Yesterday I was ice fishing on Mille Lacs in Minnesota and the themometer was hovering around 15 below.

Next to me, two guys emerged from their ice shack and went to start their atv and the starter went click, click, click. They then begin to push the thing toward shore which is at least 1.5 miles away. As I am watching them I say to my son, "Did they pull the recoil starter?" He says, "No."

After 75 yards of pushing they rest and begin pushing again. At about 150 yards the guy who did not own the Sportsman reaches over turns the key and gives the recoil starter a yank. Guess what, it starts right up.

Talk about funny. My son said, "I'll bet they are Packer fans too!

 

They were probably asking each other what that little handle on the side of the motor was for until one of them decided to find out. The cold musta made their heads as numb as their hands and feet probably were.

 

Thor

In their defense, the brain doesn't work the best when its frozen. On Saturday, I went and picked up the tboss from the dealer after they put on the new oil lines. When I got home I decided to go for ride. I unloaded the atv and started it up and to let it run for a few minutes. After about a minute it stalled. I tried to restart and it just wouldn't fire. I immediately started cussing at it and wondering what the heck the darn dealer had done to this machine. Then I remember that I shut the gas off for the road trip home and had forgot to turn it back on. I turned it on and it fired right up. Damn brain cramps!! The only difference between the ice fisherman and me was they had an audience

 

HA!, that's funny. They probably wanted the exercise to warm themselves up. HA! That's a good one.
Did you catch any fish?

 

Yes we did catch fish. About 20 perch before the bite quit. When we were 100 miles from the house I asked my son if he had taken the ice auger? He said I thought about it. Well... I didn't take it either, so it was the perfect time to rent an auger and a fish finder for the day.

We rented a Vexilar FL8ST finder and a Lazer Mag 2000 8 1/4" auger. Great combination. The auger would go through the 18 inches of ice in less than 6 seconds, it was very fast and then the Vexilar would indicate whether there were fish down the hole or not. What a system. I had never tried it before and now I think that I have to have a power auger and a fish-finder. (to catch $10 worth of fish)

 

I FORGOT, there is a pull starter down there!Thats really cool thanks for reminding me also.

 

Well let me tell you I didn't forget mine was down there.

After I first got the quad I tried out the recoil to see how hard it was to start manually. Well I didn't put it back on correctly.

Needless to say the recoil made itself known later on that winter when water got in the recoil case and froze rock solid! Minus 32C will do that! It broke some DooHickey or another inside and I had a visit to the dealer.

Polaris covered the repair! I was very happy to hear that. I had also mentioned that I was going to miss a big weekend ride due to this repair and having to wait for the part. So the shop just took the recoil parts from a brand new crated SP500 and used them to repair my machine. When the parts came in they just put them on the New SP. I was riding the next day! AWESOME Service!
I also used waterproof grease where the recoil handle contacts the case and used pipe clamp to seal it good!

SP500 in NS

 

Dear Lord in Heaven......
18 inches of ice? Why do you people even want to live in that. Come to the deep south and forget about the ice and snow. As long as you can take a little heat in the summer (which is 9 months long).

I really can't even imagine it being that cold. It amazes me that a machine would even run in those conditions. Then its even more amazing that someone would want to ride it in those conditions.

Just thinking out loud. I'm always curious about the weather in the rest of the country, and how people deal with it.

Ride hard, ride safe,
Go Bush
GB

 

Gary

If you grow up in the north, you just learn to deal with the cold and the snow. In the area I live in, it is not really that cold. It rarely gets below 0 and we don't get any terrible snowfalls. We did get 8 inches of snow last night and the drive into work was not bad at all. Unlike the south, we have the equipment to deal with decent amounts of snowfall. You have to look at the snow and cold as opportunities for different kinds of fun. You haven't lived if you have never went streaking accross a field on a snowmobile. Last night during the snow, I went out and plowed my driveway and the neighbors. I just like playing in the snow. Kind of makes you feel like a kid again

 

One thing about it, we don't need any mosquito repellant or giant fans to blow the mosquitos away from the campsite in December. LOL

Just think of it as driving across the surface of the bayou in your 4x4.

With the proper clothing it's actually quite comfortable outside.

There's nothing like floating across the top of some powder snow in a field on a clearn sunny day on your snowmobile.

If you own a snowmobile and an atv you say to yourself, "This is fun and I'm not even getting muddy."

I was a resident of Florida for 10 years. When I woke up in the morning I only had to decide if I wanted to wear a short sleeve or long sleeve shirt for the day. But it was hot! Drinking 3 or 4 64 ounce Thirst Busters a day from the 7 Eleven was commonplace. I don't miss that.

But both places have their advantages.