Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Alaska Weekends on my butt...

Two in a row - danged playoffs!

Got off work a couple hours early and I'd heard a rumor of 40-50 caribou sighted in a willow patch a few miles out of town, just at dark last night. Figured they would be long gone/chased off by tonight, but I needed the fresh air, and a chance to work my camera. 0 degrees, blowing 10-15, but clear.

Changed into sno-running clothes, grabbed the two go-packs, booted the rifle, hitched the sled, tucked the new Canon with telephoto under the parka and off I went. I'd not ever run that section of country, even tho it's only a few miles out, so that was the main deal.

Sure enough, I found lots of fresh tracks making time for elsewhere directly into the wind, so I followed them, still into new country to me. Several miles later from a ridge top I spotted 6 coming the other way, straight downwind toward me, about 1 1/2 miles away. Not spooked, but seeming like they had someplace in mind. Looked like a good ambush time. It also looked like they were all the same size, and I couldn't see antlers yet of course, but I figured them to likely be bulls - fodder for the camera, illegal to shoot.

Snow machined about half-way toward them and stopped out of sight/sound behind the point of a low ridge. I figured they would come out on the flat just below and off the point of the ridge. Taking the camera I walked toward where I'd last seen them from my previous stop, using a low hill in the distance as landmark. Using the binocs every step or two, I saw the first one before I'd gone 25 yards - and it had seen me - or my head anyway. Ducking down real slow, I retreated to the machine, un-booted the gun, chambered a round, and waited. Within 10 minutes it was in view, and within another 10 the other 5 were also.

For the life of me, I couldn't make one legal. I THINK they were all bulls, but I could find neither penis sheathes or vulva patches at 271 ranged yards, through the 8X binoculars. Probably a good thing I spaced that the rifle scope goes to 10X. Damed thing might have gone off! The sun was down, but still had over an hour of daylight, but I wasn't real enthusiastic about dressing something out tonight when I've already got one in the freezer (gave the other two priors to kids and friends).

So I tried my hand with the new Canon Rebel T5 and telephoto, without any real hope of getting usable pictures, between the fading light, no tripod, and that lens isn't image stabalized (Same lens that came with the package, but with IS runs as much as the whole original package- over $500. I gotta get me one of those.... ).

But for hand-held, it didn't work out too bad - only about half of them were too blurry to keep. I need to get a filter package too -these got pretty blue after computer enhanced. Actually the originals looked more natural, and closer to actual conditions. Learning curve here....

Despite having to keep an eye on me, the first one bedded down, and eventually the others came up and also bedded, at which point they got boring and I started the machine to leave. They jumped up and tore out of there!



Second from right looks like a bull that's shed his antlers, which makes me think the rest are bulls also, tho the far right one looks a little suspect as a cow. Only way to be sure tho is seeing a vulva patch, penis sheath, or one peeing. All hard to do. Easy way is to shoot one with a calf! Or shoot one and ground-check it... (I jokes!)

Judging sex among caribou is rarely easy or certain under those conditions. I would guess that the first and fourth are heifers and that the third is also a cow. But, then again, the third one could be a young bull. That could be a 'family' in which case the second might be the matriarch with either a daughter and her 'calf' or two calves from the the old lady. Cows and bulls tend to separate in winter, though the younger animals will often be mixed with the cows and calves. About the only sure way, from a distance, in winter is to look for the gangs of bald square heads. The square heads and roman noses of the mature bulls are easy, foolproof ways to read them. Or, go sit with some of the old Native hunters who spend plenty of time sitting and watching. Some of them consider it a failure to shoot a bull, or even a young cow. To them, a dry fat cow with the wide white rear is the only way to go - shot right in the neck or behind the ear with a 55 grain bullet.

Academic for awhile.... Ripped the Bravo track- until I get a serviceable one on, it isn't leaving town. Looking for a junker here. If not, I'll pick a used one up in Anchorage 1st chance I get. Lots of machines used that track - and there's lots of junked machines around, so I'm hopeful I come up with something in the next few days. I just finished the list - looks like a weekend of "prospecting"...

Bulls open up Feb 1 again, and isn't far away. Hope I have it fixed by then. Could use one more animal, without the headache of "Is she or isn't he?"

And I still have a valid moose permit. Rather get a caribou. Getting lazy!

Look for a Camoplast rather than a Yamaha made track. They seem more tolerant to occasional hard/bare snow conditions. (I have perhaps paid more for education for which I have not received 'letters', and that particular lesson cost me $600-700 for a one week lesson. Ouch*) I believe the track is a 15" x 136"? If so there are lots of Polaris and Arctic Cats that will work.

136 X 15, 2.52 pitch, 54 windows.

Think I'll put this on hold until March, unless I can come up with a cheap used one here, and run around town on what I have on, or until it breaks.

Looks like a bit of a job to change that out, need to collect some tools, run off a service manual on the home computer (100 plus pages, and no home printer here) when next in Soldotna (this weekend, hopefully - if not then, 2nd weekend of March, after Mexico.

I can get the use of a heated building over a weekend here, and probably an EE (Expert Eskimo) to keep me out of too much trouble.

Will know if staying another year by end of March. If not, I'll ship it out and work on it in my garage next winter and do a thorough overhaul on it - it's showing it's 23 years.... burning more gas than when new and smelling of it- likely a carb float problem. A few other "temporary" fixes that should be correctly addressed one of these years (like 4 layers of Gorilla Tape heat-gunned over the cold/weather shattered seat cover....) . Still runs great, tho. Better now that I've run a bottle of Marvel Mystery Oil thru it over the last 3 tanks. That even helped the milage/gas smell some.

Wife is going out to MT sometime in the next few months. Might have a Camoplast UPSed to Billings and she can bring it up as baggage. Danged freight is getting outrageous, and Anchorage Salvage wants over $800 for a new one - but have a used one of indeterminate pedigree for about $400. If I get a chance I'll go look at it - again, if I can't get a used one here for $200 or less. I've already got 7 located- but they are all but one out at camps, on machines(Bravos), which creates a couple problems in transportation/disassembly. The one in town just needs a pull starter assembly. He says. Kinda hate to start busting up something that minor, but on the other hand, I could come up with a whole bunch of spare parts.... ? He wants $200 for the track. Think I'll look at it, anyway, maybe I can get the whole thing for 500. Or less. (Wife will love that - she doesn't let me go to the dump alone anymore already)

If Cris next door ever gets home, I'll check what he might have. He used to be a Yamaha dealer here and has a half dozen junkers sitting around. That would be too easy! I think they are all shorter tracks tho.

I'll think about it some more while in Mexico Feb 4-11.

No Rush, Be Happy!

I don't recall if I've 'undone' that section of a Bravo or not - though many other pieces/parts. However, I had 'some' practice on the old Enticers which used basically similar rear suspensions. The ease of maintenance involved in those Japanese designs were light years ahead of what John Deere, Scorpion, and Ski-Doo had come up with at that point. ..... I don't think you'll find it too difficult if coastal salt hasn't has its way as it is wont to do.

I reckon $200, local, for a track is reasonable. Make sure you watch for soft spots in those Yamaha tracks - Yokomoto or whoever makes them for them. They use a softer rubber which is okay - that isn't a big deal one way or another so much, especially with the horsepower that a Bravo instills, but.... the rods in those tracks are prone to getting 'soft' and or broken (hence ripped tracks), so you need to pay attention and flex those track edges to see. (Camoplast tracks must have a different resin in their fiberglass rods because they seem much more durable when it comes to broken rods; it's rare.) Even after paying actual shipping costs: $50-75, eBay has provided some good deals on good replacement tracks for our uses. (My wife's old Arctic Cat has a lightly studded Camoplast-made track which has Polaris' nomenclatures on it. I think I got it for $150-160 off from eBay prior to shipping.)