Author: leaddog

The end of the month is coming fast boys, the leaves are changing, days getting shorter and colder! What wonderful woodsy related activities will our Den MaMa have in store for us this time? Will the Trailhugger make an appearance? The plan is to meet at the ‘Bow Friday night, throw our money around, let the Den MaMa do his social butterflying and then head to camp to place it in “Mule Mode”. Hopefully we won’t have the warmy-changy conditions encountered during last year’s season, so we’ll have to pray and send carbon taxes to Al Gore for relief instead of FYB winnings going to the camp!

Chicken and ribs is the main course for Saturday’s feast, let’s hope that the feathers are off the chicken….and the dirt is off the potatoes as well! We need to revive and implemet the newly tested and beloved redneck smoker from last year that worked so well….

Then there’s Probie…..

See you at the ‘Bow!!!

Post the photos – and I’ll write the post!

Pics Posted! – Write the recap!

Several F-Troopers aka: “Polecats Rangers” assembles once again to locate the remnants of where a local legendary guide-hermit-woodsman known as “Foxey Brown” once lived for over 25 years in the backwoods near the happy hunting grounds. Followers and lurkers of this site can rehash the waterlogged pictorial adventure of last year where a different route was chosen (not by choice) to take which resulted in a ten mile slog through swamps, wetlands, more swamps and even more wetlands, thoroughly missing the intended target. Told ya! 😉

The crew gets a good start, with sunny, buggy weather leading the way. A few miles of trail walking led to a predetermined spot where based on research, a GPS point was chosen due to it being the most likely spot for a hermitage. This spot once was the location of a long gone logging camp from the late 1800’s where Foxey hid in seclusion due to him thinking he was running from the law, which was not the case! On the stream is where he repurposed the foreman’s camp, built a multi level barn in the remains of a rock walled root-storage type cellar for his critters.

At this site are the remains of a dam which once held back a sizable pond, parts of woodstoves, farming equipment, and the actual plow that Foxey used to cultivate hay in the vly for his cows. Long gone is the cabin, only a small clearing is present with regrowth of the forest now taking command. No apparent road or path to this site was located, as the Troopers easily found their way through an open hardwood forest. Junior has great luck and gets the first ever “I caught a trout on a spring hike” badge! No fish were actually harmed in this expedition….

The gang performs their woodsy environmentally sound clean up of the site, getting rid of plastic and an old discarded tent that some #$%%#! left behind.

One could almost hear Foxey yell out – “Get out of here or I’ll send you lead for sinkers” as he once greeted interlopers as they trespassed on his homestead – but we imagined that he was smiling as we cleaned up the site, and found yet another “place” way far back in the woods! (Well…not THAT far!)

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Sunday 02-10-19 1030
Leaddog and Toucher have been conspiring for sometime on how and when to recover the long lost secretly placed camera that the was prevented removal by the warmy-changy events of last season. Watching the ongoing warmy-changy events unfold over the last two months, finally perfect snowshoeing conditions presented itself for the said recovery mission. Toucher has a companion with him on this adventure “Ms. Arietta” who shows great enthusiasm to begin a first backcountry bushwhacking snowshoe trip, Toucher too!. All meets at Robbas camp, packs the gear and proceeds up the driveway to Ftroop’s HQ, now a snowmosexual hangout. Polecat and Derrie gives salutations and farewell toasts to the three, and off they go for web-footed adventure. Meow…

At the 300 foot mark from camp, crossing the stream that is choked with ice, Leaddog finds the weakest part of the ice shelf and promptly cleans his snowshoe with the icy cold waters, and cools his left foot as well. Not to deter this well planned expedition, a quick drying of said paw is accomplished and off we go again. Meow….

Three feet of warmy-changy is present with more up top, a hard crust results in fine trekking through the wintry woods. Climbing through Beaver Valley and finally to the top, the area of interest is obtained,as well as the said device!

To celebrate, a tube steak lunch is devoured, with other goodies as well. Temperatures now in the low teens, if not lower at 3000′ the expeditionary force runs down the mountain in record time, back to warm vehicles and chicken wings.

All in all – five miles(or as Toucher recorded, just under 22,000 steps on his fit-bit) and 1000′ in elevation change was encountered, making this a another great workout in the Happy Hunting Grounds!

Digger – pictures please!

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Friday:
Toucher and Leaddog has plans. Meeting at the lowland migration route at dawn, both attempt to locate and watch those legendary migration routes all day until beast ‘o mighty makes his appearance. The deep snow limits any movement by anyone…Toucher sits his highway watch from last week, with Leaddog going way-way in to where the vehicles passing by sounds like a breeze in the trees. Robba joins the “Off the Hill and on the Road Gang” and sits as well, the highway is now fully covered! Finally, four does walks by Toucher with a lone mule walking at 100 yds from Leaddog who then turned on its cloaking device – it vanished into thin air! Yet another round of vehicle extrication is in order, and it gets better as the gang arrives. Polecat gets his BFG equipped, although non-American built vehicle up the hill and up to the top lot. Toucher is next, and gets caught in the newly designated “Chevy Trap”! 😉

Toucher throws his gear in Leaddog’s BFG equipped “AMERICAN MADE” truck and gets a ride to the top, where now two BFG equipped vehicles are parked. Lindy shows next and then Spike – both Chevy’s, and non-BFG equipped and gets caught in the new trap! Steve’n arrives, fully BFG equipped but is stalled by Spikes blockage of the route of ingress at the Chevy trap. Steve’n was SO happy…..

Snowmobiles are the preferred and needed mode of transportation,

Saturday:
Snowshoes are required, deployed and used! The gang goes back to the lowlands, straps on snowshoes and all takes off like bloodhounds on the trail of a escaped convict! Perfect conditions for snowshoes exist, were are now free to roam the woods – which we did! Polecat almost gets his Big River badge, and walks five miles. Leaddog on the other side of the road roams about and finds that a peculiar event has occurred. In the spot where the mule turned on it’s cloaking device, a bed is discovered where it bedded down and then walked it’s tracks out from the direction from which it came. Was it a buck, we’ll never know. Fresh tracks are everywhere, but not one mule is seen. This may be it boys, unless it’s a nice day tomorrow…..Steve’n finally gets his BFG equipped vehicle up top with the others including snowmobiles, after the last Chevy is removed from the Chevy block/trap. Photos tell all….. 😉

Sunday:
Waking to pouring rain and a saturated snowpack, yet again all are thoroughly discouraged and disgusted. Routine cleaning of the camp begins, and all depart until the snowmosexual season begins and/or the Spring hike.

Synopsis:
Leaves inhibits good hunting for four weeks.
Rain inhibits hunting every weekend until it turned to snow.
If it wasn’t raining, it was snowing..
If it wasn’t snowing it was raining…
If it wasn’t raining or snowing, the wind was blowing….
Constant repairs to camp and appurtenant structures were made.
Vehicles(most) required human intervention in one form or another.
Robba snowblows the driveway and lots more than once..
Deployed devices caught many desired mules for the record, none were actually seen..
We got to snowshoe, hunt and snowmobile in one day!
New mystical lands were trodden..
The FedEx truck was stalked!
BFG’s are field tested and Ftroop approved!
The formation of the “Over the Bank Gang”….
A great six day Alaskan adventure was attempted, but not achieved…FA!
Most received the new Snowshoe Badge
Piewhore washed most, if not all of the dishes.
Leaddog gets stumped again early on up top…..
The Hilton is “winterized” now sporting special seating….
Generators and coleman lanterns were used.
Steve’n gets a brand new GPS!

I may add more…..

Just post some pictures and I’ll write a response……where does one begin?!

Friday:
Leaddog and Steve’n arrives at an icy cold camp, -11 degrees. A beautiful sunny day is on the menu, with temperatures actually rising above zero. Warmy-changy residue is still present, with an additional topping deposited just for good luck. As luck has it, there was no luck at all….both slog into local watches where yet another wait ensues. The crew decide that a hunt off the hill may be in order.

Saturday: “Highway through hell, as well as a walk through hell”
The gang unanimously votes on hunting off the hill, down where all the mules are supposed to be migrating towards better wintering grounds. The gang loads up, with four in one vehicle and the remainder in the other (both Chevy’s). The Toucher is in command of vehicle #1, and Robba in #2….what occurs next will be engraved in Leaddog’s memory for some time to come. As Toucher backs down from the upper lot, with Leaddog and Digger in the back seat, the Toucher’s touch-mobile decides it doesn’t want to leave the hill. As a matter of fact, it almost went OVER the hill! The icy grips of warmy-changy grabs his non-BFG tires and like a train switching tracks, the ride from hell commences! Over the bank it goes, with Leaddog on the downhill side looking at what may be the last thing he sees, a creek, trees and rocks on the left – and Digger on the right! Thankfully, a rock the size of Gibraltar (which we didn’t know about existed until during extrication of said vehicle) kept it from a full roll over, or worse. Exiting likes rats on a sinking ship, all now known as the “Over the Bank Gang” escapes possible doom! 😉

Comealongs, cables and chains, (sounds like a country song, no?) are deployed with physics as well! Just like the TV show, “Highway through Hell” the gang retrieves the Touch-mobile from its precarious position and all is back on for the hunt! THAT should have been an omen of what’s to come next…..

Off the hill, drivers are dropped off at a spot never hunted by the gang. Watchers go low, to watches where traffic was the only thing observed. Meanwhile, 1.7 miles away the drive begins, in knee deep snow after a 0.8 mile walk just to get to the starting point. Tracks abound, old and new – they’re here! NOT! Leaddog has so much phun, getting caught in spruce swamps over and over until it’s realized that at 4:15pm, with still 0.42 miles to go – Polecat is nowhere in sight. Finally it was announced that Polecat is in someones tracks – Leaddogs! It was conveyed that it probably wasn’t a good idea to follow said tracks – but we’re talking about the Polecat here….Darkness ensues as time flies, finally Polecat catches up with Leaddog – who apparently had the bell handed over to him – and a slog out to the beaconed watchline is completed. To the pavement at dark-30 the gang is picked up and brought back to camp.

Sunday:
After the phun of the last two days, all goes the hell home without hesitation!

***Link to Flickr for the videos: Pics & Videos’s on Flickr