Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Deer Hunting Birth of a deer camp

I'm up.

watchin the boys ride snowmobile out in the yard. round & round they go.

There will be activity at camp chickenbuck this weekend, possibly some wood cutting.


that's about all i know though.

When my kids were small we had a AC Kitty Kat. They and their cousins would ride that thing around my folks yard all day long. Best baby sitter there was.

my buddy Tom has one he says he's gonna borrow to our little guy. I think it just needs a throttle cable or something. Until then his big brother is very good to give the little guy rides on that old 86 trail i brought home.

Your little guy would love the Kitty Kat Dave. The one we had would run all day on less than a 1/2 gallon of gas.

My dad and brother sold snomobiles. They had SnoJet, Rupp and Wheel Horse. All long gone. At one time there were over 200 snomobile mfg's. I can only come up with 4 now.

yep, I know all about it Bill, having worked for one of the companies that survived it all (polaris) and also growing up in the 70's in MN I had the pleasure of seeing many of the manufacturers that have long since dropped out of production. i sure like seeing those old sleds restored.

i know where i can get hold of a Herters" brand sled in excellent condition for probably 200 bucks. very neat old sled but just one of the very many that were unique & now long gone.

In the late 50's or early 60's a Polaris rep stoped by my dads gas station with one of their new sleds and tried to talk my dad into becoming a dealer. How crude it was compared to todays sleds.

Be neat if you could pick up that old Herters and get it going. A true classic.

Oh but it is going, pull the rope, hop on & go. nothing wrong with it.

She's a sweetheart.

Grew up riding a 69-70 scorpion. Grampa gave it to me, he had bought it new. Old single cyl he had bored out. Looked like a train locomotive. Same sled my mom and her brothers rode for hours on end.

Swish

my buddy had a scorpion whip.

i always figured they were ahead of there time.

neat sleds


how you been Swish?

Twenty years ago I rode a Scorpion Whip from Silver Bay through Babbit and on to Ely - and back. To this day I walk with my knees spread a little and my kiester is slightly numb. And my thumb hurts. And I can't hear so good.

Brutal.

Craig

Hee-Hee!!

My buddy had his in these past 10-15 years. I remember standing out on the ice with my dad on lake of the woods watching tip ups & we hear this noise coming, dad looks up & says "what the hell do you suppose that is?" I looked & said "Well, that's Brad Hughes on the Scorpion whip!"

My dad "you've got to be kidding me."

Me, "nope, here he comes."

That was brad's ice rig for many years.

it was in perfect condition, his was sparkly blue. I mean really sparkly, big metal flake in the paint, huge!!


silver bay to ely & back? you're a crazy man!!

I was new to the North Country. Sled belonged to my dear old Uncle Gary, I trusted him. Bastard.

The herd had the Whip, an old 340 Ski Doo Everest, and some newer Polaris machines WITH AN HONEST TO GOD SUSPENSION. Come to think of it, I think there was a Skiroule in there too.

We ate supper at the Legion in Babbit and honest to God, I didn't think I could bring myself to get back on. Hurts to think about it. No smiley. No.

Craig

HEY YOU GUYS!!! Sloth and Chunk from The Goonies says darn u guys I've been looking at sleds on craigslist now its late... Can't believe there are sleds around here too, now thinkin about trying to get one before next winter.. Ha it will never fly with the wife we don't get enough snow anymore. Even found a Polaris 95 model 500SKS in Kansas City area for like 1250 bucks with only 850 miles.. Send me some real Snow next year Dave!!!

Just stopping in to say hey keep the stories rolling, kids and I are busy preparing to hunt the white hord either this weekend or next. Wabster who is tuckered out and Thankful tomorrow is Friday out..

Been good Dave, faithful reader

Long post cause you all jogged my memory.

the 69 scorpion looked like this.


without the white paint. drove the hell out of it then the track blew. couldnt find another track so I got a 71skidoo elan with a good track and made motor mounts for the scorpion motor. looked like this.



Killed that motor out looking for a christmas tree.It got dark and I was out in the ore dumps. Ran out of gas so I poured two bottles of Heat in the tank. Kept heet because the snow comming around you always iced up the carb. dumped heat on it to free it up.

She ran faster than ever once I got on the road, then stopped hard. I slid about 100 feet in silence.

Last sled I had was a snow jet with no seat, wide track and a 440. A whole new world!!

looked like this, only much worse and a twin cylinder.


Kid I knew was giving me a ride on it and the throttle stuck. we flew down the street, across mainstreet, through a yard and he choked it just before it hit a rock pile.

He wouldnt get back on it, I bought it for $20.00, poured some heat on the carb to get the ice off and drove it home.

Now you did it wabo, got me wanting and looking...
look at this, bet she goes like hell even at 29 years old
http://minneapolis.craigslist.org/rvs/1032381671.html

Ah, old snow machines. Here in Reno in '70-'72 (last year of H.S. and untill I went into the A.F.) Rupp was well known (local connection), Ski-doo, Arctic Cat, Polaris, Yamaha, and Scorpion were the common sleds. A.M.F., Sno-Jet and a tractor maker (Massey-Ferguson) kind of filled out the field.
Cats did not do well in deep powder, Rupps were pricey, Doos were popular, and I liked Scorpion for the very light weight (as I recall less than 300 lbs). What I could afford was a '69 Ski-doo Nordic 371 with an 18" wide track. A bit heavy, but the wide track worked well in powder. The most fun I got to ride was a 775 TNT. It could put your tilt light on. %~)
All this was at 6,000 ft and up.

Dino in Reno

Ive got a 70-71 nordic outside in pieces and your right, hard for two guys to get it into a pickup its so heavy. But it has a cigarette lighter in the dash!!

the scorpion my buddy had was much newer than that, Pam's dad still has an old sno jet out in the barn that looks like new (under all the bird crap) we'd like to buy that one from him.

I remember the old elan i used to ride, turn the skis all the way & she'd still just go straight ahead

I've been thinking about getting some for my yard monsters as well. It s amazing the deals you can find.

I havent been on one in 20 years since I shattered my right arm and wrist after I hit a telephone pole when the steering linkage broke. 9 months 3 surgeries and no desire to play again. Until recently (thanks guys).

That is a funny story.

We used to have a Skido Silver Bullet. I don't remember what year or even the motor size. I was never allowed to ride it. Pa said it was too fast. It went about 60.

Almost anything goes 60 now in a hurry. I still tease him about it. He was so proud that thing went 60mph.