"Roughly ten thousand years distant, our ancient families experienced viewing these Mammoths on occasion. They were as common as our modern viewings of Moose in Alaska no doubt. We can imagine, then, being stunned when you walk to a stream for your morning bath, and a huge bull Mammoth emerges through the bush, stop and looking at you for a minute or longer with tusks over fourteen feet in length. Squatting in this stream making yourself as small as possible, as just behind this bull is several others as they cross the stream all around you. They step lightly all the while keeping their 'apple' sized eyes trained on your small white / brown bundle in this chilling water. Several of them blasting air out of their trunks, stopping to drink and splash water every where, creating a muddy scenario from clear water. Then the group of huge Mammoth continue down the stream with grumblings and vocals, this indeed happened during the time of the Ice age, happened to folks living among them, and not always were there aggressive postures, but acceptance among two powerful species, in their  passing." 

"I have never relied on satellite phones for communication, they are an annoyance for me, even as phones in general are considered annoying away from these remote regions. I prefer to be in these distant rivers without any interference from the outside world. It is rare that any aircraft flies overhead, and if they do they are so high I do not hear them. Should my plane not return to bring me out, I face going all the way to the Arctic Ocean and continue west to Barrow before freeze-up. So far all of my pilots have been on schedule and when the day comes, I must be on a suitable gravel bar for their landing and in plain view.  One season my pilot did not understand my instructions for a maneuver on a gravel bar to avoid soft sand but he plowed into this softer area with a full load of ivory and one tire fell into a wet trap. I then proceeded to hang on the opposite wing strut to add more weight and he revved up the prop to pull us out of the sand as I flapped in the hurricane force sand storm. We pulled out of the soft area and back onto firm ground all the time spitting sand from my teeth, hair and nose." 

"Once above the Arctic circle, I charter a private Dehavilland Beaver airplane with oversized tundra tires to land on a remote river fifty miles from the Arctic Ocean. This charter alone has a price tag of over $5000.00 round trip. Following at least a month on these rivers, I await his return for my pickup on a gravel bar that will more than adequately offer this heavy plane suitable landing.  When I find too much Mammoth Ivory that my boat cannot haul it downriver to the north, I then cache it on a gravel bar to be picked up on my return by this charter.  Each one of these caches must be placed on suitable landing locations or they will be lost"

"The last 'Ice Age' is just inches under the tundra. Occasionally a 10,000 year old Woolly Mammoth skull, tusk or bone can be found slightly protruding out from the sod such as this Mammoth skull.  Of course to excavate this skull is very difficult digging as frozen peat moss and silt, is as such, similar to concrete." 

"My original goal for this blog is not one of a political nature, but my passion for being in nature, in the Arctic, among the spirits of the land and it's language.  Discovering such wondrous treasures are now to remain where they are found compared to common driftwood, recording only the experiences with stories and photos. Alaska is 'protecting' these most amazing treasures of the Ice Age from ever being brought out of the tundra, and as they become exposed to the elements by erosion, they rapidly breakdown to smaller pieces.  Obviously this life is not about existing in logic and justice but the influences of challenges that limit both.  So as I find these natural treasures lying about in the surf, in the rivers, and tundra, they are old landmarks of a previous era, with no one to claim them, preserve them and enjoy them apart from their natural surroundings.  I go regardless, and regard them such  as the mountains, and the sky, to remain in place as they cycle in their return to the dust they have originated."

"Siberian summer sod house, for hunters of the Mammoth, along a seemingly endless coasts and river systems abundant in Ice Age fossils. Walking and boating in a distance not far from this shelter indicates that the fossil digs are in abundance as this hunter returns to his house regularly.  This region offers a very real opportunity without a daily venture to far reaches. What people and perhaps the scientific community may or not realize is the level of abundance that remains in frozen permafrost in the Arctic. It is endless and will always produce these fossils and for any scientific community to voice a conservative agenda of public collecting with restrictions becomes ludicrous. The absolute majority of fossils discovered offer little or no diagnostic interests to the scientific community and in Alaska, no one is allowed to go into public, state or federal lands to bring out these fossils for their personal possession. There is no real logical reason to prohibit acquisition of these fossils and illustrates a further control agenda by the government for it's own self serving policies."   

"As National Geographic publishes accounts of Siberian private field expeditions in the search for Woolly Mammoth ivory and other Pleistocene, Ice Age fossils such as exhibited in this photo, does offers Siberian's citizens opportunities to prosper with their discoveries. Just across the Bering Strait, east to the shores of Alaska, the residents and native population also search out these Mammoth ivory resources but with the risk of persecution by the Federal mandates imposed on all lands except that of private lands.  This natural resource is extremely abundant and may also assist in the world's human rights to own ivory that is not obtained from the slaughter of living creatures. From my research, it is the intention of the American Federal government to view all ivory sources as either illegal or so heavily restricted as to make it difficult, in the extreme, to acquire. I applaud Siberian interests that realize their freedoms, in this case, which excels that of Alaska, keeping the interests of their citizenry in mind and supplying our species this most wondrous medium both in the field of art and specimen collections."