Pre hunt scouting

I went out yesterday. to do some scouting in the area I will be hunting next week (shotgun season opens December 1st, I'll be hunting black powder though). I went with my nephew Joey, and my friend Joe. We got about 6" of snow, so it made tracking a little easier-moving through it, not so much. We started where I THOUGHT the trail was-but, the trail, a single track that is unmarked (not blazed), that is easy to follow when there isnt any snow-all but disappeared with the snow, and the trees bent over touching the ground. ANY side trail was difficult to locate, never mind walk through. Unmarked (illegal) single tracks, even more so! But, we found it, eventually. We also found PLENTY of deer tracks. Looking at what we saw, there were at least 2 bucks, and several does, some much smaller, possibly fawns or yearlings? I dont know-but, the area I scouted before, yielded more tracks, so I'm satisfied that my chosen area is at least used.
We also came across what appear to be moose tracks. I will attach them here, but, they were LARGE. They were bigger than an adult sized fist. The area that I am hunting, I played in as a child. I never once remember seeing a moose, or tracks, out there at all. But, these could only be moose, or cow. Now, that being said-there are farms, close by, and cows have been known to escape. But, cows dont wander through thick mountain laurel, brambles, and thick underbrush. We are pretty certain it was moose.
Anyway, thats just an update. I will be out hunting this Thursday and Friday, my first time ever. So, expect an update next weekend! PS-the last pic, is simply the area we were. The main trail is used by dog walkers, snowshoers, cross country skiers, and snowmobilers. Just wanted to illustrate the woods, in their current condition :)

A day out scouting

I had the opportunity the other day, to get out and do a little scouting, for the upcoming shotgun/black powder season. The weather was, well, miserable. It was raining, and 35F. A perfect day to be in the woods, right?
Actually, it wasnt bad. I put on all wool clothing-I had on wool swedish army pants, a polypro long john top, a thrift store 100% wool flannel shirt, an LL Bean wool vest, and a wool fedora. On my feet, wool socks and my unlined Bean Boots. I had a small haversack with me, with what I will take hunting-some food, a small wood burning stove, things like that.
All in all, it was a great way to spend the afternoon-even with the weather. Found some deer beds, saw a ton of tracks-got an idea where I want to stalk. Two more weeks!

As an aside, I created a video of my lunch time. Hope you enjoy!

Lunch time by the stream

Do bears shit in the woods?

I don't know, but I almost did!
I decided yesterday that, it being a blustery, rainy afternoon, and my only day off this week, I wanted to go do some Tenkara fishing (which, I just realized, I havent done an article on-one will be forthcoming!). Instead of going to my usual fly fishing spot, I decided to hit up a local river, only a couple minutes away, in a wildlife refuge area. All I carried was my fishing rod, my fly necklace, and a pocketknife. Oh, and a phone.
So, I was bushwhacking down to the river's edge. The first 50 yards or so are through blackberry brambles. Lots of fun. I had a pair of firehose pants on, and a waxed cotton jacket, so I pushed through, but it wasnt easy. I must've sounded like a pack of horses going through that!
Anyway, I get into the "open" woods. Open for New England woods, anyway. Light underbrush, some random brambles, lots of blowdowns. You know, woods. Everything was soaking wet. Well, except me :).
So, I am just walking along, minding my business, trying to pick a path through the woods, to get to the river. I look ahead, about 50 yards or so, and see a giant burl off the side of a tree. Of course, me being me, I decided to investigate.
I get to within 20 yards of the burl-when it stands up on its hind legs! What looked to be a burl, was the hind quarters of a mature black bear! Well, when he figured me out, he did what bears do-turned tail and took off! The bear was tearing up dead wood for grubs, when I startled him.
This was my first encounter with a black bear in the wild-despite spending YEARS traipsing through the woods. I feel like I was truly blessed with seeing him. It was awesome. I only wish I had taken pics. Had I recognized it for a bear, I would have been MUCH quieter and had my camera out. But, honestly-who stalks burls????

Coffee in the rain

Ok, I made my first official video. It was shot using my Galaxy S5. I wanted to do a video showing the Solo Stove in use, during the rain. Its been raining the past couple days here, so I figured it would be a good time to go out and play around. The weather was about 50 F, drizzling when I started, then turned to a mist. When I left, it started raining. Its been raining on and off for 2 days now, so everything was soaked. Still got the water going fine though.
Anyway, enjoy the video!

Fall foliage hike in New England

Yesterday was my only day off this week and, as it was a nice day, I went for a little 5 mile hike. The area I went to is Leominster State Forest. I grew up in the area, and have been in these woods many, many times, and always enjoy wandering here. There are miles of trails, most marked, quite a few not. Its a popular mountain bike riding area too.
The day was cool, but sunny. Cool, being about 60, with a steady wind. Later in the day, storm clouds rolled in, but, although threatening rain, nothing came of it.
A couple things I did notice, was that, one, per usual, in New England, there is such a variety of vibrant colors this time of year, its breathtaking. Many times, I stopped, just to admire it. And, because of the unseasonably warm weather recently, the tree frogs were out. I don't ever recall hearing them this late in the year. Doesn't mean they aren't out-I just don't remember :).

So, enough chatter. On to the pictures!!! This outing is picture heavy, so, if you are on a mobile phone, keep that in mind:

First up, my pack for the day: its an Italian mountain ruck. Its ideal for day trips, as there isn't a lot of room to pack things, so you limit what you pack. I also prefer wearing a brimmed hat, at most times, for shade. Summer, I wear a Real Deal Brazil tarp hat. I wanted something a little heavier for the cooler weather, so I have a Woolrich crushable felt hat. This also has the advantage of deflecting the barrage of dropping acorns this time of year :).

I also put some REAL trail miles on my Arrow Moccasins. I absolutely love these things. Although, I do find that, after a long day, my knees hurt-because these lack any kind of cushioning. It will be some time until I develop the muscles there, as I have spent a lifetime in regular shoes. But, so far, these things are far more comfortable than any hiking boots I've ever worn:

As we had recent rains (Thursday we had a deluge), that broke up an almost 2 week long dry spell, I came across several mushrooms. I don't know my mushrooms at all, so I just took some pics. Some on the ground, a couple on a log I thought was pretty cool:

The stone marker separating the town borders (erected in 1908):

My lunch spot, overlooking Rocky Pond:





My requisite stove shots. What can I say? The more I use this Solo Stove the more I love it. The wood you see here is all that was needed to boil water for coffee. It was, literally, a single stick.

This tree is called the Haunted Tree. Why? Who knows. Local legend was that they hung someone there. But, this tree isn't old enough to have been around when this legend allegedly occurred (sometime in the late 1700s to 1800s). But, that's the story that goes with it (there is also a geocache located within the tree):

 



There was also a paper wasp nest hanging right over one of the trails. I didn't see any wasps going in or out, but, I wasn't about to tap it to see if it was occupied:

And, some gratuitous beautiful foliage shots:

 

Last, a short vid (I got the date wrong. oh well) of the tree frogs, near Rocky Pond:

So, that was my little day trip. Hope you enjoyed!

Swedish Anorak Mods, Part 5: fur ruff

So, this is the biggest, best part of the mods, in my opinion. I purchased a coyote tail from a vendor in Canada, that had a cloth piece sewn the length of the tail, with the purpose being that this is used specifically for a ruff. This makes it MUCH easier to sew onto the hood, as I'm not sewing through hide, nor am I attempting to sew the fur directly to the hood. Its just a simple fabric to fabric mate, which I sewed by hand, using a locking stitch. So, here is the hood, the fur ruff, and the ruff pinned in place prior to sewing:

From there, I simply started on one end, and sewed all the way up & around to the other end. Again, the simple lock stitch did the trick:

The only thing you need to be careful of, is not to sew the inner cloth tape that closes the hood. As you can see, I sewed it right to the edge of the hood. The ruff can be flipped inside the hood, to create more dead air space to warm up, keeping the warm air close to your face, or, flip out (sort of) to give you better visibility. Here is the final product, and, well, me, with it on:

So, that ends the mods I did to this anorak. Now, I simply wait, until Old Man Winter shows up. The Farmers Almanac is predicting a cold winter this year, so I expect to get plenty of use out of this. As I do, I will blog about how well (or, poorly, if thats the case) it performs.

I hope this helps others looking to do some mods on their swedish anoraks. I tried to be as thorough as possible, and take pics that I thought would help. Of course, if you have any questions or comments, feel free to leave them here, and I will answer them for you. Thanks!

Swedish Anorak Mods Part 4, adding decorative trim

Ok, this one was easy. The trim adds nothing functionally, but gives it a nice, traditional look. For now, I just added it to the bottom of the anorak. I haven't decided if I'm going to add it elsewhere, but, if I do, it will be around the cuffs, and maybe along side the neck opening. But, for now, its just around the bottom.
This is pretty easy to do. I did it in 2 strips, to make it more manageable, but you could just as easily do it with 1 longer one. I have a handi stitcher, which worked well for this, and it took me all of 15 minutes. So, as this was a simple one, here it is, finished:

In the top pic, you can see the overlap. I havent trimmed it up yet, but I will. The bottom pic, you can see the center seam I did with the handi stitcher. All it really needs is that one stitch to hold it in place. Again, this was an easy, simple mod, for decoration.

Swedish Anorak Mods Part 3, cuff modifications.

The next mod I did was to remove the button from the cuff, use the epaulets that I removed earlier, and use those on the cuffs, with velcro, to allow for a more flexible opening. I can cinch it down, so they will fit inside my mitts, or keep them loose, and over a lighter pair of gloves, depending on the weather and work. Again, as a disclaimer, these ideas arent mine, but I wanted one blog, showing all the mods done, to make it a little easier to find for others. So, on to the mods!
First thing I did, was remove the epaulets (keep in mind, not ALL of these anoraks have epaulets: check with the seller first, to see if they are there. If not, a simple strip of material can be subsituted):

Next, you want to remove the cuff buttons. Once those are removed, you will want to sew the epaulets over where the button you just removed was. The part that you cut (the straight part) will be sewn to this part of the cuff, with the epaulet button hole end (the arrow shaped tip of the material) pointed towards the wrist opening. Pin it in place, then sew it to that side of the cuff ONLY:

I overlapped about 1/2 inch, and did a simple lock stitch for it. On the inside, I sewed through only 1 layer of the epaulet, so that the seam isnt seen from the outside:

The next step, I cut velcro strips, about an inch wide and 4 inches long for the loop (fuzzy) part, and approximately a 2x2 inch strip for the hook part. The hook part is then sewn into the epaulet, as such:

I then sewed the other strip, beginning at the cuff opening, onto the cuff itself:

The velcro I used has a sticky (EXTREMELY sticky) backing. This made it extremely difficult to sew through by hand. So, in the interest of not breaking a needle, and saving my fingers, I just sewed the ends of them. Eventually, I will sew the long sides, but, for now, this will do.
Now, you have a fully adjustable cuff, that can be opened, and even rolled back, for venting, or closed up tight and slid under the gauntlet of your mittens. Hope you found this useful!

Swedish Anorak Mods, part 2-the wire hood stiffener

This one was a simple one. The canvas that these anoraks are made from is fairly stiff. However, with even a slight wind, it will collapse the material against your face, limiting visibility, and reducing the wind breaking efficiency of the hood itself. To limit this, most people add a wire stiffener to the outside rim of the hood. Any stiff wire can be used: hobby wire, gardening wire-I used a wire coat hanger, as its what I had on hand. The method is really very, very simple, and takes less than 2 minutes to accomplish.
First, identify the channel where the wire will pass through. With these, there is a hood tie located in the channel, so its dead simple:

 

The next step, you need to identify the seam where the cloth hood pulls are sewn into the channel, to prevent them from coming out accidentally. You will need to either partially, or fully, remove this seam, so you can pass the wire through:



Next, cut off the part of the hanger that is hooked, and where it wraps upon itself:

 



Next, straighten it out, by hand, and, what I did, is to put some tape on the end of it, to keep it from poking through the material:

Once the wire is straight, and the end is taped off, simply feed it through the opening for the hood pulls:

Now, all you need to do is feed it all the way through to the other side. You will notice that there is a little pocket of material below where the hood pulls come through. Get the end of the wire into that pocket, nice & snug. What I did, was, I didn't trim the wire until it was seated firmly in there. Then, I cut it to length, taped the other end off, and popped it into the hood seam, so that the other taped end sat in that pocket. This method worked very well-the most laborious and time consuming part was actually cutting the coat hanger down :). The finished product will have a nice, stiff brim, that will not close up on you:

And, that's all it takes! Very simple mod, easy to do, but makes a world of difference with the hood.

Swedish Anorak mods, part 1-reducing the hood volume

I had some time to do a few of the mods. In the interest of time, I will only cover a couple of mods in each post, and do one post on just the fur ruff (which arrived yesterday, from Canada!). This blog will be on the hood mods-putting a wire stiffener in, and a hood volume reducer.
I will begin with the volume reducer. First, let me explain. The hoods on these are LARGE. They are designed to be worn with (or without) a helmet, and/or bulky headwear. So, in order to accommodate that, the hoods are voluminous. For those of us who don't wear helmets though, this creates a bit of an issue, as there is a LOT of material, and that extra space flaps around in the wind, or the hood closes up on you. Either way, something needed to be done to make it better suited for civilian use.
Disclaimer: none of these mods are my own ideas. I picked them all up reading about them elsewhere. That being said, I didn't follow any instructions on HOW to do them-I just knew what I wanted to do, looked at some pictures, and went to town. I have zero experience as a tailor, as you will see by my stitching. I either stitched by hand, using a simple thread and needle (the thread I used was heavy gauge nylon thread, a very dark green, because its all I have), or a handi-stitcher, which is a cool little machine for hemming, or, in my case, adding trim.
The first thing I did was remove both of the epaulets from each shoulder, and the crotch strap, as well as all the associated buttons. I also sewed up the ends of the tabs where they were cut (I did this with white cotton thread-the thread broke under tension, which is why I switched to the darker nylon stuff after):

 

 

 

I then took the button from the crotch strap, located the center rear of the hood, on the outside, above the seam, pinned it, then sewed it in place:

 

 

I now took the crotch strap, and pinned it roughly in the center of the hood, where the sewn in peak points down. I did this to get a rough idea of where it would sit (you will see that the crotch strap has 2 button holes-ideal for what I am doing with it):

 

 

 







From here, I sewed it into place, using what I think is some sort of lock stitch. You can kind of see the peak I was referring to, which is where I sewed this piece on:

So, the hood now has 3 volume settings. No button, it is HUGE-wearing a ski helmet with the hood over it, there is still tons of volume in it. On the first setting, its ideal to get a large tunnel in front of your face which, when the fur ruff is attached, will create a warm environment immediately in front of your face. This however has a someone limiting visibility dilemma, which is easily rectified by using the topmost button hole, which reduces the volume of the hood to a VERY manageable size:

 

So, that's it for the hood volume reducing mode. Next post will be adding the wire as a hood stiffener.