- Joined
- Apr 3, 2019
- Messages
- 22,341
- Reaction score
- 9,893
- Location
- Alaska (61.5°N, -149°W)
- Gender
- Male
- Political Leaning
- Conservative
I am somewhat surprised that there was no thread for hiking, hunting, fishing, and foraging. They can be considered "Leisure Activities," right? I mean what better way to relax and enjoy the morning than down by the river, fishing for salmon, as the ice-cold waters meet the warm air and begins to steam? I do not spend much time bowling, playing golf, or other forms of leisure activities. I relax and enjoy myself when I'm either hiking, hunting, fishing, or foraging. For me, these are my leisure activities. Surely there are other avid hikers, fisherman, hunters, and forgarers like myself.
This thread is not intended to have anything to do with politics. The sole purpose of this thread is to share hiking, hunting, fishing, and foraging experiences. Maybe learn something, and generally have a good time.
I'll begin...
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A little about myself. I'm currently 65 years old and have lived the last 28 years in Alaska. I was born in southern California, and mostly raised there, but I also lived in Minnesota and Nebraska. My father started taking me fishing and hunting when I was 8 years old in Saugus, CA. He bought me my first 12-gauge shotgun on my 10th birthday. I've hunted all over southern California, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and of course Alaska. I have fished in California, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Alaska.
When turning 60 Alaskan residents are entitled to a free hunting and fishing license, for the rest of their lives. Which I have been putting to good use. It varies every season, of course, but I try to catch and process at least 250 pounds of salmon by the first week of August. This season was particularly good. I don't always get a caribou or moose each season. Particularly moose. I need an off-road big-rig to haul them out of the woods whole, because it takes too long to field dress and haul them out a piece at a time.
In Alaska you are prohibited from protecting your game from wolves or other predators, so you need to be fast. It isn't like the lower-48 were you can haul one quarter of your deer out of the field at a time, not having to worry about other predators taking what you temporarily left behind. If you have not dressed and started to haul your meat out of the field within an hour after you started cleaning the critter, you can expect to have company. Some people go to the extreme of using peanut oil instead of bar oil in their chainsaw so they can cut up the game quicker. I prefer to take my time and do it right.
I don't live in a city, town, or village. The closest town to where I live, with a population of ~7,500, is Wasilla about 8 miles down the road. I spend a lot of time hiking around the Palmer Hay-flats, which is a salt-water marsh/estuary next to Knik Arm. It is a great source for sea lovage, chickweed, and other beach greens, but only in the Spring. You want to get them young before they bloom, like Devils Club, Fireweed or Fiddlehead ferns. If you wait too long they become bitter, woody, or otherwise inedible. The best time is early May in south central Alaska.
Hatcher Pass, just east of Wasilla, is my source in the Talkeetna mountains for raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and cranberries in the fall. They are usually best around the middle of September, just before the "termination dust" sprinkles the mountain peaks. Watch out for those bears though. We're competing for the same food.
One of the strangest sights I had ever seen, thus far, was a pod of Beluga whales swimming up the Kenai River in pursuit of salmon. I was fishing two-miles inland from the estuary when they swam past me. You don't see whales swimming up rivers every day.
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Tell us about your latest adventure into the wild. What kind of round and/or bait did you use? Was there anything unusual about the trail you hiked? Did you have any unusual encounters? What kind of local herbs and wild vegetables can you harvest this time of year? How do you prepare your catch/game? Do you have any favorite game/fish recipes?
This thread is not intended to have anything to do with politics. The sole purpose of this thread is to share hiking, hunting, fishing, and foraging experiences. Maybe learn something, and generally have a good time.
I'll begin...
---------------------------
A little about myself. I'm currently 65 years old and have lived the last 28 years in Alaska. I was born in southern California, and mostly raised there, but I also lived in Minnesota and Nebraska. My father started taking me fishing and hunting when I was 8 years old in Saugus, CA. He bought me my first 12-gauge shotgun on my 10th birthday. I've hunted all over southern California, Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming, and of course Alaska. I have fished in California, Nebraska, Minnesota, and Alaska.
When turning 60 Alaskan residents are entitled to a free hunting and fishing license, for the rest of their lives. Which I have been putting to good use. It varies every season, of course, but I try to catch and process at least 250 pounds of salmon by the first week of August. This season was particularly good. I don't always get a caribou or moose each season. Particularly moose. I need an off-road big-rig to haul them out of the woods whole, because it takes too long to field dress and haul them out a piece at a time.
In Alaska you are prohibited from protecting your game from wolves or other predators, so you need to be fast. It isn't like the lower-48 were you can haul one quarter of your deer out of the field at a time, not having to worry about other predators taking what you temporarily left behind. If you have not dressed and started to haul your meat out of the field within an hour after you started cleaning the critter, you can expect to have company. Some people go to the extreme of using peanut oil instead of bar oil in their chainsaw so they can cut up the game quicker. I prefer to take my time and do it right.
I don't live in a city, town, or village. The closest town to where I live, with a population of ~7,500, is Wasilla about 8 miles down the road. I spend a lot of time hiking around the Palmer Hay-flats, which is a salt-water marsh/estuary next to Knik Arm. It is a great source for sea lovage, chickweed, and other beach greens, but only in the Spring. You want to get them young before they bloom, like Devils Club, Fireweed or Fiddlehead ferns. If you wait too long they become bitter, woody, or otherwise inedible. The best time is early May in south central Alaska.
Hatcher Pass, just east of Wasilla, is my source in the Talkeetna mountains for raspberries, gooseberries, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, and cranberries in the fall. They are usually best around the middle of September, just before the "termination dust" sprinkles the mountain peaks. Watch out for those bears though. We're competing for the same food.
One of the strangest sights I had ever seen, thus far, was a pod of Beluga whales swimming up the Kenai River in pursuit of salmon. I was fishing two-miles inland from the estuary when they swam past me. You don't see whales swimming up rivers every day.
---------------------------
Tell us about your latest adventure into the wild. What kind of round and/or bait did you use? Was there anything unusual about the trail you hiked? Did you have any unusual encounters? What kind of local herbs and wild vegetables can you harvest this time of year? How do you prepare your catch/game? Do you have any favorite game/fish recipes?
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