 Good morning It is a little after 5 30. We're looking at 16 degrees Fahrenheit is 23 degrees in here pretty chilly Just turned the buddy heater on to take the chill off and I got the coffee going over there Really nice night of sleep. It was kind of Sleep and rain freeze and rain for the first hour or so and then I just kind of fell asleep I got pretty far into my book kind of like a wet air today cold wet air It was pretty cold getting out of that sleeping bag be honest with you so coffee's on Gonna cook up a nice breakfast drive that into me drive that coffee right into me too and Then haven't really made a plan for today yet So I still got a lot to do around camp to get it ready before the fellas show up For the special guest shows up Brandon and the boys. Hopefully Brandon's crew rolled in last night He's got a big crew coming in and I think they're gonna try to fish across the lake So they're gonna drill their way across make sure it's safe. We think it's safe, but we're not entirely sure So we might be looking at some white fish and lake trout I was gonna leave this area alone for a day or two till my buddies got here So that way I didn't whale on some of their fish. I don't think I'm gonna fish today I think I'm actually gonna go for a snowmobile ride and explore some of the wilderness up here that I've never been too on a snowmobile. I I kind of would like to get to the area where I first Started trapping years ago. I got a good First I'd have to go east south hired west and then West again after I cross the major road and see if I can get down trapper Joe road and camp carnage road and Explore a little that territory see if I can see maybe a couple moves or see what the wildlife is doing and see some tracks Should be all fresh tracks since early this morning when the snow stopped But should be should be a fun day kind of itching to get the snow be allowed on some Virgin snow and and go do some solo exploring on some old logging roads So I'm thinking about getting west of the T loss road. Yeah. Yeah, and I used to trap over 15 miles over that way. Yeah, so I'm thinking about taking a ride out in that country. I'd like to I want to ride today I'm only gonna fish for a while. Yeah, I'm gonna run back just topper off on fuel just to make sure because I might do something Today, I might end up down no notch it on a snow be a woman But I figured I'd take a ride I think the ice is better here than over there. Is it? What do you got here? I bet you're close to 10 inches Little better than yesterday. Oh, it felt like we was drilling for a week after yesterday What a beautiful day I don't care what these guys say she's a gem. I heard she got a little scared of the slash Yeah, you don't like that at all. No, I don't know how you did it if she pops it all on you like I Don't know if it's got air leak somewhere every once in a while a little boo Yeah feather give her the gas She's a gem I appreciate you Like I told these guys I'm glad you guys let me tag along My trip would have been done done out of ain't going home. Yep Three miles from where I'm camping and this is the spot right here. I wasn't sure if I could make it here due to roads growing in and trails and stuff like that But this spot right here is pretty hollowed ground to me This was the original Camp carnage and on the map. This is camp carnage road And I had a camper set up there as the first camper I ever owned Then I tore it apart made it into a trapping shack And I used to come up here and spend three straight months October November December right here trapping and hunting every day and Didn't really bring much up for food brought several shotgun shells and a couple boxes of bullets and eight partridge and rabbit every day and Ran one heck of a trapline as I was learning and I had a big game pole right over here Where I would do a lot of skinning And I had over here I'd save every carcass from the partridge I caught so I could set them out for Martin and Fisher and over there I had like a pile of raccoon dead raccoon Bodies carcasses and I had a bunch of fox and coyote and Fisher and stuff hanging here off the game pole that had frozen up and The story goes that two game wardens pulled in To check check on me because they'd heard that there was a trapper in the area And they they wanted to see what was up make sure I was on the up and up and they pull in right here And all they see is just dead bodies everywhere and piles of dead bodies there a bunch of rabbit dead over there Pile this high of partridge carcasses And the one warden looked over the other one said look at the carnage So ever since that has been named camp carnage This spot was camp carnage in the roads camp carnage road. It's like a mile and a half two miles long coming in off another login road were 60 to 100 miles from Millanocket it's from the nearest town in In the wilderness and one of those warrens I became really good friends with and he taught me a ton about trapping years later And we stayed together up near Clayton Lake and ran a Real decent trap line up that way But I figured I'd stop here and do a little remanescent share a little of those stories with you guys I actually caught a Martin right there in one of those trees a pine Martin, which they call a sable It had come in the camp to rob some of those carcasses once that smell permeated out had a year of death They they seem to find it and he would rob me of a partridge carcasses every day till I Ended up getting him in like a number one victor Long spring in a in a tree But pretty awesome spot I Wouldn't sell those memories for a million dollars. It was some of the best times I've ever had Scary, you know, I had a truck that I think I had a $500 truck the second year I was here the first year. I had I had a truck that was two-wheel drive that Had scared a lot of people that knew I was up here And then the second year I had that I was in this spot I had a four-wheel drive, but it was a $500 truck standard transmission I remember I'd have to pop the hood every day and Clean the mice off the the cowling the mice would make a nest on the on the warm truck every single day after I'd park it But I made it out. I Had one year they called for like I think six inches of snow here And I woke up at like two in the morning and it was It was snowing golf ball size snowflakes and I said this is gonna be big storm So I picked up everything I had in camp tore down the game pole and you know took an hour and a half or so to get ready Get everything ready to boogie on out of here and I started telling my camper out by the time I started towing I had that two-wheel drive I had chains on it and wait in the back of it and I was pushing snow with a front bumper and it was getting up in my radiator. I had to be careful not to overheat I had to get out and clean it a couple of times and I made it about Probably eight miles to the to what's called the T loss road, which is a main vein for Log trucks that they were gonna plow eventually. I knew they were and this was like I think handy to Christmas might have been after Christmas So around the time I was gonna leave anyway So I parked the camper there for just left it hooked up and Slept in that and red books couldn't couldn't move around because the snowstorm ended up being close to four foot And Through some game a telephone my dad had called the warden Just to say hey, I know they got dumped on up there Just checking to see if if you heard anything from him. No, he was worried. Well, that warden was on vacation So it went to another warden that didn't know where I was and then that got passed to another warden And all of a sudden there was a lost trapper up there. They hadn't checked in missed a check-in, which I didn't have any check-ins And and all of a sudden they sent the airplanes after me I was in my camper reading the book and this plane kept buzzing me And buzzing buzzing finally I went outside wave my arms like what the heck's going on then two or three game wardens showed up in Snowmills and said do you missed your checkpoint you the trapper that missed your your check-in time? I said well, I don't have any check-in times. They're like you trapper Joe I said yeah, they said well someone's worried about you So I said well, I'll be out of here in a couple days So they opened the road up finally and and I was able to haul the camper down get down to down to town check-in but that was always funny that they sent the helicopters and and airplanes But it turned up just being a mix-up on too many people in the communication games like that game of Telephone that they used to play or whatever it was called where one person told somebody a secret They were sitting in a circle and then that secret got told to somebody else and by the time it got back to the original It was a completely different story So I'm gonna I'm gonna sit here reminisce and remember some great old times and drive a real nice hot cup of coffee into me And then I got a couple other spots. I want to check in this territory where I used to trap just see what it looks like and and Get close to some real good memories Sled's running awesome. It's it's really good going right now. We have probably probably two foot of snow It's packed pretty good. So it's not too bad a fluff. Sometimes you hit some fluffy spots But these wide skis I put on the skins Really make a difference about keeping the up floated and it's like having a set of training wheels for someone who's not very experienced like myself So it makes the going a lot easier and just really nice riding right now You can go as fast as you want on these log roads, you know, I used to You know in a truck you can't even go as fast as you can go in a snowmobile Decent amount of game sign so far. I found two pods of moose Where they're they're herded up and the same exact spots. I've seen them for 20 years, so it's pretty cool to see that there's not as many moose as there used to be but they're still in the same areas saw one fresh coyote track and One fresh Martin track and that's been about it. So not a lot of game moving around overnight or in the area anymore They cut so hard nowadays. It's really terrible how they cut They cut a lot of the habitat It's needed like the spruce and pine and hemlock a lot of that softwood Makes for really good winter in areas for these animals and provides a lot of home for squirrels and Then the squirrels get fed on by the Martin and Fisher and D-year old deer used to winter here, too, but they're not around anymore There's some moose tracks and I think those are the first ever Bobcat tracks I've ever seen in this region. There were a bobcat here before I trapped. Oh When I trapped it was 20 years ago But there were no bobcat in the area the links had kind of taken over and the coyote had really put a hurt On the bobcat population Fisher did, too But before that I know some of the Osborns had trapped some some bobcat before that I think Uncle Kevin got one and the market seen one Or two that's pretty cool to see you. That's a really fresh bobcat track. We might see him today But pretty cool seeing that otter The the very first time I ever crossed this bridge when I was just young pop There were two moves standing bring that waterfall right there Bring that waterfall And they were feeding on grass put their heads under water and ripping grass up off the bottom and it was just the prettiest thing I've ever seen And I said, yeah, I definitely want to be in this area And I remember I I would cross this bridge Every single day on my trapline. I had had a pretty good trapline back then when I started And I remember it got really cold this had pretty well frozen over there was one air hole like a little bit left of where that otter is now and I Remember stopping on the bridge looking over and an otter had popped out of that air hole was like playing on top of The ice rolling around just like this one is and sliding and there were bigger trees back then they They hadn't cut yet There were big pines on each side There was an eagle would swoop down and try to get that otter and that otter would let him get within about 10 feet And he'd slide like crazy into his hole and go right back down The eagle would perch on the other side and watch him for a couple minutes and get the urge and he'd go Right back after him and that otter would sneak back into his hole and it got it was so funny because the otter would go a Little bit further and further every time No one how far it could get away before that eagle eagle could get to him and it tempted that eagle and I sat here and watched for Probably an hour those two go at it and that eagle never got that otter And I think that otter had more fun messing with that eagle then Than any anything else it could have been doing that day, but otter a really cool animal It's one of my favorite super super incredible fur or super super cool animal They one of the few wild animals that takes time to play every day They run around slide on their belly just like a kid But this one's fishing pretty good down here There's chubs and and brook trout suckers and and perch in this stream and down in that hole I think I saw him come up and eat a fish already, but I've been sitting here. Oh good half hour watching him there He comes up again, but it looks like more than likely the otter caught a fish or Mink or something over here and ate it right there There's a big blood pile down on the ice right on the edge where an otter might have caught a fish and Pulled it up on top of that skim ice and eating it and blood everywhere pretty cool See a blood patch out in the middle of the woods See what else we have Some more footprints down there. I can't quite tell from here More than likely mink There's that otter again Let's continue on Well This used to be a road But I guess it's not anymore. It looks like an ice storm kind of covered it up with all these alders, so My yard are back around. I think there's a back way to where I want to get going anyway It's just a little bit longer route, but with having to cut through every 50 yards The other way will be a lot quicker a little bit easier All right, it's about 75 miles in Pretty good wilderness so far getting around pretty good good, but got a pretty good clunker right there Can't get around it. It's a big one. I Got to decide how it looks like another big one down up ahead, too I'm gonna decide if I want to go this way or not This is another Probably two miles of this to till the spot. I want to get to up on top of a hill and At an old tree But before I get tackle this tree, I'm gonna eat some lunch Drive something into me. So I got a little bit more energy We're passing on now Got a can of soup up there See if it's been staying warm Spoon you don't even have to use a can opener anymore with these things Well, that's a Campbell's chunky Sir lion burger. So I'm guessing it's lion meat Lion meat is good for you put hair on your chest Sled's running awesome This is the most unbelievable sled I've ever seen Those ski skins are really impressive. It's like a set of training wheels for me. That's good soup This tree is good size Looks like a fir tree Gonna have to cut it twice to get through because it spans so far across the road. I can't lift the top of it So I got it limbed a little bit Tough chop and it's frozen sapwood. So it's it's really hard. It's not soft wood anymore But I'm gonna cut through I got Three right here. I know I got to get cut through to continue on If there's much more of this we'll probably turn around Done. I wonder if the boys are having this much fun That's fun. I Got one more small one. I know I got to cut up ahead I'm gonna see if I could feather this snowbill through right now Properly. All right, it looks semi-clear for a while after this one. So I'll take care of this one And then motor up looks like could be a disaster up there I can't tell if I can get under it or not, but there's four big ones Lay in the horizontal That bigger one was pretty tough because the sap was frozen inside the wood dead frozen Can be tough to chop it doesn't It doesn't come apart too easy That one's the Brant and Cochran. It's pretty close to three pounds I could use a little bit heavier, but it's it's fine For a lot of the smaller stuff. I think it's two and a half or two and three quarters But that's the oligarch cruiser Work pretty good best I've ever had 110 mile Chazun Cook Yeah, I went to like four or five my old trapping spots checked it out Couldn't get down some roads a lot of logs Across I cut my way through a bunch, but then I got tired You guys catching them Jagan good for you With these keep everybody. What's that? Yeah Any size with these white fish keepers that's awesome Cool you heading back to the shack cool. I'll see you over there. No brookies Chazun Cook No, I didn't get that far down the lake. I couldn't tell if I was on slasher breaking through so I only went like a mile Turn around Went to a bunch of my trapping spots 110 miles Yep, I thought that was pretty good. Yeah, it was fun though. I mean the Freaking ride this couldn't be any better. There ain't nobody on the logging roads. No, you break trail a lot of the way Yeah, I need to cut a lot of trees really. Yeah, I got tired I know I couldn't get to one spot I wanted to go because I I got like four trees with the axe like that big went like a half mile There's like ten freeze that size. I was like, you got it. I get there, but not that way But it was fun Never saw another person saw an otter and a rabbit I probably could have run it over but I stopped because I was thinking there might be a fisher behind it But nothing kind of I didn't wait too long You were just waiting for the camera do something special, aren't you? I want a hundred percent you're taking this all the way up or just to your leader Beautiful, thanks, bud. There he is. Ain't much, but that'll feed a person And I came down Melanoch at way to get resupplied fuel up get some things that we needed to make sure Pat was gonna Pick up my buddy at the airport Tomorrow morning and it looked like Pat is in a bind throughout his back and the furnace went That he's in charge of at the place where he works So he was still gonna pick up drive all the way from bad habit of Bang going to pick him up and then drop Him off another three hours later up in the woods and then drive home That's just a great friend right there, man. They don't come every day like that But I said no, I'm not gonna let you do that. So while I'm out of the woods I'm gonna head Bangor way and either sleep in the truck or do something and I'll pick up in the morning and we'll start our trip Like I said, he was supposed to fly in last night But his flight got canceled due to the freezing rain and bad weather So I think he's gonna extend this trip an extra day on the back end So we should be able to get four days on the water