Where Have You Off-Roaded Today? 3rd Gen

More fishy stuff. Yesterday.

 

Kofa National Wildlife Refuge

 

Moose River Plains in the Adirondacks

 

Did some crawling and scratched my wheel. Oh well.

 

Wife and I relaxing around the Delta national forest today

Came across this gorgeous Grey ratsnake as well.

 

Honor badges

 

Good times! Always cool making friends in the woods

 

They are beautiful snakes. Here is one (of 2) that crossed my path while out walking last May.

A lot of those in Kelowna. Good for mice and rat extermination.

Two years ago, a rattlesnake spooked the crap out of me and my wife while we are working under our peach tree. Just 3 foot away. Loud rattle and we jumped as we could not see it in the brush.

Last week, my 80 year old next door neighbour reaches for her coiled garden hose, and a rattler is coiled inside it suntanning. It loudly rattles and she jumps and screams. She did not even notice it as she reached for her hose. She had her husband come out, take some pics and move it further into the back yard.

We have a 40 foot long rockpile in our back yard. I guess that is where they nest over winter. We do notice the mice are way down in number this year.

 

Michaux State Forest

 

Long travel installed

 

Out of all the trips you’ve had , have you ever heard anything in the woods that you aren’t able to explain what it was or where it came from?

 

I need to get to the valley bottom on the other side of the second ridge.




A couple of co-workers are freaked by this section LOL



Just a few switchbacks to the farm in the valley bottom



Scenic

 

Sedona Sept 29th. Incredible scenery!

 

31 miles of class 4 and one short section I’ve wanted to do for a while checked off. 8 hours of dirt time, incredible foliage, miles of stone walls and a perfect place for a lunch break.

 

Nothing fantastic but did run some new fire roads while grouse hunting.

 

Ah, story time. No shortage.

Not really on the sounds. Grew up hunting and fishing from age 5. Wife does not camp with me anymore after we were remote and a bear circled our tent up close for some time. Sizing up the sausages in a blanket. No sleep that night after he left.

I have a way keen nose. I can smell animals before I see or hear them. I’d make some good money as a hound dog. So when I hikeon my own, I am constantly testing the air for scents that are not vegetation scents.

For me the freakiest sound was at age 8. We are hunting moose way up in northern BC. Grizzly country.

Dad says take the 22 and go down that trail and get us some grouse.

So off I head down a game trail on my own looking for grouse. The males make a huffing beating sound when they are trying to attract a female. I am on that trail and I think its a wolf making the sound. Totally freaked out as I am on my own and deep in the woods. For us hunting was setup camp, and spend a week or two walking miles per day up and down mountains tracking game. My dad was a real life Davey Crockett, an amazing outdoorsman and hunter and fisherman and survivalist. We mostly ate moose and deer growing up, and the fish we caught. Beef was a burger at A&W, fancy dining in our house…

Anyhow, that grouse sure had me freaked out. The woods were dense, could not see more than 20 foot in any direction. I got him, but 8 bloody shots with the 22!

After that, I got 3 more all with single headshots. Got back to camp, mom and dad are there and I walk up with 4 grouse tied to my pants belt. Thought I was quite the hunter.

On some trips over the years we would move camp as there were too many grizzly tracks in the areas we wanted to setup camp.

Dad on a trip on his own almost killed by a grizzly sow that charged. He heard nothing, his hearing not so great after working in underground mines. Walks into a small clearing and 2 grizz cubs are there. A thrashing in the bush and the mother is charging him from 50 feet away. He drops it with one shot, but does not know it. Pisses his pants and takes off running. Two hours later he makes his way back carefully and finds the mother dropped right there. He has to kill the cubs. He is up on the Alaska highway on that trip. The cubs are young and would slowly die from starvation or predation. No wildlife or bear sanctuarys in those days where you could take them.

Made him sick to his stomach to have to kill them. Another time he is almost killed by a huge bull moose that charged.

On one of his last hunting trips, he had hiked all day back and forth carrying moose quarters on his backpack. No ATVs or such for us, and no roadside hunting ever. Just hiking. He is back at his camp, exhausted and having lunch. Goes out after to check on the quarters he has strung up. One is gone, dragged off by a grizzly. So he follows, but only a short way and then figures hell you can have that one. A good decision that one.

Yeah a lot of noises in the woods, but most often it is deer, moose, birds, etc.

 

Wow thanks for sharing, those are some great stories there. You and your dad sound like some true outdoorsman , that’s awesome. And yes I definitely wouldn’t want to compete with a grizzly on some Moose meat haha. Grizzly bears are some seriously scary animals. I’d love to visit Yellowstone and watch them from a safe distance lol.

 

Tahuya Orv park, Washington

 

I spy a similar snorkel set up

 

Yeah Yellowstone has a good population of grizzlies. They are beautiful animals. It is estimated that there are 15,000 grizzlies in BC, and a heck of a lot more black bears than that.

Grizzlies are very scary to run into if you or they are unsuspecting. Three years ago a large male black bear followed me for quite a distance, right here as I hiked in the mountains up behind our neighborhood. He seemed more curious than predatory. I carry 2 bear sprays anytime I am in the woods on my trips. I have a number of rifles but never take them unless it is for a hunting purpose.

My mother was treed by a grizzly on a hunting trip. She had her old 303 Lee Enfield and did not want to risk a shot and only wound it. It circled camp for some time and finally left, and did not go after her in the tree. She would have fired a shot if that had happened.

A grizzly mother and cub darted in front of my truck a couple of months ago when I was out exploring some local mountains.

Black bears are known to stalk humans as food. Not common, but more common for black bear than for grizzlies to do that. Well documented in Canada.

Those 2 unfortunate women a week ago in Dawson Creek suffered just that. A black bear predated them, following them as food. They survived but in not good condition. It is not known if they carried bear spray, but from the story it seems they did not have any with them.

This story:

https://bc.ctvnews.ca/a-rare-predat...-b-c-was-hunting-them-officials-say-1.6099866