Since Appleseed got a brief mention. I’ll remind readers that, while it is an excellent intro to rifle handling and american history (and is a good minimum standard but far from expert or all encompassing), for readers of Mosby’s, it may have even greater value in helping you meet and become acquainted with people in your area who are open to the idea of talking about what things like liberty, resistance, community defense, sacrifice, preparedness, etc look like. And by being there they are displaying at least some degree of willingness to get off the couch and make an effort. Might be good networking opportunity for some folks (just don’t come out running your mouth about modern politics or fightin’ the guber’ment, they shut that down pretty quick). For a lot of people—arguably most in the firearms community, to be sure—Appleseed offers the obvious benefit of teaching the fundamentals of marksmanship, and by all accounts does it remarkably well. Certainly better than the US Army taught it for decades. This though—the community—is inarguably the most important aspect and benefit of attending an Appleseed. ——————————————————- I also use the 3pin binding, a bit of a bitch at times but it is convenient to swap out to walking easily in shoulder months. I don’t find them too bad for walking in, I got some cheap insulated boots that are probably not the best or as rigid as ideal but they are not bad for walking in and don’t bother me hiking really don’t see them as a problem, I find it fine. My problem with the 3-pin bindings is that one of our biggest uses for skis is running the trapline. When I need to kick the skis off, to walk into a set location, invariably the pin holes in the boots end up packed tight with snow, making getting the skis back on a major pain in the ass. On top of this, I have a lot of old nerve damage in my feet, including second-degree frostbite in both. I’ve yet to see a pair of 3-pin boots that allowed me to walk and run without the skis on, that also allowed me to keep my feet adequately warm to function without stumbling over my frozen stubs. My Steger mukluks, combined with the Berwin/Universal bindings are working out remarkably well for that. See below for a comment on one potential drawback though. I use the Altai skis with the 3pin (except small kids have the universal binding) and find them great for my environment, no where near as fast for downhill and lacking the glide but amazing for thick woods and rough terrain. I chose the Altai because I wanted to have essentially what is a trad hunting ski and allow for easy up and down in foothills style environment. I am sure you already know this, but traditionally horse skin was used for the skin under the skis. Having snowshoed a bit, skis are much nicer. Even without the full glide of a dedicated XC ski. Only thing to mention is make sure you tape up the muzzle on the rifle, real easy to fall or plug a barrel and not notice and I have seen a lot of blow muzzles from fellas out hunting over years. There is a Finnish fella who makes a quick detach to keep your rifle in place when skiing so you can easily bring it into the game, for sure a home spun version could be built in a pinch. Yes, skis are exponentially superior for pedestrian travel in snow, over snowshoes, once you get used to them. I’m really sad it took me so long to get serious about XC skiing. It’s not something I’ve mentioned a lot, but despite growing up in the southern mountains, I was actually born in the upper MidWest. I look back now, and am furious at my parents, because if we’d stayed in the upper MidWest, I’d probably have taken up skiing in my youth….it’s rapidly becoming my favorite winter sport, and possibly my favorite all-around sport, since winter is by far my favorite season. Snow travel is one place where the generally voiced rule that rifles should be slung muzzle down, is demonstrably incorrect. That bitch, Context, raising her ugly head again. To be sure, a muzzle cover of some sort is still useful, but muzzle up is a must, unless you long to blow your rifle up from getting an ice plug in the muzzle before needing to fire it in an emergency! How do you find horses do in the snow? I know for logging out here people use the studded shoes due to ice but they are working to pull logs out. A lot of logging with horses is done in winter so I would think they do well. People forget that horses are steppe animals originally. They literally originated in extreme cold and snow regions! I see posts online all the time about people worrying about blanketing their horses, because it’s going to be “cold.” (For the record, while it’s kind of relative, anything above about 10F is not “cold.” I was busting ice on the horse’s trough this morning, at -26F, in shirt sleeves, with no hat on…20+ minutes out in that, and I was still comfortable, even when the water got on my wool gloves and froze into a cake of ice on the outside! Wool for the win!). My horses are outside, without blankets, all winter long. The only concession to the cold that I make is, when the overnight temps are going to be colder than -40, I will go out and throw them extra hay every couple hours through the night. If I had a way to move big bales, and a round bale feeder in their paddock, I wouldn’t even bother with that. As far as traveling horseback in snow, it’s fine, until the snow depth gets above their knees. Then, they have to sort of buck/jump to get through it. It’s still not a big deal, but it’s pretty exhausting for them, and uncomfortable for the rider. Nothing that can’t be dealt with though. If there’s grass on the ground, they’ll actually paw through snow and even some ice, to get at it, for feed. Usually, even when it’s cold enough that the top of the water trough freezes over, they manage to keep a drinking hole melted through the ice. They’re a lot tougher animals than modern girls’ pets would seem to indicate. Read the rest: https://www.patreon.com/posts/campf...paign=postshare_creator&utm_content=join_link Continue reading...
