One of my pastimes

The general bullshit and chatty section where we post general gossip.
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railroad bob
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SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Had a chance this past September to spend some quality time hunting in the outdoors north of Fairbanks.
I've been gong to this place since 1987 every year that I can. Sometimes work gets in the way.
I used to carry a 30-.06, but over the last 15 years the bear population has increased considerably. I know of several grizzlies that have been killed
by moose hunters. I retired the .06 and bought a Savage 375 H&H, SS with a synthetic stock.
I'm not looking for a grizzly, but if I have an encounter, I want the odds in my favor.
I have found 3 different grizzly scrapes over the years. A scrape is a large pile of brush, moss, grass, branches, other debris, that
a grizzly scrapes over the carcass of an animal, usually a large moose. Then they hang around for days while it decays, and eat it.

Usually you are moving thru the woods, traversing gullys, grassy clearings, underbrush, to find a good vantage point.
I was doing that with my buddy, Jesse, several years ago, and noticed a path about a foot wide where the grass was beat down to the ground.
It went all the way across the gully we were following. I stepped up onto the bank on the right side, and up onto a big pile of brush to get a better look around.
Well, I was puzzled about the trail, until I looked down and saw a moose leg sticking out from under the brush pile.

Ever had the hair on the back of your neck lift up. Well, mine was doing a dance, suddenly every sense was on high alert, stronger than some of the acid
I used to take years ago. INTENSE!!!
I signaled Jesse, and we got the hell away from Mr Bears dinner plate.

Another time, My friend Ramon had told me about a smell of decaying meat at one point on the trail we use to get to our hunting camp.
I came out a couple of days later, and stopped to check it out. I walked about 50 feet off the trail and found another grizzly scrape.
This one was about 15 feet across, in a clearing in the trees that was about 50 feet wide. The mound was almost 3 feet high,
and on top was the front leg of a black bear, with the skin laid back and all the meat gone. It was like the grizzly treated it like a lollipop, and left it as a warning.

I couldn't understand why the bear didn't just drag the moose carcass away, but I found a rear leg had been caught by a snare, forgotten or lost by a trapper.
The moose could not get away, Griz came along, then Blackie came along.
I took the leg to camp to save the claws, and a few days later I was able to find the black bear skull under a bush about 70-80 feet away, and took hat into camp also.

Ramon complained about it, but Jesse and I both ignored him. He reads the books about the bear attacks, and used to be deathly afraid of bears.
He has gotten better over the many years.

This year I only got to go out for a few days, and the weather was pretty warm. I didn't have much hope of getting anything, but enjoyed being there anyway.

One morning, we were deciding where to hunt. Ramon had gone to town already, discouraged by lack of movement from the moose.
Jesse and his son rode their 4whlrs to the end of the ridge and down into the valley, past the other hunting camps, hoping the other hunters wold startle something past them.

I went to a trail going down the side of a ridge where we had good luck in previous years. I got a 65 inch moose there in 1991, and Jesse has gotten more than a few moose on the same trail.
There is a ground blind about a mile from the top, and I set up there to watch down the trail, and I could see where a different trail intersected a hundred feet down.

About noon, 3 other hunters rode down, not knowing I was there. Seeing me sittng in the blind. they stopped and let me know they were trying to find a way into the
valley below and intended to ride this trail all the way down. We talked about 5 minutes and they left.

They had only been gone 5-6 minutes when I heard a low grunt from behind me, and an antler rattling in the branches.
Since it was noon, and warm weather, I was very surprised, and got out of my seat to look behind me. Squatting down to peer thru the trees, I
could see the tips of one antler about 60-70 feet away. The bull moose grunted again, shook his head against the branches, and started walking right toward me.
He came out of the trees at a slow walk, and continued almost straight at the ground blind. I was getting a little nervous when he got only 10 feet away, and made a small noise.
He stopped and was looking in my direction, but was not alarmed. I was still squatting behind the seat, and not moving very much, so he could not see me very well.
I made another noise, and he turned and started waling away at a diagonal direction. I waited until he was 15 feet away and shot him with the 375, putting him down instantly.

30 minutes later I was skinning him when the other 3 hunters came back up the ridge. They never heard a thing, and the trees squeezed them out of going all the way to the valley.
After they left, I had to go to camp to get some gear, and was able to reach Jesse on a 2way radio. It took them 2 hours to get to my location,
but we had the meat hanging in his garage by 10:30 that night.

The only bad thing about this was the pesky black flies hat were swarming around. They ate me up. I had welts on my arms and face for days.

This was a 42 inch bull, and he tastes mighty fine. Here is a pic when we were about half thru bagging him up.
BobMoose50KB.jpg
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Maxthegardener
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SELF INTRODUCTION: Name is Max living in scotland ,and building my first bike, Which is derived from a buellM2 Cyclone..Started with an engine and a Drop seat frame wich was made to my spec by a more experienced builder. would like to learn more about the skills and techniques required to build a frame so I value being a member here...Cheers Max
Location: Angus, Scotland

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by Maxthegardener »

Livin the life Bob....... :mrgreen: That looks and sounds....wait for it............awwwwwwwwwwsum :D
lamping rabbits ain't gonna be the same...Ive got a 12 gauge on my permit but Id have to find a property large enough to warrant the use of a Rifle, closest thing I have is a logun S16 which is on the fringe of legality regarding its power.......

what do you do with the meat...smoke it or what??
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Maxthegardener
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SELF INTRODUCTION: Name is Max living in scotland ,and building my first bike, Which is derived from a buellM2 Cyclone..Started with an engine and a Drop seat frame wich was made to my spec by a more experienced builder. would like to learn more about the skills and techniques required to build a frame so I value being a member here...Cheers Max
Location: Angus, Scotland

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by Maxthegardener »

Hope you adhered to the signs :lol:
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railroad bob
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Posts: 939
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

LOL, we've talked about putting one of those signs at the trailhead.

I've never smoked the meat, treat it just like beef, cut and wrap as steaks and some roasts.
Made Swiss Steak a few days ago.
Tougher cuts get chunked up for chili.
Some of the local processors can make sausage or bacon, I never bother as they have to add a large percentage of fat.

It is more common to smoke salmon, especially when you have large quantities.

Checking into a winter Caribou hunt today to see if the season will be delayed.
Charged the battery in the Snow Machine yesterday, brought it in to thaw.

Pix if successful..
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Jeff L
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SELF INTRODUCTION: Hey...I live in South Jersey (the Super Fund State) work as an Operating Engineer local825.Besides bikes I love to fish the surf.I have my current & seemingly endless project a BSA 750 Rocket3, a 72 Honda CB750,79 Kawasaki KZ1000, 48 Simplex, & a 62 Norton Atlas engine
Location: South Jersey

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by Jeff L »

You had me on the edge of my seat Bob.Thought for sure I was gonna see a grizzly when I got to the bottom of your post.Nice moose man.If ya font know what to do with all the meat...send a couple steaks down here.lol
Changing the shape of the Earth...1 bucket at a time...IUOE local 825 top of the food chain
Bikesandfires
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SELF INTRODUCTION: I'm a 54yo, fat, balding, bearded motorhead living in the hills of Eastern Ky. 35 year and counting firefighter, retired from 31 years as a crane operator, car nut from birth. I hope my free-mail account doesn't keep me from becoming a member of this message board. Current toys: 1966 Ford Fairlane 500, 1967 Sunbeam Tiger clone project, VW trike project, 18' Thundercraft boat.

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by Bikesandfires »

Max..I don't want to sound stupid...altho I am un-informed....What are you talking about when you say a 12guage on your permit???
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railroad bob
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Posts: 939
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Well, none of my buddies got a moose, so I shared it out.
My son was being a good provider working on his house and didn't get to hunt, so I had him go pick up one of the back legs.
Since I live alone, I don't need as much. I can get some meat from him when I need it. All the rest was split up with the other guys.

I never go hunting for bear, but I always have a permit if I meet one. I want to be able to take one legally and keep the hide.
Grizz that is. I would take the meat and hide both from a black bear. Hunters are not required to take the meat from a grizzly, but
I've eaten it before, and thought it tasted as good as other game meat. Of course we are far from the coast, and the bears here do not get the fishy taste
that coastal bears are reputed to have.

We also have the chance to fish for salmon with a subsistence permit. This allows us to take as many as 35 (varies slightly from year to year) using a dipnet.
A dipnet has a round loop made from light aluminum tube about 3-4 feet in diameter, and an aluminum handle 10-12 feet long.
Here's a pic of my son Eddie getting ready to place it into the Copper River.
Eddie at Chitna.jpg
Eddie at Chitna.jpg (113.86 KiB) Viewed 2370 times
This is a deadly river, glacier fed with huge volume and frigid water.
Where the canyon narrows, you can hear boulders tumbling along the bottom. Anyone who falls in will be extremely lucky to get out.
Many people have not. Or someone will casually toss a stick in the water, and that is the last you see of the poor dog that thought it was time to play.
In the picture, the water is flowing from left to right. As the salmon swim upstream to spawn, naturally they travel from the right to the left.
The best technique is to find an eddy with a swirl. The swirling current keeps the net open toward upstream. If the net went into the river by the bank, the current would keep the net closed. People who dipnet like that have to sweep the net with the current from upstream toward downstream to keep the net open. Much more work to do this.

The salmon come into eddies to rest as they travel upstream, and circle slowly. If you find a good spot, you can be ready when the salmon runs start coming upriver. With your net in the eddy, the fish swim right into it, and if you're fast, you can jerk the handle up to trap the fish and swing it over to the bank.

When the run is strong, sometimes there are 2-3 fish in the net, and one year my dad and I managed to limit out in 45 minutes. That was both our limits.
The salmon were running so good, I started being picky, throwing back smaller ones, or the ones with seal bites or flesh damage from commercial nets.
These were all sockeye salmon, but coho and chinook are legal also. Most folks like the sockeye the most, they have a higher fat content and are more tasteful.

This is a stringer he is hauling up the cliff to the 4wheelers on the trail. There are 8 fish and each is 8-12 pounds
Chitna Reds.jpg
Chitna Reds.jpg (191.31 KiB) Viewed 2370 times
This is the cliff he is going up... About 200 feet up the loose scree.
You can see Zeb a little over halfway up, he is wearing a black hoodie and jeans, but you can make out his hand, light than everything else.
To the right of center, and against the tree backdrop. Looks small, don't he. Taller than me tho.
Chitna Cliff.jpg
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Maxthegardener
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Posts: 384
Joined: Tue Oct 25, 2011 11:28 am
SELF INTRODUCTION: Name is Max living in scotland ,and building my first bike, Which is derived from a buellM2 Cyclone..Started with an engine and a Drop seat frame wich was made to my spec by a more experienced builder. would like to learn more about the skills and techniques required to build a frame so I value being a member here...Cheers Max
Location: Angus, Scotland

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by Maxthegardener »

Bikesandfires wrote:Max..I don't want to sound stupid...altho I am un-informed....What are you talking about when you say a 12guage on your permit???
Got a permit to own a shotgun only...Rifles are on a different permit..

just took a Utube tour of Chitina and the Kennecotte mines , copper River .....Looks a great place to explore!
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railroad bob
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Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Your comment about youtube made me check, and I found a good vid of a fish wheel in action on the Copper River.

The current spins the wheel, the fish swim along the bank and get scooped up.
As the wheel turns, the fish slide to the bottom of the screen and thru a wooden chute out into the catch box.
The catch box extends into the water so the fish stay fresh.
That is a Chinook salmon (King) coming outta the box and into the 5 gallon bucket.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=57Cd_kpX ... re=related[/youtube]
Alaska - Land of the Individual and Other Endangered Species
An Armed Society is a Polite Society,...
Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants
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railroad bob
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Posts: 939
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Your comment about youtube made me check, and I found a good vid of a fish wheel in action on the Copper River.

The current spins the wheel, the fish swim along the bank and get scooped up.
As the wheel turns, the fish slide to the bottom of the screen and thru a wooden chute out into the catch box.
The catch box extends into the water so the fish stay fresh.
That is a Chinook salmon (King) coming outta the box and into the 5 gallon bucket.

Alaska - Land of the Individual and Other Endangered Species
An Armed Society is a Polite Society,...
Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants
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gearhead1951
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I dont know if I can think of enough to say to reach the two hundred charactor minimun set by the mods , but I will persevere
Location: Greenock Scotland

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by gearhead1951 »

Two Tennessee hilbillys out hunting turkey come across tracks of the biggest bear they had ever seen ! The older one said " I think we oughtta go back to camp , I dont much like the idea of meeting that one " The young one felt that they should at least try a little longer to get a turkey so his friend says " Boy , we got nothin' but bird shot in theses guns and that aint gonna do nuthin' to a bear like that but piss him off ! " " Do you really think you are capable of out runnnin' a bear in these woods " ??

The youngun sez " No , but I kin out run you " !!
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railroad bob
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Posts: 939
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Thats when the old one sez, I can shoot your knee...
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joechop
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SELF INTRODUCTION: engineer working in construction industry and living outside of Pittsburgh PA. I recently completed my first build and hopefully more to come. officially started a side business for v-twin restomods... Vadori Designs.

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by joechop »

Hi Jim - been awhile - great stories. ...beats Vegas, eh?

Man I can taste the backstrap now......

Hope all is well, but it looks as if it is!

joe
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railroad bob
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Posts: 939
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Hey Joe,
How is your project doing? Shovelhead, right?

Things are going OK, been working steady almost 2 years, but looks like the latest job is ending end of January.

Got a couple of prospects for employment after that, but have not really been looking, just talking to buddies and it comes up in conversation.
Alaska - Land of the Individual and Other Endangered Species
An Armed Society is a Polite Society,...
Politicians Prefer Unarmed Peasants
TANSTAAFL
User avatar
railroad bob
Contributor
Posts: 939
Joined: Fri Nov 04, 2011 10:07 pm
SELF INTRODUCTION: Hi Dan, thanks for your time and energy spent on this new board. I hope you will give me a waiver on the email account, I have used gmail so long I don't have a clue what my service provider account is.
I just returned home from a 2 week trip in New Mexico, have a few good pix, can't wait to share my off-highway traveling. Got to put 1400 miles on the scoot.

Best, Bob Davidson
Location: Alaska

Re: One of my pastimes

Post by railroad bob »

Here's an old picture. This is on the Parks Hwy at the viewing area for Mt McKinley.
Luckily it was a beautiful clear day at the summit, so you can see the mountain clearly.
I was running Hooker pipes in both pics, so probably 2003 also.
HD and Mt McKinley.jpg
HD and Mt McKinley.jpg (22.41 KiB) Viewed 2298 times
This shot is at Portage Glacier viewing area. Ice floes in the lake behind me.
Blustery summer day, July, 2003.
My parents had been visiting Alaska again, seeing old friends, and I was escorting them to Whittier, so they could load their RV on a ferry.
We stopped at Portage to kill a little time while waiting for the railroad tunnel to open for trafffic going to Whittier.
Bonus!!! Motorcycles go first, and was rapping my pipes going thru the tunnel for miles. Wet pavement tho, and a set of rails in the middle, so no dicey stuff.
FXR at Portage Glacier 2003.jpg
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