Simple Man

A guy my dad served with gave me a rack of bull moose antlers, I had them forever until my mom donated them to the hope harbor... he was always giving me moose and caribou , bear jerky... my dad shot a bull caribou somewhere they flew out to, the meat was too gamey to eat, we didn't know how to properly prepare it like the natives... he flew to Kodiak island got dropped for 7 days with 2 guys he worked with and bagged a grizzly, also got a black bear on a different trip, they never used a guide...they just got dropped and picked up 7 days later... you know they got hunting rules about the way you fly in on bull hearts and can t land a certain distance from them, can t hunt them for a certain AMOUNT of time from landing... any how, he never took me, we did go after one while picking blueberries, and the rivers we crossed going up this mountain were fast and ice cold... we did go on a tarmagan hunt by tarmagan lake I think it was... was it tarmagan, that they used to call stupid chickens? We fished them king salmons out of goose creek plenty, big 45 lb kings, we took our gear to the truck and came back for our catch on the bank and a bear had taken them we, seen him across the river... also fished the humps, pink hump back salmon... I got one of those mounted... my old man got his grossly and black bears rug mounted with the heads still full, and the skulls sat on our table in the gun room, someone stole the skulls out of packing during the move.

It's was towards Seward, probably the Kenai peninsula... I know when we took a fairy on the move to Alaska, it was 3 days and we seen glaciers and it was unbelievable, to roll into that type of scenery, coming from hot humid Georgia at the time.we also went somewhere when my grandparents visited, we took a train to a small mining village and we gold panned, which we went gold panning other places as well... I'm curious what's in ur picture? My eyes aren't as sharp as they once were... Oh I see it's a female moose... these were all over cherry hill, people would call the guys in the navy blue van trucks and they would come out and attempt to trans them and move them to the back side of base...i seen her back there, I thought she was a cow ...whoops...i watched some guys with my friend try to trans a tall lanky calf one time and when they shot him in the back hip, he turned straight towards me, I turned my bike around and he pursued to follow me all the way to my house at a very generously slow trot, I was so scared... i imagine he was pretty scared, just trying to eat and the he got stung in the hiney...

I was up there untill 99, for 8 years so like 91 to 99, I was younger so 160 miles seemed like to Nome to me.... but yeah when I was there they were merging the base and post... Seward peninsula was an awesome visit... gotta check that pic again... I sure miss AK.

Frosty, I was looking at ur profile pic and the snow and u standing on the ice and was thinking ABOUT when I used to live in anchorage AK, at elmendorf afb going to school at fort Richardson at ursa minor at the time cause they were redoing aurora school on elmendorf for a year... lots of black bears on the back side of base by the grease traps around 6 mile lake... watching the whales in cook inlet from the bluff on cherry hill while the sun set on the sleeping lady, then laying on the trampoline at night watching the northern lights.... we could see the tip of mt.mckinley from my house clear across Alaska...going camping and fishing at goose creek, riding our bikes from anchorage to eagle river along the bike path, driving towards Seward along that long highway with just Ocean on one side and miles of beautiful mountainous pines on the other...hearing F 15s and c130s kc10s and awacs taking off and landing all the time, lots of good memories in God's land up there... I have some rr spikes a guy gave me when I was working at the scrap yard, I told him we couldn't buy them and he said man u can have them... I found a solid 7 foot oak tree yesterday laying by the road for pickup, I went back last night to get it and it was about 500 lbs or so, so I couldn't get it in the back of my truck. Gonna go back with my sawzall today. See if I can't cut it down to size.

Man , it was a bit hard for me to get back to this thread but I figured it out... frosty, thanx a ton for all the helpful info, I have a railroad tie plate for my anvil right now, just going to put it on some wood soon... you guys have been way more welcoming and helpful than I could've ever imagined... I used to work at the scrap yard and there alot of railroad steel laying next to the rails over by the shutdown scrap yard, I know it's illegal to take but I'm sure they won't be using it or missing it.. also the punches and Allen keys info is invaluable...also thanks for the video suggestions... I really appreciate guys. Bless you all. Josh M. Oh and by the way im in Fayetteville, NC... thanks alot again guys, I appreciate all the help and direction. Josh

Hey fellas, I'm new to the blacksmithing grind, I have a propane forge, I just built and am in need of some used hammers,tongs, and other blacksmithing tools of the trade. I am 32 with 4 kids and my 5th will be here in the next month, any ideas of the best place to buy really cheap good used, will help me out a ton. If you have any for sale you can leave a comment or direct message me. Thanks and God Bless. I'm on a time crunch to get my ideas pounded out. Just need some steel to grab and forge. Also any cheap metal stock or ideas is much appreciated. Again thanks. Josh M.