I found myself trying to grow antlers on these two Swamp Donkys this morning. Actually the calf had 2" spikes last fall


Cow


Calf

........Boy is it ever!!!!! A guy told me yesterday that there are thousands of dead deer on the beaches of northern Chichagof Is. We have had around 17 FEET of snow so far.. I,ve shoveled about 3 yards of compacted snow off my roof.....It started raining this morning ...Thank God !!!

All of the people I know up there said it's been one of the longest, snowiest, and coldest winters in a long time. One of my friends sent me pictures of the snowcaves they built to park their ATVs in...

We've had almost a month straight of clear and cold weather. All the sunshine has had me really fired up for spring. Amazing how sunlight affects your mood. I haven't dreaded winter a bit.

Of course now it's snowing, but only another month or so of winter.

........When watching the nightly news We see how snow less the Anchorage area is and kind of wish we were there........The problem with a rain forest is when it is below freezing..It becomes a snow forest.

Sunshine here in Homer has been great but the cold has the harbor still frozen with an honest 6-7 inches of ice and ice everywhere in the bay and inlet.....yesterday, at low tide on the beach up at Anchor Point, there were some pieces of ice the size of delivery trucks....

Find out today if the Homer Winter King Tournament is postponed......actually, it snowed here all night but the wind took care of most of it.......first day of Spring, eh?

Joe

quote:

Originally posted by Paul H:
We've had almost a month straight of clear and cold weather. All the sunshine has had me really fired up for spring. Amazing how sunlight affects your mood. I haven't dreaded winter a bit.

Of course now it's snowing, but only another month or so of winter.

Now if we can get that SUN to DO SOMETHING

quote:

Originally posted by ovis:
Sunshine here in Homer has been great but the cold has the harbor still frozen with an honest 6-7 inches of ice and ice everywhere in the bay and inlet.....yesterday, at low tide on the beach up at Anchor Point, there were some pieces of ice the size of delivery trucks....

Find out today if the Homer Winter King Tournament is postponed......actually, it snowed here all night but the wind took care of most of it.......first day of Spring, eh?

Joe

That is another bitch I have LOL!!
My boat is sitting in that ICE in the Homer Harbor

Here are some pics I took from the Glenn Highway, driving out along the Matsu Valley to the Glacier the weekend before last. It was about the most perfect day you could ask for, dry roads, temps in the high teens low 20's, and perfectly clear sky.

tsturm,

I pulled mine out early right after Thanksgiving.....sitting in the driveway right now......haven't had it over for winter kings once......my slip is down at the ramp end of the harbor so it's iced over bigtime.

It's official now......Homer Winter King Tournament postponed 'til March 31st.

Joe

quote:

Originally posted by ovis:
tsturm,

I pulled mine out early right after Thanksgiving.....sitting in the driveway right now......haven't had it over for winter kings once......my slip is down at the ramp end of the harbor so it's iced over bigtime.

It's official now......Homer Winter King Tournament postponed 'til March 31st.

Joe

I fished all of Feb. Hammered em at bluffs, Pogi & Seldovia. Biggest was 29# white in 100ft of water right in the sand? Maybe weather will break???? My 22" C-DORY is at the end of the ramp on the parking lot side (transient)

Verrry Fresh shrimp



Blackstone Glacier

I keep the Soldotna weather on my log in page every day since my wife and I love fishing there in the summers and have talked a lot about living there. I saw sub zero lows today and I am looking at sunshine and 80 on the golf course right now so I guess I will just keep thinking about it a while longer.

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
........When watching the nightly news We see how snow less the Anchorage area is and kind of wish we were there........The problem with a rain forest is when it is below freezing..It becomes a snow forest.

I wouldn't say Anchorage or the surrounding area's are snowless, i've got piles in my backyard that go over my deck. We did manage to lose some snow when we had that warm spell but now it's all ice covered with a fresh dumping of snow yesterday. You would think that Alaskan's would know how to drive in this type of weather but after seeing all those wrecks yesterday I have my doubts. Spring ain't to far off but it ain't getting here fast enough...

.......Ya ; get in the car , crank up the tunes ,disengage the brain ,and push on the gas......There are so many ,basically non alaskan anchorageites;..Their real world doesn,t have anything to do with their surroundings...I,ve driven south out of Anchorage lots in those kind of conditions,,,,,,Just have to slow down....I was amazed while liveing near Fairbanks at the people who dressed for the office and would drive for 50 or 100 miles to work in 45 below weather...Wouldn,t even have a set of coveralls in the vehicle ??? Nice thing about liveing on the beach,,.. Salt water snow removal system......

Yeah, to funny, when it gets "colder than normal" i make the wife take extra clothes, boots, and make sure her cell phone battery is fully charged and I do the same. It don't take too long for it too start getting cold once the vehicle stops running. It ain't so much the road that scares me but the other idiots that can't drive up here.......and there's a lot of them as evidenced yesterday.

Out here in southwest we've had zero snow since first week of January. Temps have been consistently below zero, and I am super frustrated. Driving up and down the river is very old.
I need an Argo.

quote:

Originally posted by Nitroman:
Out here in southwest we've had zero snow since first week of January. Temps have been consistently below zero, and I am super frustrated. Driving up and down the river is very old.
I need an Argo.

Ever see the tracks for the 4 wheelers thoes are quith impressive in the snow. Rough as hell on the lumpy river ice I bet. I am going to put a set on the 500 rubicon next year

Working outside all winter and it is getting old!

.....Speaking of tracks for 4 wheelers .. Does any one here have any experience with them ?????Polaris is advertiseing their own track system and it looks pretty good.......A 4 wheeler with tracks would sure cut down on storage cost ....

quote:

Originally posted by gumboot458:
.....Speaking of tracks for 4 wheelers .. Does any one here have any experience with them ?????Polaris is advertiseing their own track system and it looks pretty good.......A 4 wheeler with tracks would sure cut down on storage cost ....

I have ridden with them on a buddys yamaha 660.
They are great. I rode all arround in stuff I couldnt walk in, got off the machine & sank above my waist. I dont remember the brand name, were Canadian made. I havent been able to smooth over the $3500.00 with the wife yet.

..........Ya I was thinking about that increased cost but The lowest price SkiDoo I have found is over 4,200 $ With these new 2 up 4 wheelers 1 machine with the tracks can be perfact...The big Polaris with a winch and snow plow and tracks is just a bit more than a Skandic..............

Those things are pritty cool but I don't think I'm ready to trade in my scandic yet. If a person wanted only one machine for all that would be the way to go. I only use my 4 wheeler to haul gear in and out of the cabin. For all of my other spring, summer and fall activity's I use my super cub.

I wonder how they are on fuel

.........Apparantly they are slower,,,which is good as they seem to need more power to turn them.........With more weight at the ground they should be more stable and the 2 up seating nice racks and the snow plow ability ,, seems about right.........I just know I don,t want to spend another winter snow bound!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

All of the tracks that I have seen have reducers in them to make your machine go slower but have more power to the ground. If you want to make sure that the tracks will work in the summer too you would want the ones with bogey wheels no sliders. I don't think the sliders would work very good off snow.

That makes sense....I wouldn,t have even thought of that.......Do you know which ones have the boogies ???

And the experts say this is global warming?

quote:

Originally posted by Moose-Hunter:
And the experts say this is global warming?

Global warming MY ASS, Maybe in DC? I have only been in AK 10yrs & this is the coldest March I have seen This pict was taken in Homer today 03/25/07 Maybe 1 more week??? The open water is getting close. About 50' more

But guys, Al Gore says everything is melting in the arctic. You folks are pulling my leg about the long winter. I believe Al, not Alaskans!

gumboot
re: Tracked ATV's.

A few days ago I was in the mountains of Idaho.
I tried to "drive" a snowmobile and managed to only go 3 feet, straight down.

A buddy came to rescue me and his snowmobile also became stuck.

WE dug them out but had to wait till the next morning to drive them out, when the snow had the frozen crust restored after the night time low.

However, as I needed to get supplies to my cabin my buddy said "I have A MACHINE THAT WILL DO THE JOB".

Long story short, he had an ATV with tracks. He said it will go through snow even if it "sinks" 3 feet.

It will go places that a snowmobile cannot go.
The only problem is that it is slower even on "good" snow than a snowmobile.

But, it will go on ground with no snow as well.

I was impressed with it, and in my limited experience would consider it a better "utility" vehicle than a snowmobile.

It would also be good in deep mud and swampy conditions as well.

I've seen the tracks installed on atv's and talked with guys that use them, they are horrible on gas and you need an acre to turn them around and for me, they are way to slow and cumbersome. I would just get a snowmachine and call it a wrap.

......Alot of our driveing during deer hunting is on fairly extensive , closed road systems.....In late season sometimes 2 ft of snow can fall in a day while on the wrong side of a pass...So guys don,t push the weather.....I,ve had a 4 whlr stuck alot and couldn,t access Most of an area.....A snogo is great but they don,t like driveing on miles of bare road ...I see Mattrax has a pretty good web site......They have boogey wheels.....In the spring we get the same type conditions,, but are caused by the sun ... On the dark side of the mountains the road is way deep in snow where the sun can hit the road it will be bare ...I think the tracks will be the way for me to go.......need a bigger 4 whlr anyway!!!!!! ........The snow continues..

For those kind of conditions an Argo is your best bet but if you do go with the tracks, make sure you bring lots of gas.

The 8X 20hp argo W/18" snow tracks is no slouch when it comes to fuel consumption either

...........Ya ; thats another thing .. we use Munson , Ryder and Svensen landing craft type skiffs here to haul our 4 wheelers around and I,m not sure the tracks will fit thru the door/ramp of Kabluey,s packman......An Argo is too wide.......I,ll drag a sled mounted fuel tank with me Hey tstrum; that is a nice looking C Dory.....Are there many Tollman Skiffs around there ?????

[QUOTE]Originally posted by gumboot458:
...........Ya ; thats another thing .. we use Munson , Ryder and Svensen landing craft type skiffs here to haul our 4 wheelers around and I,m not sure the tracks will fit thru the door/ramp of Kabluey,s packman......An Argo is too wide.......I,ll drag a sled mounted fuel tank with me Hey tstrum; that is a nice looking C Dory.....Are there many Tollman Skiffs around there ?????[/QUOTE)

Thanks I sure like it. I have seen 3 or 4 tollman's in Homer & a couple in PWS / Whittier. Paul the moderator is building one. I would much rather run glass or Alu on to the beach than that beautiful wood. They are a Great design