miis adventure

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.

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

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

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...

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

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