Curl - I lived in Smithers back in the 70's and presently my Daughter lives there. I live 230 miles East, in Prince George. BTW - if any of you BP shooters are travelling by vehicle to this region, do let me know.
; H.B. Mountain is beautiful any time of year, but especially when it's got some snow on it. Back in the 70's that was 12 months of the year. The Bulkley River which runs through Smithers, has a great Summer run of Steelhead for flyfishing in the fall, Oct. and Nov., not to mention the various runs of salmon from July through August.
; As with bear, taking the fat from the interior of the animal renders out a more pure oil than the fat from the outside.
: Marmot's make fairly good eating, even the smaller rock-chuck variety. I've even eaten eastern woodchuck, same family. The larger speciments tend toward toughness no matter which species.
; I have fond memories of using bear's oil and marmot oil for patch lube. The Marmot oil remained semi-liquid, even in -30 weather, too cold for me to hunt nowadays, but back then. My bear's oil had to much shortening in it and got quite hard in those temps. The pure oil that separated to the top of the can didn't freeze.
; I've since found LehighValley lube to be superior to anything I've ever used prior, including bear or marmot oil and just yesterday ordered 5 bottles of it from Track. Shipping is a bummer, but then, nothing matches L.H. Valley lube for clean shooting and accuracy - better than spit for target shooting in my guns an that says a lot. It's worth the price. I suspect my final per bottle price is around $15.00 after taxes, etc. It lasts well, for a lot of shooting, that is. It will evapourate from a non-air tight container though and pre-lubed patches need replenishing with lube every week or so. It's an easy matter to put any pre-lubed patches in a tight container to 'save' the lube.