Where do you use your Beckers?

[Varg Lobos]

I thought we could show where we use our Beckers. I have a couple places I like to go to. My wife and I own some land that we lilke to hike and camp in. Plus there is a state park nearby that we do most of our "car" camping.

These first two pics were taken about a month apart. One was taken a week ago, the other at Thanksgiving.

These next few pics are taken from a favorite state park.

I would love to see some pics of where you guys like to go. Always interesting to see other parts of the world.

 

[dingobubba]

NICE! Was hoping to get out today, but my son is still sick.

 

[GingivitisKahn]

"Places I use my Beckers" and "places I hunt" - those things overlap nicely. Here's some of the Central Ohio spots my son and I enjoy.

Here's a nice summer shot...

Here's an early season pic of my kids on a deer scouting session with me...

This is a pretty fall shot of one of the big oaks that dominate our primary hunting area...

Late fall in the hardwoods...

This is me with an older bow (DH Hunter) near a frosty beaver pond...

Here's a winter shot with my Howard Hill Halfbreed posing...

That Sasquatch is my son on a very snowy day from last season...

That's not a Becker on my weak side but ought to be somewhat recognizable...

---

Beckerhead #42

 

[MikeyJ]

This is the view from one of the trails within Rocky Mountain National Park

This is Mrs. Mikey J, and Ms. Mini-Mikey J.

One of the many waterfalls on the trail system.

This pic was actually taken by Ms. Mini-Mikey J. Not bad for a 4 year old...

I love snow capped peaks even in Summer!!

That is all typical of the areas my family likes to hike/camp. I'm gonna try snowshoeing this winter, so I should have some cold weather pics up soon!!!

 

[Varg Lobos]

Great pics guys. Beautiful areas you guys have!

 

[Bladite]

the funny thing about deer pictures is that there's almost always a hidden deer in the picture

 

[Md 25v]

I'll play.
These are some of the places that I work. On occasion, I am forced to stay longer than expected and having a knife like a becker is a real confidence booster.
Here is one of the areas that I do telemetry, tracking box turtles in this case.
This is early spring when the ferns come out. Second pic is one of the turtles with a telemetry tag (that little box with the wire).

This is how we found him. My radio antenna was going off like crazy and I couldn't find him no matter how hard I looked. Then, he popped his head out of the leaves and said "hey".

This is a spot that we monitor the rattlesnake population. Some of it is pretty hard climbing and this is my favorite pocket sized accessory to lend a hand.

And this is my favorite pic of the top of the mountain after a nice storm, really beautiful day.

I can't show this spot without a couple shots of my favorite rattlesnakes. These two big female were very tolerant of the check-in procedure, weighing/measuring/installing a p.i.t. tag, etc...
The white eye caps on the first one are because she was about to shed. She was almost blind but she still wasn't overly defensive.

This is one of the most amazing experiences I have had on any herpetology job. This rattlesnake was shedding and she relaxed enough that she let us peel the skin off of her. She was gravid (full of babies) which we found out a few weeks later and she was nearly blind from the eye caps but she still accepted our presence. It starts at 3:48 in the vid.
[youtube]7c6fWFRGW98[/youtube]



Some random shots from some other out of the way places I go

South American road block

 

[kfgk14]

Where don't I?
No pics of my BK9 yet. Camera crapped out

 

[Moosez45]

Ok, that is one High tech turtle, dude is sportin' a DirectTV.

Second, ta hell with them snakes. I don't trust anything that can't shrug.


Moose

 

[Md 25v]

All kinds of things need protection. Those snakes were just part of a study that correlates the spread of mouse born diseases with the decline of snake populations. Now, I'm working on a black bear study and it has been really exciting. I'm learning a lot about the local population and when they come out of hibernation in the spring I will be on the telemetry team studying how far each bear roams as part of an individual territory, looking forward to it a lot!

 

[Moosez45]

All kinds of things need protection. Those snakes were just part of a study that correlates the spread of mouse born diseases with the decline of snake populations. Now, I'm working on a black bear study and it has been really exciting. I'm learning a lot about the local population and when they come out of hibernation in the spring I will be on the telemetry team studying how far each bear roams as part of an individual territory, looking forward to it a lot!

Now that sounds like fun. Do you guys monitor via station or do you actually get out and get to chase the bears? I figured you would have to get your gear back sooner or later, but I mean following the migratory patterns, is that an uplink or do they just store data that you have to retrieve?

Moose

 

[Flexxx]

Alot of my area looks the same as MikeyJ


Wish it was like this now, I hate the snow
Utah

 

[Md 25v]

Moose, bears don't migrate. They have a home range. The size of the range depends on a lot of things, including available resources, bear population, sex of animal in question, etc...

There are many ways to deal with bear tracking. Having the bears "tagged" with a radio collar and following their schedule of travel do determine the total size of their range as well as how often they travel to each part of the range is what I will be involved with (very excited).
Another way to deal with populations (I have not personally seen this but people I work with have done it) is to put large adhesive panels on the trees that bears use to scratch themselves to collect hair for genetic comparison. With a large enough sample set you can roughly determine how much individuals are related to each other and that will help determine one aspect of the health of the population.
The problem in many areas isn't so much that the populations are to big, but that younger bears are pushed out of established ranges once they reach maturity. That usually leads to young, curious bears ending up in conflict with people. Preventing that is always a priority.

 

[Moosez45]

Moose, bears don't migrate. They have a home range. The size of the range depends on a lot of things, including available resources, bear population, sex of animal in question, etc...

There are many ways to deal with bear tracking. Having the bears "tagged" with a radio collar and following their schedule of travel do determine the total size of their range as well as how often they travel to each part of the range is what I will be involved with (very excited).
Another way to deal with populations (I have not personally seen this but people I work with have done it) is to put large adhesive panels on the trees that bears use to scratch themselves to collect hair for genetic comparison. With a large enough sample set you can roughly determine how much individuals are related to each other and that will help determine one aspect of the health of the population.
The problem in many areas isn't so much that the populations are to big, but that younger bears are pushed out of established ranges once they reach maturity. That usually leads to young, curious bears ending up in conflict with people. Preventing that is always a priority.

Yeah, I knew that, wrong choice of words on my part. My fault. I was trying to think of the word for area travel within a known area. Still can't think of it, but cool anyways. Adhesive panels, huh, they keep trying that here to catch proof of large cats, but to date, no proof. Thanks again.

Moose

 

[Bladite]

Ok, that is one High tech turtle, dude is sportin' a DirectTV.

Second, ta hell with them snakes. I don't trust anything that can't shrug.


Moose

does this transponder makes my butt look big?

nice stuff. love the little "ice pick" rock climbing thingabob

 

[Md 25v]

they keep trying that here to catch proof of large cats, but to date, no proof. Thanks again.
Moose

I'm the only one in my group that hasn't seen a bobcat. It sucks. They are rare here and only in a small part of my state. I really want to see one, maybe this winter if I spend enough time out there.

love the little "ice pick" rock climbing thingabob

Thats made by black diamond, actually called the "PECKER"
http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3659312

 

[Bladite]

Thats made by black diamond, actually called the "PECKER"
http://www.ems.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3659312

not made by Becker

how do you find that you use it (with the caveat that it's apparently more useful on big wall climbs with a hammer and such)

 

[Md 25v]

not made by Becker

how do you find that you use it

It stays on my wrist with the loop around my finger like in the picture during most of my climbing. When there are spots that are to slick to get a good finger hold on or where there are small crack that I can't get a knuckle into that little hook makes it much easier to get a grip and lift myself up. When not in use it sits flat on my hand (like the pic) and doesn't have much effect on my grabbing/dexterity but when I use it I take the back hook (opposite the main serrated hook) and put it over the web between my index and middle finger. In that position the hook points out 90deg from my hand and the loop around my wrist is very tight. The wrist loop is actually the load bearing part of the tool. I have to wear a bandana around my wrist after using it for a while because it starts to bruise my wrist. It's not comfortable but it works well enough when its needed.


EDIT: if that is way to confusing ( I just read it ) then I can just take a pic sometime today

 

[Moosez45]

I'm the only one in my group that hasn't seen a bobcat. It sucks. They are rare here and only in a small part of my state. I really want to see one, maybe this winter if I spend enough time out there.

Here they are looking for panthers and mountain lions. There have been many sitings. I saw one in Happy Valley once, and I am pretty sure I was being stalked by one while in the uppers once. No tangible evidence has been found, but siting go back 70yrs or more. We had some guys go missing, completely missing in the mountains here, last spring. Their 4 wheelers and gear were found together, parked, and some scraps of clothing was found about 40ft up in a tree. Thats it, thats all that was found.

I say it was El Chupacabra, but they tell me I'm crazy. I laff, drool, and steal their brochures, and tell they are right. Nuff sed

 

[MikeyJ]

Here they are looking for panthers and mountain lions. There have been many sitings. I saw one in Happy Valley once, and I am pretty sure I was being stalked by one while in the uppers once. No tangible evidence has been found, but siting go back 70yrs or more. We had some guys go missing, completely missing in the mountains here, last spring. Their 4 wheelers and gear were found together, parked, and some scraps of clothing was found about 40ft up in a tree. Thats it, thats all that was found.

I say it was El Chupacabra, but they tell me I'm crazy. I laff, drool, and steal their brochures, and tell they are right. Nuff sed

We still have a handful of cougars here in Colorado, but I believe there is an abundant enough source of food that we rarely have any attacks. A few dogs here and there get chewed up, but there have only been a couple documented deaths of humans...