An Old Farts Outdoor Thread

[Mark1T]

MT, thanks. Sometimes I never know the cause of loss of electricity. I have learned to live with it

Ice is so dangerous, as you know better than anyone. I hope it might snow over the ice so you can get back out there. But, a good bowl of moose spaghetti sounds really good and perfect protein and carbs for the outdoors. Take some with you to have while ice fishing

Be careful and see you later.

[Payton1221]

I don't take any chances with that sh!t, it's a good way to get stranded or end up in a ditch lol.

We were at a boat ramp around 5:30 am one very cold day (high teens) to go duck/goose hunting many years ago. On the boat ramp was a guy in a small jon boat asking if anyone had any starter fluid Don't know about you, but if I didn't have extreme confidence in my equipment, there's no way that I'd launch for fear of getting stranded.

[mtpockets]

We were at a boat ramp around 5:30 am one very cold day (high teens) to go duck/goose hunting many years ago. On the boat ramp was a guy in a small jon boat asking if anyone had any starter fluid Don't know about you, but if I didn't have extreme confidence in my equipment, there's no way that I'd launch for fear of getting stranded.

I am with you on that one Payton. Enough can go wrong without starting off on the wrong foot. I bet you have seen it a bit over the years.


We were heading home one evening when we ran into a family about 4 miles offshore waving their arms so we went over. I asked him what was wrong and he said his outboard wouldn’t start and killed the battery trying to start it.

So I asked him what was the outboard doing before it died? He said that he thought that it could be running better and was adjusting the carb. Several miles offshore on a windy day with your family is not the time or place to be turning screws. If it’s running, take it into the marina and do it.

I really didn’t want to tow it back if I could avoid it so I jumped aboard with one of my trolling motor batteries, was able to get it running and had them follow me in. They had been adrift for an hour, this was pre cellphone days so without a radio they could have been without help until it was dark enough to throw up a few flares (if they even had them) in hopes that someone saw them.

Idiots, if you hang around boat ramps enough you will see all kinds of them. There are actually a few successful YouTuber's that make big bucks from videoing idiots at boat ramps. I play their videos sometimes when I am in the garage working on something. Some of it is pretty funny. Here’s a couple. (as always, if anyone gives a rats ass)

https://www.youtube.com/@CaptainCrunchBoats01

https://www.youtube.com/@MiamiBoatRamps




Crazy weather here, it was 57 degrees less than 2 days ago -10F this am with a windchill of -39F. This is one fukked up winter, if you can even call it winter. lol . Hopefully next year is better. The fishing has been very good the last few days but today it dropped off, only having one good hit and no fish iced.




I did hear something pretty cool this morning though, there were a pair of Lynx squaring off in the bush behind me somewhere, they were hard to hear because of the wind being so strong, so I went up in the bush a ways out of the wind to hear them a little better. I stayed there for about 10 minutes, I don’t know when they started but they were still going at it when I left the bush.

I tried to capture the audio on my phone but that was useless, usually I have an action cam with a mic on me but it was so cold today that I didn’t bother bringing any electronics.

Here’s a video I got off youtube that you can hear something similar to what I heard this morning if anyone gives a rats ass.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eaXmIPHrHmY

Aside from mating, Lynx are solitary animals, disputes like this happen over territory most of the time but this is mating season so this could have been over pussy. Lol.

I have heard it a few times over the years, usually on the trapline or at moose/deer camp at night miles away from home. This was pretty much in the backyard.

Lynx fascinate me, I have trapped many over the years and in that time I got to observe a few. I watched one from my deer stand in November one year. We had snow on the ground and it was putting the sneak on something that I couldn’t see. It was moving through the
alders in such a way as to bend around them not hitting them. Almost like you see those dogs in competitions going around the stakes/pylons but much slower.

Something else I observed while it was on the stalk that I didn’t know was that when it put a foot down, it would do it ever so lightly at first and then press harder on it. This would allow it to compress the snow without making noise. After watching it for about 30 feet I saw a snowshoe hare bust out faster than I have ever seen one run. It didn’t have a chance, despite being over 20 feet away the lynx was on it in seconds and snapped its neck.

Incredible creatures that I admire and respect very much.

Trout for supper







Burp!


You savages have an awesome evening!

Keep smilin!

[paulinkansas]

asking if anyone had any starter fluid duck hunting

4 of us went out with a guy on his 1860 with an unreliable outboard. He dropped 3 of us on an island with our gear and said he was going to fiddle around with the motor. We were duck hunting on this island for a few hours and just watched the guy in the boat slowly drift away on the lake until he was a tiny speck. Around sunset he got the motor running and came back to pick us up off the island.

I've had to tow his 1860 back on 2 occasions with my 1436.

[Mark1T]

MT, I think Lynx are fascinating, too. Just seeing one is thrilling, no doubt, as seeing a Bobcat is thrilling down here. I have seen videos of two Lynx squaring up. They never fight, but damn can they squeal some bloody murder sounds Not to mention, those cats are beautiful.

Fine Trout dinner there. I would inhale that.

Yeah, years ago when I was more active on public lakes, you meet some great people and some goofballs. Boating can be so dangerous in so many ways.

Nothing to report here. During work breaks I have been planting some trees and also trying to sprout some Magnolia seeds I nurtured last Fall at my city home. Great genetics, so I got about 55 seeds and took off the red layer and put them in some moist dirt in a bag and into the fridge for Winter. I pulled about 20 of them.

Birds are loving the pre-Spring. Might go fishing next week. I really need to prepare three rod and reels. My brother and I use bait-casting reels. Mine are 2 Lew's and I was given a very nice and new Shimano. I have some nice willow-double-blade spinners and top-water lures. I started using trailer hooks because sometimes a big Bass will hit it but not commit and the trailer hook snags them. Many times though, big Bass will smash-murder the top-water lure and it is on.

These Tiger Bass, which are hybrids, are the same Bass we put in our lake about 10 years ago.

[mtpockets]

Mark those tiger bass sound interesting. I hope that you boys get out fiishing soon. I have only used a baitcaster once, 1 cast. I fished a lot of tournaments where many competitors used and swore by them, my fishing partner was one. He kept after me to try it, I kept telling him that I am not using a rod upside down like a 5 year old girl. Finally I caved to his pressure and when no one was looking I gave it a flick. Obviously his instruction wasn’t very good because I created the biggest bird nest he ever saw. He never asked me to try it again but does tell everyone and remind me that a 5 year old girl can cast better than me

Mark is getting his green thumb going, well done on the gardening.




Been stranded many times over the years, just a part of my lifestyle, breakdowns contributed to some but weather was a bigger player in most incidents. I don’t go looking for them but when they happen, I consider it just another adventure and embrace the suck. Being prepared helps.

On one trip a buddy and I were flown into a remote lake to do some speckled trout fishing, it was a 10 day trip. There was a 4000 foot mountain and over 100 miles between us and the float plane dock. The weather where we were was great but on the other side there was some serious fog and the planes couldn’t go airborne. So we were all packed up waiting for a plane that never showed up, we just figured it was running behind because there were other people in the bush that they had to haul out. It happens.

The next day the fog reached us and we knew that we were going to be eating a lot of fish. We had both kept our limits to go home with and had them buried in the sand in coolers, these fish were all above 3 pounds and our large one each was around 8 lbs.

I built a smoker out of tarps and we smoked a lot to keep them as long as we could. On the 3rd day the fog lifted but we weren’t out of the woods yet. There were other people in the bush that had been in there longer than us and it went on a priority basis. On the 5th day in the evening after our planned pick up we heard the unmistakable drone of the De havilland Beaver dropping in to pick us up.

No complaints on that one though, the fishing was friggin amazing and we were releasing tons of speckled trout and many over five pounds on the regular. It was all flyfishing and there were Northern pike in the lake so we had some fun with those on the fly rods. A 20+ lb northern pike on a fly is a handful.

We were in paradise and wished it had lasted longer 😀 A month later we went to another lake on a 2 week trip but Mother Nature didn’t help us out and the plane picked us up on time.



Well it looks like the ice fishing season here that started 3 weeks later than normal will end over soon at least a month early…





This is extremely abnormal. On average 20 degrees higher than normal. Everything is melting and we have no snow. (snow is critical to put moisture into the watershed and area)

I think this year's wildfire season will be unprecedented at this rate. Hope I am wrong on that one.

The snow mobile trails here are usually groomed between xmas and the new year and grooming continues well into April. They haven't groomed at all this year.


















I waited until sunrise to go fishing because I don't trust the ice and need to see where my fat ass is going ha ha


You savages have an awesome day.

I'm outta here, yak at ya's when I am older.

[Mark1T]

MT, funny on the baitcasting reels. The better reels don't prevent bird's nests, but they make it less likely to do that. I have used them all from open-faced spinning reels like yours to these and it depends where I am and what I am fishing for. I bet Northern Pike and Musky are fun to catch. Those are on my fish bucket list next to trout.

Smoking trout while on the trail is a dream for me. Not many people these days have that opportunity.

Those photos are incredible. I hope this year is just an off year and everything goes back to normal this next Winter. I have been through droughts, but never two years in a row like the last two.

[paulinkansas]

The best I could do was smoke 1237 doves with 2650 shells out of a 28 gauge in 3 days in Argentina. Think I posted that certificate on here before.

Some other guys from Wisconsin at the camp had done an African safari. Baboon on a cliff is the keywords. Think I posted that story which included a .300 Win mag.

[mtpockets]

The best I could do was smoke 1237 doves with 2650 shells out of a 28 gauge in 3 days in Argentina. Think I posted that certificate on here before.

Why?

Some other guys from Wisconsin at the camp had done an African safari. Baboon on a cliff is the keywords. Think I posted that story which included a .300 Win mag.

Same question








My ice fishing season 2024 is all finished.. tout fini…Todo terminado….pau loa… ha ha

Whodathunkit?

By far the shortest season that I have ever experienced, shorter by well over a month, almost two really.

I just don’t trust the ice. It's so spotty. At best, the lake behind my place has about 9 inches in spots. The top 5 inches of that is just complete garbage and the bottom 4 is deteriorating fast. The lakes here are very deep and have a lot of underwater springs so there could be places where there is less than an inch of ice.

We took the argo (amphibious 8 wheel XTV) out yesterday to check the lake in front of my place, a much deeper and larger lake almost 1600 acres and we hit anything from 10 inches to 5 inches, most of it garbage. Normally at this time of year we can have 3 feet of ice or more. Much like the lake behind my place it’s garbage ice that is deteriorating fast and will start to honeycomb soon.

We are expecting over an inch of rain in the next 24 hours and that will make the ice heavy and push water up wherever possible causing further deterioration.

Here’s the weather forecast for the next 2 weeks.




There is no cold weather in the forecast so It’s time to call it and hope for an early ice off so we can shore fish and get in the boats, in the meantime there are hikes, bikes and winter camping to be had….

Headed out on a long hike in a bit..

You fukkers have an awesome day.

Keep a grin on those chops

[mtpockets]

Speaking of geeks

Take a look at these things, many, maybe all of you have seen these before. I have not, but I am always late to the party ha ha.

They are water activated LED’s that are in a housing that is less than 2 inches long weighing 0.35 oz and supposedly have a lifespan of up to 200 hours. My buddy dropped them off and neither of us have had a chance to experiment with them yet.

Unfortunately I won’t get a chance to try them ice fishing until next winter but I will play with them over the side of my boats in deep water. I may even try them under a bobber when the ice goes out. They seem a bit too bright and I think they may spook fish but I will definitely give them a shot. I may even hang one in a minnow trap and see what happens.


Even if they don’t work I think it’s fukking magical that they turn on when wet and off when dry.. That’s wizard sh!t right there



Here are a couple of pics and gifs I created to show them functioning in the light and in the dark..


















It comes with an eye on one side and just the LED’s on the other. I will be adding a big eye to the other side. I am a huge believer that a big eye entices more hits and I have been adding them to lures since my tournament fishing days. I add them to everything, I also think the eye may diffuse some of the light and make it less intense.



Great day hiking yesterday, covered a sh!tload of country, weird not having much snow and mud in places at this time of year. Fun though. Back at er again today..

Have a great day Peeps.. Keep smilin!

[Mark1T]

Paul, that's a whole lot of Doves in just three days. Dove and Quail are some of the best bird meat. Are those White Wing Dove down there?

MT, crazy Winter up there. Good you are staying off the ice.

I am traveling so hard to post on the run. Cool little light thing. I bet you could use it anytime during the year in deep water.

Back later.

[paulinkansas]

Paul, that's a whole lot of Doves in just three days. Dove and Quail are some of the best bird meat. Are those White Wing Dove down there?.

They are 99% white wing dove and the other 1% are turtle doves. Agricultural loss to doves is about 25% of the potential harvest.

When we would take this transit van out to the hunting fields, there were these big bird nests about the size of a 55 gallon drum at the top of power lines where it makes a T. We asked our driver, and he said parakeetas. Out in the field our guide said to shoot every parakeet you see. They make nests at the top of power lines and stay there for a season, then they move out and build another nest on another power pole. The empty nests get taken over by wasps or hornets. If a lineman has to go up the pole he has to deal with a 55 gallon sized wasp or hornet nest before doing any work.

[paulinkansas]

These birds are Canada geese. Whenever there is a flock of them, the geese on the outside of the flock are sentries. They look for danger and alert the rest of the flock. These 2 geese took turns/alternating between eating corn and being the sentry.

[Mark1T]

Paul, very cool. Canadian Geese fly through our lake here most years. This past year there were more Geese than some previous years. Never know why. When they honk on the lake, it reverberates very loudly.

Some decades ago we used to have Red-winged Black Birds and Meadowlarks here. No more, sadly. I loved to hear them. A combination of Fire Ants, more people around farming and pesticides moved them away.

[OldFartTom]

These birds are Canada geese. Whenever there is a flock of them, the geese on the outside of the flock are sentries. They look for danger and alert the rest of the flock. These 2 geese took turns/alternating between eating corn and being the sentry.

We have loads of Canada Geese in UK, so much so they are a pest, damaging to the rest of the environment. I ate one once (when I was a student, there was an ornamental lake in university grounds where many lived), surprisingly dry meat, nothing at all like farmed goose. If you have some tactic to keep it moist while cooking, it's not the
best but still OK eating.

[mtpockets]

We have loads of Canada Geese in UK, so much so they are a pest, damaging to the rest of the environment. I ate one once (when I was a student, there was an ornamental lake in university grounds where many lived), surprisingly dry meat, nothing at all like farmed goose. If you have some tactic to keep it moist while cooking, it's not the
best but still OK eating.

If you are going to roast it in the oven, add a substantial amount of water or chicken stock to the bottom of the pan will keep it moist. You can inject it with butter if you're into that. A goose like most ducks are best basted in their own fat.

I don't roast them much. I take the breast meat and tenderize it or run it through the meat grinder and make burger out of it. I add bacon, herbs and spices in the grinding process. I find that the best way to eat it.

[paulinkansas]

We have loads of Canada Geese in UK, so much so they are a pest

There is a guy and his crew that rent a place from me each year. They are falconers. They use falcons to eliminate pigeons in refineries. He also had a full mount coyote bearing its teeth that was taxidermied that he put out on an island in a cooling pond for a refinery to deter the Canada geese. Some guys from the refinery took a small boat out and took the coyote. They put the coyote around corners in the administration building. When some of the female employees would be taking a corner in a hallway they would come around and see that coyote and pretty much have a panic attack.

It took the falconer a year to get his coyote back.

[paulinkansas]

I never know the cause of loss of electricity.

I'm considering taking an electrical course at a local junior college. Heating/air conditioning is also included in the course. I've got 23 rentals that sometime have problems with the heating/air conditioning, and if I take the class I could probably fix it myself.


That would make me an official college student. The college has a trap shooting team for students. That's where you use shotguns to hit clay pigeons. I would join the trap shooting team, because I like to shoot competively.

[Payton1221]

I take the breast meat and tenderize it or run it through the meat grinder and make burger out of it. I add bacon, herbs and spices in the grinding process. I find that the best way to eat it.

That might taste good. My father in law (up until this year . . . he's 79) was a huge waterfowl hunter, and we always made jerky out of the geese he killed.

[Payton1221]

These birds are Canada geese. Whenever there is a flock of them, the geese on the outside of the flock are sentries. They look for danger and alert the rest of the flock. These 2 geese took turns/alternating between eating corn and being the sentry.

I'm sure this isn't exclusively a KC thing. but I played golf at a course in KC and goose $#!+ on all of the fairways was unreal.

[Payton1221]

The best I could do was smoke 1237 doves with 2650 shells out of a 28 gauge in 3 days in Argentina.

That's phenomenal!!! I'm a dove hunter one day out of the year: Sept 1, the dove season opener! But there have been years I'd go through 3+ boxes of 12 gauge shells and still NOT have my limit.

[mtpockets]

Canada geese are fearless and a force to be reckoned with if you piss them off. No quit in those fukkers. I was on a bike path once in a city and had one jump out at me and I damn near dumped the bike trying to avoid it, then it chased me for quite a spell. That was about 6 years ago and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is still on my trail and shows up at my door at some point..


Another time a buddy and I were hunting over a young Lab that I was working with, I winged a Canada goose and it went down in a bunch of cattails in a dry swamp. The dog went in then came back out and stared at us, I sent him in again, he came out again, so I moved around to get a look, told him to get his ass in there again. After a minute or two he came out running, full tilt about 50 feet behind him was the goose in hot pursuit chasing his ass. My buddy shot the goose on the run..

My buddy razzed my ass about that for years, telling me that my dog had more yellow lab in him than black, how he saved my dog's life and the stories went on for years ha ha. .
It was pretty funny.





Payton I have had goose jerky, it's pretty damn good.

[Mark1T]

I'm considering taking an electrical course at a local junior college. Heating/air conditioning is also included in the course. I've got 23 rentals that sometime have problems with the heating/air conditioning, and if I take the class I could probably fix it myself.

That would make me an official college student. The college has a trap shooting team for students. That's where you use shotguns to hit clay pigeons. I would join the trap shooting team, because I like to shoot competively.

Just identify as a college student and age won't matter

That's phenomenal!!! I'm a dove hunter one day out of the year: Sept 1, the dove season opener! But there have been years I'd go through 3+ boxes of 12 gauge shells and still NOT have my limit.

Bruises on the shoulder is a badge of honor

Canada geese are fearless and a force to be reckoned with if you piss them off. No quit in those fukkers. I was on a bike path once in a city and had one jump out at me and I damn near dumped the bike trying to avoid it, then it chased me for quite a spell. That was about 6 years ago and I wouldn’t be surprised if he is still on my trail and shows up at my door at some point..

I bet there's a video of that somewhere I want to see it

[paulinkansas]

These 2 critters seem to have a disagreement.

[steffo99]

Starting to plan for this spring for exploring more of the coastal areas, nature reserves, and lakes of the west coast here in Sweden. With photography in mind of course. Dozens if not hundred of islands, and long coast lines to explore.

Feel like such an idiot not having used google earth before - what an amazing tool to check areas ahead of time and plan shots etc. Can't believe the level of detail when zoom in, can even see the individual waves at the beach etc. Then the tools at the bottom are great - let you rotate everything, and switch to 3D view.

Here is one area I will go again - 2 hrs north of me - then Gothenburg have many clusters of islands to which the local traffic has boats going regularly so it's only like 2 bucks.

https://earth.google.com/web/search/...pVRUSZAOgMKATA






So started creating a system of folders with pics/screenshots of various places to explore. Islands, lakes, nature reserves, light houses - anything interesting to shoot.

Last year I went to some locations and paid to stay the night, but will now try to read up on the "The Right of Public Access – Swedish freedom to roam", so that I can quickly explore many places without paying a bunch, perhaps bring some little pop-up tent. Just want to get some sunsets. I know you can even stay a night or 2 on other ppl's land, but I need to check if separate rules for some coastal areas - as they have those for building and so on.
https://visitsweden.com/what-to-do/n...public-access/



The place I stayed last year with a mini mountain going into the water, but can't see it's elevation in this pic though.

Besides reading up and preparing a bunch for macro, I've also looked more into making proper panoramic shots - so now I have a few more dimensions to look forward to once out and about - not just wildlife focused.

Will combine those map tools with this other one I've used a few times which shows exactly the angles of sunset and sunrise for that day and spot.
https://www.suncalc.org/#/57.6601,12...1.20/17:00/1/3




Anyways, excited for this year and having discovered this hobby - getting out like this and looking at things with more appreciation than before is great. Have a good evening all.

[Mark1T]

Paul, as we all know, Possum and Raccoons have been frenemies for the ages. Just another day in the wild. Perfect snapshot of the rivalry.

steffonimopolieez, it's about time you check in, not that I was keeping track: I think your plans to go to coastal areas, nature reserves, and lakes and islands is a great idea and should keep you busy for my lifetime. Very broad, so it could be landscape or animals or historical sites or new discoveries not yet known to mankind.

I believe that the Mountain Man has seen and has possibly even befriended the Big Foot community. Up where he is, they are lighter in fur color since it is a colder climate and helps for camo. The Big Foot in Sweden have even longer hair/fur with longer arms. In fact, Bjork Eriksson from the Nilsson lineage, a boat builder since 1823, confirmed a Big Foot sighting in 1856. That story is for another day.

There are a couple photos of Mountain Man with the Big Foot chief having breakfast over an open fire, way up in the Grand Tetons. Those are classified, thank you very much. Npt even the Freedom of Information Act can get them. I have tried.

[steffo99]

Thanks for your thoughts and agree, Mark. I will also be on the lookout for coastal Yetis then. Should be some nightly migrations between the islands to document. If I can get close, I will offer some swedish chew tobacci as a peace offering.

[steffo99]

One man tents

New to looking at these small tents – let me know if have any insights or advice. Looked at the pop up ones for a bit, but this looks to be more my taste – called bivy tent. The one I look at here sell on both ebay and amazon. Weight 3.3 lbs – feel this is an important aspect to get it fairly light weight as will bring camera gear as well wherever I go. And 48 cm package will fit in all my bags – have 3 different ones.

Figure I'd like the low profile against the elements, but also to keep a low profile – seems that even though we have the ”right” to pitch a tent anywhere, the county you're in can have some other rules. That national right, in my mind, is not a right (but privilege) if local politicians can limit it in some spots, but whatever....so want stealth mode then.

Please let me know any advice or show your own solutions/options if you have any of these small 1-2 man tents. Much appreciated.



Snugpak Ionosphere

[steffo99]

On a sidenote - kind of funny cause I don't care as I would in my younger days, but every time you mention some new plans like these outdoor things you haven't been into before, some close ones/family members etc react a bit negative or sceptical - as if it can't be done. Was similar when started up a little woodworking (still wanna do more but limited in space atm) and photography.

I know this happens sometimes, just surprises me a bit. It's from ppl closest to me that wish me well ofc, but still it happens. I don't let it affect me, but I just find it interesting. I just feel more sorry for them putting limitations on themselves and others. We only have one life so figure get out there and do what you want. That is one aspect I miss about being in the U.S. - maybe cause the type of friends I made and the environment in which I made them (more open minded folks) - it was always encouraged to do your thing or stand out from the rest. Over here I always felt ppl try to pull you back into the herd of average and not sticking out - Jantelagen.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_Jante

[Mark1T]

steffoni, I admit that I have Tent-Phobia.

I would not be able to sleep, because at any moment, without me even knowing, I could be surrounded by three hungry bears or five hungry wolves. Or, wake up with several Copperheads snuggled up next to me. Nope.

I would rather be off the ground and out of reach of most animals. Not worried about Big Foot, because they are friendly down here

Strap me in a tree stand or a tree tent that is suspended about 20 feet