Canned bacon

[tickranch]

Feb 17, 2021 7:29:29 GMT -6 krank said:

My Dad used to buy us a can whenever all us kids went camping. It was made in Poland and looked as good as any bacon. I buy that canned ham at the dollar store for $1.25. Open the can and it is more like bacon crumbles. The can is the size of a tuna can. I fry a dutch oven full of taters and onions and mix in the can of "ham" and crack a few eggs in it when it is almost done. I make that on Sunday morning for the Scouts. Do you know most of them kids don't like onions? I tell them too bad and man up. Maybe the Senior Patrol Leader will punch a hole in their tough $hit card.

We used to do the same thing in our troop, called it "stuff".  Usually it has sausage & cheese in it though.  We patrol cooked, and us leaders would sometimes spice it up with green peppers, or jalipenos.  The boys always had to come see what we were cooking, as sometimes we went all out.

[krank]

I used to go spelunking before I got clostophobic. Those guys had a skillet about 2 foot round and they threw that on the fire and threw everything in it. They called it Caveman Breakfast.

[tickranch]

Feb 18, 2021 10:51:26 GMT -6 segsarge said:

Been communicating with some guys on the Alaskan trapper forum. Asked how to get started and got some input from a few people. One guy offered to set me up on a line with a place to live. Didn't get into location or anything. I just can't do it right this moment with my dad still in the hospital. I'm sure there's some compensation that has to go back to the guy, a percentage or something. Nothing is free in this world. Still, it would be a place to start. Different world up there.

I was wondering about "trapping rights, traplines" how it all worked.  I googled it one day, to buy a trapline, in the US or Canada was around $20,000.00 and up, didn't really see a cap on the cost.  The trapline isn't measured in acres, but in square miles, and a lot of them I saw were around 200 sq. mi.  I'm curious who owns the land the line is on.  There are a lot of variables that weren't explained.  I'm sure they were just buying the rights to trap the land.

[segsarge]

The way the Alaska Trappers Assn explained it to me is: If you "buy" a trapline from someone, what you are getting is all the equipment that person is selling. Traps, trap supplies, cabin, snow machine, fur handling tools or what ever they list. You also have "rights" to all the trails that the person cut through the area specified. Nothing prohibits another person from moving in and setting on the area. Unless, of course, you bought deeded property as part of the sale. Public land is just that and anybody can trap/hunt it regardless of whether you "bought the line" or not. Such behavior is highly discouraged, of course, and disputes over trapping area occur. Trappers to new to the area often get in a wreck due to the unwritten "three year rule." Basically it goes that a line belongs to the person using it unless they don't use it for three years. Then it's up for grabs. Problem is, lots of trappers let their line "rest for a couple of years then come back on the third year and trap it again. This (they claim) allows the fur population to recover. Meantime, a trapper who hasn't seen any activity in a couple of years moves in and sets up. Not knowing the situation, they have unintentionally jumped another's line.
Trapping competition is, naturally, highest the closer you get to roads and power lines where access is easiest. The more remote you go the less likely you are to step on someone's line. Lots of guy's leave their traps hanging from trees on the line year round to mark their presence and let others know they are using the area. Once they are removed or you are sure nobody has been there for more than three years it's fair game.
Alaska is a huge place and it's divided into 26 different "game units" with laws varying in each one. You have to know where you are. You may wander into a different unit and be trapping illegally without checking regulations. That being said, it's common for people to run 50-60 miles or more by snow machine on a line. Most areas don't have a daily check requirement. You may be a couple of days or more between checks from one end to the other. 330's are legal for land sets. Checks ARE made as soon as possible but on a really long line, it could be impossible for a daily check. That's where the cabins come in. Run from before daylight to sunset and spend the night in a trapping cabin, then start out again until you reach the end or complete the loop. Then repeat.
In my case, I'm looking for as remote an area I can find to purchase. Trap my own property then try to expand from there. Lots more information on all this but I'm still learning as I research it.

[segsarge]

Up there, if you are within 1/4 to 1/2 mile of someone else's line you're too close.

[krank]

Yup....dreamed of it my whole life. What started it was the book "Cache Lake Country" about a guy in Maine. Read a couple of library books 50 years ago and forgot the name and author. Went halfway there after high school and turned back. Reality is that I am too old to start all over. I have family and friends that I would never see again. Once I retire I could go visit a few people I know up there. Go fishing...

[segsarge]

It's a tremendous amount of work and the initial cost is pretty high. After that, the more you do the more comfortable you are. Since the weather changes hourly sometimes, the need to be prepared for about anything is essential. That was part of the reason for my original question about the canned bacon. Trying to learn how to preserve food without a freezer. I'm too dependent on that right now.
Not that I completely hating where I'm at now ALL the time (just most of the time). But there's got to be simpler, better things. And I've thought about this for decades.

[krank]

You can generate power for lights and battery chargers real easy. To run a deep freezer or an air condition you can forget the whole thing. They pull so many amps you would have to run a generator 24/7 or invest in a $10,000 battery bank requiring $1200 worth of batterie every other year. I think you know that.
Pan for gold Sarge. Much more profitable than trapping.