When life gives you lemons…

SS!

SS!

Long Time Member
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Woke up last week to some shocking news, a ban for making a comparison to teddy Roosevelt:





With a week long ban during winter what’s a guy to do? Might as well go explore country I haven’t been in yet. Filled up truck, threw in the gear, picked up a buddy and started a 30ish hour drive. The sunrise to start the trip didn’t disappoint. I’ve been all over the lower 48 and you can have it all. I don’t care. Alaska is for me:


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7 hours in and we go to our first delay. Like always the Canadians are great to deal with:


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Cont when I have time….
 
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First red flag of the trip was after we told the Canadians where we were driving to. They seemed pretty shocked. This reaction was as repeated many times to us this trip and we eventually found out why. More on that later.

The drive to the Whitehorse was pretty uneventful. The Yukon is such beautiful country and amazing it has elk, buffalo, whitetail and mule deer. Plus all the manly animals like sheep, grizz and mt goats. Pulled into Whitehorse with enough time for a beer and food then bed. Before bed I snapped this shot of where we were headed. We were less than 16 hours of driving away:

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We loaded up the bed with gas to save money and headed out early. We were two hours in before the sun showed up. 5 mins before I snapped this pic we had elk on the road:
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My co pilot slept quite a bit of the way.

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with the views I couldn’t possibly get tired. Also we had the pedal smashed trying to make a decent time through the bad sections. I didn’t want to cross the ice bridges after dark. Snow was getting deeper towards the mountains. The highway had been closed for days and they were working their ass clearing it off.
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We saw literally thousands of ptarmigan. They were attracted to the road to get some gravel in their diet. Had to slow down a bunch for them:

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It was a great feeling when we hit the Northwest Territories, the high winds of winter snapped the classic sign:

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The sun felt good, it’s been a long winter. Spring hits different for us up north:
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Are those gas cans with out that safety bullshit? Yes sir they are! And if you think we pay high prices in America do the math on this:
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The highest we paid was 2.50/ liter.
 
SS! said:
It was a great feeling when we hit the Northwest Territories, the high winds of winter snapped the classic sign:

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The sun felt good, it’s been a long winter. Spring hits different for us up north:
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Are those gas cans with out that safety bullshit? Yes sir they are! And if you think we pay high prices in America do the math on this:
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The highest we paid was 2.50/ liter.
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Fixed it for ya. 😎

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Ya got to tell the whole truth SS!

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257 Miles from the ocean……. Should be there by noon, Good Lord willing. 😁

Dempster Highway?

Are you going to harpoon seals through a breath hole?

Do you need to go clear to Tuck Ta Yuk Tuck or can you find a place in Inuvik to turn around.

Post up the price of gas at Inuvik……. Could be a new Olympic record.
 
Looks like a great road trip. How’s the traction on the roads. See some are snow free and others are compacted snow/ice. You running studded tires? Or just slowing down on the ice stuff?

Also not much room for gear and ice chest with all that fuel.
 
it was good to finally get to our destination and get some sleep. Next day we loaded up the sleds and headed out:

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Caribou hides as padding fyi. Weather was moving in so not many pics but we drove on the Arctic Ocean to cut time to our destination. Here’s a pic from 12:30 am:

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Got to the building we were going to stay in. Built in the 1940s as a research facility for the govt. Not a fancy place to stay, but better than a tent. Here’s a pic from the next day:


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SS! said:
it was good to finally get to our destination and get some sleep. Next day we loaded up the sleds and headed out:

View attachment 141153View attachment 141154

Caribou hides as padding fyi. Weather was moving in so not many pics but we drove on the Arctic Ocean to cut time to our destination. Here’s a pic from 12:30 am:

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Got to the building we were going to stay in. Built in the 1940s as a research facility for the govt. Not a fancy place to stay, but better than a tent. Here’s a pic from the next day:


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Nice outdoor kitchen. Fry up some of those ptarmigan?
 
He must be harpooning seals through the ice….. he’s never denied it. International waters….. after you go a few miles north!
 
Yea SS! You think the Canadian demigods at the border are hard on ya, what tell the Yanks find out your back seat’s full of raw seal skins.
 
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2lumpy said:
Yea SS! You think the Canadian demigods at the border are hard on ya, what tell the Yanks find out your back set’s full of raw seal skins.
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He can just tell the Yanks, that they’re wetbacks and they’ll let him right in, no problems….
 
CFMuley said:
Get with it, I’m looking forward to the rest of the story!
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Haha highway opened back up so I just stopped from a 16 hour drive.

Fueled the sleds and went to go find some critters. As expected it didn’t take long:

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There were 4 good bulls in the group so we decided to shoot one with a dark boss and one with a white boss. But first we watched them for awhile. These are barren ground musk ox, the larger of the two species. The hunt isn’t much, it’s more in the adventure there, handing with the indigenous people and their culture. But for that half hour watching them it was pretty sweet to see these ice age animals still roaming around.

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Amazed by their feet:

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We skinned them out, left the meat on the quarters and even the backstraps on the bone. Even the hoofs are coming back to AK. Not much left for the wolves and the foxes.

The long ride out to the truck was uneventful. Saw caribou fox etc. made it back to the truck to start the real adventure. Getting home as the highway had been closed since we came through….
 
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Their feet were amazing to me as well. I took a picture, but it really doesn’t do them justice.
Congratulations again on your bulls, it looks like you had one hell of an adventure.

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Never really seen the draw for this hunt. The trip and adventure I get. Shooting cattle, meh. But I feel the same way about bison hunts I’ve seen with guys crying their eyes out for punching their tag. You shed a tear on this one SS?

Just f’n with ya, Looks like a neat experience
 
Tikka said:
That’s pretty cool eel, did achieve his quest? That’s a lot of hunting and good times…
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He's the same age as me (old) and we went to high school together. He got most of the waterfowl and local stuff at a young age. After he harvested several limits of VC in Nam he went on a terror. He came by the house a couple years ago after he got the Tule Elk. Not sure what's left on his list. He got divorced early so he has lots of money. :ROFLMAO:
 
eelgrass said:
He's the same age as me (old) and we went to high school together. He got most of the waterfowl and local stuff at a young age. After he harvested several limits of VC in Nam he went on a terror. He came by the house a couple years ago after he got the Tule Elk. Not sure what's left on his list. He got divorced early so he has lots of money. :ROFLMAO:
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Dude sounds like a wild man, especially with a bunch of limits of VC…
 
Now that is one heck of a hunting trip and you're right those are some cool animals to live and thrive out there! No Taylor Swift mag this time? With a 30 hr drive and all the gear to boot you probably didn't have space for the mags, towels, and lotion anyway LOL...... 😁
 
hawkbill said:
Roughly how old are these Bulls, I see they just crowned a new world record the other day
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Great question. Both the bulls were really mature but I have no idea on age. I’ll send off the teeth to get a ballpark age.

elkassassin said:
What Does Musk-Ox Taste Like?
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Has a mild taste. I like it and my family does. For me that was the main reason why I drove 3k round trip.
LIK2HNT said:
Looks like you had a great adventure. Pretty soon your children will be old enough to start enjoying trips like this with you.
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if my daughter’s health improves this year she’s going to be stacking animals

JPickett said:
Never really seen the draw for this hunt. The trip and adventure I get. Shooting cattle, meh. But I feel the same way about bison hunts I’ve seen with guys crying their eyes out for punching their tag. You shed a tear on this one SS?

Just f’n with ya, Looks like a neat experience
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Oh man I agree with you 100%. For me it wasn’t about killing it, the adventure to and from and hanging with the locals. Public land cows in WY are more spooky than musk ox

Few more pics:

Steaks:

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Trip mileage:

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Been spending yesterday and today processing. Steaks roasts burger and bone broth!
 
Guess in that kind of weather you can make a long road trip home and not have to worry about keeping the meat cold. Was it frozen by the time you got home?
 
LIK2HNT said:
Guess in that kind of weather you can make a long road trip home and not have to worry about keeping the meat cold. Was it frozen by the time you got home?
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It was frozen by the time we woke up the next day. I was hoping it was going to stay below zero back home but it was hitting 40 degrees so we took care of it right away. We are having an unusual warm spring
 
Congratulatiins on a great adventure and a successful hunt.

When you look at the landscape those beasts live on it’s a wonder there’s enough feed there to feed a ptarmigan let along a musk ox. Pretty special kind of adventure/hunt.
 
2lumpy said:
Fixed it for ya. 😎

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Ya got to tell the whole truth SS!

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257 Miles from the ocean……. Should be there by noon, Good Lord willing. 😁

Dempster Highway?

Are you going to harpoon seals through a breath hole?

Do you need to go clear to Tuck Ta Yuk Tuck or can you find a place in Inuvik to turn around.

Post up the price of gas at Inuvik……. Could be a new Olympic record.
Click to expand...
That 2.50 liter was me converting to US 😯
 
SS I have a lot of sarcasm I could add but hardly feel it's worthy. Cheers on the hunt and sharing with your family as most do. May the fur from your hide tickle your nose while you try and rustle some sack time. Cheers! 🥂🥂🍾
 

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