My family of 5 (13 son, 14 & 17 daughters, my wife and I plus our 2 yellow labs)were fortunate to draw a group Bison hunt for 7-42C 15-31 Dec. we applied for those specific dates as my 17 year old daughter would be home from hockey academy and would be able to go with us. She is an absolute hunting nut but she has missed quite a few hunts due to following her hockey passion. We use the time from finding out that we were successful until the hunt making sure that we have all the right clothing and supplies for this trip as we understood that it could be a cold trip.
18 Dec about -20 in PG. We pick up the 2 sleds that we were renting…too cold for them to start. Regardless we load up the wife’s 700 grizzly with tracks, a borrowed sled, the 2 rentals and everything else that we may or may not need for a week in the wilderness. At about 1400 we head to Dawson for the night to stay at a friends house. We’re able to pull the trailer with the 2 sleds into a garage for the night.
19 Dec about -30 in Dawson. Rental sleds start after being inside all night. Load up the family and head to FSJ to top off on fuel. We stop at a fuel station to top off so I figure I might as well see if things will start, NO LUCK. We continue our journey to the ranch on the Halfway River.
About -35 at the ranch. Once there we have a chat with Vern, he lets us know the best place to park then we part ways. A family friend met us at the ranch but his sled was haven’t anything to do with the cold weather. I use my truck to jump all the machines as they wouldn’t start on their own. We then load the 4 skimmers and we were off. Our friend decided that he would stay at the truck while we venture into the cabins at Horse Camp as he had a call that he needed to be on. My daughter and I would return later to bring him to camp. We departed the truck with the first load at around 1300. The ride in was cold but uneventful. Once at camp we unload, cut some firewood, start a fire and then my daughter and I ride 2 sleds back out to the trucks to pick up our friend. We arrive back to camp in the dark around 1700. Again nothing exciting about the ride in or out.