# A bit of early spring action



## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

Good evening ladies and gentlemen.

I have been off running the trapline hard and teaching, and daddying full time, so posting has been a bit remiss. Nevertheless the slingshot has been getting its reps in. I finished out the grouse season with a bird on each of the last 5 days, given the conditions this year that is pretty good (the snow is waist to chest deep). The snowshoe hare have been plentiful enough to spoon feed my little brother a few when he is back from the slope hunting with his pellet gun. See pic.










Truth be told, this rabbit was out of my range with a slingshot at about 40 yards, so I pointed it out to my brother who made a great head shot with his .117 pellet gun. We walked for another couple miles and came upon a fresh wolf kill, this pack has about 9 dogs in it. I gave them a break this year on the trap line as I was a tad busy with the new kiddo, but they need to be thinned. This is the 4th dead moose inside a 2 mile radius of my house.

Here is a calf that was probably taken down crossing the open tundra in the deep snow the evening before judging by the tracks. It was not pretty and I won't show the tundra trail but if you have any idea how wolves work you probably know what it looks like... They only have one hind quarter eaten so far. 









Here is a cow moose less than a mile away across the same patch of tundra that is a week or so old. 








Nature is gnarly huh? Pretty humbling to think that nothing in the wild gives a S#!+ about your feelings or ethics.

ANYWAY, we walked another few hundred yards from the fresh wolf kill and there were squirrels everywhere in the thick canopy. I am assuming that they were hiding out from the increased predator traffic, (wolves, coyotes, lynx, eagles, hawks, ravens etc.) I was able to get a decent lung shot on a red squirrel with the slingshot and not have to bushwack a bunch to retrieve it. The dog helped wrangle the tough little rascal after he fell from the tree (video to come) and we headed home as little Liam needed a snack!

Another mile of hiking produced 2 more grouse, no shot opportunities, and a few more rabbit sightings that would have been in the pot had we been hunting with real firearms, but there is certainly stock available for the next rove. We cleaned game near the truck, and put the baby in his carseat, loaded up the dog and went home to make some stew!

Here is a bonus video from an impromptu grouse hunt while running the trails on a snowmachine.

It always pays to have a slingshot in your pocket and a couple of balls handy.






Thanks for coming along!

Grouse season is over, but I hope to get a few hares on video in the coming weeks, fingers crossed!

Msturm.


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## Royleonard (Jun 30, 2017)

I always look forward to reading your posts this one welcomed me back to nature that is red in tooth and claw.Yet seeing your son getting bigger was also a more pleasant side of nature.Humbling indeed !


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## andypandy1 (Apr 8, 2016)

Keep the hunting vids coming


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## Tag (Jun 11, 2014)

Thanks for sharing your videos


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## vince4242 (Jan 11, 2016)

Great update! That is a lot of snow.

Cheers


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## hoggy (Apr 17, 2017)

cool, the great white north. is that a gamo swarm?


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## Reed Lukens (Aug 16, 2020)

It looks like your getting a good snow pack this year. As much as I miss the fun times snowmobiling around Chugiak and Mantanuska Glacier, I'm enjoying retirement and living out the winter in the desert these days. We still get snow here but its counted in inches and hours instead of feet and months  Did you have Liam with you? Or did you two get a chance to go out together for some alone time? Great video Mike, you guys look really happy


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## msturm (Sep 18, 2019)

Reed Lukens said:


> It looks like your getting a good snow pack this year. As much as I miss the fun times snowmobiling around Chugiak and Mantanuska Glacier, I'm enjoying retirement and living out the winter in the desert these days. We still get snow here but its counted in inches and hours instead of feet and months  Did you have Liam with you? Or did you two get a chance to go out together for some alone time? Great video Mike, you guys look really happy


On the machine it was just the wife and I. It has been a heavy snowfall year for sure. We are still getting a bit here and there. Warm sounds pretty nice too!


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