Yo ErikD - Page 3

ErikD · 10-22-2010, 03:16 PM

Today, or actually the whole week, started off pretty crappy. To begin with 3 wolves were sighted only a few km from my property, which meant that we couldn't let our dogs loose until today. Then the weather forecast said that we'd be getting -7 Celcius and snow, so I went down to the shed where I keep our winter tires just to find that they were missing.

I don't recall if I mentioned it here or not, but we had a break in in June, where the bastards stole some chain saws and brushcutters. However, since it was summer at the time, I didn't stop to think that I had stored my winter tires in there also... So 2 complete sets for our own cars were missing, plus my mothers set which was also stored in there. I presume these 3 sets of wheels and tires are now happily residing in Poland or some other eastern European shithole country.

So when it snowed last night, and I had to drive the kids to school and kindergarten this morning, I drove veeeery slowly. After I'd dropped them off and was going to turn left onto another road, it was so slippery that my car just slid sideways into the guardrail along the side of the road!

The result was fortunately not as bad as I first feared, with just some scrapes on the front and rear bumper:

Still, I was naturally pissed off...

Not much I could do about it then and there, so I continued back home to meet up with the other guys to see if we could find some moose today. Since it was still around -5 when we started up, I made sure I was suitably clad to sit still for 2-3 hours, and it wasn't all that bad. One of us saw 3 moose, but they were hidden by the trees so a shot was not possible.

Later in the day though, we tried another area. This time Lady Luck was with me, perhaps weighing up for all the crap from earlier in the week. A nice little yearling appeared about 75 meters from me, at a slow pace, and after a few seconds presented a decent broadside shot. Needless to say, it didn't go any further when the 9,3x62 loaded with 250grain North Fork softpoint tore thru it's upper lungs, nicking it's spine.

My wife has grown fond of the taste of moose tongue sliced on bread, so I cut it out for her. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything else to pack it into besides a couple of latex surgical gloves.

So despite the crappy start, at least the end of this week isn't turning out all that bad.

Tomorrow I will be doing the dog handling, and hopefully we'll get at least 2 or 3 more moose this weekend.

Czubek · 10-22-2010, 03:51 PM

Looks like it turned out ok for you anyhow!

I like that powered sled. You have more pictures of it and maybe some specs?

Brian

Pogo · 10-22-2010, 04:03 PM

Yeah, that sled thing looks interesting.

Czubek · 10-22-2010, 08:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pogo

Yeah, that sled thing looks interesting.

Looks like it was made out the back half of a snow mobile.

Brian

ErikD · 10-23-2010, 01:43 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Czubek

Looks like it was made out the back half of a snow mobile.

Brian

That would be pretty close to the truth. One of the guys in our group made it himself from an old, double tracked snow mobile and other parts he had laying around.

A more modern (and vastly more expensive) version commonly used over here is this: http://www.jernhesten.no/

Pogo · 10-23-2010, 08:23 AM

In that last picture, it looks like the ground is soft like a bog. The rear of the machine looks like it's sunk in the ground. Do you have a lot of bogs over there?

Czubek · 10-23-2010, 03:29 PM

Well, how cool is that? What you would call a serious multi-tool. I could see one in use around here... A lot!

Thanks for that information, Erik.

Brian

ErikD · 10-23-2010, 04:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pogo

In that last picture, it looks like the ground is soft like a bog. The rear of the machine looks like it's sunk in the ground. Do you have a lot of bogs over there?

The rear of the machine is not actually sunk down, but it can appear so because the tracks are shaped like that with a marked upwards tilt on the front part to allow it to effectively attack steep terrian angles or obsticals.

With that said, we do have a lot of bogs/mires here, so floatation is important when choosing a machine to transport the moose out. The wide tracks on these machines allow them to easily float on top of surfaces that makes a person sink down to their knees. I recall walking across a boggy area last year while bird hunting, and suddenly my right leg sunk down all the way to my crotch before I even knew what was happening. I would have probably sunk down even further if it hadn't been for my upper body falling over to the side, and holding me up.

Some people use 4x4 or 6x6 atv's for dragging moose out, but these are not as common for several reasons. First of all the strong/heavy duty ones are very expensive over here, and also the tracked versions are able to access place that wheeled atv's can not.

DorGunR · 10-23-2010, 05:06 PM

I've noticed the dogs stay very close to the kill, they must think the moose belongs to them.

ErikD · 10-23-2010, 05:24 PM

They most certainly do. At least when it comes to other dogs. Our dogs have no problems with people handling "their" moose though.

DorGunR · 10-24-2010, 02:36 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ErikD

They most certainly do. At least when it comes to other dogs. Our dogs have no problems with people handling "their" moose though.

ErikD, You have some beautiful dogs...........

ErikD · 10-28-2010, 03:18 AM

The 9,3 decided to take yet another moose a few days ago, this time a calf. Since I was only a couple of hundred meters from the nearest road, I called my wife and told her to bring the kids up so they could see how we gut the moose.

It was quite cold that day, around -5, so I had made a small fire to keep me warm. The moose cow and calf did not react to the fire at all when they were coming towards me. One thing that was interesting was that the moose cow made an unusual noise I have never heard them make before. They have a specific call they make when calling to their calves, or to other moose, but this time the cow made a very deep barking noise when the calf was shot and didn't follow her. The cow then stopped up on a ridge about 100 meters away where I looked at her thru my scope, and she made the same barking noise 2 more times before moving off. I have no doubt that this noise was made to intimidate me or scare me away. The bark was a mix of the sound you would get from an angry gorilla and a very large guard dog. I talked to the other guys about it afterwards, and no one had heard a sound like that before from a moose. I was kind of dissappionted that it didn't try to charge, as that would have given me the excuse to shoot it too.

We only have 1 cow left on our quota though, so we are saving it until all the yearlings are finished.

Where I was sitting when the moose came by:

The wife and kids, plus my mother who was also hunting that day:

I went out yesterday all by myself with my dog, to see if I could get him to bay a moose that I could sneak up to and shoot for his trainings sake. It was raining all day, which usually make the moose stay put, and also dampens the noise when trying to get up close. Unfortunately, the only moose we found were one that crossed a river within a minute, and therefor got away, and another that kept on going without stopping. But at least we got some excersise.

Hopefully we'll have better luck the next few days and I'll be able to shoot a moose for him.

Desert Rat · 10-28-2010, 05:09 AM

Someday Erik I'm going to read one of your adventures and just fall over dead from jealousy. You have too much fun, my friend.

10 Bears · 10-28-2010, 09:11 AM

Makes a guy, just a bit, envious!

ErikD · 10-28-2010, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Desert Rat

Someday Erik I'm going to read one of your adventures and just fall over dead from jealousy. You have too much fun, my friend.

IIRC, you aren't all that great a fan of freezing temps. Are you really sure you are jealous of me sitting there freezing my ass off to the degree that I had to light a fire?

10-22-2010, 03:16 PM	#31
ErikD Mzungu Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: In the land of socialist nepotism and corruption. Posts: 6,341	Today, or actually the whole week, started off pretty crappy. To begin with 3 wolves were sighted only a few km from my property, which meant that we couldn't let our dogs loose until today. Then the weather forecast said that we'd be getting -7 Celcius and snow, so I went down to the shed where I keep our winter tires just to find that they were missing. I don't recall if I mentioned it here or not, but we had a break in in June, where the bastards stole some chain saws and brushcutters. However, since it was summer at the time, I didn't stop to think that I had stored my winter tires in there also... So 2 complete sets for our own cars were missing, plus my mothers set which was also stored in there. I presume these 3 sets of wheels and tires are now happily residing in Poland or some other eastern European shithole country. So when it snowed last night, and I had to drive the kids to school and kindergarten this morning, I drove veeeery slowly. After I'd dropped them off and was going to turn left onto another road, it was so slippery that my car just slid sideways into the guardrail along the side of the road! The result was fortunately not as bad as I first feared, with just some scrapes on the front and rear bumper: Still, I was naturally pissed off... Not much I could do about it then and there, so I continued back home to meet up with the other guys to see if we could find some moose today. Since it was still around -5 when we started up, I made sure I was suitably clad to sit still for 2-3 hours, and it wasn't all that bad. One of us saw 3 moose, but they were hidden by the trees so a shot was not possible. Later in the day though, we tried another area. This time Lady Luck was with me, perhaps weighing up for all the crap from earlier in the week. A nice little yearling appeared about 75 meters from me, at a slow pace, and after a few seconds presented a decent broadside shot. Needless to say, it didn't go any further when the 9,3x62 loaded with 250grain North Fork softpoint tore thru it's upper lungs, nicking it's spine. My wife has grown fond of the taste of moose tongue sliced on bread, so I cut it out for her. Unfortunately, I couldn't find anything else to pack it into besides a couple of latex surgical gloves. So despite the crappy start, at least the end of this week isn't turning out all that bad. Tomorrow I will be doing the dog handling, and hopefully we'll get at least 2 or 3 more moose this weekend. __________________ ------------------------------------------- Cut along dotted line, discard top part.

10-22-2010, 03:51 PM	#32
Czubek slug Join Date: May 2007 Location: Stover, Missouri Posts: 33,622	Looks like it turned out ok for you anyhow! I like that powered sled. You have more pictures of it and maybe some specs? Brian __________________ 3 Here at the Dirty Dozen's Bunker, we have no problems, only solutions.

10-22-2010, 04:03 PM	#33
Pogo Mystic Knight of the Sea Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great Swamp Posts: 81,969	Yeah, that sled thing looks interesting. __________________ .................................................. ....................................… *We have met the enemy, and he is us!*

10-23-2010, 08:23 AM	#36
Pogo Mystic Knight of the Sea Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: The Great Swamp Posts: 81,969	In that last picture, it looks like the ground is soft like a bog. The rear of the machine looks like it's sunk in the ground. Do you have a lot of bogs over there?

10-23-2010, 03:29 PM	#37
Czubek slug Join Date: May 2007 Location: Stover, Missouri Posts: 33,622	Well, how cool is that? What you would call a serious multi-tool. I could see one in use around here... A lot! Thanks for that information, Erik. Brian

10-23-2010, 05:06 PM	#39
DorGunR Junior Member Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Maryland Posts: 30,905	I've noticed the dogs stay very close to the kill, they must think the moose belongs to them.

10-23-2010, 05:24 PM	#40
ErikD Mzungu Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: In the land of socialist nepotism and corruption. Posts: 6,341	They most certainly do. At least when it comes to other dogs. Our dogs have no problems with people handling "their" moose though.

10-28-2010, 03:18 AM	#42
ErikD Mzungu Join Date: Dec 2008 Location: In the land of socialist nepotism and corruption. Posts: 6,341	The 9,3 decided to take yet another moose a few days ago, this time a calf. Since I was only a couple of hundred meters from the nearest road, I called my wife and told her to bring the kids up so they could see how we gut the moose. It was quite cold that day, around -5, so I had made a small fire to keep me warm. The moose cow and calf did not react to the fire at all when they were coming towards me. One thing that was interesting was that the moose cow made an unusual noise I have never heard them make before. They have a specific call they make when calling to their calves, or to other moose, but this time the cow made a very deep barking noise when the calf was shot and didn't follow her. The cow then stopped up on a ridge about 100 meters away where I looked at her thru my scope, and she made the same barking noise 2 more times before moving off. I have no doubt that this noise was made to intimidate me or scare me away. The bark was a mix of the sound you would get from an angry gorilla and a very large guard dog. I talked to the other guys about it afterwards, and no one had heard a sound like that before from a moose. I was kind of dissappionted that it didn't try to charge, as that would have given me the excuse to shoot it too. We only have 1 cow left on our quota though, so we are saving it until all the yearlings are finished. Where I was sitting when the moose came by: The wife and kids, plus my mother who was also hunting that day: I went out yesterday all by myself with my dog, to see if I could get him to bay a moose that I could sneak up to and shoot for his trainings sake. It was raining all day, which usually make the moose stay put, and also dampens the noise when trying to get up close. Unfortunately, the only moose we found were one that crossed a river within a minute, and therefor got away, and another that kept on going without stopping. But at least we got some excersise. Hopefully we'll have better luck the next few days and I'll be able to shoot a moose for him.

10-28-2010, 05:09 AM	#43
Desert Rat Junior Woodchuck Join Date: Jan 2010 Posts: 4,592	Someday Erik I'm going to read one of your adventures and just fall over dead from jealousy. You have too much fun, my friend.

10-28-2010, 09:11 AM	#44
10 Bears Moderator Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: E-Da-How Posts: 137,846	Makes a guy, just a bit, envious!