next May, as well , gotta get ready to set nets under the ice as usuall.
The wife and son might get a couple more Seals after the river freezes, and park the boat down at Kotzebue till Spring. The Second Son is in Kotz getting in some schooling, and hes an expert spear chucker.
Were ready for Caribou now, were outta here for a few days soon as a pard shows up tomarrow and the kids get a couple days off from formal education.

Well, in the last couple weeks , weve been busey, making food, $$ and paying bills....and yet another month looms ~~LOL!!~~

The youngest daughter Qutan, recived a nicely reduced insize .22LR Marlin Youth rifle for her 5th B-day

Yours truly sitting for hour apon hour.......~~LOL!!~~ we took quite a load home that day

Fat Caribou ass ......yummy!
Three Hardcoe Berry pickin' women....Mom, Daughter, Cousin Cora
Sorting out the bad ones
Mammoth bonz and Ivory scraps.....
Sewing $$$

Wolf Ruffs
There wood to hunt......me and teh bro inlaw stalked and killed.....got lots more to do yet too...... Its a long winter, and what we cant boat home we can sled home after it freezes.

Executioner and the Guilty

Sunny day

2010-09-09T22:39:00.000-07:00

A great day with no rain.

Traded and came up with gas, prop a babysitter and time to go.......no thrust washer yet, well wait till tomarrow morning but were good to get moving again, inna morning.

Tryed and tested.....lets hope it keeps working :D

And ,of course, theres "Stuffs" to make and get ready for winter with.

The ladys are busy tanning while were around, but not for long........

Rainy Days

2010-09-03T23:50:00.000-07:00

The Oldest Daughter, Tinmiaq, has been thinking to up and fly away.
Currently shes decided to pass the weekend making crafts to sell, while it pours outside, and we stay in, and keep the nets out as the high water makes hell snaggin' junk that nets love soooo much...
Shes got a couple three Wolves to wack and sew, if she's serious, and just before Winter too, I bet she sells 'em quick.
Anyway, she seems to have made a couple, and looks to get 250$ to 300$ each at get airfare to move to my Mom in SE Ak....... and school there.

Carol plucking Ducks, liking it or not.....
A Scrim Agnes made a couple days ago, with some Ivory we got this summer. Traded this to a Teacher, who sent for outboardparts, a great trade.
Heres Tin making her Ruffs, Figured I d try to load a short clip. Hope it works....

Fish n Caribou

2010-08-31T00:53:00.000-07:00

Well, shuks, I cant get the vid to take......Fact is we have Caribou, and 400,000 following in this Herd alone.
The Western Arctic Caribou Herd WACH is awsome, and its comming to this village SOON.

Hopefully Ill get back in motion with a resupply of parts we traded a scrimshaw for , to a taecher 'round here.
Caribou are southbound, and comming through at the end of this month , but for now the lead Cows are blazing trails that others will follow, and I will hunt..... a huge hunt I cant wait for , so the bro inlaw and I are building storage racks outside in anticipation...........
I just love the intense, quick, high yeild hunt that plays out like it has for thousands of years......

Nets kept us fed, and with variety.
Itook some cool vids boating and checking net.......I gotta make smaller vids, like a minute or so....maby I make them too long? The net checking was cool, Carol filmed with her 8 year old comments and all ~~LOL!!~~ Ill see if I can edit them down to smaller segments next time, as I guess thats the problem here......

Boiled Whitefish with eggs and innerd's
fryed Tiktallik
Yours truly facing an 11pm sun.........

Been fishing and moving about, mostly spotting and killing a few trees (They run so fast) for firewoods for winter. Just gotta hope some other fellas don't get to end first.
Dry standing , they will be great to go at the end of November when the ice is thick enough.
The prop tooka dump by disentigrating the thrush washer and eating into my driveshaft holder. ~~LOL!!~~ More parts....

Thinking about it, I need a chainsaw. All this ax work is for young men..........

Kinda interesting when this happens...

2010-08-20T20:02:00.001-07:00

So the wife has sewn many things, often parkas and odd stuff.

Heres a couple examples;
This ones for little girls a picture taken while it was under construction.
Grown woman with Seal skin pants and Seal boots, Caribou Parkee.

The oldest sons Caribou parkee with Polar Bear trim and a snow cover. Also has Arctic Fox mittens. Little Hunters best gear.

Tinmiaq, our oldest daughter when she was about 6, in her Caribou Fawn Parkee at our little red house. It had rather dark hood sides and chest gores, but she haddent many white bellys to use for some reason that year, so she used a darker belly. Still looked good.

That same Caribou Fawn Parkee in the Smithsonian Collection, in the Arctic Studies Display on loan to the Anchorage Museum...................

Pretty cool when something like that happens, thought I'd share.

Yes!! Vids again.....

2010-08-18T23:35:00.000-07:00

Yes, we have Vid ........

Soooooo, to test such equipment one must go to the feild, which for us was across the river to clean and repair our racks for Salmon soon again, when the weather cools and the rain ceases.

Papa cleaned up the maggots from a string of fish heads that had been dryed as dog food, and had been dragged under the rack to be eaten. In the last two days something had helped itself to the rancid seal oil and fishheads/backbones that were stored there. Yukkkkkk..........

The wifes Uncle passed away, and shes gearing up for that. Lots to do, many to visit with, eat with and mourn. It takes days.

I'm glad I didnt break any long bones, as both times I have, My arm, then my ribs, my friend Paul arrives for a stay and more relatives die...No, just kidding, but then again, not....!!( I need a smile face a winking here ~~LOL!!~~)

The fact is ,besides studing the weirdness of the emotional Arctic, he did some digging while here, an Arctic Death tradition, 'cause someones gonna dig yer grave someday, for you..........I wonder where he is......Irishman? You best come around again.........someday.......eh?

So , being as I spent the day about the house and the kids in school, I got the youngers in the boat as soon as they escaped the confines of the school. Was easy though, I just told one to meet me there and the others follow'd ~~LOL!!~~

Ended up that my thrmostat is tits up and Im in the market for another. I just unwrenched it and rode without, and I really rode, as the second oldest daughter is our official driver now, and fast learning the fishing/travling trade. Good for me, I can watch 1,000% better when Im riding, not driving... Seems she preferrs it to after school activitys that the other kids do, sports and such, and thats probly better in the long run.

The Motor sooon hummed and we brought a rifle to get a Moose or Caribou, but saw neither, just a big ol' Wolf rather suddenly, trotting off the sandbar to the willows as we came around the bend, returning to Noorvik.

Pretty cool when we see them in summer, all slim and no good coat, just sleek and muscled.

Cant wait till November to trak him down.

No fish in the net either , on our way back home, but theres tomarrow.......

Twitching fresh Salmon.......Yep.

Odd shots

2010-08-17T03:49:00.000-07:00

Got a camera up and going, yes, I'm scamming the kids, but what the heck, they're in school again...........and I can take vids, now that I'm home, with a bigger 2gig card, insted of the 32 bit it came with.
So ,out of general curiosity, I tookalook at the pix on the card and there were some I took, and some others took, yet unseen.
Cameras die in my possesion, its sad.
Oddly enough there are pix taken this summer so I posted the unblurred

Just in time, Im thinking~~LOL!!~~

Heres one with a couple Caribou back straps, as we remove them from the carcass, and then seperate the sinew from the meats by pushing off the meat with the back side of the knife. Good clean seperation, leaving pure meat from the loins and sinew to use.

Whitefish and a few Pike, musta been a nice day.

One of many~~LOL!!~~theis one was packed out on my back and the willows are used to tie the front and back legs as hand holds

A VERY nice Oogruk. Probly about 700 lbs, and 1/2 was the weight of the blubber alone. Partner Chuck there, and friend Jeremy too.

The oil is tasty and the skin is to become another canvas for the wife. Its currently taking up space on the skin strecher at the shop, getting soaked in dawn dishsoap, so we can remove the deepest oils and tan it proper White.

This was at the beginning of July.

Me myself and my rifle on one of our many sunny hot days this Summer.

My bro inlaw took some of these, others were the kids. But still a bit here and a bit there, it keeps us fed. The wife will get into serious fishing soon, as she puts up fish during the cool insect free evenings and the fish dry well enough to be insect proof.

Yep, were sliding into Fall and things are changing, especcially with Darkness coming on, the colors about the land are most noticable in veiw.

Fall storm time is comming too, with beach erosion watches tonight and tomarrow, Fishing for Mammoth will be a good prospect soon. Fall Moose and Caribou are always at hand as well, I need to strech out the legs a bit and walk some mud.......Hopefully the wife will return soon so we can go~~LOL!!~~ Nawww, The winds gotta die so I can go to Her....

Yaaaaaa...........

2010-08-14T01:14:00.000-07:00

Hey, how ya been?

Well as far as I know, Im doing fine.
Been in Kotzebue a few days, getting into a training session on Volenteer Firefighter recruitment and retention class as we form a better Fire department at home.
Earlier this year, our Chief went for training and procured a "Code red" box,with fire repression tank and a cart that is heated and usable in mid winter as a first assault untill we can rig something up off the city water pipes that run above ground, but have points where we can attach hoses, if the match one of three sizes or attaching clasp/threads. Thats a mess were gonna get changed to a uniform size with adapters so the City can flush with their equipment.
As well, our Chief on this round scooped up more equipment from our Borough.

I spent a further day in meetings as I am on our Borough disaster planning commision, and over the last 1/2 a year this has tied in very well to what Im doing at home with the Fire dept., so I have a better idea how to accomplish it. As well, our Safety Officer is our Search and Rescue prez, and thats a most excellent way to get us all working together.
Next round were gonna have a "Who is in charge here" training.
We figured out that as Chief, Jeff is in charge of all 'Normal' fires, and I being Vice Chief, an involved when its a fire concerning prostitution, extortion, gambling Marijuana Grows or bootlegging. ~~LOL!!!~~
Were actually getting somewhere though and its one of my "Hobbies"

Beside that, the wife is a "Postal Relief" in the region, filling in when desperatly needed. Most Posts are one person affairs, so if a lady busts a leg, often the wife is on the next flight. Not all the time, but every few months of a week or two here or there, rather random and unexpected. Well Kotzebue went from 5 to two, with the wife now as one of those two. Lotta sorting work there, paperwork, front desk.......
This is the "Hub" and all mail gos through here (Im in Kotzebue~~LOL!!~~) and gets distributed among the 9 villages in this vast region.
Were beyond the end of the road.

Put 1+1 and got 1 running 4 stroke Honda 15 hrs. Finnallllllllllllllllyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!

So if I dont blow it up or burn it down, I'll get along well and though slow, definitly better than walking!

fishing wise, I called home today and they are still fishing. Theres been a death, so they put out the net they took out ysterday so the fish can go to the incomming familys who attend the funeral. Most right now are being dry'd for dog food for this winter.

Been knocking off a few Caribou myself, as the skins are prime now for clothing. 6 over the last couple weeks, though we've had to fight mold with the dry'd meat because of the rain and damp foggy weather.
With our lack of snow cover, and the heat of the year, plants have had a great grow season. Big leaves, plenty of Onions, Sourdox and Blueberrys ripening early with rains (weather I like 'em or not) , man this is an easy summer.
I'm liking it.....besides, it was this time last year I over the pain of a right broken arm, and am I greatful that I'm healthy.
I really, badly, super badly wanted to hunt Musk ox, but the winds, waves kept me back and after calling the oldest son its apparent that rut is coming on 'cause he smelled it in the air among the Ox as well as a couple hunters who had bagged 'spiced' Ox. His box of meats to the home was good enough , and it took out the "bummer" and just had me put it off till winter. ~~LOL!!~~ Jan 1st isnt that far any way, we used to wait until March15th.

So maby I'll get a Moose...maby....The wife has the freezer full of Berries and not much room for meat, so we have to think of drying that as well. I do tire of dry'd meats, but with all the heat we've had, (I swear its the second hot as hell summer inna row) we know our berrys would spoil between the two. So dry the meat ~~LOL!!~~ Maby smoke the Moose.?????

Ducks are flying again, their new feathers are working and very soon, the young Geese of the year will be flying slow low and curious, fat from the Summer and they are what we call "Flying Drumsticks" because untill now they have been walking all their lives.
Might have to chase the massed male Ocean Ducks soon, if the weather calms.This Kotzebue is a good place to work out of , along the ocean, and plenty of Caribou skirt the ocean shores too.

Well, I gotta go, things are getting "interesting" and hopefully I come into possession of a camera before the next post.

Berry delicious...

2010-07-26T02:19:00.000-07:00

Been a good year for Berrys
Old folks this way predicted such with the low ammount of snow we had, saying it was gonna be great for Berrys, and so it is....
Spent a few days around the house, doing this and that, and a few days back I stumbled apon 1 ripe 'Ukpk' also known as Salmon Berrys.
They look alot like Salmon roe I guess.....
Three days ago was a 7 gallon day, yeasterday 9, today she gave away what she had to spare to an elder brother and the kids gave some to friends who were leaving town.

Freezer ready bags are the way to go, as these women fill their backpacks, and keep the mess less.
Now to top off buckets with 'em and bury the buckets inna cold celler, after a solid freezing inturn , in the freezer.......

Anyway, as we usually reside by the coast in summer it was a plaeasnt suprize to get them a almost two weeks earlier than were used too, and to boot, all this rain and the sun dipping below the horizon again, its truly berry time.

Ukpiks
Something we dont get on teh coast, Raspberrys

My Singsong Carol, the Berry patch devastator.

Now were gonna have meat problems. The wife aint got enough freezer room, so the dry stuff as wella s the raw stff is comming out to be dryed up and forgotten~~LOL!!~~That box of Blubber has to be eaten soon, too........

I , for one need fresh meat, so I guess were gonna have to hunt somemore......

Mixed berrys the Little Ones Picked

Our diet will be happy with purple foods, full of vitamin C as well as some fibers and other particals our bodys burn, damn good, if I say so myself.

They are great tea and desserts as well as getting added to other stuff and garnishing foodsall winter, I like 'em plain.

Organic I think?

Hey! You notice I have a camera??Pulled it out today! ~~LOL!!~~ A big old bulky thing with crappy megapixless, but itll due till I get another. That last Kodak was pricey, so who knows......

Trapesing about and Salmon

2010-07-15T17:08:00.000-07:00

Hey!

How are ya?
Well, Ive been a trapesing about, though I am now cameraless once again, seems I left it somewhere, so I cant blame anyone but myself~~LOL!!~~ I do have a few things captured on a friends phone camera, but I gotta figure how to get 'em on the computer. These are old.

Went "Coasting" (actually alotta walking)and pulled up a bunch of bones to dry and retrive later this summer. Some Mammoth ivory, but nothing major as the snow was still a clinging to most of the frozen mud.
Thats changing daily and were destined to go back again, as well Caribou hunting has been good too, but yet we are outr for much more :D

The Salmon Berries are ripening, and the wife came home with a bunch last night, though it was "Hunting" not picking as the vvast majority are not yet ripe. Soon it'll be Blue berries too.

Salmon have showed up and were putting out out net tonight as they seem to be on everyones mind for fresh food.

My minds on August with Muskox season, Moose season, Caribou are prime for pelts and dry meats as well as time to move my firewoods home............

well, Hopefully I'll get some picts next time, but I will keep a writing a bit .

Regards!!!

2010-06-17T02:34:00.000-07:00

Besides Hunting and Fishing, we have to get out and "Gather" as well.

Beside Fire Wood, Antlers, Horns and Fur , we gotta get out and get the raw materials that the ocean has to offer. Often its beach washed Mammoth, that are in the very shallow sands and mud slew from tahwing sloughing Permafrost that is sluiced and sorted by the waves. Storm action and a nice calm can really be productive when looking for ivory or bones for carving.
Spruce Roots, carving wood, and poles are good to get right now , washed up along the beach. Sometimes a dead Seal can have its skin salvaged or a Walrus have its head and flippers removed while it bobs in the Ocean. Dead Whales are best left alone, and followed as each tide and wind move the body. When a big blow hits with a big tide, it'll beach the Whales carcass and you take note for a later day.

Prospecting gold is a hobby too, and a few peices have hit our hands , but not enough to make it more than a hobbie. Antiques and crashed planes are cool as well, when we cros paths.

Of course I dont have photos of this comming summer, but to get a good idea, heres a few from the past, before I had reliable picture takeing capabilitys with digitals.

Staying in our own little huts is always fun.

Found all this gold as well, a nice place to work if theres gas and time, something I'm short of this year, but theres gold in those hills. This is a 1-1/2 oz nugget.

The nuggets on the bracelettt were panned mostly by the kids, as we had a friend who was a miner and well connected in the jewlrey biz, I had them make a big ol' Silver bracelett .

The second Son returning to the boat from a long hunt across the ice, while I hunted Sea Ducks and Trout fished a couple mile from their stalkings...

Mammoth Teeth

NICE tooth

A days gatherings of Mammoth bones, a Muskox skull, whale parts, ect, all from the Ocean...

Everybody enjoying the ride with the front half of lunch still in the skin to protect the meat from sand.

A washup"Stinker" that we took the head from.

Mammoth from the beachcombing.

Using your feet is a smart way to be looking for tusks in the low tide muds, it's rather productive....

One side'd score.....

Well with luck in art sales for gas $$$, a junk motor to push the boat along . If the motor quits, well rig a sail and keep on going~~LOL!!~~and with a vast open water ahead, were plowing tward a good July of beach combing. The end results are always worth the efforts, and when we return, Caribou Hunting, Berrys, Salmon Fishing, Greens Pickings and school for the kids await us here in Noorvik.

Hope you enjoy'd the pix, and as I'll yet be around for another week, Ive got lots to do, and gas to gather for this winter, when we take most of the gatherings and make arts and crafts to sell....for more gas , and all the toil it brings........~~LOL!!~~

BOON & CROCKETT, Baby!!

2010-06-09T20:30:00.001-07:00

Yep, We had a Fish and Game Trooper come and measure today. The Skull is 24 7/16ths for "Grizzly" as that , evidently, is what Roams the North of Alaska.

I dont know how much it scored in B&C but the trooper knows his stuff, as Ive seen over the years. I looked up B&C boone-crockett.org and found that the mesurement leads to "24" all Time"

The alaska Trooper was not an official measure'r for B&C but I'm likeing the idea that B&C call it "All Time", (What ever that means....anybody know waht that means??) as any skull over 24 inches sq. on a Grizz skull is called that "All time" I wonder if its a "top 100" list or something.....

He measured, remasured and made sure it was meat free and such.......so its not "Official" record wise, but thats the size the state wants to know.

"DAMN!!" was 'bout all I could say about it all........

Not bad for the Wifes first Bear.

Whitefish roast.

2010-06-07T20:14:00.000-07:00

Before you can have Roast Whitfish, you must first have Whitefish........

Save the Good innards and clean.

Then they are oven ready.

2010-06-07T01:14:00.000-07:00

Sneaky Moose are a lurking..........

Fisherwomans cooking fire..........

Partners Agnes and Cora with their temp rack, which will be the basis of an extensive drying rack.

We often use temperary racks when we move about, but these are across the Kobuk from Noorvik among dozens of others. No dust, no theft, no loose dogs, and a good days work can make lotsa food.

This will be there Spring and summers fishing catch.

Pike and Sheefish landed........

Sunday dinner for the 14 of us.
We ate the Trout they caught yesterday fried for lunch.

Good food for energy, so tomarrow can be as good a day with the racks being done with a few poles more and a fish cutting table too.....might have to bring the dogs over as well....~~LOL!!~

Setting net

2010-06-05T21:16:00.000-07:00

Fishing has begun, heres the wife and her fishing partner Cora at it again.

They put out a net yesterday and had some luck, but no camera.

With the way things have gone and the way e=were going, were most likely to stay fairly close to the village this summer, as we have many improvments to make and stuff to get done around here to improve our lives. It's all for the good, and so were gear'd down to this place anyway, and the kids had fun here last summer.

Still gotta go get the food, chase the animals and do our thing.........

Weve made a place across the river and plan a good expansion, as soon as we get more poles. The wives Pard has a old tired 30 hrs, and the wife a motorless boat, so its good enough to check net and paddle when nessarry back and forth across the river.

All the daughters want to follow and work, I just want to drive around chopping poles, getting firewood and building her a nice place to dry fish for us, trade and dogfood.

The oldest daughter , Tinmiaq, has returned home from training and has a week before shes gone to work in Kotzebue for the summer, unless the Maniilaq association finds her a job in Noorvik.

Shes 16 and all is well .

Tin is skinning a Loon found in the net they set last night. Sometimes we get a Muskrat , or a diving bird . Not often, but since we dont hunt diving ducks, they are rare to our hands, and have extreamly tough skins, tough enough to make socks and bags out of, especially if they have no bullet holes in 'em. My wife has made me shell bags for bullets and bags for other stuff.

Its a large mesh'd net, for Salmon, but good for Sheefish. Were expecting Sheefish to migrate through and they got 3 today as well as a huge trout. Too bad we didnt have a camera untill Tin came home, but at least I can post current stuff.

The net they are setting is for the Whitefish that are passing through. A much smaller mesh to target them with, as they swim along the surface.

2010-05-30T20:25:00.000-07:00

Heres some more vids from the cards, before I killed the camera..

Agnes took the girls to the Dentist and returned home to a Tundra fire

Then the river gave way.........

2010-05-30T19:21:00.000-07:00

2010-05-26T02:48:00.000-07:00

Hey!

Been recovering many a thing I lost when we had the boat pushed under by ice during the breakup of Kobuk River.

Anyway, untill I get another camera, Im giving you these to watch. I recoverd the boat well enough after the flood went down, and Ive partnerd up with a fellow hunter who has no boat but a has a 30 hrs, so Im moving about 1/2 time ~~LOL!!~~

These were on the SD card, so here they are.......

Shooting Rabbits in the willows for dinner

Shooting a Fox, who flipped off the rocks to expire below.....

Getting outta town.........

Getting Ink Done

2010-05-17T03:25:00.000-07:00

Getting Ink done.

The wifes been at a bit of an "Artist's Block" when weve been home, but now has it figured.....at least it looks like it.

Next I got some wood to build into a hanging frame so it can be viewed from both sides. A true drying rack will do fine.

After the hunt....

2010-05-13T16:18:00.000-07:00

There's stuff to take care of''cause once it 's home, it has to be streached, tanned, cut, frozen, dryed, cleaned, pluck'd washed, sharpend, fuel'd up, repaired ,rested and cooked........

Lucky me , these women are pro's......

2010-05-11T18:05:00.000-07:00

A couple weeks back we took a week long trip to scout for Geese, but caught a Bear among other things.... we went home and reupped our supplies, cleaned up and linger'd on thoughts of Birds.....

So , again, we set off for another Spring hunt, off to old haunts and gathering places, where the animlas are attracted and the vallys and hillsides, beaches, river bottoms where plants and berries grow succulent, The Mountain is great for Caribou year round, the river for Arctic Char in Winter, Salmon in summer,Smelts, Herring and Whitefish/Sheefish wander the lagoon and up the river, Moose, Muskox, Bears of 3 kinds wander from the trees, the open Tundra mountain tops and the Ocean. Caribou over Winter in the area by the thousands.
In the lagoon, Seals of all types as well as the occassional Walrus, Beluga, Sea Otter show up in summer.
Mammoth tusks and Whale bones are found in the surf and shallow waters to carve for the artists among us.
Trees float down at break up and replentish our firewood supply for summer, and in winter we sometimes camp among them, and get some for firewood or crafts.
We loaded our sled with the stuff we would need and further with stuff to leave at a friends to store untill Summer......some grub, tarps, ropes, gas, ect.
I traded labor and an Ivory tusk for Gasoline and some artwork thrown in as well, and we were off.
Heading South via river, lake, land, and ocean we arrived with smiles and vivid memeories of good times. Having camped the area and raised our kids in the area , the kids were all that were missing, and miss them we did........

Spring Subsistance Bird hunting is Federaly regulated, and we have a generous season, with large bag limits.
Its the kind of hunting where some are good at it and some arnt, like Wolf hunting and such. we share and trade foods with each other and Goose/ducks /Swans are a great "New" meat to have after a long winter, a taste of their own.
Anyway, we only hunt those that arrive first and then we work over the Sea ducks inna few weeks when we run low on these guys and put a few away for later.
Well hunt male ducks in the large flocks they gather in in July as well, if we need some, then we again agressivly hunt Geeese again in late August/early Sept when the fat youngsters start to fly straight and low........
I missed this place last Spring, with my right arm broken a couple months earlier and being right handed.
When I did try, I just got wet and wasted gas, due to weakness and high spring melt off. This is the time of year to travle with a shovle when the slush and mush get deep. I made up for it during July, August and September, hunting along getting back my strength with work. Enough to see my meats through fairly to March with some supplemental "fresh"Caribou.
This year we barely have any snow, 'cept here , where we campe'd, its white 6 ways to midnight, cold and staying that way, in stark contrast to the bare and snowless Springs sprung North, where I reside at the moment....gotta love 90mph snow, with no bumps......and Im back in good shape.

We built a teepee on the local design, of tarps and poles.

We usually build a fire outside to burn into cooking coals and we also heat rocks to bring in and warm us a few hours, but that first night we couldn't find the rocks~~LOL!!~~

Right now the Caribou of the Western Arctic Caribou Herd WACH 401,000 strong have a wide swath leaving the Northern Seward Penninsula heading North. Most urgent are the females that will calf enmass in the mountains and plains of the Arctic North Slope.
It's the Bulls that lag behind as well as remenant Reindeer from the former Reindeer Herding industry (they ran off and asemulated with the Caribou in 1995) that we hunt as they walk the hills and shores, waiting for the main herd to rejoin them in the Fall after freeze up. Theres enough around all the time to keep us in the meat.

Caribou are everywhere..........sometimes in the way, as you will see......~~LOL!!~~

But since I was so far away, better foods could be brought home ,besides we can catch Bulls to dry up right now, close to home, as the herd moves North past where were living.

We took off to familiar country, places we rode for years and know what is and what is not........

We sit many a spell looking down, as Predators do, seeing what moves or where the Ravens are.

We were On High, cruzing the mountain top, in circles ,driving, stopping, looking .......you cant really "Look around" while driving a snowgo on a rock studded mountain top, with no trail, 60 miles and a few hours from help, 2-3 days walk from camp at 15 above and riding alone with a few days till "If im not back by such and such, look for me". So we stop at each "Step" in the stair case like mountain ridges hopeing to get the jump or prehaps shot while looking about. This is a great way to come across Fur traks as well.
So we stopped and scanned and the wife poited out "Something" down this creek about 3 miles away moving around as he was, digging, he was mining away for moose meat that was litterly frozen in layers of ice, in a creek we later saw.

Well the wife usually dosent have much to do with Bears. Being a Kobuk River Inupiaq, the women in the family still do not eat Bear meat.
Thinking of others and that big 'ol rug overwhelmed her trigger finger and she got the itch.

"I'm gonna try to catch that Bear" was all she said, rather matter of factly, as she got on with the rig with me and we then decended along the downwind back side of the ridge above the Bear. I marked a spot in my mind and stopped there.
We got off and I walked alotta yards before I spotted him and signaled Agnes to meet me when I was quite aways away. She drove up, stopped and I didnt think it would hurt to try and call it, rather "Man Charges Grizz" as I have seen Browns come over outta curiosity before, when we were making lotsa noise lke chopping wood and such, and then they stand there a bit having an eyefull, before trotting off to the bushes.
Sooooooooooooooooo I started yelling, Ahhhhhhhhyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!and such,and not 30 seconds later he came trotting up to have a look.
She steadied her Finn VTK made M-39 Mosin Mosin using the very usefull FMJ .7.62X54R Czech light ball.
She Asked me "Should I shoot it now?" And I asked her "Do you know how to use the sights?"~~LOL!!~~ I told her as I tryed to get a close up, but such wasnt gonna work on that camera, oh well.

Her first shot was a good one, but about an inch low of the spine bone, but sh e did rip his arteries, just as good as a Heart shot, gushing like a fountain, the second shot doing the same, also just below the spine, they were about 4 inches apart, I dont know which was first.

He gushed and gushed.
75-100 yards later and it was done.

She's 5'2" , the Bear is longer than my '95 Arctic Cat Bearcat.......either he make 'er look small or she make 'em look big ~~LOL!!!!!!~~

4inches of FAT as my blade shows. The intestinal fat renderd clear as water in the pan and near tasteless.

Fog, snow and "Whiteout"

We stopped to a shelter cabin and dryed our drizzel/wet snow wetted clothes and I ate Bear Steak while she had boiled Seal in fairly short order and we slumber'd off for an hour or so in the heat before carrying on in the low fog

Good to be "Home" again....

So we built our blind with willows and sheets, tied with Willow bark strips and string, with willows on the snow to keep the Caribou skin seats dry.....and more willows to blend us in as another snow cover'd willow patch....

We also use these when hunting Bears or Fur and calling to them(fur) or watching a kill site.

We parked the ride about 200 yards away, by a big snowdrift.

Nice and homey, a spiral, open topped sitdown/stand up blind with guns, grub and warm company, Geese hunting "Our way".

We did well enough to have Geese to take some with us to give away to elders and friends, but it got cold again, like 5above at night and the Geese quit comming almost all together. Pressing issues with our jackshaft, behind the secondary clutch on the snogo dictated we take the pause and get 'er fixxed, as well as deal with our meats which were freezing hard, so off to the nearestVill we rode, being 30 or so miles away.

not a bump or shocker on the trail, anywhere, the trail was as smooth as can be. The ride back to camp was made at triple the speed......

We spent a night and cleaned up, and sent for parts, back home.

Our good friend and elder Rick suggested we better spend our time hunting insted of waiting as it was gonna be foggy bottoms for awhile and insisted that we use his ride, a 4stroke (HEAVY!!!) Artic Cat Bearcat, the latest version of my '95 modle.....what a change, and off we went......

I must not here that for a maximum of success, you need to put in your time. There is no "Guarentee" for anything, and knowing what alternatives you can turn to, due to conditions, weather, animal migratory patters and habits, to be sucessfull, you must not waste your time either. If ever your after "That ONE animal" good luck! I just happen to hunt what I can and am never dissapointed that I didnt get a target species, but always happy I do get something, even if its just firewood.

On the way back to camp, we pulled up and passed some Caribou who had the road to themselfs, and evidently didnt wanna leave it till we passed 'em ~~LOL!!~~ Not trying to bother 'em, but I figure if I should be doing anything, staying on the trail when I didint actually want to shoot one would been the right thing to do,,,,,~~LOL!!~~~ They were having none of that.........

We spent a couple hours catching Ptarmigan for the breasts for home and she boiled the rest as soup for us at camp, some Ravens got the remains. Can get em by the pound or by the ton........Feathers are good to use with artwork , as they are a non migratory bird and traditional in use.

We were sniping Ptarmigan that showed up to scratch at the mud spots as well ~~LOL!!~~

We rode past out Blind, and as we thought, it was a "Bird magnet" as usual...... I love this place......

But when we were at camp, the birds just diddnt stop flying by, and so I began to get my swing on........and ended the first day with a dozen Canadians ............ and a box of shells down.....~~LOL!!~~

The second day we had 21 more. We took shots with some visitors and we visted others that evenin' and ended up staying at friends cabin, and dryed out our sleeing gear with a wood stove and hanging the bedding in the rafters for a couple hours, and real comfort on those cold nights.

The third days catch ended best, with many Canadians, a Swan and the only Speckle Belly of the hunt....... Not a duck was seen the whole hunt.........

This pict is at the "lunch break" LOL!!

After further shooting, we decided to break camp, as we had enough to make the trip worthy, an the shells well spent.

We pack'd our stuff and meats for home, with the heavy stuff down and the light stuffs atop

We came loaded down with stuff to leave at camp and returened witha sled load for the house and alotta food for us.

We took our sled up the coast North aways outta the hills and onto the ocean side, and heavy it was, where we left it beside a snowbank. We then took the 60 mile RT East/West to return Rick his snowgo, take him a small load for his freezer and bring our snogo back into action.

The jack shaft had arrived about 3 hours ahead of us.........

The next day we took the 6 hour, 20mph slog back to our wintering home in Noorvik.

Being near 30 degrees, and with that heavy load we dumped alotta lube oil in the gas and stopped to cool it frequently.

We stacked drift wood to dry, up out of the sand so we could come along someday and and collect it as dry fire wood, on our breaks driving up the coast and took our time.

With a satisfyed grin, and feeling good, we bid our farewell and put our backs to the Kiwalik basin, our summer Salmon fishing river, and former year round stomping grounds..........

We met a nephew who was in need of gasoline, on his way to Buckland, as the trail conditions he had left and we now faced were gonna be soft and mushy. The river near Noorvik was 1 foot of watery slush under 2 feet of snow, ready to trap and wet any one who got slowed to a stop or just hit a pocket and stopped. That can make for a loooooong day........

We topped off and gave him the 4 other gallons, as we were gonna be fine along those lines.

The last pict, onna hilside looking to drop off the sled, return Ricks machine and proceed to restocking the pantry to the North.........

geese Hunting gone bad

2010-04-27T12:40:00.000-07:00

Saddled up and rode Thursday night, expecting to find Geese galore at my favorite shooting lake, but all we found was snow......No mud, no Geese........

But we pitched our tent anyway and set up the blind (one and the same~~LOL!!~~)

We couldnt just sit there, so we tok any and all of our spare gas and rode for Fur.

Tracked a Pack of Wolves untill we hit the 1/2 tank mark and decided that the 40 mile walk home wasnt worth the rewards of Certain sucess, and it was a hard turn to make.....

So I caught this Goose, ahhhhh... Brown Bear, and witha load of fat Bear, barly made it to camp as the extra gas burned away with the heavy load

Took the shot at 150 yards, and gave 'em a second just to be sure.

The Czech 147 FMJ's did their thing proper like, passing all the way through wile tumbling all the while. The only scrap I found was one jacket left under the skin on the exit side. I love that M-39 and that Czeck ammo.......

Back at camp for a night and then onto home.........to write this up.

I got some vid, but the temp wouldnt let the batteries work more than a few seconds, and popping these pix was all that turned out proper.

Gotta get back inna day or two and see what flys in.......as two specklebellys flew over as we were warming up to drive home...~~LOL!!~~~

Spring into Spring........

2010-04-20T15:02:00.000-07:00

Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........................How'd I do that?

Well, the pictures are dead opposite to what I was a putting up, so maby some backward forethought will drive me to perfection on my next post..........??~~LOL!!~~
Anyhoo, the wifes working on a "Ink on Skin" of a Polar Bear thats watching an Oogruk (whos skin it is) getting away......as happens sometimes........getting us ready for hunting in the ice, hopefull this will sell as soon as shes done drawing it.

Having a new breakdown with each ride, this last week took my Arctic Cat 440 onto the brink of Death and down for some big $$ undercarriage repairs. I let a friend drive and I guess he didnt know the warning signs ....... Thing is my 600 Polaris is 6 winters old now and very tired, and it blew a base gasket on the engine, so I made a couple out of hardtack boxes, to go onto my lower cylenders, and their holding up fine, so Im up and about with one ride, for as long as that lasts, and with boating and breakup comming I was a trying quite hard to refurb a 40 Honda, but have found it to have a warped crank, probly still running when he sank it....oh well.....~~LOL!!~~ I gave the remains to a guy who can use the lower unit and he'll get by this summer.

Found my cameras again, thats a pluse!

So I ran about with the camera and am up to taking pictures for posterity again.

Been putting my M-39 to the test,, again, shooting Rabbits in the head for the freezer and dogs, as well as the occasional Ptarmigan, Fox, Caribou and even a nice Black Wolf.

Wet days demand we change clothes, wear rain gear because all the flying loose snow melts on us, and theres nothing worse than being wet from 30 above to ride home at 15 above. Its best to dress in layers, so a guy can always have spare.

Gotta work that Wolf tomarrow, and get it stretched/dryed to store for summer. the wife has 'em skinned really clean, so it should be fairly easy to get it done. After a 22 mile chase, getting stuck several times and giving my partner the first 12-18 Cracks at it,( he reloaded and shot again) well, after it was that far, I stepped up and gave it a go with my Mosin Nagant, as the Wolf was now up the side of the mountain, going alongside because it could climb no more, and I was done wrestling the snowmachine from trying to roll to the bottom of the steep incline, Ad firing the whole time.

I shot at about 550 yards, at the sitting Wolf who was probly laughing at his recent escape, and I holding 3 feet above his mid and dropping it right between his front and back feet sent him moving away again......... I figured 600 yards maby "+" and I cut loose a second round 4 feet above and a full Wolfs length ahaed of the now trotting Black.......and dropped it into his lower chest.

My neighbor called it a "Hail Mary" and I'm inclined to agree. That was the longest shot I have ever tryed , and strangely enough, succeeeded..........~~LOL!!!~~~ And witha WITNESS to boot!!

Sorry for the funny set of pix, it just didnt go right..........???Weird.......

2010-04-03T01:43:00.000-07:00

I intended to post a most excellent hunt Vid with me and Jeramy back day beferr yesterday, and the Fat little lady Caribou we caught.

I had seen tracks in the fresh snow on my way to the town of Kotzebue, and this was good, because me and Jeramy had blown away a couple days making repairs and getting MY act together..~~LOL!!~~
Caribou will follow trails made by other Caribou and even their own as I tell here, and can be fairly well ambushed along them.
Willow lines in the Spring is where Bears do such, and I have found quite a few "Bear kills" in favored spots.....must be like fishing to them.
Anyway, if you know where theres a trail, theres a great chance that you can wait along it and get a crack at a Caribou.

My friend Jeramy was going for his first Caribou hunt, as hes put in his year to become a resadent, and we can catch 5 Caribou a day, I knew some good State Lands to hunt and we were on our way.

We left Kotzebue proper and not very long at all came along trails that lead to a bunch of 10 that lead into a bunch of 20 that were bent to join 50 others on the hillcrest horizon.
Caribou are gathering up and moving now, and the herds are following the land(food) and there are thousands more comming this way North.
The Western Arctic Caribou Herd is 370,000 animals strong and healthy.

We were in old hilly tundra with steep creeks, short sharp hills, folds, pingos , lakes and craters/vallys and thick frozen stands of willows 8 feet tall, all with hard frozen waves of snow making it quite rough to ride , but a great place for Caribou to eat and guys like us to get into a defelade and close in, but also a guy can launch off an unexpected cliff or down ito a snow choked creek, with not much for help around, so slow and cautious riding is nessarry as getting stuck or falling aways is very possible.
I spotted a bunch of 30 or so on a lakeside, and we got within 500 yards before the figured us out when I drove over a small hill and they were moving off into a creek with a cliff on one side.
The Weatherman and I tryed to circle round the hill the herd was trotting up, but a brushy creek delayed our positioning and we had to make the crest insted of waiting on the other side, with the Caribou moving over it and headed down to the shallow vally.
From where I stood on the snowbank infront of my machine (every inch helps) I gave it a go with a Mosin I had parted together and Kotz pulled up with his AR-15.
I spotted 'em first and took first crack at 'em.
The Carbou trotted by, circling down the hill without knowing we were above them, and about 50 yards away.
4 consecutive "Click!!!" s later and I figured with a quick look at an ejected shell that my firing pin was backed out plenty enough to not pop the primer...ARRRRRRRGGGGGGGHHHHHHHH!!!! I could see two threads of the firing pin out the rear of the cocking knob. This was the first time I had tryed shooting this rifle with this bolt , as I had bought the rifle chaep and boltless and had sighted in with one barrowed from another Mosin, and had recently purchased a bolt for this guy............ This isnt a hard thing to do, adjusting the firing pin, but it certainly wasnt the place or time.
I encouraged Jeramy to shoot from where we were parked while I tryed to figure out my rifle.I told him wich Caribou would look good on a plate, and handed the show over to him.
A couple shots later and Jeramy got a lesson in "Lead" when his shots kicked up snow 5 feet behind the Caribou he had picked out, from those that were trotting in line 200 yards away, and decided to stop as I told him we could just get infront of 'em again and wait.......we reloaded and started our rigs....this might take some doing....

Again we went up hill and around, thinking we were cutting them off,(~~LOL!!~~) but after alotta minutes and a few miles, we spotted the line of walking Caribou about mile away, turned back around on their trail and headed back up the same hill they had come down, but now well aware of us.

The lean and fast had sorted out the fat and slow to the back of the line,and the Caribou went down the ridge that connected the hills that they had just gone up, we were getting fouled for an exit from a long lake we were trying to use as a shortcut, so in a "what the heck" judgment call I drove up a willow choked bank, dodging, vaulting off a couple snow banks and crashing through a couple more, landed good and I drove ahead along the side of the gully outta their sight. Heading them off about a 1/4th mile later, I drove up eough to see the laed cow comming, but I was out for two fat cows with no fawns I had picked out but at the raer of the line.
They had calm'd down and strung out so as to have some space back from the others for a clean shot, I stopped in alongside a snobank formed over willows that fairly conceled my machine, and I readied my pistol.
I let the leader and the majority pass on ,and as an ever faithfull follower, the Female I wanted passed into perfect range along the others trail, wanting only to be with the herd. Pretty close range...
I aimed mid chest just as she saw me she turned and quarter'd away, I fired and hit her right behind the shoulder, cross shooting int the opposite side neck, she stumbled, gatherd up and went another twenty yards before keeling over, both lungs blown.The other Caribou stopped in confusion.
Jeramy with his nice quiet 4 stroke had parked up on the hill with a great view and a windsheild for a rifle rest.
The crowd that was following The Caribou I shot slowed up, and a Couple seconds later, Pow! A solid hit! He had put one in the Heart of the other Cow that was in good shape, among the milling hesitaters.
He had stopped atop the hill above and 150 yards behind me and 75 yards to my left, he shot two more times to put a finish shot into the Caribou I had shot (I'm glad I was staying right there, making sure the shooting was over before going to the animals~~LOL!!~~) and a finisher into his Caribou too, which had gone about 50 more yards away before toppling over, but was still moving.
I like his style.
I went to mine and was "Almost" as happy as Jeramy, who had just caught his first Caribou

2 Nice Cows , good meat to last awhile, Mine was dinner tonight

The Daughters new Emachine wont formatt jive with the 3 inch (80cm) disks I filmed with, and to reformatt would erase the vid....got ideas???

Im looking for a cable to connect the camera to the computer,.......

Getting better!

2010-03-28T17:35:00.000-07:00

Ohhhh ya!
The wife pulled out all the stops this week with some good art sales.
Of all things at the moment, which has encompassed my last wekk, Im missing my cameras, both in the same basket, like eggs....somewhere, some place... hmmmmmmm.....
Anyhoo, Im now typing on a computer the wife picked up for three hundred $$ as the folks who sold it have no electricity, but were anticipating the service that hasnt made it to them quite yet, and since X mas have had this boxed up and stored.
My daughter Mary got it for her 10th birthday, and like a great daughter, she gave me an account :D

As well, we picked up a nice snubnosed Rossi .357 pistol with a caribou on Caribou picutre for the second daughters 13th B-day as a Berry patch pistol, and then a nice .30 carbine Ruger Black Hawk, for a couple hundred Whitefish to a local dog musher.

The best part is that this camputer can take all kinds of cards, disks and such, so posting here will get better strting today.

Hey, Im happy!

Kids playing

2010-03-13T00:22:00.000-08:00

Got a kick outta the kids tonight, and while they are kicked outta other rooms that are being cleaned, they just danced and stayed outta the way while still having a good time.

2010-03-10T17:54:00.000-08:00

Caribou skin stretched with Caribou Picto's migrating from scattered to a moving herd , following the "Lead" Cow at the first snowfall, heading South to the winter feeding grounds.

Of course , this is a work put together by the wife and I, with her drawing.

Not bad, eh? :D

Thinking of Spring Birds.

2010-02-24T19:11:00.000-08:00

Been thinking of Spring lately and figured Id posta few older pix as well.

My favorite is my second son, with his first Goose.

We really love the Geese/Duck hunting that we get to do in our few months of Summer.

In Spring, around the end of April, birds will arrive from down south after having been gone since Mid September. Seagulls will arrive 3-4 days ahead of the Geese, and Ducks somewhere inbetween, as they are often following the cracks in the ocean ice.

For us, Springtime birds are a change in diet, and something delicious to share around.

We have differing seasons with Spring arriving earlier, we have more water around, and the birds spred out abit more, nonethe less, we still score 'em by the pound and by the ton........

Sometimes we hunt across the ice, sometimes ina blind by a favorite lake....

Swans are fair game as well. We can score three each year.

We usually pluck them right away, 'cept for the Decoys, and here my oldest son simply shot a bunch right outside the house, so we had a mornig plucking party.
the wife saves the feathers for when shes working on Seals and other oily animals. The Feathers redily absorbe the oil that shes working with all the blubber and such, and she can easily wash the blood off her hands in cold water and have them very clean.

Where I like to hunt, the ice is effected by tides, and often the water will quietly rise and make a short walk into miles........

Sometimes the hunting is so good, we just stay untill we have a loaded sled, so taking the wife and a daughter is fine for company

All done, a pict by the former decoys.....

The quicker plucker in action.....

These were plucked in the blind and put in grain sacks, about 16 per sack.

Spring birds that arrive from down south are FAT!

they are usually looking for a mate and flying about without worrys..........this is their demise.

We hunt them intensively for about 3 days. By then, we have to go home and share around. After 3 days, there is usually water all around and the birds are spred out a bit, and sled is loaded.

We stop hunting the birds and jar them up, repair our stuff and get a boat ready, as the water will soon erode the ice and snow on the land, and break up is close.

With break up, we boat around, and we hunt other animlas, Muskrats , Beavers and water animals. We will shoot Ducks/Geese for fresh meat, but in limited numbers.

With break up over, the water going down, we will start fishing.

Depending on where we are, it will be for little Smelts or big Sheefish.

Right after the smelts go by, the birds will all nest, and we will gather Seagull eggs, 3 days inna row , 3 from each clutch, as thats what they will lay every time. We do Not gather Geese/Duck eggs, as we give 'em evry chance to grow. After we stop gathering eggs, the Seagulls will still nest and have babies.

Now we will stop hunting Geese at all, and now shoot only male Ducks for fresh meat, as they do not pair up or help raise the young.

Later, in late August, we hill hunt the young Geese that are just learning to fly, and put them in our freezers for winter. They have LOTS of fat then, and big legs, so we call them "Drumstick Geese", because all they have ever done is walk.

They come when called and fly very straight and unscared.....sometimes its crazy.

snaring em

2010-02-17T16:44:00.000-08:00

Well.............

Ive been fighting my computer foor a few days now, and downloaded some totally usless Internet anti this and that, where? ~~LOL!!~~

Being slow, the picture posting was timing out and I could post no pix, as well, I couldnt log on after many many trys...Adeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!

So here I am, and I think I have it back to normal.......sorta.....and on some pictures I see a shadow....and can hear a peice of something rattling in there as well as a few very bum pix.Nothing lasts forever.....~~LOL!!~~

Sooooo, despite the fact that I have a backwards order to my pix, you can see the progression of me, the second daughter Iri and out walk along friend Paul ventured forth and set snares among the willows, just out of town as we are now in " Walking mode" since the spare parts for my engine are still comming with the returne I made when they sent the wrong years type...
No problem, if I want to hunt, I just leave the yard......

So while setting snares I popped a nice fat Snowshoe, and after setting a couple dozen, the daughter say some Ptarmigan deep in the willows.

Now that stuff is about bullet proof, and a 12 gauge will make things right when used in this stuff, but .22lr are NO "Brush buckers", out of 40 shots, the only connections made were three, when we were about outta ammo, and FINNALLY some Ptarmigan had climed to new buds and out of the bullet proof densly packed willows. Im talking 20 feet away, with only small parts and outlines visable~~LOL!!~~

But try we did , and sucess follow'd. # Ptarmigan and a Rabbit......

Next day, with the Daughter in school, Paul and I check'd them and brought home enough to make a variety type dinner..

The first, which should be last, pictures shows the remains of 2 Rabbits, 3 Ptarmigan, 3 Mallards, a Goose and a 10 lb roast, homemade bread, rice and Goose gravey.......Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.........

And with such skill, she will feed herself and a dog team....someday....:D

Some fishing with the kids

2010-01-27T08:02:00.000-08:00

I figure to let you in on my favorite Fisherwoman, My wife Agnes.
Born and raised to fish, this woman grew up commercial and Subsistance fishing, for $ and food. The Kotzebue Sound drainagaes are Salmon rich with Kings , Chum, Pinks and Silvers....with some Reds showing up now inthe last few years.
Shes a master at drying, canning and cooking all kinds of fish, from Smelts to 60lb Sheefish

Best of all, she has alotta help from our daughters as well.......heck, we all pitch in one way or another.

Heres some vid of the kids and us at where we like to fish for Salmon.

They are side by side, so Im not sure how this will turn out ~~LOL!!~~...but Im experamenting here, and trying to get 'er done.

The kids make the work fun, from start to finish, Its always a blast when the work is there.

We make our kids the knifes they use and make sure they are in on every part of the process.

The wind drys the fish the best,and in an hour or so, the flys wont be able to set eggs on they, but on still ,windless days,we often set a smudge of smoke to keep the flys off untill a nice dry crust. Its also a great idea to keep the sun off drying meats as well.

If its drizzling, we will drape tarps to the ground and make a big smoke house to keep the bugs off with a smudge on. The meat racks are also a place the kids like to hang out at, and so do loose dogs.....~~LOL!!~~

Twice a day the wife inspects all meats, and decides what they will be used for, where and when.

2010 census starts here.

2010-01-25T11:15:00.001-08:00

The 2010 census starts here in Noorvik.
So much for a news link.........

I cant figure out how to "Dashboard " unless its a new post, so I cant correct stuff...I cant get here without a roundabout way "in" and I cant copy/paste stuff, such as internet adress's.
Arrrrgh.
Been losing my posts, like 4 so far, writing more than 1/2 way through , losing it, rewriting it again................and I loath to write so much and see it dissapear.

How do I even know if more than 1 guy even reads this?

Gimme time, just frusterated here......

2010 census starts here.

2010-01-25T11:15:00.000-08:00

2010-01-24T12:39:00.000-08:00

2010-01-24T11:24:00.000-08:00

2010-01-22T21:40:00.000-08:00

This isnt the order I wanted my pix~~LOL!!~~ Just trying to get this post up right....any suggestions? I cant "Copy-Paste" and the last time I moved the pict, I lost it .......

I figured to try and download one of the vids I have, a "fish test" so to say........lets hope this vid works, so I'll load more......

Those, above, are Sheefish, the biggest in the Whitefish family, and we catch them when ever we can. They have big bones that are easily removed and firm ,white , sweet flesh. Great as soup or Fryed, baked, or frozen with Seal oil.

We use a large meshed net, 5inch + and that lets the small ones pass through, and we set them right after the spring floods move the ice out of the river, and in Spring when the Shee migrate up river as well as in the fall, when we set them under the ice, when they return to the brackish waters of Kotzebue Sound.

The vid comes from April, when we, (and everyone else we know) go out and "Hook" for them through the 4 foot thick ice. Sometimes we score sled loads.

Cant edit, figgur'd frostbite might test it.....

2010-01-21T12:06:00.000-08:00

Whats happend? I cant finish my last post.

Nothing worse than 1/2 a post.........

Here comes the sun

2010-01-21T08:33:00.001-08:00

Think "Ox" ~~LOL!!~~ Some memories from a few hunts ago........To remind us to "Get our Ox-on"~~

Being in the Arctic, a good chunk of our year is spent with 24 hours of Summer sunshine, and in opposition to all that brightness, we have winter darkness.

I read somewhere that despite the commings and goings of the sun, we actually get just as much or equal, at least, of the sunshine that the equator gats.

Were in the lower arctic, crossing the Arctic circle like some cross a town, and our darkness/sunshine is not as drastic as it gets going further North......they are still in Darkness.

Luckily , were over tha darkness now, and were excellerating to sunshine, full blast. We gain 10 minutes a day, and were almost up to 4 hours of usable light now.

We work hard to getup enough food and fuel for this cold time of year, and are usually set untill Feb. Seems to have worked out well enough this year.

Spent most of December in Kotzebue , while the wife did Postal Relife and I did odd jobs and generally let my ribs knit up. No complaints now, unless I cough hard.

This last couple weeks we returned to Kotz and I and my pard set about de-icing 3 feet of broken water main and the solid wall to wall ice it filled the house with....~~LOL!!~~ -45' below can do wonders to your house if the heat go's out.......what a chop job!

Things on the transportation front have taken a beating as the clutch to my snow machine is about dead and its 633$ for a new one, so it looks like Im seeking a used one !!

Theres work on the shop to do, and Traps to set/check, as well as some hunting, with the good news that I have a willing partner/camera guy 'cause Im up and filming now. Im learning I warn ya, and I have to find out how long a vid I can put on the internet or send them on to someone who "Can" ~~LOL!!~~ Most likely Mike. The wife bought the accessories that make the camera do its thing, as well as spare stuff like batteries and chargers, as well that I found a disk to film onto, and more are on the way.

I'll try for that intro for Up North Journal soon.

Mostly we look forward to catching another Muskox for the table, as the wife has a permit, but itts only a transportation situation that needs dealing with , and then were out for Ox.......

Fur time is here as well, now that weve had -50below, and all fur is prime, while those that werent are dead after the deep cold killed 'em.

With the comming light and better hunting weather were in need of more meat and wood to burn. This will go well with some of the traps Ive got out, as "rout" per say.

I might add here that my computer is back in the land of the living and soon Ill be downloading vids again, as the camera I have and this internet just need to work out how to get that done........and I look forward to it :D

Tools of the trade

2009-12-28T23:58:00.000-08:00

Hey there

I've been in "X-Mas" mode, and spent a few days wandering about, enjoying the country, but not deviating from the trail, and not much crossed that when I was headed down it :D

Fact is we have a "Trail System" that connects Alaskan villages and camps, pretty much from Barrow to the Keni, so if a fella were so inclined to ride it, with dog team (as its been for thousands of years) or snowgos, like today, he could get pretty far. The Ididarod Dog race trail is popular for snowgo riding from Anchorage to Nome.....and I can be in Nome from my house in 10 hours on a clear day.........:D

I ride Polaris, a 600cc RMK 144 inch paddle track'd..........a brand I favor because, except for the 550 series of engines, they are relaible and easy to work on.

The ride under me is 5 winters old , with less than 1/2 its original parts. 6-10,000 miles a year and a guy go's through alotta parts. the cowling alone has been changed twice..~~LOL!!~~The best thing is that I "Know" my rig, litterally , inside and out, and can quickly diagnose a problem and fix it or perscribe some walking if its terminal..... Its a boost when its 50 miles to the next village, -40, dark and somethings going wrong with the ride. The top pix one of my machine bringing two others and a sled home.

We dont use helmets, but with a couple ski masks and a padded Beaver hat, a guy can fend off some serious bumps and still be wearing the same head gear when hes chopping wood, aiming a rifle or walking. A helmet is a burden then.

we do try to be safe, for sure. It starts with taking good care of your ride and being prepared for problems.

We ALWAYS tell someone when we travle or hunt.

We all have "travle bags" that are stuffed with what each of us thinks they may need to get them through the night , outside in an arctic winter.

I take basic survival gear, extra socks, gloves, and skimask , knifes and stone, 4 or 5 kinds of fire starting stuff, candles, a Zippo, with spare fluid, toilet paper, a canteen with cup, spoon, coffee , candy, canned foods, an extensive first aid kit, spaceblankets, rope, a pocket book to pass the time with,(boredom sux and can mess you up) start a fire or wipe my butt, if need be.......and a bag to carry it all insde the back pack.

My Parka gos everywhere, as does my rifle.

In my inside pockets are my wallet, a pocket knife, a flashlight, xtra batteries and my VHF radio.......maby a small thermos.

In my outside pockets theres toilet paper, lighter, food, ammo and whatnots.

Outside that be it my jacket or Parka, I sinch down my belt. It hlds my knife at the ready and hold my warm stuff down and the wind out. Besides, I can open my zipper and put stuff in therenext to my body for heat, to keep warm while its cold out.

I also carry tools on the machine, spare lube oil,rope, spare belts, plugz, ect... and alcohol to deice my machine.

We often modify our rides to our needs and tastes.

The first thing I do is mount ties for a rifle scabbard. I dont use one when Im in a village, but when I camp, thats where I store the rifle, and I carry more gear, as I need.

Some add little roasters to their mufflers to cook and melt drinking water, and some add VHF antennas for communicating and some just make them FAST.

I add a decent hitch, because Polaris cant make a good one, and Ski Doo are worse.

We weld and mount angle iron into a solid hitch that we can shackle sled to.

I use a 144 inch track for the "Pull" and have it geard down for that Pulling.

I put a taller windsheild and extended that, so -50 and Im not damaging my face permently from a little breeze.

I put Gauntlet hand covers over my handle bars to keep the wind off as well.

We add extra wheels so our plastic hyfax slides dont get too worn and we suport our track better.

Theres often alotta welding done for repair and reinforcment on the under carriage, front and back.

With todays blunt nosed look, theres no tub up in front of the suspention, and on the trail and off, theres alot more crushed up front ends and broken A frames now days. Its good to have a wide "Nose" on th efront of your rig for floatation and lift in dep snow and off trail conditions.

Gaining weight it the price, though, and getting REALLY stuck can happen.....and can result in your long walk or death.

It will scoot open water for about 100 yards if Im alone, a good factor to have :D

Ive used my snowgo in the summer as well, though its not advisable.

Using a fan cooled engine, we waited for a rainy week(To wet and cool our hyfax) and took our cowlings off, added 2 cycle oil directly into the gasoline, and pulled a basket sled because they are flexable and light.

Gone hunting that way as well as I once,when I Needed to get to a clinic, I cruized untll a river had to be crossed, but a few hours like that saved days of walking.

In summer we generaly bring our rigs "up to snuff" and ready to ride before it gets cold.

We have almost no snow untill after Thanksgiving, though it freezes up in the first week of October (Though three weeks late this year)

I was glad I did this year, and our only problem so far has been a bum bering that shed a wheel, and since I run 12 wheels, it was no problem.

Things break in the deep cold. Snomachines break ALOT.

I think of my ride like a kid that needs attention, care and proper feeding.

Putting in clean gas can be a challang, and straining a ritual during fueling, as all gasoline this far beyond the road is suspect. Iso Heet and a Mr.Funnel rule! Theres nothing worse than icing up a rig out there, and defrosting it , with out heat or shelter, witha flashlight in your teeth at -30 on the dark trail home, at 4 am........

Shocks for the under carriage are a "Wear item" and are a most important part of the system. If your shocks go, things start breaking, so its best to think of a tracked vehicle as "High Maintainance"

You must do a walk around inspection before you ride and when you stop.

We hitch sleds to em, of various homemade construction, and theres a few factory modles out there, mostly plastic, but home made "Basket sleds" of tied construction with thin planks for flex and strength, and for pulling lighter loads and people, and theres "Flat sleds" made of solid bolted planks for hauling heavy loads of Fish, meat, wood and ice.

Theres some "Best ways" to tie a sled and each learns on his/her own what will keep anything tied down, eventually~~LOL!!~~

Every time you stop on the trail witha load, you look it over, and adjust where nessarry.

We ride these babys till early June down by the ocean, late May up the rivers as Sea ice stays longer but a 8 month season isnt long when your aving fun.....its the 6$ a gallon gas thats still putting a sober bit of thought into each ride, and how best we gain from that ride.

Horse, truck, boat or a snowgo, a guys gotta have a ride!

Best be hunting all the ride long :D

Couldn resist

2009-12-06T01:53:00.000-08:00

Thankgiving I had a bit of a bump on the trail, and I thought I got away with a knot on my head and a purple eye, witha a bit of a thump in my chest.

Not so.

Well, it turned out the pain in my chest only got worst, and after a couple sleepless nights, I went to the Clinik and confirmed the worst; I had 3 broken ribs. When I pinballed about on the snowgo, I had my knee shoved up near my nose and my hip bone felt like it went under my ribs. I bound them and with a couple loud snaps, the relief of having them back in place was soon gone as dull pain with each breath came on.

There wasnt much they could do, so They gave me codine and told me to take a couple weeks off.

This morning I felt good enough to go ride that snowgo and spring my traps, as the wife and I wont be around t o check them or care for the fur.

Came home with two fox and a Beaver I caught in an Otter trap :D

Then I bumpe'd into 50 or so Caribou and caught two.

Slow work and a short pull of the rope with the snowgo to get them on the sled, and all was quite well.

Least Im getting better!

getting better....

2009-11-27T21:29:00.001-08:00

Got another male today, this here guy. Nice salt and pepper back with red sides, kind of dark.

We do have a very occassional Black or Crossed fox so he may be a relative~~LOL!!~~

I have actually nly caught 2 black fox ever, but this guys got some dark genes.

after dispatching said Fox, I jigged at the hole awhile (the trap is at our old net hole) and pulled up a nice 3 foot long Sheefish ...Oh joy!

I was so happy, I wound up my fishing string, jumped on my snowgo, and promptly hit something on the trail up to town ,under fresh snow , that ricochet me 2 feet sideways where a waitin Willow branch tore off my hat and nearly my eye. Got a nice purple eyebrow/lid now ~~LOL!!~~ One of theose things that happens so fast (35mph) that you have no warning about untill your vaulting sideways and seeing stars.....though I managed not to crash .........wheeeeew.
Fur and food, made my day.

started trapping ........

2009-11-25T17:20:00.000-08:00

Hey, its a good start for trapping

We have been busey with our net, as our top floats have started to freeze to the bottom of the ice, we almost lost it .....so , since we want to get a bit more mobile, and we have a ton of various fish, we pulled it for good.

We want to set traps, but may not be around to check them untilll after X-mas, so were likey to set only a few nearby untill we go, and see how it works out. We have enough fox furs, and were not out to get to many this winter, Fox wize. They are an incidental trap catch often enough as well as plentyfull enough to just shoot.

Having been a good spot for fish, alotta animals stop by to inspect, so we have left a fish inside and each day that fish is gone. Now that we have no little kids going down with us, to check the net, we set a trap. We placed a double set , one trap in the cubby, one outside.

Woke up this morning and ask'd the oldest daughter Tinmiaq to please take a pistol and go check it. She was joined by her oldest brother Doug in mid rout and he followed for kicks.

Seems someone else had stopped by and gave a hand. They had killed the Fox, from the brusing they stood on its chest.... a NICE Cherry guy and leaving him in the traps, they cover'd him with snow to keep the Ravens from picking him into bits also Keeps em from chewing free when the paw freezes.

Doug showed Tin how to reset the traps by breaking them over the knee, cleared the pans/catch, and brushed them over.

The fish was still in there.

I skinned 'em out while he was warm and floppy, about a 5 minute job, with my daughter Mary giving me a hand with her pulling a bit on the rear legs, while I peeled it holelessly from the carcass. Tail pulled like butter.

The little girls took the carcass off to show their friends around town.

No blood , no holes, and I set it out to freeze and flap in the breeze from a pole for a day.

Maby towarrow will be better.

2009-11-24T02:23:00.000-08:00

Hey there.........where ever you are....:D FBX?

Well Its been a bit busy about the house, as weve been in repair mode for awhile this week, as well as getting wood to keep it all warm.

Keeping the snowmachine going is important to our heavy load hauling needs, as well as hunting and travling. My voltage regulator burned up and took my light bulbs with it, so I await some all new parts.

The wife told me this weekend she and I will be in Kotzebue for the three weeks preceeding Christmas. Shell be helping with the Mail as a Postal relief. I know alotta folks there and the country as well, and it shoud be a good time to hunt a bit as well as gather woods while travling back and forth between Kotzebue and Noorvik. Theres alotta Caribou between our Delta and the pennensula that Kotzebue sit on. Having the bro and sis inlaw watch the kids while were gone, to and fro, as well as the oldest son and family, its really nice when kids grow up .

Were gonna make a trail to the mouth of the river, away from the main trail, through some lakes and trees, and set a different set of traps tward home.

Spent 4 hours today opening and widening our net holes. The fish count is down , but they are stilll trickling in.

I even traded 25 or so dogfood grade Whitefish for a new welding mask, as my lens is cracked and thats nooooooo good. Sometimes I get the crazyest stuff.

Caribou are around, saw a few dozen the other day as we checked nets, but I had no time or daylight to persue them, but Im happy with fish for now. Not more than 4 hours of sun up now, but the meteor showers and Northern lights have been lovely....

Well thats the day, nice and easy.

A bit more about me and my day, if it computes..

2009-11-19T00:39:00.000-08:00

I hope this is a good one, post wize.

Im in the North, and the suns above the horizon from 11am to just about 4Pm. Were loosing 9 minutes a day and will be up with twilight or awhile. were low in the Arctic, so we dont have months of Darkness, but we do have a breif time now to work outside in the day light.

Traps hunt all night long , and setting them is almost here. Our freezeup came 3 weeks late, and letting it get "Safe" is in the cards.

For now, its a net. When thats done, it'll be a rout for fur and getting wood, insted of wood and fish..........

I went fishing again today, pulling up only 20 whitefish and 2 Tiktallik, a Burbot in the North Rivers. Thats down from 40 Whitefish yesterday and 3 Tiktallik, and the previous days 62 Whitefish and 4 Tiktallik, which have been our average catch over the weeks. Must be a couple more runs yet.

With freezeup so late, we missed catching the Whitefish with all the eggs under the ice and freezing them. They are very good eaten frozen, baked or fryed, and the eggs are extra nutritious. The ones we caught before the freeze have fermented, so theres a special treat anyways, "Stink fish", and alotta people enjoy that for dinner.

Was up to -26 below today a nice change from the -35 we were having.

Been burning alotta wood lately, and with both saws down, weve been at it with the ax's. Problem is its too cold to run the motors, and by the time were in the country the saw is cold......but we get to use them at home, simply by having them inside untill needed. Often we use a sleeping bag and a thermos, but the saw can ruin such quickly on a ride over bumpy snow.

A sled load of wood can be had by a hard working axman in about 3hours and heat the house for 4 or so days. We try and get as much as we can now, for the storms will arrive, and the snow will become soft and deep, no place for a heavy load.

We burn stove oil as well for hot water and keeping nice at 4am. Since stove oil is 6.80$ a gallon, and gas only 6.10$ its easyier and more efficent to go get wood. Way cheaper than last year!!

Its better to buy gas and hunt than it is to buy food. We do buy basics, coffee, flour, suger,ect. and spices, but the fish and Meat are more than 1/2 our daily intake.

Well, I chopped out the hole , which was about 9 inches thick over night, and about 14 inches thick over all.

The splashes from the ax froze immediatly to the snow pants, and I was warm, despite being coverd in ice.

My blue sweater was frosted like snow when all wes said and done, and I contributed some heat and sweat to global warming.

I pulled my net and the first thing up made me laugh,

One Tiktallik was not even enmeshed, he was just too greedy ! ~~LOL!!~~ All I had to do was pull the Whitefish protruding from his mouth out of a couple mesh, or it woulda been his. He just couldnt let go, and up he came with the rest.

Nice fish too, about 12 lbs. with a larger one caught as the last fish over, in the net. I figure were getting alotta Tiktallik because they are targeting the caught whitefish, so I think Ill tie a couple three or four to the top mesh's and clear the snow from the ice , so the Tiktallik can see the "Bait" and get caught as well.........wont know till I try.

Hope this lets ya know me a bit more, I'll about have this master'd when I get a new key board and back to my Gateway~~LOL!!~~

2009-11-17T00:05:00.000-08:00

Just a test post, Ill delete it.

It works with a direct link...wheeeew....

ill post when I have time, its been a ong day and Im falling asleep~~LOL!!~

Today is a good start.

2009-11-15T00:29:00.000-08:00

Took the wife for a round trip ride to Kotzebue, the largest town and the "Hub" of our 11 villages, here in North West Alaska.

79 miles by the "long way" around the bends of the river with no short cuts , as with only 2 or so inches of snow on the ground, the flat ice is the place to be.

Weather was good, untill we got to Kotzebue, where the 17 mph wind from the West and the -2 were nippy.Rideing home with the wind to our backs was a joy.

I have a Polaris 600 RMK and the wife and I doubled up. We drive in "Spurts" of slowing down for ice chunks, dead fall trees, stumps, and choppy snow drifts. Then theres the flat smooth stuff thats 5 or so miles at a time. 70 Mph is when my windsheild starts to lay back and I keep it there. 3/4ths throttle is good for gas as well as keeping out of troublw where the water is overflowing the ice in patches. We skipped about 4 of those, and they were small.

The way back was faster :D Knowing the rout, and its conditions , we were also hitting the snow at a glide, like riding off the back of a wave insted of into it , litterally.

We passed 50 or so Caribou as we rode around a bend called Custers Corner, and suprised a couple hundred on our way back up Kobuk River. They were running already as we pulled up, with about half the group running "our way" and we passed them at full tilt in the headlights, laughing as we left them behind, carrying on home.

Came home intime to check the net.

Hello.

2009-11-07T00:24:00.000-08:00

Hello.

This is my first post for Up North, and I almost didnt make it....as I toasted my keyboard with a cup of coffee last Sunday, But what the heck, better late than never.I tryed to use the school library computer but it wont log to blog.....

Untill my computer is useable Im on the daughters school issued Mac, so I dont know about pix for a bit, but with time, all will come.

Right now, with the wife, our daughters, a neice and nephew as well as our oldest sons family, were 12 people living in the house and we all do different things to get through life, and alot we work together on. Were running ice nets for awhile, and as soon as its frozen safely (Freezeup is 3 weeks late this year) travling and hunting/trapping willl be the routine as well.

Were making tools and readying skins for sewing as well as getting some crafts made to sell, as thats what we do for $$.

We will be using snomachines untill May, now.

Theres fair ammount of game around the area, 400,000 Caribou, Bears, Sheep, Muskox and Fur to hunt.

My Game managemant unit is as big in sq miles as Indiana. It has Mountains to Ocean and rivers between. We live on the Lower Kobuk River, and have a river delta to hunt as welll as good country all around. Alota Fed lands and private, but all huntable.

No Fences.....thats important, and its good we dont have any here.

Our waters here are drinkable, and we do.

Ive been playing with the computer for 3 years now and taking pictures for alot more. Im sure I can get this figured and report here fairly timely.

Well,thats my intro, I hope to post a good icenet set of pix from this week as soon as possible.

Chip