Monday, Friday... who's counting!?

[Richard Flanders]

Opened my favorite clays spot on Iowa Ridge today. No social distancing issues here. This spot is 60 some miles SE of Fairbanks and, mostly because of the winds, every landing and takeoff is an adventure. It's a great place to shoot. I took my 2-bbl set VH12 along today. This is the first time I've shot it, I think. I was a bit rusty and sloppy with my mount and have the bruised left shoulder to prove it, but shot much better than I had thought I would. I went through a box of 135 clays and hit maybe 75% of them. I didn't keep track but was pleased. Forgot the tripod so couldn't get any selfie shooting shots, unfortunately. After that clays mania I took a hike up the ridge to the north. It's a great place to hike around. The last picture is of Mt. Hayes which is 13, 832 feet high and one of our more spectacular mountains in Alaska.

[Phillip Carr]

Glad the switch to shooting LH is progressing well. What a background to be shooting up against.

[James L. Martin]

Wow what a great spot to fly into and shoot clays. It's another world from here in lower New York state.

[Gerald McPherson]

Thanks for sharing Richard. Is that a wheely bird?

[Dean Romig]

With such distractions all around I would probably miss most targets by a country mile.





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[charlie cleveland]

glad your doing well and thanks for these pictures...charlie

[Richard Flanders]

It's an Atlas thrower Gerald. I would highly recommend it. It throws a clay as far as any professional setup and breaks down to fit inside the little tote beside my chair here. I power it with a smallish garden tractor battery that I keep on a solar panel at home. It's a great setup for shooting alone and is easy to get into the plane. There's a foot pedal switch that allows you to get pretty far off to the side if you wish. It doesn't have a wobble function but I'm just trying to get my mount clean and consistent so don't care about that so much. I think Do-All makes one that might have that. I really like this one.

[edgarspencer]

With such distractions all around I would probably miss most targets by a country mile.

Mmm, hmmm. How's that book "My 1001 Excuses" coming along?

[edgarspencer]

Richard, Why do you cover your tires?

[Richard Flanders]

To protect them from heat and UV exposure, which eats tires alive. Difference between these and what's on a car is that these cost $2000 ea so I take very good care of them. If the covers aren't on and it's a hot sunny day you can smell them 50ft downwind.

[Dean Romig]

Mmm, hmmm. How's that book "My 1001 Excuses" coming along?

The first installment will be in the fall issue of Parker Pages titled “How Do I Miss Thee.... Let Me Count The Ways”






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[Gerald McPherson]

It's an Atlas thrower Gerald. I would highly recommend it. It throws a clay as far as any professional setup and breaks down to fit inside the little tote beside my chair here. I power it with a smallish garden tractor battery that I keep on a solar panel at home. It's a great setup for shooting alone and is easy to get into the plane. There's a foot pedal switch that allows you to get pretty far off to the side if you wish. It doesn't have a wobble function but I'm just trying to get my mount clean and consistent so don't care about that so much. I think Do-All makes one that might have that. I really like this one.
I have a wheely bird 2 that has remote control that I really like. It also has a pedal but I have never used it. I adjusted it down because it threw them to fast and far. I set it up in the frond yard and walk around in the back yard and shoot from many different spots. Neighbor said it sounds like freedom. Mine has wheels and a handle.

[Richard Flanders]

Just looked them up. Improved version explains why the originals without wheels like mine were being sold on sale at Sams Club for $279! So, you have the improved version and with wheels, which wouldn't work for me. I like the steel bracket on top of the magazine. I'm always waiting to open my tote and find the plastic bracket broken, which will surely happen at some point as it is very flexible and fragile. I might just get that metal bracket before it happens. Looks like others do the same as I did and not install the plastic hoop guard. Does yours have a wireless remote trigger of some kind? That would be nice. On the ridge I had a 10-15mph wind at my back so the clays were really screaming out there a looong ways and sailing on the wind! I tried a few followup shots on missed birds and actually broke a few out at well over 50yds. The VH12 I took out is an interesting set and seems likely a special order. It has 26" and 30" bbls, both with .013"/.035" chokes and their own forend, a 13-3/4" LOP, 3.5"DAH and BSS engraved in the stock shield. The wood is really nice too, a bit nicer than most V grades. S/N is 220878 so is a 1927 gun. Condition is much better than any V grade I've ever owned for sure. It's clearly not an off the shelf gun and if it fits the shooter, will deal with everything from woodcock to geese.

[Gerald McPherson]

Yes Richard the remote is wireless. I taped a string to it and hang it around my neck. It works really well. It also has a relay that one can set as long as needed. I have mine set at about 5 seconds. It stays put well also. Does't move at all when fired. When I first set it up I walked about 35 yards to one side and the clays came by so fast I thought I was going blind. I live on a high ridge with a lot of wind which also plays with the targets. That adds fun. It will throw about 300 feet or more depending which way the wind blows. I shoot a DH 12 ga. choked about skeet and modified.1903 damascus gun 28 inch. I shoot it best but I also shoot a GH 30 inch 12 ga very tight chokes. The wheely bird setup at home has improved my shooting I think because I pay more attention especially how I miss. Beats driving to the gun club, saves time and money. My friends enjoy it also. Our turkey season ends today and I am not able to do it anymore. This is my last year i'm sure. I will continue to shoot doves as long as I can get my Grandson to carry my stuff. I don't think he will quit. He thinks he will inherit the Parkers when I croak. So for now I will do my hunting literally around the house. Artificial birds. The Lord is Good isn't He.

[Richard Flanders]

Oh, that wireless function with a decent delay would be a game changer for me also. The foot pedal works ok, but it throws your foot positioning off and the delay is pretty short so you have to get that foot back into position quickly. The biggest reason I'm doing this is to get my left hand mount smooth and consistent so every small detail counts. Just imagine if they came up with a voice command for it....

[Jeff Kuss]

Richard,
Check out Clay Delay voice command. I really like mine. It is on its second machine.

[Gerald McPherson]

The wheely bird remote is very simple just press one button and wait. I like to mount the gun when I see the target, mounting the gun and working the safety off before the shot and back on after the shot. That is how I always did while hunting. I know what you are talking about feet position. It make a big difference for me. The remote is very small about the size of a Zippo lighter with about a 2 inch antenna. I move about among fruit trees, grape vines and around a large white oak tree often out of sight of the trap.

[Gary Carmichael Sr]

Richard that is truly Gods country where you are, enjoy every minute of it, love the photos, Gary

[Richard Flanders]

Did a hike up a creek on the 17th that is in the same area as my ptarmigan lake, just downstream a ways. Gorgeous day and nice country. I made it up the creek to where the valley narrowed. Nice easy walking. Lots of caribou tracks.

[charlie cleveland]

I never get tired of looking at these pictures....Richard is a blessed man....charlie

[Russell E. Cleary]

Richard:

I double clicked on these with my 17-inch screen lap-top. Wow. Vivid!

….like Bierstadt and Church with a color camera; and examples of what the aesthetic philosophers were talking about when they spoke of sublime scenery inspiring awe.

Is it normal for Virginia Creek to be so reduced in flowage, post-Spring freshet, by mid-May?

[Richard Flanders]

I couldn't really tell you Russell, but I think this is a bit unusual for this early. This was a different spring though. Tons of snow came late then it warmed fast and the snow went away faster than I've ever seen. I'd guess that normally it's a tad higher than this at this point. It doesn't have a huge catchment area though. All the rivers and creeks out there are pretty tamed down already, and some remarkably so. I don't take these with a fancy camera; just a 12 megapixel Canon S100 PowerShot point n' shoot that fits in a shirt pocket.

[Richard Flanders]

Flew down to the lower Wood River today and helped a friend clear trails around his moose camp. This is what moose browse on when they're hungrier than normal and browse is scarce. I've never seen this before. I think our late and deep spring snows drove them to munch on these aspens.

[Dean Romig]

That’s very common Richard, in the Northeast here. In Vermont where I hunt I see it all the time but especially on maples, both sugar maple and red maple about the same size at those on your picture and maybe up to 8”-10” in diameter.
We have poplars, often referred to as quaking aspen, though I don’t know if they are the same species as yours, and rarely if ever do I recall any sign of moose stripping like they do the maples. They do that to get the nourishing cambium between the bark and the wood... same thing a beaver gous after.
However, moose will stand on their hind legs and grab the tops of poplars and maples with a stem size of between 1” and 2” and break them off, leaving them attached, and eat all of the buds on the tips.

Thanks for showing thise pictures Richard.





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[Richard Flanders]

The moose here seem to be only interested in the aspens when they're young shoots; they don't seem to browse bigger trees, even when I cut them down and they're on the ground. They do a good job of trimming the young aspens around the edge of my pad every winter. The rabbits savage the bark on the downed trees, but the moose seem to much prefer willows and birch, which they break branches off as you describe, and when I cut one down in winter I leave it whole until the moose have had their way with it. It's fun to watch out the window. I have never seen them browse aspen/poplar bark like this, and there's a LOT of this aspen around this region. I've seen wild horses do this to mountain cedar in Utah in the summer... they had to be pretty hungry to do that!

I'm told by a botanist friend in Anchorage that he sees a lot of this barking of aspens by moose in the local parks around the city. The "city moose" down there have much more limited forage than here in the Interior.

[Richard Flanders]

Speaking of moose and critters. A friend just sent me this from Anchorage. He lives on the hillside flanks of the Chugach Range on the edge of town so gets frequent wildlife visitors. This little bear ran across his deck yesterday afternoon then into the woods where he got this picture. The cow and calf seem to like his lawn and like to lounge there. This is a great moose shot. Life in the northland, eh?

[edgarspencer]

When my son, and his wife were living at Fisher House, at Elmandorf AFB in Anchorage, last year, this moose delivered her calf, literally 15 feet from the their bedroom window. He was born the same day as my grandson, so they named him Junior

[Dean Romig]

My fishing and hunting pal Lenny, who lives in Denmark, ME. was turkey hunting this morning and almost tripped over this little fella.


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[Richard Flanders]

Here's a fresh calf following mom down the wild and wooly wilderness streets of Anchorage this morning. Probably on their way to the corner store for some willow browse bars and baby formula.... This is a very common sight in Anchorage. On the left side here is a blooming mountain ash tree that they love to "trim".