I’d rather walk on hard ground, or hard lakes. The ultimate navigation season, bog, lake, river, everything can be a road, and the snow smooths out the ground. They used to wait for freeze up, and cat trains could pull gear in literally anywhere.
As far as you had fuel and parts to get back out. Once it’s warm, off road in the northern forest the only option would be helicopter.
Winter is prime time for cutting firewood, you can go hard and never over heat, and no bugs. The air is as clean as could be, zero allergy issues. Logs drag out ofthe bush cleaner than when they were standing. Branches tend to shatter off when felling frozen.
And it kills all the black widow spiders, scorpions and copperheads… Cold has real value.
Unless you have cattle on your farm.
Then you just never have time…
Since my last post in this my son has taken old Yamaha out for a ride.
I listen, I hear that snarl from the aftermarket pipe on it. ( still sounds good )
The waft of synthetic 2 stroke oil blows my way ( smells like garbage burning )
I hear the old parts under the track and know its in need of a complete rebuild.
The joys of winter and youth.
30 years old and still delivers at least 20 smiles per gallon.
That snowmobile looks like a Phazer.
I got my sled stuck today in our 3’ of snow when I was trying to make a trail. I just don’t have the back to lift the sled up anymore.
I agree with Wayne, which is fortunate for me considering that we are neighbors. As to the above quote, I wonder if that includes the will to live. Sure seems like a tough way. but like I said, glad you all are so fond of it. It IS a pretty kind of thing. But I like my mud.
And Garry, copperheads are good eating.
Whoooa! I was with you right up until the “copperheads”.
I don’t doubt that they are edible or that they taste good, but I’d have
to wander 40 days and nights first to find out
Wayne, I’ve seen fun, it didn’t look anything like that. The fair and all looked fun, just not handling the snakes. I would even eat a snake on a stick.
My son kills snakes when he sees them. ( since he was a boy )
This bothers me, I don’t like to see any animal that does as much for us die for no reason ( even the rattle snake a new comer around here is fine by me )
I thought more than once I should skin one and make him eat it.
Clearly that cruel to both boy and snake…
Phazer II is the sled, once they were very common, still are around but Yamaha stopped selling parts for them.
Snow this year has been about normal.
Temperatures have fluctuated but not to wildly ( no Siberian express… yet )
You want to see it stay bellow freezing but warm as possible, but you still need about two weeks of deep arctic cold -25 to thicken the ice on the lakes and …
AND…
And this is the important point. kill everything.
Brown deer ticks can’t take the cold, a good freeze keeps them at bay.
Non native stuff just can’t deal with it
In one of my pictures behind the dogs you see the bush is growing back after 100 years of industrial activity killed everything.
But its not normal or healthy regrowth.
Bio diversity is low and lots of non native stuff in there ( Norway maple for example ).
If the climate is changing and the natural environment is disturbed you have no idea what to expect.
That bush is fine example in warm years full of rattle snakes and deer ticks and things that do not belong
Bill, for some reason l stayed allmost a year behind this topic. I had a problem with notification settings earlyer last year but never had the time to readtrughwhat l missed. Last night l wake up at around 2 and culdnt sleep till morning, so l poured some left over champange and read trugh your topic.
All l can say is my hat is off for you sir. The fact you put a quality life in front of money shows what kind of a person you are. I wish l can gather the balls to do the same when time comes, dump the torturous poisonous job l do now to provide for my family, and go on the exact same track you went; liveing off the land. But till then, l gather knolidge (from generous people from this site-includeing you!) so that when time comes, l will be reddy to become a full time life enjoyer and l know lm not the only oneon the site thinking so.
This sayd, l have a question. I was thinking to do some birch sap collecting this spring. Any tips?
We did collect sa pwhen we were kids but we cut of a branch or a bundle of twigs and tyed a bag on. It produced loads of sap but my question for you guys is is this any good for syrup? Since the sap passed allmost the whole tree before being collected…
It was a dairy farm in Grand Isle, Vermont, about 60 miles south of Montreal. And, no, we didn’t have it to burn. But we would go ice fishing, play hockey, go to farm shows, make maple… all durring snow. Of course you had to feed and milk the cows, clean the barn & etc… chores.
Hello Bill…good to see you are enjoying life. My sister moved back to here to Coffeyville, Kansas the other day bringing her 5 favorite goats with her, and no place to keep them. I was cleaning out our old horse barn for her so she would have a place to feed and milk her goats. I had not been in the barn for sometime and there was the pile of hydrostatic drives that I had promised to send you one of some time back. So I have one up to the house now so that I won’t forget again. Hope to get it shipped in the next few days. Good luck and be safe my friend.
Gary
Hi wayne nice rattle snake, vidio, Thanks for posting. i dont eat pork so snakes are out of my menu rang for food. intertretations of bible food too eat.
I thought of you and syrup when I saw this. It was not designed to evaporate syrup but could not resist posting this on your Topic. Three fuel magazines, interesting.
Cold has real value. 
Sure seems like a tough way. but like I said, glad you all are so fond of it. It IS a pretty kind of thing. But I like my mud.
The fair and all looked fun, just not handling the snakes. I would even eat a snake on a stick.
