1986 GMC S-15

[Todd780]

Looks like an amazing time! Lots of wild life out and about! Did the cougars have you worried?

Crazy to see that much snow already. Must be a higher elevation? I don't believe my folks in Vernon have seen any snow yet.

 

[ITTOG]

I don't know if I am more jealous of your location or all the trips you get to take. Good for you.

It is amazing how many moose you see when you can't shoot them. Funny that reproduction brings most animals out where they can be seen but for our species it is usually hidden. What a contradiction, but good contradiction.

 

[hbabler]

Andrew,
By far my favorite thread. Thanks for sharing it. Since I live in the heat I’m always fascinated to see your adventures.

 

[97heavyweight]

Where did you get the cut to size tape? I am going to have to do the same thing to mine. Thanks

 

[Andrew_S]

Looks like an amazing time! Lots of wild life out and about! Did the cougars have you worried?

Crazy to see that much snow already. Must be a higher elevation? I don't believe my folks in Vernon have seen any snow yet.

Yes all of the snow has been 1200m+ elevation. Nothing in the valley yet. Definitely have to reassure myself I'm the predator when I see big bears and cats. Something about camping in total darkness in the forest that makes a lot of noise to get you on your toes.

I don't know if I am more jealous of your location or all the trips you get to take. Good for you.

It is amazing how many moose you see when you can't shoot them. Funny that reproduction brings most animals out where they can be seen but for our species it is usually hidden. What a contradiction, but good contradiction.

No doubt, last season I had a tag and saw 1 bull & 1 cow all of October. I've seen easily 30+ moose in the first two weeks now. The way she goes I guess.

Andrew,
By far my favorite thread. Thanks for sharing it. Since I live in the heat I’m always fascinated to see your adventures.

Really appreciate that, thanks! It's funny you say that because there is something super appealing about the desert and warmer climates for me. Grass is always greener I suppose.

Where did you get the cut to size tape? I am going to have to do the same thing to mine. Thanks

I had an old boy local supplier cut it up for me. I'm sure if you call around to any gasket company they should be able to slice you some to size.


Tis the season, loosing track of the night count and loving it.

Pics just don't do the damage to this area justice. The fire literally burnt the top soil down to rock...

Brunch break

Nice spruce for dinner,

Late afternoon walk,

Evening sits

Next morning breakfast break

Unreal sunrise this am,

Morning hike through an old burn

Really pretty spruce

Watched this guy enjoying his mouse

Ended the day hiking through some old growth & grass lands, unreal country.

Exhaust started sounding really weird mid-day. I was starting to think the new muffler was taking a ******** again. Easy fix.

This old girl gets some serious use this time of the year. Some routine maintenance and a firehose is in it's near future.

 

[PirateMcGee]

How's that neoprene tape working out for the condensation?

 

[Andrew_S]

^^The tape works awesome. The biggest help is running the diesel heater full time on those cold nights. It dries out the air and gets rid of any humidity that causes sweating. The combo of the two has been winning a formula.

Just wrapped up another 4 day trip hunting
Before we left the truck got a new output seal on the t-case

Flushed the t-case while I was at, gravity feed re-fill

First night out, terrible pic, cow with two calves. Pretty rare to see 2 around these parts.

Next morning, in the clouds

Took a while but we finally got above the rain

No big game this am, Nice dusky for the freezer though

Big fire for a rainy night

Next morning sits

Went for a nice hike through an old douglas fir forest

Awesome looking mushroom

Lots of sign but no sightings

Awesome old growth area

Earlier this afternoon I was napping in the camper and the wife was messing around w/ some firewood.
Around 3pm a nice big buck walks in on camp about 30 yards away, Nicole locks eyes with it, no gun. It runs away...

 

[Andrew_S]

Did some more spring mushroom scouting.

Mushrooms are already starting to pop up

Lots of fresh veg starting to pop up as well

Hard to give perspective on the size of some of these fires. This one was 81,000 hectares.

Ended our trip by spotting this brute.

 

[Andrew_S]

Just wanted to add, 4 days of rain, and freezing temps at night.
The entire time we were thankful for two things, the hard shell and the diesel heater.
This would have been a miserable experience in a tent. Absolutely love this set up at the moment.

 

[Todd780]

Just wanted to add, 4 days of rain, and freezing temps at night.
The entire time we were thankful for two things, the hard shell and the diesel heater.
This would have been a miserable experience in a tent. Absolutely love this set up at the moment.

Glad to hear you are enjoying it. You are definitely getting good use out of it!

I heard something new the other day. If a moose has white / patchy fur, it's a sign it could have ticks and it's possible you may not be able to salvage the meat.

Not sure if this has merit. Just what I was told.

 

[Andrew_S]

^ I can't say I've ever heard of that. I know in extreme cases they will lose their hair and look like "ghosts"


Just finished up another 4 day hunting trip.

Picked up some treats the day before. 60lbs of Moose jalepeno cheddar smokies & pepperoni.

Repairing a repair, this seal failed almost immediately after I installed it...

We took off at 4:00, had this little guy on the ground and then hanging in the garage by 5:30.

Only 3 days left in the season and no other venison in the freezer made the decision to take him easy.
He wasn't the big guy I was after but he will be some of the finest table fare.

A little bit of a late start but after a slight detour we made it out

The first morning was filled with moose,

A good 8-10" of snow the first night.

After a night of ice rain these alders make some roads barely passable.

The camper is getting some real nice designs on the side of it...

A couple bedded mulies

The wife bumped and started stalking this big guy

For some perspective he was on top of that bare bump, love this spotting scope

While she was off chasing him I continued to spot animals. Picked up this cow calf

again for some perspective, almost a mile away

2nd night was a colllld one

Temps dipped down to -12C or 10f. This diesel heater is such a great unit. We ran it for 13 hours straight, on low, it hit 15*C in the camper, burned 8 amp/hr of power and maybe a couple liters of diesel. It makes winter camping so easy.

 

[Andrew_S]

First light the next morning. Letting the truck warm up for a moment.

Can't beat this scenery in my opinion

Another moosy morning

Found this spot where two bulls were fighting the night before. The snow was completely torn up and moose hair was everywhere.

Couldn't beat the blue bird skies the rest of the weekend.

Afternoon lunch spot

View from bed,

with the walls down

Skinny snowy roads, continuing to work on the camper patterning...

Nice immature bull

Another cow calf

another immature bull

Watching some does in the evening

Love this area

 

[Andrew_S]

Last few photos,

Camped on top of the mountain the last night in hopes of seeing the northern lights. No light show but the sunset was beautiful

Another night well below freezing

Greeted by another immy that morning. This is a legal bull in 24 hours time...

2 more moose for the morning to make 21 total moose sightings this weekend.

Watched these does for a little while

Nothing like 300km's of snow roads to shine up your rims & tires

Last lunch spot and then headed home. Awesome weekend.

 

[Todd780]

I'm curious, the pics that look like they are through a scope... Does your spotting scope have the ability to take pictures or, are you holding up a camera to the scope?

 

[ocblaze]

I so enjoy watching this thread record y'alls hunts and the progress of the truck. I know what you mean about taking the deer God presents you with! I was only able to sit one evening at a WMA a couple hours south and was able to shoot a small spike to refill the freezer with. We were down to just a few pounds of ground meat so I'll take the 45 pounds I was able to put in the freezer off this little guy.

I am dreaming about hunting out west sometime for a big animal like an Elk or a Moose and thanks again for continuing to post!