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American Grouch: July 2014
http://www.americangrouch.com/2014_07_01_archive.html
As bad as ours was I can't wait to see it again. I think about it sometimes as the seasons pass, the pale green spring, the humid sticky summer warmth, the fiery autumn colors, each with glories of their own but none the crown of winter. About the best damn 'winter' song I know, of course nothing Chris Knight writes is ever bad. Links to this post. All This Talk About Bushcraft- M3 Shelter Build. This is actually the follow up to the Sargent M3 Pass Around Knife. Post from a few weeks ago. All cutting fo...
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American Grouch: March 2014
http://www.americangrouch.com/2014_03_01_archive.html
Relative Calm Before the Storm - A Cedar Bottom Walk. Once again we're expecting another winter storm, snow and ice and the usual quintessential winter mix. On radar the storm looks its about to close its jaws around the North country, though I think this particular storm is a little over hyped locally. Guess we'll see. As usual, a couple stills for those who don't watch videos, though there is some fair deer footage in this one. Links to this post. Frost River Isle Royale Jr. on ALICE Frame. Most of the...
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American Grouch: September 2014
http://www.americangrouch.com/2014_09_01_archive.html
Randall 28 Woodsman / H60 Firesteel Pass-around GAW Challenge Final Conclusions. A little delayed, below is the video that include my final conclusions on the Randall 28 Woodsman and the H60 that are part of the passaround/give away. Video includes some shots from the camp I built primarily with the knife, some more of the incredible mushroom explosion we've had due to so much rain. Links to this post. Sly Fox, Fat Coon, Wandering Bear. Last dump of the memory card on one of the trail cams for the year.
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American Grouch: June 2014
http://www.americangrouch.com/2014_06_01_archive.html
Refinishing a Memory Maker. Most of the sanding was done over the winter, all by hand and man what a tedious process! Many a midnight hour when sleep was not coming I'd slip down to the garage and grab the sanding block. I worked on her and each scar a memory relived.This was a pleasant time. Yesterday was the first coat, when it dries I'll hit it again with triple-aught steel wool and then another coat on tomorrow. Again with the steel wool and the final coat on Wednesday. Links to this post. The award ...
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American Grouch: December 2014
http://www.americangrouch.com/2014_12_01_archive.html
Snare Line (A Mr. Black Inspired Mini-Adventure). What follows is a Mr. Black inspired mini-adventure. Some time ago he had posted some images that while taken with a camera they appeared to be illustrations, it is a filter that my latest camera also has. Because Mr. Black has been such an inspiration to me I decided to try the same format while running a snare line for snowshoe hares. The temperatures had been unseasonably warm until today. We had a brief cold spell back in November but seemingly ev...
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American Grouch: May 2014
http://www.americangrouch.com/2014_05_01_archive.html
Father and Son Time in the Mountains. There are a ton of pics in this thread and it's going to take time to load, hope you find the images worth the time to load. We're not known for our mountains in Minnesota, we're the Land of 10,000 Lakes! Or for those 'up in da nort woods', and the North Shore folk, but we've got some rugged terrain. It isn't the Rockies for sure, but it's our mountains and when I can I love to spend time in them. Specifically the Manitou area. Much of the Manitou river looks like th...
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American Grouch: February 2015
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Some arrow slinging, some fire making and a Gossman Polaris. Nothing but woods bumming really, no objectives, no mission, just plain old bumming with the exception using a new Gossman Polaris to build a fire. I never get tired of split wood fires, and the first thing I do with any new knife is build a fire with it. Scott Gossman with design input from Kevin Estela created the Polaris, which is a smallish to medium sized knife. If you're unfamiliar with Kevin, he runs Estela Wilderness Education. SOROS - ...
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American Grouch: February 2014
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One more for the road. I leave again tomorrow, and wanted one more day in the woods before I depart. Nothing out of the ordinary, just enjoying the tranquility of winter in a shelter doing some fire prep and a biscuit in a cup, thanks for that IA Woodsman, turned out pretty good. Oh, and there's a bit of bacon. I'm off to work for the rest of this week with more travel right after. So this will likely be it for a while. I enjoyed the time I had, grateful for it. Links to this post. A Day Out With Ace.
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American Grouch: April 2015
http://www.americangrouch.com/2015_04_01_archive.html
Bear Paw Net Tent 1.5 and BCUSA 10x12 UL Multicam Tarp. Last year I got to playing around with the tarp over a net tent concept. Initially I paired a BCUSA 10x7 with a Bear Paw 1.5 Net Tent. Eventually I moved from the 10x7 to a 10x12 to give myself a larger vestibule area to take refuge during inclement weather or to cook in. Since I went to the 10x12 UL tarp the weight went up, the new weight with stakes (titanium) and cordage, net tent and tarp is 2.55 pounds. The vestibule area is quite large, I have...
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