Packers

Packers

Packers are an integral part of a guide operation.  There would be five or six brutal days but worked in between would be easier days of camp chores.  They also got to spend more time flying in the “super cub” with me, even if they were sitting back there on a moose quarter or a pack full of caribou meat.  My guides might get to see a couple different camps in a season but most packers would make it to all the camps.  I’m sure for most of those that had not flown in a small plane, it was quite an experience.  Just because of their duties I spent more time with the packers.  It was always surprising to me to see the comradery shown between the guides and packers since some of the packers would only be there one season.  I have always been proud of AAA’s employees.  Follow along and read some of the adventures of the “Packers”.

Bow Hunting the Mountain Goat

Bow Hunting the Mountain Goat

In my early years in Alaska I went on many mountain goat hunts.  I think the main reason was I could do them on weekends since the hunting area was so close.  I liked it because in Alaska it was very challenging.  I have heard that goat hunting in some of the western states with the flat top mountains isn’t as challenging.  They can drive on top of the mountains and hunt them from the top.  That‘s not the case in Alaska.  I can take a Topo map of an area that I haven’t hunted, that has a goat population and tell you where the goats are going to be because of the elevation lines.  For goats, the steeper the better. 

I would like to thank my good friend Chuck Berry for taking me on my first goat hunt and introducing me to a great area.  After taking a few goats with my .300 I decided that hunting them with a bow would be the ultimate challenge.  I used a Bear Kodiak Magnum 42# recurve bow with no sights and wooden arrows.  Follow me on two of these hunts in “Bow Hunting the Mountain Goat.”

Road To Plate

Road To Plate

Back when I retired from the guide business in 2005, everyone kept asking me what I planned to do.  Actually I wasn’t sure after working consistently since I was 15 years old.  I was thinking now I would have time to hunt with my family.  At the urging of my good friend, Marty Turnbow, I started volunteering at the Anchorage Downtown Soup Kitchen every Thursday.  I joined the team who made the sandwiches.  Since all men were on that team at the time, we were known as the Thursday Grandpas.  In addition to making anywhere from 300 to 500 sandwiches, I made lifelong friends from this group of guys.

Vicki Martin, Volunteer and Program Coordinator, found out that I had cooked at my Otter Lake Hunting Camp and said she figured I could handle making soup for our clients and recruited me as Thursday’s cook.  There is quite a difference between making meals for 15-20 hunting clients, guides and packers than making soup for 300 to 500 people in a day.  My wife Karen joined me volunteering and helps me with the soup prep.  

In addition to cooking, we help serve and do the cleanup.  Serving in this ministry is a very humbling and heartwarming way for me to give back.  The following article was written by Suzanna Caldwell for the Anchorage Daily News.  It’s about how a road killed moose ended up feeding over 300 homeless people in our community.

 

I would like to wish all of my readers and subscribers a Merry Christmas and a happy and healthy 2017 and to say thank you for your support.  Hope you enjoy the article.  Read the Story → 

Hunting The Sitka Black-tailed Deer On Kodiak Island

Hunting The Sitka Black-tailed Deer On Kodiak Island

Deer aren’t animals that hunters in the “Lower 48” think of when they think of Alaska.  For sure they weren’t the animals I was thinking of when I arrived back in the 60’S.  I didn’t give them a thought until the early 2000’s, but after hunting them over the last ten years I find that hunting deer on Kodiak is a blast.  Many thanks to Paul Chervenak and Dana Bertolini for getting me fired up over these little guys.  Also to Rolan and Jo of Sea Hawk Air for the great flying service they have always provided over the last nine years.  You can also go to my hunting video page and watch the deer hunting video for more detailed photos of the hunts.  Follow along with me, my family and my friends on some special deer hunts.

The 40 Incher

The 40 Incher

Most hunters have a goal when looking for a trophy animal.  Everyone would like a Boone and Crockett but that is hard to achieve.  However, looking for a special trophy that might or might not make the record book is still a goal that is obtainable.  Like a 10 foot brown bear, 9 inch Billy goat or a 60 inch moose.   For Dall sheep it is a 40 incher.  That was my goal after I took my second ram in 1967.  I ended up taking three sheep 40” or better.  Follow along on my quest for the magic 40 incher.

The Barbarians From the North

The Barbarians From the North

A qualified guide is the key to a successful hunt for non-resident hunters.  There are three classes of licensed guides in Alaska; the assistant guide, registered guide and master guide and all are based on experience and passing the Alaska Guide Exam.  AAA Alaskan Outfitters had some of the best.  Follow along with me and the Otter Lake guides in The Barbarians From the North.

My First Fly-in Hunt

My First Fly-in Hunt

Fly-in hunts are a great way to hunt Alaska.  You get away from the crowds.  You have two options, a drop-off do it yourself hunt, or a guided hunt.  Of course the guided hunt is three or four times more expensive.  Either way you get to see and hunt areas that only a few do.  The population of Alaska is about 10 times what it was when I first arrived so getting away from the crowds is more important today than it was back then.  There are many great APHA guides to choose from and many good flying services in our State.  Come hunt Alaska!

1967 was my most successful hunting year, so follow two naive young men on their first fly-in hunt for moose and caribou.

Mountain Goat-My First Big Game Animal

Mountain Goat-My First Big Game Animal

Since mountain goats are cliff dwellers I feel they are the most dangerous big game animal to hunt in Alaska, especially if you are hunting them with a bow.  I have been in more precarious spots climbing after goats than I have climbing after sheep.  That being said I have been in on more goat kills with my friends than any other big game animal.  A total of 36 goats between the Gulch Creek area and another area we hunted.  Even though it was dangerous it was a quick cheap hunt for my military friends and me.

Some of the pictures aren’t the quality of the ones in my other stories.  I was using my wife’s Kodak “Brownie Hawkeye” camera that her parents gave her when she was in the 8th grade back in 1958.  That was our only camera the first four years of marriage.

With that, let’s go goat hunting!

Getting Too Old For Backpacks

Getting Too Old For Backpacks

I haven’t written any current stories because I haven’t been on any hunts since starting the blog.  That changed on September 2.  I went on a backpack sheep hunt with my grandson Jared and son-in-law Sagen.  I have been on over 50 sheep hunts and I will have to say this was one of my hardest.  I didn’t want to think it was my age but maybe it was just the 20 hours of fighting alder, devils club, willow and blow downs on the climb in and reversing it after one day of hunting.  That will get you no matter what age you are.  I have decided however, no more long backpack hunts.  So follow us on this short story with lots of photos of what I call a “brutal” hunt.

Where Were You On 9/11?

Where Were You On 9/11?

Everyone has a story about September 11, 2001, the day that changed America forever.  They know where they were, what they were doing, etc.  I thought I would share my story as a guide.