Made up some jerky today and I am waiting up for it to finish. Should be done by about 1 am. Should taste really friggin good.
19 pounds of caribou jerky.
1 jerky shooter.
1 jerky elbow, forearm, and shoulder.
Tomorrow we are going to try for another Caribou. This time I feel more prepared, so if Lord willing...more jerky!!
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Sunday, February 15, 2009
Here is the blizzard we had last Thursday. At the time of this video, I would say it was a 5 on a scale of 1-10. Later that night a 8 or 9 was hitting us and left quite a bit of snow in huge drifts all over the place. This is not quite a "white out", but if you were on the tundra you wouldn't be seeing much.
Howling
Here is Bela' and Marley letting it fly. They do this only when we howl. Our own little pack. I like when they just stop at the end.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Caribou Hunt
I got a caribou. That is the short of it. Here is a picture. Sorry it is not glorifying the animal in the field. I tried. I will explain.
First of all it was cold. I know I say that a lot and I probably sound like a little girl by now, but it was frost bite cold. Just ask my fingers. I know I say that a lot too, but just ask the skin that peeled off my fingers. There, haven't said that before. My nose might have something to say on the subject too. He too lost some skin. It was cold enough that the guns wouldn't work. The oil used to make things smooth, was making things stick. It was cold enough as soon the camera opened to take a picture it froze and wouldn't even shut.
I took Steph that morning up the south side of the Kanektok river, hoping that a few would have crossed the river. It was calm out, and thus felt somewhat warm near the house. I don't know what we were thinking because it was too cold. We work our way maybe 7-8 miles up the trail. Didn't see a dang thing and just gradually froze our entire body. Kind of just worked its ways up the arms and legs to the organs. By then we were stopping every little bit and doing jumping jacks and running sprints. Hands hurt, feet hurt and running was not helping the situation. We made it home and immediately fired up the stove and thawed.
I ate lunch and geared up for a trip up the north side of the river, where there were reports of a few herds. I didn't get two miles from the village, before I spotted a herd of maybe 30. They were half bedded up and half eating. I crawled for about 150 yards as there was a stretch that long with no cover. I cozed into some brush and got the scope on them. A nice bull was in the group, but was behind some brush. I was prepared to wait them out as they had now idea I was there. But...another snow machine came along and they went on alert. I thought they may run, and tried to move for another angle on the bull. This time they saw me and took off. At first they were probably only 100 yards. Now they were all running. A few stopped at 200 yards and I lined up a shot and got the one in the picture. All in all, much easier than I anticipated. Will never again be that easy, I know. Tim and Eric came by later and helped me get it home. Thank you guys.
Some of the stuff we were hunting:
Eric looking like snow:
A couple over here, a few hundred over there.
First of all it was cold. I know I say that a lot and I probably sound like a little girl by now, but it was frost bite cold. Just ask my fingers. I know I say that a lot too, but just ask the skin that peeled off my fingers. There, haven't said that before. My nose might have something to say on the subject too. He too lost some skin. It was cold enough that the guns wouldn't work. The oil used to make things smooth, was making things stick. It was cold enough as soon the camera opened to take a picture it froze and wouldn't even shut.I took Steph that morning up the south side of the Kanektok river, hoping that a few would have crossed the river. It was calm out, and thus felt somewhat warm near the house. I don't know what we were thinking because it was too cold. We work our way maybe 7-8 miles up the trail. Didn't see a dang thing and just gradually froze our entire body. Kind of just worked its ways up the arms and legs to the organs. By then we were stopping every little bit and doing jumping jacks and running sprints. Hands hurt, feet hurt and running was not helping the situation. We made it home and immediately fired up the stove and thawed.
I ate lunch and geared up for a trip up the north side of the river, where there were reports of a few herds. I didn't get two miles from the village, before I spotted a herd of maybe 30. They were half bedded up and half eating. I crawled for about 150 yards as there was a stretch that long with no cover. I cozed into some brush and got the scope on them. A nice bull was in the group, but was behind some brush. I was prepared to wait them out as they had now idea I was there. But...another snow machine came along and they went on alert. I thought they may run, and tried to move for another angle on the bull. This time they saw me and took off. At first they were probably only 100 yards. Now they were all running. A few stopped at 200 yards and I lined up a shot and got the one in the picture. All in all, much easier than I anticipated. Will never again be that easy, I know. Tim and Eric came by later and helped me get it home. Thank you guys.
Some of the stuff we were hunting:
Eric looking like snow:
A couple over here, a few hundred over there.
Now taking donations...
not really, but seriously, what's up.
The need to buy right away if we are going to stay here for a long time list:
Bear Gun (protection)
Yamaha 40 Jet
Aire Travler
This motor is designed to run in shallow water. It has no prop. Sucks the water in and shoots it out the other end, pushing you to a little slice of heaven. Upriver that is. This is #1 on the list at the moment.
This is the Aire Traveler. Floating down the Kanektok or Arolik seems like the ultimate to me. I don't know why. If enough of you would come up, I might consider a larger raft.
Now if Steph would stop buying stuff...these would be real pictures, like on our porch real.
Book your reservations now for prime dates. I have almost bought the plane tickets for coming up a month early this summer. So anytime after July 6th and you got yourself a vacation. I'm not joking on this...we would love to have visitors.
The need to buy right away if we are going to stay here for a long time list:
Bear Gun (protection)
Yamaha 40 Jet
Aire Travler
This motor is designed to run in shallow water. It has no prop. Sucks the water in and shoots it out the other end, pushing you to a little slice of heaven. Upriver that is. This is #1 on the list at the moment.
This is the Aire Traveler. Floating down the Kanektok or Arolik seems like the ultimate to me. I don't know why. If enough of you would come up, I might consider a larger raft.
Now if Steph would stop buying stuff...these would be real pictures, like on our porch real. Book your reservations now for prime dates. I have almost bought the plane tickets for coming up a month early this summer. So anytime after July 6th and you got yourself a vacation. I'm not joking on this...we would love to have visitors.
KRSI
I'm sorry. I took a month off there. I'm back, keeping you in the loop with village life. February 11th already! February, March and even January are tough. Not a ton of light in Jan. Cold in February and January for that matter. By March I just hate snow. I want a more liquid form of the crap by then. In fact, even now, all I think about is fishing...fly fishing.
The guys keep telling me about spring trout fishing. The river opens up and the trout go crazy eating everything that hits the water. Can't wait.
About two weeks ago it got warm for like the third time this winter and everything melted. I took the 4-wheeler upriver a ways, to place called KRSI. It is an abandoned fishing camp that the village ran. At least that is what some have told me. There are a few buildings and metal frames left. It is situated on the end of a gravel bar right were the river splits. That gravel bar is loaded with fish. JT, Milt, Michael and myself have all enjoyed fishing up there this year.
I drove up there two weeks ago by myself and tried to find some running water. I had to walk in off the tundra trail as the ice on sloughs leading in were covered with standing water. Most of the gravel bar was covered with ice, but there was a nice 75 yard long chunk of deep water. I had to cross some other questionable stuff to make it out there, but it was worth it to just get a few casts in and work on the double haul. Albert at school asked me if I could double haul and I had to admit "no". So it is now my mission to get that thing looking good. haha.
Well welcome back and thanks for reading. I have got a few more in mind.
M&M fighting the wind:
First Grayling:
I'm sorry. I took a month off there. I'm back, keeping you in the loop with village life. February 11th already! February, March and even January are tough. Not a ton of light in Jan. Cold in February and January for that matter. By March I just hate snow. I want a more liquid form of the crap by then. In fact, even now, all I think about is fishing...fly fishing.
The guys keep telling me about spring trout fishing. The river opens up and the trout go crazy eating everything that hits the water. Can't wait.
About two weeks ago it got warm for like the third time this winter and everything melted. I took the 4-wheeler upriver a ways, to place called KRSI. It is an abandoned fishing camp that the village ran. At least that is what some have told me. There are a few buildings and metal frames left. It is situated on the end of a gravel bar right were the river splits. That gravel bar is loaded with fish. JT, Milt, Michael and myself have all enjoyed fishing up there this year.
I drove up there two weeks ago by myself and tried to find some running water. I had to walk in off the tundra trail as the ice on sloughs leading in were covered with standing water. Most of the gravel bar was covered with ice, but there was a nice 75 yard long chunk of deep water. I had to cross some other questionable stuff to make it out there, but it was worth it to just get a few casts in and work on the double haul. Albert at school asked me if I could double haul and I had to admit "no". So it is now my mission to get that thing looking good. haha.
Well welcome back and thanks for reading. I have got a few more in mind.
M&M fighting the wind:
First Grayling:
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